“Now, let’s chase her.”

“No, my lady will be safe.”

It must be done unconditionally. Cheshire clenched his hands firmly, muttering incantations. Due to the ongoing hectic schedule, shadows were darkening under his eyes.

But sleep didn’t come. Only Livianna’s back kept coming to mind.

Cheshire buried his face in his hands with clenched fists.

Instead of running away, Livianna chose to stay. She left, promising to attract attention and clear the search party. She even had a determined expression as if she could accomplish anything.

However, each step she took was heavy. Unlike her will, her body reached its limit. There were limits even if she paid attention. Originally, the schedule wasn’t something a lady could endure.

Watching her trembling legs moving forward with determination, Cheshire thought several times about wanting to hold her. If not, he wanted to at least support her.

“If you’re okay, shall we talk a little?”

“…”

“Neither you nor I can sleep anyway.”

Cheshire watched Edden quietly for a moment, then cautiously got up. Although Cheshire quickly tried to support him by half-rising from his seat, he sat back down as soon as he saw Edden reaching out his hand.

Edden finally stood up without support, stepping on the floor without assistance and leaning against the wall.

“I want to hear what happened while I was gone.”

“I don’t know a lot.”

“Still, you probably know more than me. Tell me what happened to Livi and Calyx.”

“…”

Unexpectedly mentioning Calyx, Cheshire narrowed his eyes. It seemed that talking about the past wouldn’t be good for Edden, but he seemed surprisingly comfortable mentioning Calyx.

Cheshire stared at Edden. Now that he thought about it, there was an untold story.

Cheshire looked around habitually and spoke carefully.

“There’s something I want to ask before that.”

“What is it?”

“Why did you send Lord Duke to Phael?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m not trying to blame you, I’m just curious, no, not really. I just…”

Cheshire bit his lips, keeping his head down.

Though he hadn’t properly washed in a decent facility, Edden’s naturally clean appearance made Livianna visible on his face. Unlike confidently opening his mouth, Cheshire couldn’t raise his voice to Edden.

“It’s okay. I know it was irresponsible. But even if I could turn back time, I would have made the same choice. I wanted to save them, at least those two.”

“…”

“Those two?”

“Yeah. Those two.”

“…”

Nodding again at Edden, Cheshire quickly exhaled.
Something was off. The moment he tried to point it out, a loud, booming sound echoed. It came from outside the cave.

“That’s the sound of a signal flare.”

Edden quickly raised his hand to stop Cheshire from rushing out. The black between his golden eyes trembled enough to be noticeable.

“Livi must have been found.”

“…”

“If you’re worried, go check once and come back.”

“I can’t do that. My lady [Dash].”

“It’s better to check if she’s safe even if it’s far away. Both you and me.”

It was a sweet temptation. But Cheshire didn’t succumb. The most dangerous thing now was Edden. He wasn’t as resourceful as Livianna or as quick as Cheshire. He could use his status like Livianna, or he could be quick like Cheshire.

“I’ll keep this place. I promised that.”

Suppressing the desire to jump up, Cheshire sat back down.

Then, another signal flare sounded.

Cheshire stood up again this time. The smile was gone from Edden’s face.

“It seems there were others besides the ones we thought about.”

“Oh my, my lady.”

Cheshire’s face turned pale.

Edden breathed quickly, inhaling and exhaling.

“Go. Quickly.”

“I can’t. I can’t [Dash].”

Cheshire couldn’t finish his sentence. He drew his sword before Edden could even return his eyes, and he searched for prey, rolling his colorful eyes around.

Not noticing any signs until entering the depths of the cave was a sign of a skilled opponent.

Ignoring the stiff neck due to tension, Cheshire moved forward step by step.

There was only one entrance to the cave. If he properly blocked it, the enemy wouldn’t notice Edden’s presence. If he waited for the right moment, he could attack and resolve everything.

Ambushing was his specialty.

Hee-yik [Dash].

“You still have unnecessary moves mixed in.”

“Uh?”

Cheshire instinctively held his breath. Before his eyes could return to normal, the hand that reached out to stab was caught. And he lost his grip on the sword in the hand that was struck down without time to counterattack.

Losing a sword was akin to a death sentence. Cheshire, who had just learned the sword, looked at the sword on the ground in a daze. It was really rare to have dropped the sword during a fight.

“Young man, no, Your Highness.”

In a hurry, nonsense almost came out. Cheshire quickly corrected his title.

It wasn’t an illusion. It really was Calyx.

“How did you come here?”

“Is he safe?”

“Huh?”

Cheshire’s chilled neck at the gaze of Calyx, who was staring at him, once again recalled the situation a moment ago.

“Help us.”

“Help?”

“That, that [Dash] my lady.”

“Calyx?”