This Life, I Will Save The Duke (20 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 70

I never even dreamed of it.

That I would see Kaius inside the barrier. The frenzied monster was exactly as the books described—difficult to deal with. It was even more terrifying than I’d imagined, yet strangely, watching Kaius dispatch the monster was so beautiful it made me forget the ordeal I’d just endured. I could only stare blankly at the sight of his graceful movements and the white aura he unleashed.

After watching him for a while, Ariel’s gaze suddenly shifted and she was startled anew by her unfamiliar surroundings. The space before her looked like a deep forest.

Just as she turned her eyes back to Kaius, a large wolf-headed monster began charging toward her. Its flickering eyes and grotesque, swift form froze her body in place. Swallowing the scream rising in her throat, Ariel covered her mouth, curled into herself, and held her breath. That was the best she could do—shouting during his fight might put him in danger, and besides, dying by his hand or by the monster’s seemed hardly different at that moment.

“……?”

Even as time passed, the pain she’d expected never came. Slowly lifting her head from between her knees, she found before her the monster split cleanly in two, mingled with blood. Fighting back a surge of nausea, she noticed bloodied shoe soles in her line of sight. Raising her head a little more, she saw Kaius looking down at her with an expression of mild exasperation.

“Kyaaak! Behind you! There’s a monster behind you!”

Behind Kaius loomed a mantis-like beast several times his size, swinging its sharp forelegs at him. Kaius turned lightly, swung his sword a few times, and dispatched the creature effortlessly. Afterward, he stood before her protectively as he continued the battle. Once all the monsters were slain, the surrounding landscape vanished, and they were back in his bedroom. Only then did Ariel’s tension finally release, and she collapsed limply onto the floor. Her stomach still felt unsettled, but this was hardly the time to show it.

Kaius knelt before her, one knee on the floor.

“How did you do it?”

He reached out and roughly grabbed her chin as he asked.

“I… I don’t know. I just came to my senses and saw you fighting monsters. Ah… treatment. You need healing.”

Her trembling hands reached to remove his shirt, but Kaius pushed them away. Ariel looked up at him, her eyes filled with confusion.

“Why…?”

“Did you enjoy it? Did watching a man suffer because of you give you some twisted pleasure? I never thought it—I never imagined someone as refined as you had such a sadistic streak.”

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