If she did well, she might be able to escape there. If she could get to the main street, there would be someone there. Then she could ask for help.

Liz tried to leap as the man was momentarily distracted by taking off his vest. But…

“Hey, hey, where are you going?”

“Ugh!”

Before she could even take two steps, her hair was grabbed by the man.

The man pulled her hair tightly and trapped her in his arms.

“This, I was going to let you go, but I guess not?”

The chilling breath of the man hugging her from behind touched Liz’s earlobe. Liz resigned.

‘It’s over now.’

The gang, following the man’s eye signals, approached with greedy eyes, fumbling at their trouser front.

Liz closed her eyes tightly.

Having tried to avoid fate in every way, she was meeting an even more miserable fate. Damn it.

“Ugh!”

At the sudden sound of a groan, Liz’s eyes opened wide. Then she saw a man on the right side fall forward.

With a dagger in his back.

Liz and everyone else looked in the direction from which the dagger had come. Then they saw the figure of a man there.

Though it was dark and hard to see, he was a tall man with broad shoulders.

Liz’s violet eyes widened in surprise.

That body, that silhouette, was definitely… someone Liz knew.

‘Kain?’

Liz was sure. There was no way she wouldn’t know the man she had longed for ten years.

“Who… who the hell are you!”

The leader let go of Liz and stepped forward. In contrast, the man on the left stepped back, seemingly instinctively frightened.

The man who appeared to be Kain approached slowly, and from his lower body to his full figure came into the lantern’s radius…

It was not Kain.

It was the unrealistically handsome man who had danced with her at the ball, wasn’t it?

Why was that man here…?

(This is a time divider.)

The man continued to approach with a slow gait.

With jetblack hair, flashing golden eyes, a large frame, and slender arms and legs, he resembled a black leopard. Moreover, the aura he exuded was on a completely different level from what you would feel from hyenas or the like.

Liz knew that he had appeared to save her, but she felt strangely cowed.

Anyway,

‘What was his name?’

She only knew that he was her father’s pupil, a noble of the Lorein kingdom, and could not remember his name at all. Ka… something like that.

Well, what did that matter? Knowing his name would not allow her to cheer him on in this situation.

Liz decided to simply call him ‘Lorein nobleman.’

The Lorein nobleman stopped next to the man he had brought down and said,

“Several of you bullying a weak woman, it’s absolutely despicable.”
“Such… such are you? It is hardly a beautiful act to stab a knife into a person’s back without warning.”

The captain spoke boastfully, struggling to hide his trembling.

“A person?”

The Lorraine nobleman tilted his head to one side and asked.

“Where are there people here? I only see three vermin in my eyes? Ah… now there are two.”

He chuckled, then swiftly pulled the dagger from the back of the fallen man.

Then the fallen man shivered for a moment and soon went limp.

The sticky fluid that oozed out of the opening stained the dirt floor black.

The Lorraine nobleman wiped the blood off his knife on his white shirt, and this gruesome act surprisingly suited his delicate and beautiful face.

He taunted the remaining two with an air of ease.

“I want to finish this quickly, but since you say it’s cowardly, I’ll face you fair and square. There!”

He pointed to the man on the left with his index finger, and then gave a sly smile, flicking his finger knuckle as if he was raring to go.

Then the left man, who had been backpedaling, unknowingly approached the other man, drawing his sword.

‘Will it be okay?’

Liz was worried. Their side had a gently curved long sword, while the other side had a dagger just over a cubit long.

The man on their side also seemed somewhat comforted by this, not looking entirely grim. Perhaps the difference in skill with the opponent, who seemed to be quite an expert judging by his aura, would be offset by the difference in sword length.

The confident bandit charged in, swinging his sword quite brilliantly.

With his crude appearance, monstrous weapon, and unpredictable noisy swordsmanship added to the mix, Liz felt her entire body grow cold.

Just a brush with the sword seemed like it would burn her throat.

Yet she had a trusting side. The Lorraine nobleman would somehow do it.

He had accurately thrown a dart into the back of one of their group just a moment ago.

And even taunted them to come at him with a relaxed face.

So he must have something in mind.

But he did nothing while the bandit approached close.

He just spun the dagger between his fingers like he was showing off a trick, glancing at his opponent.

His eyes were overly calm, almost making him look thoughtless.

‘What are you doing, not moving quickly…!’

Liz stomped her feet in impatience, but nothing changed.

The clumsy bandit was soon at the Lorraine nobleman’s nose, raising his sword and gathering his strength.

His fully exposed arms swelled roundly as if filling with air.

At that rate, it seemed they would see that handsome, oneofakind beauty become two people.

The sword at its peak began its descent.

“Damn.”

Liz wrapped and clenched her face with her hands.

She did not want to see the Lorraine nobleman become two people.