Despite Brody’s desperate cries, Ian approached her without hesitation.

At the same time, Jax, having finished packing, brought the horse and stood behind Brody.

As Jax appeared, Ian stopped in his tracks.

Brody left herself defenseless, allowing Jax to come up behind her. No, she had no choice but to let him.

Jax stood slightly behind Brody and reached over her shoulder.

Jax then gently grasped Brody’s chin and pulled.

With a flick, Brody’s head twisted towards Jax, and her body leaned against him.

If Jax’s other hand had reached around her waist, it would have been an unmistakably embracing posture.

His mouth opened.

“Well done, Brody. Thanks to you, I was able to catch the prestigious Ice Wall Duke so easily.”

Half of the sky and half of Jax’s face came into Brody’s vacant eyes.

Please, move, please.

Please, move according to my will again, please.

Brody repeated dozens of times to herself, trying to focus on her physical reaction rather than the hateful face of Jax and his disgusting words in front of her.

But the next moment, Brody’s mind was eroded white.

“Remember the command, don’t you? If you do well, who knows. I’ll reward you greatly.”

Saying so, Jax brought his face close, turning her chin and holding it.

His left hand, like a snake, came up from behind her waist and tightly pulled her ribs.

His moist tongue started from Brody’s right cheek and swept up half her lips.

“I’ll give you what you want, Brody. What you’ve wanted all your life.”

With that, his eyes maliciously slanted, he looked straight at Ian. It was an unmistakable provocation.

‘Come on, attack. Ice Wall Duke. Then you’ll die by the woman you love.’

Brody felt her hair stand on end, and horror began to rise inside her previously empty mind.

Her eyes flickered black, red, and blue.

Her legs trembled with goosebumps.

At the same time, Ian’s face boiled up as if oil was bubbling.

The rage that seemed to burst inflated his upper body.

But he did not draw his sword with superhuman patience.

He couldn’t kill Jax. Because Brody would die.

He couldn’t even attack Jax. Because Brody would block him.

Ian began to walk, step by step, with bare hands, as if he had no intention of attacking at all.

Then, Jax let go of Brody and stepped back.

From about ten steps away, Jax crossed his arms and watched the two of them.

His attitude was like watching a play from the audience seats in the Colosseum.

‘Twenty steps to her.’

Aidan set aside his disdain for Jax and focused on Brody.

Brody stared at Aidan, who was approaching, with vacant eyes.

When the distance between Aidan and Brody was about ten steps, plants began to sprout and grow before him.

Brody cried out in confusion, but her body did not obey, and Aidan did not stop.

No, just as Brody’s ability began to manifest, he suddenly started to run.

Aidan, who had jumped recklessly into the pile of plants without any defense, was exposed to the leaves and stems that scratched, pulled, and pushed him.

The plants tore, bound, and dug into his skin.

But he persistently made his way through the plants and advanced towards Brody.

The plants that had grown from the ground were uprooted by Aidan’s enormous strength, following him and failing to defend themselves.

Brody stared at Aidan with terrorfilled eyes.

The command engraved on her body rose vividly to her mind, like a seal burned with a branding iron.

‘Block the northern duke, Brody. If you think you’ll be caught, kill him.’

‘No! If you catch me, I have to kill you!’

Now, Brody tried to lose consciousness completely. She emptied her mind and replaced her thoughts.

Don’t think! Don’t think at all! You know nothing! Don’t think about plant species or anything!

She wished her eyes, which she closed to blink, would not open again.

‘Please…!’

But unfortunately, Brody was a skilled botanist.

In front of her, poison herbs began to sprout eventually.

At the same time, Aidan reached out towards Brody.

Aidan’s big hand slowly filled Brody’s sight, like in slow motion.

Similarly, the slowly growing poison herb reached his arm without notice.

The poison herb burrowed into Aidan’s skin like a bug, broke through, and climbed up his arm.

In an instant, a vivid red color stained Aidan’s skin and spread like branches.

Shock remained in her wideopen eyes.

“Brody!”

But at the same time as being corroded by the poison herb, Aidan succeeded in grabbing Brody’s wrist.

It felt like an eternity, but it all happened in an instant.

Aidan embraced Brody along with the sprouting plants without hesitation.

With his intense force, the plants shook violently.

“Your… Highness.”

Brody’s lips opened with difficulty and spat out the word.

It was instant.

From the wrist that Aidan had grabbed, a cold chill began to spread.

An unbearable cold rushed into Brody, but at the same time, the coldness drove out the writhing hot energy.

The cold scoured every nook and cranny of Brody’s body.

The energy inside her spread outward, enveloping the plants that Brody had spawned.

Soon, the plants were covered with white frost, becoming ice fragments, and shattered.

A cold wind wrapped around the two, sweeping everything clean.

Sharp pain and sensation returned.

Brody grabbed Aidan’s arm with the sensation that returned to her fingertips.

“Your Highness, so recklessly.”

A single tear slid down her cheek, shaking with the cold.

Aidan smiled at her.

“Hhow…!”

But the moment of pure emotion, like an ice crystal, was shattered by Jax’s sudden cry of shock.

“Tsk.”

Brody’s body collapsed in front of Aidan.

Aidan safely caught her as she fell. Soon, he looked at Jax, who was shaking on the horse.

In his hand was a crossbow, but no arrow was to be seen.

Aidan heard the fading sound of hooves and saw Brody’s back turning red.

A deeply embedded arrow shaft was visible in her shoulder blade.