Herdin and the knights scanning the front didn’t seem to have discovered it yet.

“Herd—”

But before she could call out to him, a giant hand appeared and attacked the two of them.

Kwang—!

With a thunderous sound, trees shattered and the snow piled on top scattered like a blizzard, obscuring their vision.

“Blair!”

When Blair came to her senses, the first thing she saw was Herdin looking at her with a distorted expression, checking her condition.

Just before the attack, Herdin had noticed the presence and pulled Blair into an embrace, rolling on the ground with a split second to spare. The horse was nowhere to be seen, likely having run away.

“Your Grace! My Lady!”

Through the hazy swirling snow, the voices of the knights could be heard faintly in the distance.

Blair, having barely regained her senses, first checked on the marten she was holding. Perhaps due to instinctively protecting it with both hands as if shielding a child, the marten was safe.

“Can you stand?”

Herdin asked. Blair responded by putting strength into her body instead of answering. Herdin helped her up as she staggered, her body drained of strength.

Meanwhile, as the snow settled, the blurry view gradually became clear. Beyond it, a one-eyed giant revealed itself. It was a cyclops, a humanoid monster.

Blair froze as her eyes met that enormous eye. Having discovered the two of them, the cyclops reached out its hand to attack them.

Noticing this, Herdin surrounded his body with aura to reinforce it and picked up Blair. Then he quickly jumped to avoid the attack. That agility was far beyond human levels.

At that moment, the knights who had found the two attacked the cyclops with the bows they were carrying.

The sound of arrows cutting through the wind rang out one after another. However, it only momentarily distracted the cyclops’s attention, unable to deal a significant blow.

Herdin used that opening to join the knights. The captain of the knights rushed to Herdin and Blair.

“Your Grace! My Lady! Are you alright?”

“Fortunately. Kyle, take the first team and escort the lady out of the forest. The second team will stay with me to hold off the monster.”

“Yes, sir.”

The captain of the knights hurried away to relay his lord’s orders to his subordinates.

Herdin took off the cloak he was wearing and put it on Blair.

“Please look after this for a moment.”

Blair stared at him blankly. There was no trace of fear on his face. Perhaps it was a natural reaction for someone who had been at the forefront of war and spent time in the north where monsters rampaged.

But Blair was not like that.

‘If things unfold like in the past, Herdin shouldn’t be in danger, but…’

She was scared of the monster before her eyes, and afraid of the possibility that he could get hurt. Even knowing he would be safe in the future, the fear of ‘what if’ consumed her.

Blair grabbed Herdin’s arm as he tried to approach the cyclops. She felt like she should say something, but no words came to mind.

All she could do was look at him.

Herdin looked alternately at the hand holding him and Blair’s frightened face, then smiled slightly.

“Do you think I’m going to die?”

Herdin entrusted Blair to the captain of the knights who had just arrived and approached the cyclops. Blue aura enveloped his body and sword.

“My Lady, we must go.”

The captain of the knights urged Blair, who was blankly staring at Herdin’s retreating back.

She knew. That staying here would be of no help, only a burden. But her feet, her eyes, just wouldn’t move away.

Herdin climbed up the cyclops’s arm as it tried to attack, and jumped high. Then he immediately attempted to use mana to cast a chain spell. It was at that moment he felt something was different with his body.

The sword energy he released aiming for the cyclops’s neck was blocked by its hand. Normally, it would have been an attack that would have cut off the hand and sliced through to the neck.

‘The mana…’

The amount of mana he could utilize was significantly less than usual. Even so, it was still far more than others, but his miscalculation created a flaw in his tactics.

“Kuwooooh!”

The cyclops, enraged from the large wound on its hand, swung at Herdin in anger.

Herdin was momentarily taken aback by the unexpected situation but quickly dodged. Then he immediately regained his composure and moved to execute his next plan.

He swiftly dove under the rampaging cyclops and cut its legs. This was to prevent the cyclops from escaping and causing further damage.

‘Next, the arms.’

Since he had already deeply cut the right arm earlier instead of the neck, he aimed for the left arm this time.

But the moment he severed the cyclops’s left arm, its injured right arm grabbed him. Tremendous pressure crushed his body.

“Herdin…!”

Blair, who was just about to leave on horseback with the captain of the knights, cried out upon seeing this.

At that moment, a red magic circle appeared flickering between Blair’s neck and collarbone. Simultaneously, a fleeting memory flashed through Herdin’s mind.

The image of a heavily pregnant Blair looking at him with tearful eyes.

‘What is this…?’

It was then, as Herdin was puzzling over the suddenly recalled memory. He felt the mana that had been lacking until just now being replenished. Herdin didn’t miss this opportunity.

He immediately utilized the mana to cast a spell. The mana that erupted from within him tore the cyclops’s hand.

Herdin imbued his sword with aura while simultaneously manifesting a massive magic circle. Then, swords of light with a bluish tinge appeared in midair and rained down on the cyclops like a downpour.

“Kueooogh!”

Herdin cut off the neck of the cyclops as it writhed in pain. Soon, the struggling cyclops went limp.

Herdin roughly wiped off the hot blood that had splattered on his face with the back of his hand. Only then did he feel the pain in his abdomen, involuntarily furrowing his brow.

It seemed he had broken some ribs when the cyclops grabbed him.

‘Why couldn’t I properly utilize my mana earlier?’

For the past two months, he had been busy with wedding preparations and only focused on physical training. He hadn’t done any training using mana.

But while neglecting training could decrease one’s ability to utilize mana, it shouldn’t affect the absolute amount of mana.

Unless a part of the mana contained within him had suddenly disappeared.

However, given that he was able to use mana as before soon after, it didn’t seem like the mana had actually disappeared.

After all, mana isn’t something that can disappear and reappear in such a short time. It was strange.

“Herdin.”

Lost in thought, Herdin snapped out of his reverie at the sound of Blair’s voice.

Seeing her looking at him with worried eyes, the image that had flashed through his mind earlier overlapped. The image of her, heavily pregnant.

What could that memory have been?

* * *

The event was abruptly halted due to the sudden appearance of the monster.

Ivan summoned the royal gamekeeper for punishment and ordered the royal knights to investigate the incident. The evening banquet scheduled at the palace was also cancelled.

Because of this, the festive mood of the nobles welcoming the new year became uneasy.

However, they couldn’t skip the first worship of the new year to give thanks to the gods and ancestors, so the service proceeded, albeit several hours later than planned.

Upon arriving at the temple, Herdin and Blair first visited the annex. It was to treat his broken ribs.

But there were no resting priests. The acolyte who greeted them looked troubled.

“Oh my, what should we do? All the priests have left their posts…”

Among the temple’s acolytes, only those chosen by the gods can become priests who use divine magic. Therefore, there were fewer priests compared to acolytes, and they were always busy.

“There should be at least one giving lessons to the acolytes. I’ll bring them right away.”

The acolyte who had finished guiding them was about to leave the lounge when he seemed to remember something and turned to Herdin.

“Ah. As Your Grace probably knows, internal injuries require a delicate approach, so it would be best if you undressed.”

After the acolyte left, the two were left alone.

Herdin began to take off his clothes one by one. Seeing this, Blair tried to take his clothes, but Herdin hung them on a nearby chair.

He thought if he gave his clothes to the already tiny woman, she might end up buried under the pile of clothes.

While unbuttoning his shirt, Herdin asked Blair.

“Can you really see the future?”

Blair, who had been watching him for a moment, opened her mouth.

“…You said you couldn’t believe it.”

Her voice was calm, but there was a hint of resentment in her tone.

“Even if it’s hard to believe at first, if things like today keep happening, I’ll end up believing whether I want to or not.”

Herdin quickly finished removing his top. Faced with his toned, half-naked body, Blair subtly averted her gaze, turning her head away.

Herdin gently cupped Blair’s cheek, making eye contact as he spoke.

“Tell me. What else did you see in the future?”

Blair looked up at him intently. His eyes were still cool, but not mocking like the night before.

But she had nothing she could tell him.

Would he believe her if she said she had died and returned to the past, and that he might be behind it?

To begin with, the future story this man was curious about probably wasn’t this, but related to the fire incident at the Empress’s Palace. However, she couldn’t tell him about that truth because even she didn’t know it.

Blair decided to just pass it off as having had an ominous dream.

It was then.

“Duke, My Lady. We’re coming in.”

Along with the voice of the acolyte who had gone to fetch a priest, the door opened and two people entered.

Blair, who had instinctively looked in that direction, froze upon seeing the priest following behind the acolyte.

“Hello, Duke. And My Lady.”

Miela Elias.

The woman who had been Herdin’s lover in her past life, and who would soon become so again.