Chapter 21
The Male Lead Went Crazy for the Troublesome Villainess — Episode 21
But Kael showed no sign of wavering. The expedition's command staff gathered at once. Kael kept me beside him and asked.
"Direction?"
"They say northeast."
"Move the line as far from the encampment as possible. We depart immediately."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The knights moved swiftly, as if they had only been waiting for the order. Kael started to mount his horse, then stopped and looked back at me. His gaze was dark as he asked.
"......Are you certain this time too?"
Kael's voice was low and heavy. It was as though the countless burdens he carried were weighing down his shoulders.
"......Pardon?"
"You said we would definitely return. I am asking whether that conviction remains unchanged even now."
At that, I grinned.
Of course, my male lead.
Kael won not only this battle but every battle. That was why I could dream of the future at his side.
I had watched Kael's efforts, his best efforts, and his countless choices as a reader. I had supported him all along. He had never once made the wrong choice.
I answered in a gentle voice. If he needed certainty, I would give it to him.
"Yes, Your Highness. This time next year, I'll be drinking coffee at a coffeehouse. While picking my next investment. And maybe I'll be worrying about romance. We will definitely return."
Kael asked with wavering eyes. Even in the original, he had endlessly doubted himself, again and again.
"How can you be so certain?"
"Because you'll make it happen, Your Highness."
I smiled brightly and clenched my fist.
If what he needed was encouragement, I had plenty.
"So keep going, Your Highness!"
Kael watched me for a long moment before the line of his mouth softened. He held out his hand. I stared at the straight, calloused hand he offered me.
Kael asked in a low voice.
"Will you come with me?"
Naturally, I didn't have a horse. No one had expected me to fight in the first place. Kael was offering to take me with him.
My heart pounded, heat surging through my whole body. It also meant that the way he saw me had changed.
I was no longer a troublesome, spoiled duke's daughter. I nodded and clasped Kael's hand.
Kael pulled me up with one hand in a swift motion.
"Ah."
I nearly screamed, startled by that powerful grip and strength. I clamped my mouth shut and gasped for breath. I felt Kael's laughter vibrate behind my back.
How long had it been since I had felt someone's body heat this close? I forced the stray thought aside and glanced at the hand holding the reins. It was strong and calloused. Kael drew the reins with his arms around me.
"We move out."
At Kael's calm voice, I drew in a breath, and at the same moment the horse started forward.
It was time to put the daggers I'd rounded up in Rainford—and all that hard training—to the test.
I checked the daggers I had tucked inside my coat one by one with my fingertips.
I asked myself.
Are you ready, Rosana?
I answered that question.
Of course.
This was not a road to my death. It was only the first step toward making it back. I wasn't afraid in the slightest, because Kael was at my back, his heart beating warm behind me.
* * *
It had been a long time since my last battle. As the familiar sensations wrapped around me, my pulse began to race.
The horses had been sent back to the encampment. The enormous presence moving through the desolate forest was drawing closer and closer. Kael, lying in ambush beside me, raised his hand.
The easiest way to kill a ground spider was to smash its brain. To do that, the best method was to climb onto the ground spider. That was why every one of us was up in a tree right now.
Sweat dampened the hand gripping the tree bark. How long had it been since I had held my breath and waited at a height like this?
The instincts from my previous life came back one by one. I stilled my breathing, relaxed my muscles, and read the darkness by sound alone. My body remembered who I had been back then.
"Shh."
Kael raised a long finger to his lips beside me. At that signal, I silenced even my breathing.
Tap-tap. Tap-tap.
The sound of a giant spider's legs striking the earth was drawing closer.
Whoa.
I can see it!
I swallowed hard. I had never seen a spider that huge in my life. The eight eyes of the giant spider-type monster, which grew by eating people, glowed red even in the darkness. Its enormous body, covered in dark-red bristles, gave off a rank stench.
As Lillia had warned, there were fourteen giant specimens...... where had one gone? Besides them, there were truly many smaller spiders.
Moonlight scattered over the black wave. Hundreds of eyes were rushing forward, blazing red. Time seemed to stop. Perhaps what stopped was my breath. My heart was pounding like mad.
Facing them directly for the first time, they were far more horrible than I had imagined. I felt like I might retch. The characters in the novel had fought against things like these countless times and ultimately won. Now that I faced them, I understood how precious that victory had been.
On the page, it had been nothing more than 'a giant spider-type monster.' Facing one in reality, I felt in my bones just how sanitized those words had been. I had to pretend to be calm with something like this right in front of me. The world really was far crueler than words on a page.
As I watched Kael raise his hand, I drew a dagger from inside my coat and gripped it. Tension made my fingers clench too hard around the hilt.
Kael turned his head and stared at me.
In a stillness where not even breathing could be heard, his eyes met mine. Kael's lips moved silently.
'If you're afraid.'
If I'm afraid?
I waited for what Kael would say. He moved his lips slowly.
'Run. No one will blame you, my lady.'
Kael added one last thing.
'I will guard your back.'
At those words...... the strength drained from my hand. The tension drained away.
You're such a fool, Rosana. Kael was here. The savior of this world. He would never be defeated, and he would surely seize victory.
He was the symbol of victory, the lamp of hope that would never go out.
I had come here by my own will and stood at his side. I could not let Kael be dragged down because of me.
You're going to win, Rosana.
Of course, this was my first time facing monsters. But the monsters ahead would be stronger and far more horrible. The nightmares waiting for me here would be much worse than this.
If I backed down now, I would never be able to move forward.
I would be devoured by fear.
That was not who I was. I wanted to overcome them. I wanted to drive my blade into their necks. There were still many children in the expedition who needed protection. For their sake, too, I had to become stronger.
'I won't run.'
And if I abandoned the male lead here and ran away, I'd sleep just wonderfully afterward, wouldn't I? The male lead was the only hope in this hell, after all.
I smiled brightly at Kael.
'I will guard Your Highness's back.'
Kael closed his mouth and watched me.
If he became a lamp lighting the expedition's way, I would become a shield protecting him. If he became a butterfly, I would become an umbrella over his head, so the hope he carried could keep burning.
'The path Your Highness takes is the path I will take. If Your Highness is here, then I will be here too.'