“Noel. Are you not feeling well?”

Noel shook his head silently without answering. His gray hair tickled her cheek.

Noel tightly hugged Diana’s neck and buried his face. Diana patted the child’s small back as she walked.

Noel had been acting strange since they found Felice.

The child didn’t explain why his body had shrunk.

When asked if there was magic to clean clothes, he only said he couldn’t use magic for a while.

Honestly, she didn’t expect the child’s magic. In a world where magic existed, she tried not to question it as long as the child was healthy, even if his body had shrunk.

As Noel’s mood continued to be low, she took him aside to the water’s edge and asked,

‘Don’t abandon me!’

He burst into tears with a “Waaah.” It seemed he had been suppressing his anxiety that she might abandon him.

It wasn’t incomprehensible. She had been indifferent to the illegitimate child until now, and his place was still undecided as they were returning home.

‘You’re my brother. We’re going home together.’

When she comforted him, saying why would she abandon him, the child finally stopped crying.

Noel, with tears still in his eyes, snuggled into Diana’s arms.

Since then, he hadn’t left Diana’s embrace for a moment.

Following Rodrick, another case of separation anxiety had emerged.

“Sister-in-law.”

A well-textured sky-blue head popped out. As their eyes met, Felice smiled as brightly as sunshine. The earring he had lost dangled from his ear.

“Shall I hold him?”

“No, it’s alright.”

At those words, Noel burrowed in even more tightly. Felice, with a smile, walked alongside her, not leaving her side.

“Is it because he’s a late-born sibling? You seem close?”

“Felice, you and Rodrick seem close too.”

“Haha, right? Though it’s my one-sided love. I love my brother more, you see.”

At those words, Rodrick, who was walking ahead, visibly stiffened.

The knights with good intuition rubbed their goosebump-covered arms at Felice’s words. The playful knight even pretended to retch, going “Ugh.”

“The child is so cute. Maybe I should ask Father to have another one.”

Are you in your right mind?

I heard that the Duchess of Schwartz passed away when the brothers were young. That would mean either bringing in a new mother or adopting a child from outside. The family wouldn’t allow that.

Besides, didn’t you say your father was scary?

“No! It would be faster if you give us a niece or nephew, sister-in-law! Right?”

Hey, Mr. Second Male Lead. You haven’t even proposed to your brother yet. Isn’t it too early to think about children?

“Ahaha. I suppose so?”

However, unable to explain the circumstances, Diana had to go along with Felice’s rhythm.

“Wow, how beautiful would a child born from a fairy be? Our brother is handsome too. If the child takes after both of you, it would be the best in the continent!”

Felice Schwartz, who had been missing. The search party that came to find him was returning after completing their mission.

“Rather than talking about such distant future, I’d like to hear about the young master?”

How deep they had come, it wasn’t easy to get out of the forest either.

“I haven’t heard why the young master came here.”

The path was treacherous, and monsters frequently appeared to hinder their progress.

At such times, Rodrick always took the lead. Every time he alone was covered in blood, it was heart-wrenching.

“So you say you drifted downstream with your face in the water because of paralyzing poison?”

“That’s what I’m saying. Sister-in-law? I really thought I was going to die. If I had kept my face in the water a little longer, I would have gone to the other world from lack of breath.”

Once Felice started talking, he rattled on about his adventure in detail, not stopping for a moment by Diana’s side.

“How I happened to meet you right then. Oh, I didn’t interrupt an intimate moment between you and my brother, did I?”

“Of course not.”

Diana organized her thoughts while hiding her expression with a smile.

To summarize the story so far, the second male lead says he ran away from home to break his brother’s curse. Though he insists it wasn’t running away, but going out.

He says he saw some text related to curses in an old book at home and came straight to the Black Forest, also known as the Demon Forest, a realm beyond human understanding.

Noel said this forest was poison to cursed people, but judging by that bright expression, he doesn’t seem to know?

“So, did you have any success?”

“Of course! I found some magic stones and stone tablets with ancient text in this bag. I’m planning to research them when I get home. I brought a lot from the labyrinth. I’ll find a way to break my brother’s curse with these.”

Felice proudly held up the bag imbued with lightweight magic.

Diana’s brow furrowed as she looked at the bag.

An ominous aura. Bright red magical energy was seeping out. Why did I only notice now?

It looked dangerous. It seemed like something that should be discarded immediately.

“Mister.”

“Huh? Me?”

Noel, who had been burying his face in Diana’s neck, suddenly raised his head. His red eyes glinted strangely.

“Mister.”

Felice froze with his smile at the unfamiliar form of address.

“Hey, sister-in-law is ‘elder sister,’ so why am I ‘mister’?”

“Because you’re elder sister’s little brother, mister.”

Noel cleanly ignored Felice’s words and pointed at the bag with his plump finger like a sausage.

“That…”

“Everyone, scatter!”

It was a sudden attack. As burning rocks fell like meteors, the knights dispersed.

Diana also tried to move while holding Noel, but Felice was faster.

He picked up Noel and Diana in both arms and leaped high. Felice, who had instantly climbed up a tree, sighed.

Despite the considerable weight of the child and her, Felice was standing effortlessly.

She had thought he was really weak because the knights teased Felice for being frail, but it was unexpected.

Is this what it means to be a second male lead? The future duke becomes a war maniac no less than his brother.

Feeling her gaze, Felice looked down from surveying the situation and grinned.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, you can put me down now.”

“Aw, you’re light. Please bear with it a little longer even if it’s uncomfortable. My brother will sort this out soon.”

As Felice said, Rodrick was single-handedly taking down a crocodile-like monster.

It was then, as she was following Rodrick’s movements with her eyes. Noel, who was in her arms, urgently reached out his hand.

“Mister, the bag!”

Whether the bag had been exposed to the burning rocks. The half-burned bag fell to the ground with a thud.

Simultaneously, all the contents inside the bag spilled out.

Thump-

The stone tablets with ancient text and magic stones tangled together, beginning to emit an ominous magical energy.

Her heart pounded ominously.

It wasn’t the curse that was medicine to her. It was something more fundamentally different.

The stone tablets and chunks of magic stone that had fallen to the ground glowed red. It was an ominous energy potent enough to be poison to those with a curse.

She instinctively felt it. Rodrick is in danger. It will affect Rodrick.

“Put me down.”

“No, just a moment, sister-in-law.”

“Move.”

Without waiting for an answer, Diana entrusted Noel and jumped down from the tree. After landing safely, she quickly shifted her gaze to Rodrick.

“Rodrick!”

As expected, the ominous energy that had been searching for prey instantly enveloped Rodrick.

His rough breath escaped thickly between his teeth.

Madness. Red frenzy filled his eyes, driven mad with bloodlust. He growled like a beast, having lost his reason.

“Everyone, form ranks!”

The knights readjusted their drawn swords. Rodrick stood at the end of their swords.

The knights’ bodies froze at the explosive murderous intent pouring out.

This time, they had to fight with their lives on the line. The knights swallowed dry saliva with such resolve.

Everyone hesitated to step forward in the face of the piercing gaze that seemed ready to tear everything apart.

“My lady.”

Daren, sweating coldly, gestured to Diana who was approaching.

“Please avoid him, my lady.”

Rodrick was staring at her coldly with bloodshot eyes. He had found the weakest prey.

“How long can you hold out?”

Hold out. As Diana said, they could only block at best. They had to stop him even if it meant wounding their lord.

To prevent him from self-destructing. Their lives were secondary.

“We won’t last a few minutes. Three minutes at most.”

“Good. One exchange. Just block him for one exchange before I approach.”

“What do you mean…!”

Rodrick reacted to Diana’s movement. The knights rushed at Rodrick simultaneously.

Sparks flew as swords clashed against sword. Even in his mindless state, Rodrick’s swordsmanship was outstanding.

He parried six swords alone, overwhelming them with skill and strength.

The knights, barely blocking his sword, couldn’t inflict a single wound on Rodrick. Rather, the knights were being reduced to rags.

Every minute and second was precious.

Diana quickly took off her heavy outer garment. She needed to make her body as light as possible.

Whew, her whole body was pounding so much it made her dizzy. After removing her outer garment, she gripped the dagger she was carrying and ran towards Rodrick.

“Sir Daren!”

One exchange. At her shout, the six attacked simultaneously. Rodrick, having lost patience, scattered them in all directions with an explosive sword aura.

In that split second as they were flung away, she raised one hand high while protecting her neck with the dagger.

Slap!

An enormous noise that made listeners’ ears ring echoed throughout the forest.

It was tremendous force enough to turn Rodrick’s head.

Everyone stared at Diana, frozen stiff.

Pink eyes quickly glanced at the sword aimed at her neck. Fortunately, she had blocked it with her dagger, preventing it from going in deep.

While Rodrick’s movement was stopped, she quickly knocked away his sword and pulled him in, crashing her lips against his.

No, she bit his lips.

The taste of blood. At the direct taste of blood, the original frenzy hesitated and subsided.

She sucked in the curse as much as she could through the slightly parted lips.

“Haa-”

The rampaging curse writhed in her mouth.

Twitch. At the sensation ravaging the inside of her mouth, Rodrick dropped his sword and entrusted his body to her.

Whether the murderous intent had turned into lust.

The long kiss that had continued for a while was now becoming more intense.

She kept sucking in the curse as much as she could. It felt like the alien curse was being rejected, unable to be absorbed by her body.

“My… lady?”

His eyelids fluttered as he regained consciousness. She let him go slightly at the voice scattered between his lips.

“Haa. Haa.”

Diana smiled weakly as she saw the blue eyes focusing clearly. Words spilled out without going through her brain.

“Haa. You know what?”

Blood trickled from her nose.

“You’re really high-maintenance. You.”

She frowned as she wiped away the warm liquid flowing below her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Ah.”

“My lady?”

“It hurts.”

She fell backwards just like that.