“The military doctor, who has decades of experience working with soldiers and combat-related injuries, declared otherwise, Your Highness,” the knight said sternly. “Please rest. General Maceo and the other officers can handle the rest of the war for sure.”

Both the prince and his knight stubbornly glared at each other, none willing to back down.

This heavy atmosphere was only broken when a soldier sent by the military general brought good news.

“Your Highness, General Maceo has sent a message to you from the frontlines. The army of Thevailes has retreated completely from our territories, back towards the western mountain ranges. We secured the original border of Megaris before the war erupted as well, and a battalion was stationed on each strategic point to defend our territories. The General asks Your Highness to refrain from worrying and focus on recuperating from your injury, as the flow of war is completely in favour of our kingdom.”

Prince Theron dismissed the soldier, who politely left the two men behind inside the tent. A smiling Sir Galien approached the entrance of the tent and beckoned the men waiting outside to enter. “Your Highness, I believe you have nothing more to say?”

Prince Theron had no option but to listen to his knight. A litter was brought in to carry the prince, but he refused to be carried out towards the carriage like that. After hearing the military doctor’s warnings and the soldier’s pleas, the Crown Prince finally relented and compromised to walk while being supported by his knight.

Despite the pain he’s feeling, Prince Theron showed no outward signs of suffering as he left the tent. Because his knight was supporting him with his arm over the man’s shoulder, he noticed the blue beaded bracelet on his wrist. “Galien, did you put the blue bracelet on me?”

The knight blinked in confusion, only to clear his throat when he realized what the prince meant. He replied with a light smile, “Your Highness, as far as I remember, Baroness Esther has put that on you as her parting gift.”

“Of course, she is the one to do that,” Prince Theron snapped, feeling somewhat annoyed by the weird smile on his knight’s face. “What I mean is that last night, I remember removing it before I washed myself. I don’t remember wearing it back.”

“Your Highness, you must have remembered it wrong. When I found you collapsed on the ground, it was already on your wrist,” the knight replied confidently. “For you to be confused like this, you might have hit your head hard. More reason for you to see the royal physicians.”

Prince Theron would have kicked the knight if he wasn’t putting all his energy on staying on his feet. As it was, cold sweat was pouring over his forehead due to the piercing pain inside his chest.

He was sure he didn’t wear it back after removing it. As he tried to remember the events during the night, a fuzzy memory resurfaced. Other than him and that mysterious man, there was someone else who entered his tent, and it wasn’t his knight.

‘I was about to be killed. Someone arrived at the last moment and saved me.’

Prince Theron let out a shaky breath. “Galien, before you, was there someone who entered my tent?”

The knight looked puzzled. “You meant other than the assassin? When I found Your Highness, you were alone inside the tent and the assassin had long escaped. Perhaps one of the missing soldiers entered your tent to see what’s wrong, and he was also unfortunately targeted by the assassin.”

“No. It’s not a soldier. A mere soldier wouldn’t be able to save me.”

‘Was I mistaken?’ Prince Theron thought as they arrived at the carriage. After he was placed inside to comfortably lie on a makeshift bed, he looked at his knight who was instructing those accompanying them on their trip back to the capital.

The knight then returned to the carriage to report. “Your Highness, we will be departing now—”

“Galien, this attack was the same as that attack during the end-of-year festival.”

The knight’s expression turned grave as he lowered his tone to talk to the prince. “Your Highness, you mean that invisible attack that pushed you down the river?”

Despite not putting it in the official investigation records of that incident, Sir Galien knew exactly the strangeness of that assassination attack; after all, he had also felt the impact of that invisible energy.

Prince Theron nodded. “I could not see exactly how he did it, but something hit my body, and I was thrown back by the force.”

“Then it must truly be the same attack as the previous time. I will gather more soldiers to escort us. It is possible that since he did not manage to kill you, he would return to finish his task. We need to be more alert while going back.”

The knight then excused himself as he gave instructions to strengthen the security around the carriage.

On the way back to Blackhelm City, Prince Theron could not help but recall that night by the river, Esther rushing towards the small pier in order to save him.

At that time, there wasn’t only a single invisible attack. Esther was the one to stop the first two attacks on him with her body. Only after experiencing the attack again did he realize how strong and powerful it was.

A healthy male like him received internal injuries. For Esther’s more fragile body to receive those attacks…

Prince Theron groaned in shame. It must have hurt a lot, but she didn’t even show a hint of it. Instead, she was focused on finding a shelter for them and nursing him back to health.

Instead of asking if she was injured, it did not even cross his mind to worry about her and solely focused on teasing her, even treating her like a handmaid. He could not help but feel bad about how terribly he had treated her and how he acted so selfishly at that time.

‘Once I return, I will apologize to her.’

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