“Ah!”

Beneath the darkening sky, screams of horror filled the hunting grounds.

“Blood, a pool of blood!”

With Hertian’s arrival, the hunting grounds instantly turned into a mess. Knights covered in blood, led by Hertian himself. What he dragged behind him left everyone in shock.

“I was not aware that Your Majesty was worried about me.”

Hertian took off his bloodsoaked gloves and placed them on the table. Only then did the Empress, who saw Hertian appear unharmed, force a smile.

“It seems the dragon hunt was successful.”

“I had to risk my life, thanks to someone.”

“I’m relieved.”

Meanwhile, the Empress impassively looked down at what was beneath her feet.

“I prepared this personally, thinking Your Majesty desperately wanted it.”

“It smells vile.”

A massive glob of blood. Its form was difficult to discern. Until the Empress stood up and kicked it away.

“Eye, it’s an eye!”

A blue iris was staring at the sky.

So, this is…

“It’s the dragon’s eye.”

“What? A dragon’s eye?”

The Empress’s formerly composed demeanor vanished at his words. I was also surprised. I had thought Hertian had escaped from the cave unscathed, yet he had extracted a dragon’s eye.

“Don’t frown. You’ll only get more wrinkles.”

“You dare kill a dragon? A sacred dragon?”

“It seems you don’t like the gift. I thought this eye might have some wrinkleremoving effects, so I made the effort to extract it.”

Hertian spoke sarcastically.

“What!”

“Your Majesty had once inquired about skincare. I happened to think of that and went all out.”

The Empress hesitated at his relentless words. I stared intently at him. He seemed different from before.

“Wow. His Highness led a dragon hunt?”

“He led a small band of knights on an extermination mission?”

By now, people attracted by the story of the dragon surrounded us. The Empress, unable to express her anger in public, hastily grabbed her bloodied dress and stormed off.

Hertian, his eyes glowing, handed the eye to the gathered nobles.

“Take it, if the Empress doesn’t need it.”

Then he finally turned to me.

Droplets of blood falling from his hair marred his white skin. He looked more haggard than the last time I saw him, and a vile smell of blood emanated from him.

Yet I didn’t mind.

I was just relieved that Hertian had returned.

“Are you hurt anywhere? What’s all this blood?”

Tears welled up as I examined his body.

His hand trembled slightly, but he maintained a smile, probably so I wouldn’t worry.

“I apologize for ruining your plan. I’ll go back and…”

“Now is the time to worry about yourself. You’re not even in good shape.”

“I always worry about you.”

“What’s that supposed to…”

I almost felt touched.

People still watched us.

‘Hertian is such a professional, even in these circumstances.’

He always worried about me for this reason.

Normally, I would have thought that was natural, but today it made me a little sad.

(This is a time separator.)

Hertian and I decided not to return to the palace but to stay at the townhouse.

Located in the center of the capital, the townhouse was quite spacious and nice. There were resident servants to manage it, and a place for the knights to stay.

After washing the blood off his body, Hertian handed me something.

“This. Did you send this?”

A white cloth.

It was something I sent to Eleanor yesterday.

Through her, I left a message that I would change my wish.

Hertian and the knights were all missing, and there were traces leading to the hunting grounds. He was likely in the Fl
To arrange for Hertian’s escape, I had requested that a person be sent, along with the herbal powder I had personally researched. By returning Turan’s treasure, we gained the opportunity to send someone.

Now that Serdis had withdrawn his war order, believing Hertian would die, possessing Turan’s treasure held little significance.

“Yes. That’s correct. I’m not sure if it will work on a dragon, but consuming such a large amount of the powder at once will cause immediate unconsciousness. It would be difficult for the knights in the royal palace to face the dragon, so I thought this was the best option.”

Thanks to the Emperor sending the knights as promised, it was safely delivered to Hertian.

“Did it work?”

“Yes. Although it nearly knocked us out too.”

Hertian chuckled as he looked at the package. He didn’t seem like someone who had just been dealing with a dragon.

“Then why did you take out its eyeball instead of just leaving it!”

I yelled, visibly angered. Why provoke a dangerous dragon? What if you got hurt?

“I wanted to leave it alone, but it attacked with its eyes closed so somehow…”

“Did you actually kill the dragon?”

Hertian quickly explained when I asked in disbelief.

“No, we didn’t kill it. We took out one eye and it collapsed, so we managed to escape the cave.”

“How many people were injured?”

“Five knights who were fighting off a swarm of beasts at the cave entrance were wounded. None of them are critically injured.”

“That’s a relief. I’ll also do my best to help treat the knights.”