Delphine opened her eyes wide in surprise.

When? How? Where did he suddenly appear from?

“…How dare you.”

A low growling sound that sent chills down her spine flowed from the man’s mouth.

When she hastily turned her head, there was a face completely different from what Delphine had seen until now.

Gone was the elegant and noble appearance that had felt so out of place.

The man’s face had changed in an instant, as if he had switched masks, to that of a growling beast.

Even though that gaze wasn’t directed at her, Delphine held her breath for a moment, terrified.

It felt like she was being devoured by that gaze alone.

By a starving predator, torn to shreds. Not even leaving bone fragments…

As she stood there, unable to even turn her head, overwhelmed.

“It’s Viscount Pryde!”

“The devil has appeared!”

“It’s Ioan Pryde!”

Terrified screams could be heard from here and there.

Delphine blankly stared at the knights in royal guard armor pouring out from the alley in the distance.

The masked men didn’t even dare to think of confronting them and began to scatter hurriedly, fleeing here and there.

“How dare you…”

He instantly drew the sword from the scabbard at his waist.

With a chilling sound, a huge blue-glowing longsword was revealed.

It was a sword that Delphine knew well too.

That sword, before her eyes, her father’s neck…

She could see the man, still with half-crazed eyes, tensing his entire body as if about to pounce.

Delphine grabbing his coat tails as he was about to rush forward happened almost unconsciously.

Even though she didn’t grab very hard, the man flinched greatly and turned around.

“Ah…”

Surprised by her own action, Delphine quickly let go of his coat tails.

“Madam. Are you alright?”

She thought he would ignore her and rush out right away, whether she grabbed him or not.

The man immediately approached her.

A kind face and worried tone.

It was an expression completely different from the one she had seen just moments ago, which had been closer to a beast than a human.

So much so that it was hard to believe it was the same person.

Red blood trickled down over the man’s face.

It seemed the dagger of the man who had been threatening her earlier had grazed his forehead.

The blood that flowed down stickily covered half his face in an instant.

The man with his strange beauty didn’t lose his dignity even in this state.

As she just stood there staring, the man woke her with a puzzled tone.

“Madam?”

Delphine bit her lower lip with a confused expression.

Why did she grab this man?

Unable to understand the reason herself, Delphine hesitated, her lips trembling, and then mumbled in a tone as if her soul had left her body.

“…Treatment first.”

It must be because she had witnessed him getting hurt while protecting her.

So this emotion she was feeling now was conscience and responsibility.

Or because she didn’t want to see a sea of blood with someone’s head being cut off in front of her eyes twice.

‘Yes. That’s why…’

Delphine kept repeating to herself.

It wasn’t because she had unconsciously felt relieved when this man appeared in the moment of crisis.

It absolutely wasn’t because she felt fear and regret when the man tried to move away from her.

“Treatment? Surely you’re not hurt somewhere…”

As the man’s eyes started to grow wildly anxious, Delphine hastily shook her head.

“You. The wound on your forehead. It needs… treatment…”

The man stared blankly at her face and his coat tails that had been briefly grabbed for a moment, then soon gritted his teeth and turned his body.

Then he scrutinized each of the masked figures scattering and running like herbivores on a plain.

As if he could identify the faces behind those masks.

He murmured in a chilling tone towards the knights who had somehow approached nearby.

“…Follow them thoroughly. Not one should escape.”

“Yes!”

His gaze briefly flickered towards the knights fallen on the ground.

“Useless fools…”

Muttering with an expression devoid of even a shred of mercy, he turned his back to Delphine again.

“It’s all my fault, Madam.”

It was a face so gentle it was hard to believe it was the same person who had been glaring at corpses with such fierce eyes just moments ago.

He took off the cloak he was wearing and wrapped it around her body.

Then he hesitated for a moment as if pondering, and carefully wrapped the cloak over her head as well.

Thanks to that, she ended up with only her eyes barely visible.

“You seem very shocked. Let me escort you to the mansion right away, Madam.”

A knight approached, holding the reins of a huge black warhorse.

It was the horse the man rode out on every morning.

“We should be able to get a carriage once we reach the intersection.”

“…”

Delphine mounted the horse skillfully without a word.

Then she looked down at him intently from atop the huge horse.

The man raised his eyebrows slightly with a kind face.

“Do you need something, Madam? Are you really hurt somewhere…”

“Aren’t you getting on?”

“Pardon?”

“I said treatment was needed. …But I’m not the patient.”

“Ah.”

For a moment, Delphine thought it was fortunate that he had turned away from the people to look at her.

If his subordinates saw such an expression, it would surely lower his dignity.

“…Well then.”

The man mounted behind her with extremely skilled movements.

Inevitably, his body pressed against her back.

Especially his lower body.

The heat radiating from his hot and powerful body transmitted to her back.

And it was irresistibly tempting to her in this moment when her entire body felt frozen cold.

Delphine relaxed her body and leaned back against him.

His body, wide and firm enough to envelop her entire body and more, flinched for a moment, but she didn’t mind.

As their bodies touched, strangely enough, she felt oddly reassured.

A man who was terrifyingly frightening when an enemy, but became so reassuring when she thought of him as on her side.

She was very confused by her own feelings of having such emotions towards her enemy.

But the carriage that had stopped with a jolt and the blue ax blade that had pierced through the door.

The sight of the dagger rushing towards her neck.

“…My. Are you cold?”

As Delphine shivered weakly, the man who had been stiffly frozen quickly grasped the horse’s reins.

With that, Delphine ended up completely enclosed in the man’s arms as if trapped.

Rather than feeling stifling, it made her feel even more reassured.

“The horse will be faster than a carriage. I’ll increase the speed a little, Madam.”

The huge horse began to run.

The man skillfully maneuvered the horse, quickly leaving the 2nd district.

Thus, when the familiar sight of the 1st district appeared to Delphine not long after, she was finally able to completely relax her body.

As Delphine, cradled in his arms, seemed to have calmed down a bit, the man slightly reduced the horse’s speed.

After listening to the clattering of hooves for a while, suddenly a low voice was heard.

“…I’m glad nothing serious happened.”

Delphine thought blankly.

Yes. Nothing serious happened. Thanks to this man who suddenly appeared.

Really suddenly, as if he had sprung up from the ground.

Until the moment of crisis, she had been scanning around the carriage.

At that time, he was clearly nowhere to be seen.

He was too tall to blend into the crowd, and there was no way she wouldn’t have recognized this dirty blonde standing out among people.

Then from where?

How could he appear so instantly in a place where he wasn’t before?

…As if he had been anticipating her crisis?

It seemed she had been frowning without realizing it.

“Are you hurting somewhere perhaps?”

A gentle voice was heard again from above her head.

It was an absurd question.

Delphine glanced up, raising her chin to examine his face.

Red blood was still flowing from his wound.

Judging by the fact that the bleeding hadn’t stopped, it seemed the skin had been torn quite long.

Compared to that, she had no injuries except for slightly furrowing her brow.

When Delphine buried herself deeper into his arms instead of answering, the man flinched once more with his body stiffly frozen.

He also shifted slightly as if uncomfortable.

Wrapped in the cloak he had bundled around her, Delphine kept repeating to herself.

It’s because of that blood smell.

This nausea and rapidly beating heart, it’s all because of that blood smell.

Before long, they arrived at the Pryde mansion.

As soon as they reached the front gate, Delphine quickly jumped off the horse.

The man remained seated on the horse with a calm face.

Delphine was startled when she finally got to see his whole body.

Quite a lot of blood had flowed, turning his white uniform completely red.

However, the man’s gaze was still fixed only on her.

“Are you really not hurt anywhere.”

Is he determined to keep asking that question until he hears her answer?

“…”

Delphine hesitated for a moment, looking at the man whose upper body was soaked in blood.

She moved her lips several times but ultimately couldn’t find the right words to say—.

“…Make sure to disinfect it properly.”

Leaving only those words, she went up to her chambers.

“They say he got seven stitches.”

“…”

“The aide who came to the mansion was really surprised. He said it was the first time he’d seen the master get hurt.”

“…”

“And that he suffered that wound while saving the bab… no, the madam!”

“Anna.”

At the nanny’s increasingly excited tone, Delphine finally murmured her name softly.

It was a warning to stop meddling.