“At least I, standing here now, have done nothing wrong.”

A smile that had not been seen for days appeared on Ibnel’s face after she had poured out everything she wanted to say to Shuher.

It was almost regrettable that she had not done this from the beginning.

“Ah, and I must definitely say this.”

She approached Shuher, put her hand on her waist, and said.

“Is it so difficult to ask if I’m alright?”

She didn’t even expect words of gratitude. But if one’s appearance is in such a mess from dealing with monsters, couldn’t one at least ask if everything is okay, if there are any injuries?

‘Well, arguing further will only hurt my own mouth.’

Ibnel didn’t particularly expect an answer, so she started to retrace her steps past him.

Shuher just stood there watching her retreating figure. But he couldn’t utter any response to her final question.

Whenever he was with her, he always found himself at a loss for words due to unexpected statements. And naturally, even the anger he had been harboring subsided.

Moreover, what more was there to say when she had moved to save him?

Perhaps he had seen the real her among the many faces he had encountered so far. Not a person of Aodin, nor the young lady of House Estella, but just Ibnel as a person.

As Shuher retraced his steps, Ibnel was standing in front of the corpse of the tragically dead horse. She then carefully closed its unseeing eyes with her own hands.

“We had grown close from training together, I’m sorry. If I hadn’t brought you along, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Despite her guilt-ridden, weak murmur, he remained coldly detached.

“We need to leave this place quickly. The scent of blood might attract monsters.”

“Do you really have to say such things right now? When I’m grieving for the loss.”

Now completely back to her usual self, Ibnel lightly deflected Shuher’s words. At that moment, Demil approached the two.

“So this is where you were. Are you both alright?”

“Yes. Was everything fine over there?”

Demil nodded with a bewildered expression at her voice, which had changed drastically from just a few hours ago. He had heard they encountered monsters, so why was her expression so bright?

Upon arriving at their original location, Shuher instructed the knights to quickly tidy up the surroundings and prepare to depart. While the knights hurried to prepare for departure, they glanced furtively at Ibnel.

They had heard that she had saved Shan, but no one dared to approach her readily. It was clearly a situation where they should express gratitude, but perhaps their pride prevented them from doing so.

At that moment, Demil approached her first.

“Are you injured anywhere? There’s a wound on your face.”

“I got hurt while running frantically through the forest. It won’t hinder me from reaching our destination. Oh, and thank you for your concern these past few days.”

When Ibnel readily expressed her gratitude, he found himself at a loss for words. If anything, he was the one who should be saying those words in this situation.

Thanks to her, they had overcome the crisis without issue, but like the others, words of gratitude wouldn’t readily leave his mouth.

“I was merely trying to avoid falling behind schedule.”

“But you were the only one who did so, Sir Demil. Even now, you’re asking if I’m hurt.”

Perhaps because she was used to being disregarded, every small word and action seemed to greatly affect Ibnel.

“That’s what I’m grateful for.”

Demil ultimately walked away from her without being able to give any reply.

As the group finished preparing for departure, an unexpected problem arose for Ibnel.

“Wait a moment, what about me? I don’t have a horse to ride.”

Due to the monster’s attack, she had lost her horse and was now without a means of transportation.

Everyone was cautiously looking around, but realizing they couldn’t delay the schedule any further, one of the knights raised his voice.

“Shan, you ride with the young lady.”

“Me?”

“You bear some responsibility too, don’t you?”

Shan couldn’t bring himself to refuse. Although he claimed ignorance, it was an incident that occurred because of him, and thanks to her, he was able to keep his life.

“Please ride with me.”

Knowing she had no other choice, Ibnel approached the horse he was riding.

“Please mount.”

Just as she was about to take Shan’s outstretched hand, a voice stopped her action.

“Ride my horse, Lady Ibnel.”

Shuher, dismounting from his horse, gestured for her to come this way.

Ibnel sincerely wanted to refuse. It was clear that going with him would be like sitting on a bed of thorns. She almost welcomed the idea of going with Shan instead.

“If you’re concerned, I could go with Sir Demil…”

“We don’t have time.”

At that resolute voice, she finally approached Shuher and, after a moment’s hesitation, mounted his horse. Then Shuher climbed up behind her and quickly set off, holding the reins with both hands.

Riding at the very front, Ibnel felt the wind, fiercer than before, brushing against her face.

‘It’s uncomfortable after all.’

Ibnel felt inexplicably tense at the presence right behind her. That small fidgeting was also felt by Shuher.

“Stay still. It’s distracting.”

“Then you should have let me ride with Sir Shan. Or even Sir Demil. You didn’t have to go this far, I won’t run away. If that was my intention, I would have disappeared long ago.”

“Wasn’t that your intention when you took the horse to the forest at dawn?”

“Of course not… Did you know I went to the forest?”

Ibnel couldn’t help but ask in surprise. She was sure he had been asleep.

‘No, that’s not the important thing right now.’

“Then why didn’t you come to rescue me sooner?”

“How was I supposed to know monsters had appeared and come to rescue you? I didn’t see it directly.”

“But I knew there were monsters nearby even before they appeared.”

Ibnel recalled that ominous sensation she had felt when the monsters were approaching, and even now it gave her goosebumps. It was an indescribably unpleasant feeling.

“What do you mean by that?”

Shuher asked for a detailed explanation, as if hearing this for the first time.

“I could feel the monsters approaching from afar. It’s hard to put into words. Have you really never felt anything like that, Your Majesty?”

“Not at all.”

Of course, he too could keenly sense presences, but what she was describing was something he had never experienced before.

“Are you sure you weren’t mistaken?”

“No. That was definitely not a mistake.”

Ibnel shook her head firmly. That sensation was certainly real. If so, the possibility to consider was,

“Could it be because of this ability that I felt that?”

“No. I’ve never heard of similar cases in the past.”

Even for Shuher, Ibnel’s case was something he was hearing for the first time. But if her words were truly correct, it was nothing short of an unexpected harvest from his perspective. It could certainly prevent surprise attacks from monsters.

“But I’m glad you really didn’t know, Your Majesty.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Ibnel turned her head slightly to look at Shuher. Sitting almost in his embrace, their gazes met at an extremely close distance.

“If you had known that monsters had appeared but pretended not to know, even I would have been truly hurt.”

Shuher couldn’t understand how she could say such things so openly. Wouldn’t it be more plausible for her to be angry and ask why he didn’t come to rescue her sooner?

When he didn’t say anything, Ibnel turned her head forward again. And watching the rapidly passing scenery, she spoke in a calmer voice than before.

“But if someone else and I were in danger at the same time and you didn’t save me, I wouldn’t resent you for that.”

Shuher unknowingly tightened his grip on the reins he was holding. And he glanced at her sitting in front.

He was so curious about what expression she was making while saying those words.

But once again, all his expectations were proven wrong. Ibnel was smiling faintly while tidying her hair that was fluttering in the wind.

Shuher found himself unable to take his eyes off that face for some reason. And after a silence, he finally opened his mouth.

“What did you say? I couldn’t hear because of the wind noise.”

In the end, he chose to pretend not to have heard. Honestly, it would be more accurate to say that he couldn’t find an appropriate response.

Originally, he should have answered curtly that he would do just that, but strangely, the words wouldn’t come out of his mouth.

“I just said the wind feels very refreshing.”

Ibnel also evaded the question. Trying to repeat it, she felt a strange embarrassment coming over her. Anyway, he would act that way even if she didn’t say such things.

She leaned slightly against Shuher, as if she had become accustomed to being together in that short moment. And with a more relaxed expression, she took in the surrounding scenery.

Until now, she hadn’t had the leisure to do so due to the urgency of keeping up with the group.

“This is nice. It feels like my mind is clearing up.”

“You seem too relaxed.”

“Until now, I was so focused on just riding the horse that I was overwhelmed. Honestly, weren’t you too harsh? I’m a beginner.”

“There’s no room to consider such circumstances. And if you came along on this subjugation, isn’t it natural to endure that much?”

Of course, Ibnel knew that too, but at Shuher’s cold words, she leaned completely against him as if to play a prank. No, she deliberately put more force into it.

Of course, he couldn’t not notice.

“What are you doing now?”

“What do you mean? I’m trying to stay still so as not to inconvenience Your Majesty.”

“Sit up straight right now.”

“You were the one who insisted on having me ride with you, Your Majesty. So shouldn’t you endure this much?”

Looking up slightly at Shuher, she threw his words right back at him. At her playful smile, Shuher looked straight ahead as if deciding not to engage with her anymore.

Ibnel couldn’t help but burst into laughter, feeling as if she had won somehow. As her shoulders shook, the vibration was transmitted to Shuher, whose body was in contact with hers.

“If you laugh any more than that, I’ll drop you without mercy.”

“Alright, I’ll stop now.”

Knowing that he would really do so, she barely managed to stop laughing. As they gradually approached their destination, she recalled something she was curious about.

“By the way, what kind of person is Count Perti?”

She had studied a lot about the Perti domain, but she knew nothing about the person who governed it.

“The Perti Count family has been a renowned knight family since the past, and he too has excellently led battles against monsters since his youth. You could say he’s a typical knight.”

“It’s hard to get a sense just from hearing about it.”

Even while in the imperial palace, Ibnel had never met nobles, so she couldn’t quite imagine what it would be like. Moreover, being the head of a family endowed with power like Shuher.

‘Anyway, he certainly won’t be an easy person to deal with.’

Shuher didn’t bother to add the rest of what he was thinking. That it would be on a completely different level from the hostility she had felt from the servants in the imperial palace.

She would find out soon enough anyway.

“I can see it now.”

At his words, Ibnel turned her head, and a mansion standing alone on a high place came into her view.