“What on earth is he trying to do?” Sicar thought, and swiftly, he cut the grass with the dagger he was holding.

From the grass cut by Sicar, the word LOVE became visible.

Sicar, as if it could not have been more sophisticated, sheathed his dagger and put on a confident expression.

‘Was he going to engrave it on the grass? He put in some effort.’

I guess he did his best.

But I’m not that easy to deal with.

“Sicar, this isn’t the right way. This is not what I mean. I want to hear your words.”

“So, you, really, want to hear that, lo… whatever, from my mouth.”

“Yes. I must hear that lo… whatever from your mouth.”

“But, that lo… whatever doesn’t necessarily have to be spoken, does it?”

“What are you saying? I must hear that lo… whatever spoken. That’s the rule of this game.”

“Even if you get punished, the punished person can also apply it in their own way. The punishment doesn’t have to fit the frame you made. So, I, will replace that lo… whatever like this.”

Sicar was laying out such sophistry as if it was so obvious and confident. That meant that he could not follow my punishment even if he was about to die.

And I could not give in this time. It wasn’t because I wanted to hear Sicar say that he loved me, it was because Kian was watching.

By showing Kian that Sicar was following the rules well, I wanted Kian to say he loved me while following the rules.

“As the person who made the rules of this game, I can’t accept your punishment. So tell me that lo… whatever.”

“You really want to hear that from me, don’t you?”

“Yes. I really want to hear it. So I must hear it. Tell me. That, lo… whatever.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Sicar responded immediately.

“No.”

“Sicar Blake! Won’t you keep your promise?”

As I gritted my teeth, Sicar looked at me with a cynical and bitter smile. When one corner of his mouth went up like that, it wasn’t just a smirk.

“You shouldn’t be angry, should you?”

Right. When Sicar smiled bitterly like that, there was always something happening or some trick.

It was the Death Knight that Sicar had set up to appear here whenever people fought or got angry.

Suddenly, the sky seemed to darken as if it was about to collapse.

In an instant, the time changed to a dark space filled with dark clouds, and the air cooled down.

Then, a heavy, metallic voice started to ring in my ears.

“Living being! You will writhe in pain! Living being! You will not be free from death! Living being! You will all die!”

The chilling voice was scarier than the content. “You will all die.” The words chanted in that metallic voice sounded like a death spell, making me shiver so much that I couldn’t relax my shoulders.

As soon as the words ended, what appeared with black smoke as if a demon had arrived was a Death Knight holding a hammer. The hammer was much bigger than I had imagined. The Death Knight seemed to be about five times the size of Sicar.

No, isn’t that a giant? I saw a bluish gaze from the face wearing an iron helmet and an iron armor.

Those eyes, which seemed to lead me to death at any moment, seemed to look at me and raised his hammer as he walked towards me. At that terrifying sight, when my heart seemed to sink, Sicar blocked my view.

He pulled me into his arms and blocked my eyes with his whole body.

When I was embraced by him, everything seemed to stop and I couldn’t hear anything. There was only a comforting darkness, where I didn’t feel fear at all.

By the time Sicar lowered his hand, everything was back to normal. The Death Knight was gone.

When Sicar took his hand off my eyes, Kian hugged me.

“Mother, are you okay? You were surprised, weren’t you?”

“Huh? Oh. I’m okay.”

I was a little disoriented, but I wasn’t fainting, so I guess I’m okay.

“I was going to cover your eyes, but the Duke covered them first.”

I know. When I said it was cool to cover Lucy’s eyes, it seemed like he covered them because of that.

At that moment, my heart had skipped a beat. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was surprised to see the Death Knight, or because Sicar had suddenly shielded my eyes as if to protect me, but anyway, my heart was pounding.

And now, my heart pounded again as my eyes met Sicar’s.

‘Have I been threatened with death so much that even when someone is nice, my heart beats out of fear?’

As I stood there, dumbfounded, Kian glanced at Sicar with a bit of a grimace.

“I will protect Mother from now on.”

“Why are you protecting my wife?”

“Because she’s my mother.”

“Your hands are so small, they don’t even cover Yura’s eyes.”

“Mother’s face is small, so it’s well covered.”

‘Wait a minute, what are these people doing? They seem to be fighting over me?’

The protagonist and the villain are fighting over me…

Somehow, it felt good. No, it felt really good. There couldn’t be a more joyous fight than one over protecting me.

But then, at that moment, I remembered that if they kept fighting like this, the Death Knight would appear again. So, I couldn’t feel that joy for long.

“Stop it, both of you! The Death Knight will appear again!”