Ibnel, who had been making eye contact with Feldin for a few seconds, lowered her gaze slightly due to an inexplicable awkwardness.

“You were surprised.”

In fact, Feldin’s face showed no concern at all. He even seemed to be enjoying her flustered expression.

“I want the young lady to believe my words. That it’s not at all unreasonable.”

“I’ll believe you, so could you please put me down a little? It’s too close right now.”

“Let’s go like this. I’m comfortable.”

Feldin, his face slightly flushed and appearing embarrassed, tightened his arms holding her a bit more as he walked. He could feel Ibnel’s warmth in his arms.

When the two arrived at the palace, Emil approached in surprise. Why was Ibnel being carried by Feldin?

“It’s been a while, Emil.”

“How did you come to be with Lady Ibnel, Your Grace?”

“First, call the palace doctor. As you can see, the young lady is injured.”

“Understood.”

Emil quickly assessed the situation and moved swiftly. Watching her, he asked Ibnel.

“Where is the young lady’s room?”

“It’s over there.”

Upon reaching the room, Feldin carefully placed her on the bed. Ibnel expressed her gratitude for his kindness.

“Thank you. For bringing me here, and for saving me.”

“I only did what was natural. But you seemed to know a lot about the monster’s characteristics. So this is how you’ve been studying so hard.”

Seeing the books on the desk and traces of study, he immediately understood her performance in the last subjugation. She was only embarrassed by his praise.

“I’m trying to look at it a little every day. I have to do everything I can.”

Mumbling an answer out of embarrassment, she changed the topic to Feldin’s shooting skills she had just witnessed.

“I was the one who was surprised. Your Grace’s marksmanship. You hit that tricky position accurately with just one bullet. I couldn’t help but admire it.”

As Ibnel spoke with excitement, it was clear in his eyes how much she loved shooting.

“I’ve enjoyed shooting since I was young. It interested me more than swordsmanship. It suits me well too.”

As if to prove that genius, Feldin’s shooting skills became renowned throughout the empire, to the point where there was no one who didn’t know about them.

“The gun you use also looks very special. Is that also a work of the Eunice Count family?”

“That’s right. It was made specifically for me.”

He smiled at Ibnel’s eyes, which couldn’t hide her curiosity, and took out the gun at his waist to hand it to her.

“Would you like to take a look?”

“Really? Then I’ll just take a quick look.”

Carefully receiving it with both hands, Ibnel examined Feldin’s gun. First, its size was larger than what ordinary knights used, giving it a hefty feel. The barrel was also longer.

What caught the eye most was the vine and beautiful butterfly pattern engraved on the silver barrel.

That elegant appearance reminded one of his atmosphere.

“It’s really wonderful. It suits you so well, Your Grace.”

“Thank you for the compliment. You really like shooting, don’t you?”

“Yes, I really do love it.”

Feldin’s hand, which had been stretched out to receive the gun, flinched at the answer of liking it, which came without a moment’s hesitation. How could she so openly show her feelings like this?

As he had felt before, she didn’t fit in at all with this imperial palace full of all sorts of scheming.

Just then, there was a knock and Emil’s voice was heard.

“I’ve brought the palace doctor.”

“Come in.”

Emil, the palace doctor, and Lia entered the room. Lia couldn’t hide her worried expression as she saw Ibnel return injured.

“Miss, are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I wasn’t badly hurt.”

“Not badly hurt? You’re bleeding so much.”

Emil calmed her down and asked the palace doctor to treat her.

“Then I’ll start by examining the wounded area. Could you roll up your clothes?”

“Lia, could you put the gun on the desk?”

“Yes, give it to me.”

Feldin was about to leave now that he had seen the palace doctor arrive, but his gaze fell on Ibnel’s holster that Lia had put up. Only part of the holster was visible, but strangely, it looked familiar even to his eyes.

He carefully opened the holster while looking at the people who were busy treating Ibnel. And he couldn’t help but be surprised when he saw what was inside. It was none other than Shuher’s gun.

‘Why is this here?’

At that moment, he recalled asking Shuher about the gun before. He had clearly said then that he didn’t carry it around. But what does it mean that Ibnel has it?

Trying to appear calm, Feldin put the gun back in its original place and said to Emil.

“I’ll be going now.”

“Thank you for bringing Ibnel here.”

After leaving the room, Feldin became lost in thought about Shuher’s gun that Ibnel had. Come to think of it, Shuher’s behavior in front of her today was clearly different from usual.

From reaching out his hand to help Ibnel up, to the strange way his gaze lingered when he was carrying her injured.

“Could it be that he’s concerned?”

Feldin gazed at the closed door for a moment before leaving the palace.

Bris, who had been anxiously pacing in front of the palace after hearing the news, hurriedly approached when she spotted Damian.

“Lady Damian!”

“I’ll be going now.”

After Demil, who had brought her, left with just those words, Bris immediately supported Damian to her room. And she was busy checking if there were any injuries.

“Where are you hurt? Ah, there’s a wound on your arm.”

The elbow area was red as if it had been scraped when falling. Even though there was no bleeding, she made a fuss as if a serious wound had been inflicted and quickly told another maid to bring the palace doctor.

“The palace doctor will be here soon. You must have been very surprised, right? I was so shocked when I heard that Lady Damian was at the place where the monster had escaped.”

Tears started rolling down Damian’s face, who had been silent until then. Surprised by this, Bris carefully wiped her tears with a handkerchief.

“What’s wrong? Is it because the wound hurts?”

Damian shook her head as if to say no and spoke in a tearful voice.

“I really didn’t know. That something like this would happen. It had such a cute face. And I tried to help in my own way.”

To somehow resolve the situation, she moved her unmoving feet and followed Ibnel, overcoming her fear. But seeing Shuher and Feldin only caring about Ibnel, she felt a moment of sadness.

She was clearly hurt and struggling too.

“Of course. Lady Damian, you haven’t been in the imperial palace for long.”

Bris was busy comforting Damian. To her, the fact that Damian was safe was more important than the mistake she had made. And after hearing the whole story, she didn’t think it was particularly Damian’s fault.

“Even if the monster escaped, there were knights there, right? Then this is the fault of the knights who couldn’t stop it. If they had stopped it properly, today’s incident wouldn’t have happened.”

“Really?”

“Of course. If they’re knights, it’s their job to respond quickly in any situation.”

Damian, who had been quietly listening to her words, nodded slightly as if convinced. The guilt and regret in Damian’s heart were gradually fading.

However, there was one thing that worried her,

“His Majesty seemed very angry.”

She was most concerned that Shuher might have been disappointed in her because of this incident. And the negative thoughts continued one after another.

“I hope he doesn’t just throw me out like this.”

Bris was startled by Damian’s weak murmur and said,

“That won’t happen. Lady Damian is the hope of Caries. Such a thing will never happen. Anyway, today’s incident ended well, right?”

Damian gradually regained her spirits at these comforting words. And she resolved to sincerely apologize to Shuher.

At that moment, the maid who had gone to call the palace doctor returned, but for some reason, she was alone.

“Why are you alone? Where’s the palace doctor?”

“The others were away on business, and there’s one person, but they said they’re going to treat Lady Ibnel now.”

“What?”

Bris raised her voice as if in disbelief. As if she couldn’t believe what she had heard.

“Then of course they should treat Lady Damian first.”

“They said Lady Ibnel’s wound is deep, so they’ll come here right after finishing her treatment.”

“No, Lady Damian is hurt too. How do they know Damian’s wound is less severe without even seeing it?”

She was so stubborn that only Damian’s wound seemed visible to her eyes. It’s doubtful whether she would say such things if she actually saw Ibnel bleeding profusely.

“We’re in a hurry too. Go back and tell them to come quickly and bring them here.”

“It’s okay, Bris. I can wait.”

“But.”

“It’s fine if they come later. You can go now.”

Bris couldn’t understand at all why Damian was being pushed back behind Ibnel in this situation.

“Lady Damian, you’re too soft-hearted. It’s only natural that Lady Damian should come first, not someone from Aodin.”

“But thanks to Ibnel, things were resolved well. She saved me too.”

“Are you calling her by name now?”

“Yes, we agreed to call each other comfortably. Oh, and I heard Ibnel will continue to stay at the imperial palace?”

She couldn’t easily believe the news Damian had told her. She thought that with Damian’s appearance, even if Ibnel didn’t die, she would at least be mercilessly driven out of the imperial palace.

The more famous and renowned Damian became, the better it was from Bris’s perspective. After all, when the master does well, the maid’s position changes completely. So to her, Ibnel’s existence was nothing but a thorn in her side.

From being a person from Aodin, which she didn’t like, it was clear that the more Ibnel performed, the less room there would be for Damian.

So she deliberately brought up words to disparage her.

“But honestly, can we say there’s no fault on her part?”

“Huh?”

“Someone who was said to have been a great help in the subjugation couldn’t even properly handle one monster. I guess it was an exaggerated rumor after all.”

“No, Ibnel’s shooting skills are amazing. I saw it myself.”

Honestly, Bris only saw Ibnel’s intentions as malicious. Why did she take Damian to the very place that became the source of all this trouble?

“I heard that she suggested going to see the monster first.”

“That’s right.”

“That doesn’t make sense from the start. Why did she take Lady Damian to such a frightening place?”

“That’s…”

Ibnel seemed to have given a reason, but Damian was so nervous about being in the same space with Shuher that she didn’t listen carefully to the conversation between the two.

Seeing her unable to answer, Bris wore an expression that said ‘I knew it’.

“See? Even if there were knights, it was a decision that didn’t consider Lady Damian at all. And if she made such a decision, she should have given a sufficient explanation. Like saying it’s dangerous for this reason, so we need to be especially careful.”

“If I had known it was such a frightening monster, I would never have opened the door.”

Damian still felt unfair about that part. She really didn’t know, but being accused as if she was a great criminal, she ended up crying.

By now, she seemed to have forgotten Ibnel’s voice that had cautioned her several times.