Chapter 23: The Knights’ Return

Clint Risher, he had become a completely different person from the man she knew two years ago.

He had a bigger physique, cold eyes, and clear features, and sharp jawline. He turned twenty-six this year and had an air of charm and manliness to him.

Ailea’s heart pounded soon as she saw him.

Clint got off the horse. He took out his sword and swung it lightly against the barrier.

At that moment, the barrier the imperial sorcerer made had been broken with ease, wobbling funnily before fading.

“Wow! It’s the castle where the woman who’ll marry the Crown Prince lives!”

The vice-captain, Tarren, who was right behind Clint, looked up at the Outer Castle.

Clint jumped back on the horse and entered.

Upon entering, the knights immediately tied their horses to the stable.

Ailea immediately hurried down to the first floor with overwhelming nervousness.

She had guessed that it was Clint and his knights… maybe.

But it had already been two years.

Ailea recalled the precious man who had selflessly shared the effects of the poison with her and transferred it to himself.

She was sure he wouldn’t remember her. He was the sort of man who wouldn’t bother remembering the name and face of the many women he had a short rendezvous with.

When she heard the crowd of knights making their way towards her, Ailea hurriedly his under a table covered with cloth.

After a while, Ailea could smell the pungent smell of their feet, attacking Ailea’s nostrils. She covered her face and tried to stay alert.

Clint went straight up the study room while the rest of the knights stayed on the first floor.

One of them, Louison, grumbled, “Why’d he say that we suddenly rest in a separate castle? Lawrence, that bastard! The castle is empty!”

And then another roar. It was Shantee.

“I know right! Besides, isn’t he going to get married soon? We came running to the capital in a hurry. That rascal seems to think we have a lot of time in our hands.”

Tarren agreed, slamming his hand on the table Ailea was hiding under.

Ailea hugged Blue tightly and trembled.

Blue had her soul taken out of her. She made a noise and meowed.

“Sir, did you hear a cat just now?” Shantee asked, hearing the voice of a cat.

“What? Cat?”

“Did I hear it wrong…?”  Shantee scratched his head and laid on the floor with a mountain-like bulging belly. “Oh, sir! I’m hungry! I’m dying! I had tried to eat as much as I could earlier, but I didn’t get a proper fill.”

“Wait for the captain’s orders. He’s looking for something,” said Tarren.

“Captain, come back… I’m going to starve to death…”

Shantee played dead and turned over to the side. He fell asleep shortly after and snores loudly inside the castle.

Ailea breathed a sigh of relief. Even though Blue was meowing, it had been hurried by the loud snore.

She rearranged her thoughts.

Now that the barrier was down, maybe she could escape the castle, run away forever and never to return.

But… if she ran away now, Lawrence would have thought she’d escape or burned to death. Either one would bring devastation to her family.

Ailea decided to hide in the castle for a while longer and examine the current state of things.

She, who hid under the table, soon came out carefully as the talks finally came to an end and only snoring reverberated in the air.

The knights slept all over the place.

As she carefully stepped and reached the door, she ran into Kaiton, a member of the knights who was just making his way over.

The hot-blooded young man who was twenty-one years old said, “Huh? A woman?”

“What? a woman?”

Another voice echoed.