Chapter 10

"Anna!?"

Turning around, Anna was seen crouching in pain, an arrow piercing her left arm. At the sight, Ilyss quickly changed her direction and rushed over.

It was unbelievable to see the arrow, with its feathers painted black, embedded in Anna’s arm.

(Could it be, that guy... not only ordered to chase us, but also to kill us if necessary...!)

—To hate us this much!

She gritted her teeth, but in front of her, Anna was wincing in pain from the arrow stuck in her slender arm.

It must be very painful.

"Hold on!"

She shouted, but there was little she could do to treat the wound here.

As she anxiously looked at the young face crouching on the dark cobblestones, beads of sweat were forming on her forehead. It must be very painful. With a pained breath, her eyes distorted as she looked up at Ilyss.

"I’m... fine... I won’t be a burden..."

"No! Now’s not the time for the famous lines of a duke’s daughter’s lover! Besides, Gitt should be the one saying that as the priest, right!?"

She inadvertently pointed out something completely irrelevant, but Anna seemed pleased despite the pain.

"Oh, you understand?"

"Anyway! Show me your wound now!"

She forcibly took Anna’s arm, which was still happy that her line had been understood, but the arrow had pierced her slender arm deeply.

"How terrible..."

Such a beautiful white arm. The arrow had torn through the flesh and was deeply embedded in the young arm.

"Just bear with it a little longer."

(First, I have to pull out the arrow—)

Whether to stop the bleeding or to escape, the first step was to pull out the arrow. She tried to do it as gently as possible, but even a slight movement caused blood to gush from the wound.

"Gitt, get a cloth from that bag."

Seeing the fresh blood gushing from the wound, she urgently asked Gitt, who was standing nearby, for something to tie it with.

As expected of the reliable Collina. When they checked the bag in the carriage, it contained almost everything they needed for their escape, including a white cloth.

"Y-Yes! But, Lady Ilyss, your hands are covered in blood."

"This isn’t the time to worry about that. We need to stop the bleeding quickly!"

With this young body, how much blood loss could it withstand—?

While watching the blood still flowing from the wound, she gripped the arrow and, wishing to cause as little pain as possible, pulled it out in one swift motion.

"Ah!"

The pain of the flesh being torn must have been intense. She quickly applied the white cloth to Anna’s arm and tightly bound it.

"Another ribbon, please."

To stop the bleeding as quickly as possible, she tied another one above the wound.

Even though it wasn’t directly on the arrow wound, the pain would still spread when tightly bound. The moment she tied it, Anna winced without a word, but this was the best they could do in this situation.

"We have to get you to a doctor quickly—"

She turned around, urgently holding Anna, and called out to Gitt. It would be terrible if, because of them, a scar was left on Anna’s beautiful arm.

Just as she was about to rush off with Anna in her arms, more arrows rained down from above.

She narrowly avoided them, but the high heels caused her to stumble, and her back, with Anna in her arms, hit the brick wall behind her. The road was muddy from the remaining snow, which might have contributed to her fall. Black soot stuck to her hands as she braced herself against the wall, but there was no time to wipe it off.

"Lady Ilyss, I’ll carry her!"

"Please!"

So, she quickly handed Anna to Gitt, who had extended his hand. As soon as she confirmed that Anna was on Gitt’s back, she dodged the next arrow and started running down the alley.

"Hold on! Is there a doctor this way!?"

"Over there..."

Weakly, Anna raised her uninjured hand and pointed to the depths of the alley, which was almost completely dark. All she could see were Anna’s hand, empty bottles, and snow scattered in the alley.

"Damn! If only I knew the area better, we could do something—"

But then she noticed a red bruise on Anna’s raised hand. It wasn’t even purple. It looked like it had just appeared—.

(What is that? Was that there before?)

"Hey, your hand—"

She started to say something but stopped. The alley was dark, and apart from the broken pieces of plates and rats scurrying into their holes, she could clearly see the bandaged arm on Gitt’s back.

At first, she thought it was blood from the wound. But it was different. Red bruises were appearing in places where they definitely weren’t there before.

(What!? What is this!? There were no such bruises just now!?)

It was different from the one on her leg. It was clearly something that had just appeared on Anna’s body.

(Could it be poison!? That guy, to make sure he caught us—)

Did he order them to drag us to him, even if we were dead, as long as we were in front of him?

(How devious—)

To hate us this much. She bit her lip hard, but upon closer inspection, Anna’s face was terribly pale.

"We have to get you to a doctor quickly!"

(To be willing to kill his own people, what kind of mindset does he have?)

He didn’t seem that corrupt. To sacrifice innocent people for their sake—

He clearly didn’t intend to let them escape. More arrows rained down from above like rain.

"Run! This way!"

To avoid the arrows falling from above, they quickly turned into a side street.

But the right side of the alley they turned into was a dead end with only wooden boxes for garbage. This way was no good. Panting heavily, her breath visible in the night air, she quickly turned left. However, just as they were about to reach a major street, they were enveloped by an overwhelming light.

"There they are! The two from the capital!"

Looking around, the street was filled with knights, illuminating every shop and alley with torches.

(Oh no! We’re completely cornered!)

To mobilize this many troops to catch us—

It’s over—

Surrounded by torches, Ilyss stood next to Gitt, who was carrying Anna, and gritted her teeth in frustration.