Chapter 121
A filthy desire, incomparably sordid, spilled from Akenaus’s lips.
It was revolting, unbearable. Lijan barely suppressed a retching heave.
“You will bear my children and live bound to my side for the rest of your life. I ought to have at least one thing that bastard could never have, don’t you think? So if he chases after you to save you, that would be a welcome thing for us, and if he decides to abandon you… well, that’s not so bad either. You’re quite to my taste. If only you hadn’t gone looking for him, we could have been together long ago.”
Akenaus shoved Lijan in the back as she tried to resist even a little, urging her forward.
“Don’t you want to know? Whether that bastard will remain loyal to the nation, or keep his loyalty to you.”
She mustn’t cause a commotion.
The soldiers numbered more than ten, all armed with loaded rifles and knives.
Lijan prayed inwardly, again and again.
Please, let these spies leave the school without any further loss of life.
Though her own circumstances as a seized hostage were equally hopeless, Lijan forced herself to repeat this.
Because I… won’t die, no matter what.
She didn’t know what to do here, and the future Akenaus had implied was too terrifying, but at least, unlike the other students, she wouldn’t die.
But somehow surviving death brought little comfort.
If she were truly dragged to an enemy nation and had to live as that man’s prisoner, burning with vengeance toward Ezekiel, what meaning could such a life possibly hold?
If she had to endure Akenaus’s resentment, be forced to carry his child, and live merely as a tool to threaten Ezekiel.
She would rather….
This mountain was treacherous; stray even a little from the trail formed by the accumulated footsteps of students, and the incline was dangerously steep. If she kept an eye on her surroundings while climbing, there might be a sheer precipice.
It was a terrifying thought. Though she had twice come near death, she was still not accustomed to it.
If only she had that poison in her hands right now.
Then things would have been a bit easier.
“Why are you dawdling like this?”
The soldier who had been pulling Lijan along by force barked at her. The men who had eaten their fill in the kitchen were livelier than before. When dawn broke and the dormitory teachers and students woke, they would scream in horror at finding their dead classmates in one of the rooms and the kitchen in chaos, food scattered about from being grabbed and eaten at will.
Lijan was dragged all the way outside the school.
The mountainside in the dead of night was so dark that she could barely make out the ground right beneath her feet.
A sharp wind clawed across her shoulders. Only then did Lijan realize she was wearing her nightclothes. Her shoes were even indoor slippers. It was a woefully inadequate outfit for scaling a mountain caught between winter and spring, but her mind was so hazy that she felt no cold.
She simply walked, not even knowing how she was stepping. Still, it was a relief that the brutes, hurrying on their way, didn’t kill any more hapless students. But she dared not imagine the shock her family left in Cleris would suffer when they learned she had been kidnapped from the school.
And as for Ezekiel,
He….
If he heard the news, if these spies intended to use her to ensnare him, he was a man with old bones as a soldier—he wouldn’t fail to grasp what trap awaited. In that case, he should just….
Bang!
A gunshot rang out abruptly.
Hearing the thunderous sound, Lijan couldn’t comprehend what was happening. The soldier clutching her bound wrist slowly crumpled, and even as she saw a massive shadow leap in and swing a jungle knife at the two nearby spies, she merely stood dazed, unable to believe the reality before her.
In an instant, three spies were dead. Ezekiel snatched the masterless rifle from the fallen soldier and immediately turned the barrel on Levian, firing.
Levian, sensing danger, threw himself aside urgently. Even so, Ezekiel’s shot struck him squarely in the shoulder.
“Damn it…!”
With a wet burst of blood, Levian spat a curse.
But soldiers will be soldiers. The spies who had quickly assessed the situation unshouldered their rifles and pulled the triggers. Ta-ang, ta-ang, tang, tang, ta-ang! Though they were rifles that could only chamber and fire one round at a time, with several firing simultaneously the gunshots echoed in succession like rapid fire.
By that time, Ezekiel had already swept up the abandoned Lijan and hurled his body down the steep mountainside.
Her vision swam dizzily. Lijan squeezed her eyes shut and endured. Her body had rolled and tumbled before snagging somewhere and stopping, but she was too out of it to notice.
“Lijan, are you alright?”
A soft whisper roused her consciousness. Only then did Lijan open her eyes.
Keeping watch on their surroundings, Ezekiel raised her into a sitting position. Only then did Lijan gasp for breath.
“Any injuries?”
She slowly shook her head. Despite rolling down a slope, she was miraculously free of pain. Most likely it was thanks to him wrapping his own body around her head and torso, protecting her as best he could as they fell.
“That’s a relief. ……You held out well, staying calm.”
A voice of deep relief. Even so, he swept his hands over Lijan’s body to check once more that she was safe. Lijan did the same. Instinctively, she swept her palm down the back she had been holding.
Instantly, her spine chilled. The sensation of something hot and wet soaking her hand felt somehow unusual.
Lijan quickly withdrew her hand and tried to check with her eyes. But the moonlight was dim, making it impossible to see clearly.
Still, it wasn’t sweat. There was a smell that sweat couldn’t have. In hindsight, it was obvious. Even with three spies dead and Levian injured, seven soldiers remained. Though one or two might have been slower to read the situation than their comrades and failed to fire, the remaining men would have aimed at Ezekiel and pulled their triggers simultaneously. Avoiding all those bullets would be impossible for anyone.
Moreover, he had made protecting Lijan his highest priority.
“It just grazed me.”
Had it really just grazed him?
As she tried to feel for it again, Ezekiel took her hand and rubbed the bloodstains on her palm against his own clothes to wipe them away.
He was injured as it was, and Lijan simply couldn’t understand how he had known in advance about the tragedy occurring at the school to be here.
Had he come alone?
Could the subordinates of the 37th Regiment be nearby?
Lijan hurriedly looked around. If there were supporting troops, she could finally feel safe.
Ezekiel, sensing her intention, answered.
“Sorry, but I’m alone. I’ve resigned my commission.”
This time she was even more surprised. Lijan looked up at him with wide eyes. Ezekiel smiled faintly.
“Why? Do you find me untrustworthy now that I’m no longer a soldier?”
Not at all. Honestly, when Ezekiel had appeared like magic and leaped among the spies, the first emotion Lijan felt was the relief of survival. In Ezekiel Valdemaira, such faith existed. A confidence that he would inevitably lead any battle to victory, and a steadfastness that he would protect her no matter how dangerous the predicament.
Only, it was strange that he was no longer ‘Major’ Ezekiel Valdemaira. Hadn’t that been a title like his shadow? A background so naturally a part of him that it couldn’t be peeled away.
Ezekiel, reading Lijan’s question, added briefly.
“The royal army is an army to protect the royal family, not an army to protect the person I wish to protect.”
There had been no room for choice for him.
That much was clear even from the current situation. If they intended to kidnap Lijan and use her as bait to lure Ezekiel, the royal decree would be but one: do not respond under any circumstances. The royal family had no concern for what treatment a mere commoner like Lijan might receive in Davis.
And so, from the day Lijan revealed her intention to leave the Valdemaira estate, he had steadily prepared to turn over his position to Monkham.
“I’ll go anywhere as long as you’re there.”
She had found it odd that he kept following her on the long journey back to school—now she realized it hadn’t been to see her off.
Lijan realized too late. She also understood why he had so readily sent her to the school in Sielsa despite his displeasure with it.
He had planned to follow her in secret from the very start. Not only during school but even after graduation.
A commander of the royal army could not wander distant lands indefinitely, without promise or deadline. Thus he had abandoned even the post that had spread Major Ezekiel Valdemaira’s fame far and wide across the kingdom to come after her.
How could he?
What in the world was she to do with this foolish man?
“Let’s go, we don’t have much time. We need to get to safety quickly.”