Sometimes when people face a fear beyond their comprehension, they freeze without even being able to scream.

That was exactly the situation Alicia was in now.

The face of the ‘person’ standing with their back to the moonlight was cast in deep shadow, making it impossible to discern their features clearly. However, their strangely glowing yellow eyes were examining the inside of the carriage, or more precisely, Alicia herself.

The gaze was shaped like that of a human, but it was an eerie gaze that did not belong to a human.

Alicia couldn’t even breathe due to the instinctive revulsion coursing through her body. She could only watch as those eyes looked her up and down with a smile.

Yes, ‘it’ was smiling.

Although everything except the yellow eyes was shrouded in darkness, Alicia’s mind, rather than her eyes, first noticed the smile of ‘that thing’ which should have been invisible to her eyes.

Was it a mistake to turn off all the lights inside the carriage on purpose to enjoy the night sky?

Surely there should be knights guarding outside the carriage, so why didn’t they stop ‘it’ from approaching?

Is ‘it’… really human?

The scream that burst from Alicia’s lips, as she had been unable to even exhale as if time had stopped, came when it turned its back on the carriage.

“Kyaah!”

As soon as the yellow eyes that had been examining her disappeared, time seemed to flow again, and Alicia, who had started trembling all over, screamed.

The first to respond to that sound were the knights guarding the carriage.

Startled by the sudden scream, they approached the carriage and discovered Alicia through the window, sitting on the carriage floor with her head in her hands.

“Your Highness! What’s the matter!”

“Your Highness!”

Marisa, who had been heading towards the carriage to retrieve an empty bowl, also heard her scream and ran over, knocking on the carriage door along with the knights.

However, opening the door locked from the inside was not an easy task.

“Your Highness!”

“What’s happened to Your Highness!”

“Princess Alicia! The door! Please!”

Even those who had been preparing the camp belatedly ran over and surrounded the carriage, scanning the surroundings with sharp eyes, but they couldn’t confirm what had frightened the princess so much.

Kasa, who had joined a little late due to assembling the tent Alicia would use in the evening, grabbed the carriage door handle and shook it.

He tried to break the firmly locked window from the inside and reach in to unlock the door, but it was difficult as the lock was out of reach.

“Move aside!”

It was then.

Killian, who had been inspecting the surroundings of the campsite with his subordinates, returned to the camp after hearing Alicia’s scream.

Pushing aside those surrounding Alicia’s carriage, Killian approached the door and with a sharp intake of breath, ripped the carriage door off with tremendous force.

“Alicia!”

As the door was torn away, Killian’s eyes fell upon the pitiful sight of Alicia, terrified and crouched on the carriage floor, trembling miserably.

Shocked by this sight, Killian leapt into the carriage in one bound and grasped her body with both hands.

“Alicia! Come to your senses!”

“Th-there… someone… was…”

Unable to even finish those words properly, Alicia collapsed into Killian’s arms like a puppet with its strings cut.

Strongly embracing Alicia’s body as she lost consciousness and fell, Killian glared at the window she had pointed to and called out Derek’s name.

“Derek! Search!”

“Yes, Your Grace! We’re heading into the forest, follow me!”

Carrying the limp Alicia in his arms as he exited the carriage, Killian ordered Marisa, who was staring at her mistress not knowing what to do.

“A physician! Now!”

“Y-yes!”

The person who blocked Killian’s path as he moved urgently was Reilly.

Taking in the sight of Alicia unconscious in Killian’s arms, he spoke in a sharp voice.

“Where are you taking Her Highness!”

“Stand aside if you don’t want to die.”

“We must show her to a physician immediately! So Her Highness…”

It was at that moment when Reilly was about to say ‘hand her over to me.’

The atmosphere surrounding Killian, who had been holding Alicia in his arms with a face that seemed to be burning with fever just moments ago, changed drastically.

It doesn’t make sense to feel winter from a person, but at least in this moment, Reilly felt winter from Killian.

His eyes, which had cooled down eerily, were as cold as ice, and the air surrounding him was sharpened as if torn by the frigid wind of severe cold.

If he uttered even one more word here, he would die.

Although Reilly had never experienced what death was like, he could feel very clearly that it had approached right up to his nose.

“I’m warning you… if you block my way one more time, I’ll kill you.”

“Th-that…”

“I thought I told you not to covet what’s mine?”

“…Princess Alicia is not yours.”

“She is mine.”

Killian, holding Alicia in his arms, tightened his grip on her as if to say he would not let anyone take her away.

The sight looked as if he was saying he wouldn’t give up what was his even if both his arms were cut off.

Faced with Killian’s display of such blatant possessiveness, Reilly unconsciously muttered the thought that came to his mind.

“Are you insane?”

Killian must be insane.

How else could he say such things in his right mind?

“I might be.”

“Duke Diaz.”

“So be careful, the mad dog of Binion has never let live an enemy who tried to take what’s his.”

Reilly made a terrified expression as he watched Killian refer to himself as a mad dog.

“What nonsense…”

“Your Grace! I’ve brought the physician!”

It was Marisa’s urgent voice that cut off Reilly’s words.

Seeing Marisa running towards Killian’s direction while grasping Tillie’s hand, Reilly realized that further argument here would be of no help to Alicia, and stepped back to make way.

Killian glanced at Reilly with an expressionless face, then quickly turned his gaze away and walked towards his own tent.

Entering the tent with quick steps, Killian laid Alicia down on his field bed and moved slightly to the side so that the physician who had followed him in could examine her.

Tillie, who had bowed slightly to Killian in lieu of a greeting, quickly approached the field bed, knelt down, and examined Alicia’s condition.

“What exactly happened?”

“I don’t know. We’ll have to find out from now on.”

“I need to examine Her Highness, so please step outside, Your Grace. Marisa, will you assist me?”

“Yes, physician.”

At Tillie’s words, Killian, who had been looking down at Alicia’s pale face, turned and left the tent.

Although a surge of killing intent rose briefly towards the physician who asked him to leave, he couldn’t wring the neck of the physician who needed to examine Alicia’s body immediately, so he complied with the request.

Killian called two knights who were vigilantly guarding the surroundings and had them guard the front of the tent, then walked towards the carriage where the incident had occurred.

All the members of the Badulf unit had left to search the inner part of the forest, and a few knights from the Royal Guard along with Reilly were examining the area around the carriage.

“How is Her Highness?”

“The physician is examining her.”

“…I see.”

The knight who had questioned Killian with a face full of worry was seen lowering his head and gritting his teeth.

It was they whom the Emperor had carefully selected and included in this journey to protect Alicia.

They had sworn to fulfill their duty as guardians, pledging their swords upon becoming knights of the Royal Guard, yet something like this had happened.

More than wounded pride, the guilt and shame of failing to properly protect Alicia, whom they were supposed to safeguard, washed over them, making it impossible to raise their heads.

“What did you find?”

“Ah… we found one handprint on the outside of the carriage window.”

“Is it human?”

“Yes.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

Shaking his head at the knight’s words, Killian moved to examine the carriage window where the handprint was said to have been found.

And there, Killian discovered Reilly, who had arrived earlier and was examining the trace, perhaps having had the same thought as him.

“Duke Diaz.”

Perhaps conscious of people’s eyes? Reilly, who had greeted Killian politely, sighed.

“It really is a human trace.”

“It doesn’t make sense, but it’s truly a trace left by a person.”

Reilly looked around the carriage as if he couldn’t understand.

He couldn’t believe that someone had approached close enough to leave a handprint on the carriage carrying Alicia, evading the eyes of the knights who were guarding the carriage at close quarters.

And…

“Would she have been so startled by seeing an ordinary person?”

It was a night when the full moon had risen unusually close to the ground.

Although not as bright as daytime, the moonlight was bright enough to make out the face of a person standing nearby, so it didn’t make sense that Alicia would scream and faint just from witnessing a stranger approaching.

“She’s not one to be so easily frightened…”

Speaking about Alicia, Reilly unconsciously looked at Killian and recalled her appearance in his arms just moments ago.

The image of Alicia’s white face, pale and with closed eyes, wouldn’t leave his mind.

“Was there really nothing else besides the handprint?”

“We found some flattened grass, but it’s not very clear, they say.”

Reilly, who had answered Killian’s question readily, took in the sight of the torn-off carriage door.

‘He called her name?’

He called the princess’s name, ‘Alicia,’ as if he had always called her that way.

And he embraced her body as if imprisoning her in his arms.

Reilly frowned as he recalled the urgency of the situation at that time.

The image of her unconscious in his arms remained unusually vivid in his mind, grating on his nerves.

Alicia’s scream, her pale face, the sight of Killian embracing her.

These images appeared in succession, muddling Reilly’s thoughts.

And as if a boulder had settled on it, his chest felt heavy.

How should he express this?

While thinking about this, Reilly’s gaze unconsciously fixed on the direction of the tent where Alicia would be lying, and Killian was watching this sight.