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“Ugh!”
Feeling the urge to vomit, Renato covered his mouth with his hand. The inside of his neck was burning, probably because of stomach acid refluxing and hurting it.
“A, are you okay?”
When Renato suddenly retched, Baikal was startled and reached out. However, unable to support Renato, he just hovered around.
“Ugh, huff.”
Renato breathed out heavily instead of answering. He found it hard to breathe as if someone was choking him. The scar that had been aching a while ago was also throbbing painfully. Feeling his entire stomach squeezed, his upper body crouched in pain. His vision gradually became blurry.
“Please calm down, and breathe in and out slowly.”
Feeling that Renato’s condition was abnormal, Baikal induced him to take deep breaths. Huu, Renato leaned against the cold wall, inhaling and exhaling repeatedly. But an enemy appeared before he could calm down.
“You son of a bitch!”
“L, leader?”
Baikal was terrified when he saw the person appearing at the crossroad. The one bleeding from his head was the head of the organization. Perhaps he was running away, the man who was holding in his arms what seemed to be a ledger recognized Baikal and rushed in like an angry bull.
“Ugh!”
Baikal collided with the leader and fell. The leader who knocked Baikal down in the blink of an eye turned to Renato. His fierce eyes gleamed horribly.
“Who are you?”
“Renato-nim!”
Noticing something unusual, Luna hurriedly got away from the gang members who were clinging to her, but it was already too late. The distance between the leader and Renato was too close to block by throwing a weapon.
Pow!
The moment the leader, who had lost his rationality, reached out toward Renato, a heavy sound rang out. A man in a black robe broke into the alley and struck the leader in the back of his head. Having been attacked without a chance to defend himself, the leader collapsed like a puppet with a broken string.
“Who are you? It’s dangerous here…… Your Imperial Highness?”
The man who came out of nowhere turned his gaze to Renato, who was almost caught by the organization leader, then stopped. He recognized the face revealed through the half-fallen robe at once.
“Kha, lid?”
Renato also recognized the other person. He blankly looked up at Khalid while the man also looked down at him in bewilderment.
He was confused about whether the Khalid he saw right now was real or a hallucination created by his memories. So many things happened at once that he couldn’t keep his mind clear. His brain was a mess.
“Why are you here…… Ugh.”
As he was about to raise his body, Renato groaned in pain and bent down again. Khalid, who had been stiffened by the unexpected meeting, quickly supported the body collapsing to the ground.
“Are you okay? Were you hurt?”
Khaled pulled Renato into his arms and asked in an urgent voice. When his astonishment faded away a little, Renato’s pale, tired face came into his vision.
“Your Imperial Highness!”
In the meantime, Luna overpowered all the members of the organization and approached the two. Looking at Renato in Khalid’s arms, her face contorted. She felt guilty for not protecting him properly.
“Huu, ugh……”
Renato tried to talk to Luna. He wanted to say he was okay, but only groans came out. The smell of blood spreading here and there made him nauseous and dizzy.
‘I entrust Trudy to you. Please protect that child.’
‘Your Imperial Highness, please don’t cry…… I’m okay.’
‘Hic, hyung-nim, I beg of you. Please don’t hate me. Please?’
‘If you need my help, I will help you as much as I can.’
‘Just when? Since when have you had that kind of relationship with that bastard? You didn’t? Do you really think I will believe that?’
‘I will buy time. In the meantime, please take Snow and run away. As far as possible. Do you understand?’
Numerous memories mixed up in his dazed mind. Many people’s voices echoed in his ears like tinnitus. The more it happened, the more painful his scar became.
“It, it hurts, ugh, huff.”
Overwhelmed by unbearable pain, Renato crouched down and groaned. Seeing that it was difficult to get an answer from Renato, Khalid turned to the other person.
“You are Dame Luna, right? Just what happened?”
“……I’ll explain the details after we get out of here. No one should know that His Imperial Highness is here. Please help us.”
After hesitating for a bit, Luna asked Khalid for help. It might have been different if Renato’s condition was good, but now that this happened, she couldn’t handle this alone. They needed Khalid’s help to get out of this place quietly.
“I will.”
Khalid accepted Luna’s request without hesitation. He wasn’t cold-blooded enough to turn away from this sight. Then, he carefully lifted the body that was convulsing in pain.
“Huu……”
Feeling his body lifted, Renato shuddered and let out a pained sound. His face, wet with cold sweat, was very pale.
“Please don’t be tense and just let yourself be comfortable. I’m here to help.”
Khaled changed the position so that Renato could lean on him comfortably, then softly whisper. Renato, focusing on the word ‘help’, turned his hazy lavender-colored eyes to Khalid.
“Kha, lid……”
“Uhm?”
Khalid was about to quickly move, but stopped when hearing a faint voice. When he thought about it again, Renato had been calling him by his name since earlier. Before he could even feel strange about that, a trembling hand gripped Khalid’s robe.
“Please……”
The light purple eyes were full of tears just like dew on a flower’s petal. A plea that resembled the breath scattered in the air leaked from Renato’s lips which had lost their color.
“Please, help me.”
As soon as the pitiful plea dug into his ears, his heart pounded. Khalid took a deep breath without realizing it. The soft voice that seemed to disappear at any moment caused a strange ripple in his heart.
Barely finishing his words, Renato dropped his head. His body also became limp when his senses blurred. Unable to stand the pain, he lost consciousness.
“Your Imperial Highness!”
Luna, looking at Renato with an anxious face, lost her composure when he passed out. Forgetting that Khalid was holding Renato, she stretched out her hand recklessly. At that moment, Baikal raised his body up and quickly shouted.
“Please wait. You must not recklessly touch a fainted person!”
Baikal hastily stopped Luna and approached Khalid who was holding Renato. Then he cautiously asked permission.
“Can, can I take a look for a moment?”
“Are you a doctor?”
“Uhm, for the time being, I am……”
Baikal answered in a barely audible voice. After exchanging glances with Luna, Khalid turned towards Baikal.
“Hmm.”
After examining Renato’s complexion, Baikal grabbed the wrist that was hanging down helplessly and concentrated. After checking Renato’s pulse for a while, he sighed in relief.
“Fortunately, it is not a big deal. It seems like he just passed out because he couldn’t overcome a psychological shock.”
“He was holding his stomach in pain earlier, is he injured anywhere?”
“There are no visible injuries. The enemies have never approached His Imperial Highness either. I’ll have to take a closer look, but…… Maybe it’s because he was under a lot of stress for a moment……”
“Hmm.”
Hearing Baikal’s words, Khalid’s gaze turned to the alley. It was certainly not a scene that a Prince who had grown up peacefully in the Imperial Palace could endure.
“It is difficult to conduct a proper checkup here. We have to move to the right place to make an accurate diagnosis.”
“Let’s go to my official residence first.”
Having decided on his destination, Khalid took off his robe and wrapped it around Renato’s body. At that time, Amavand, who had subdued all the gang members, approached the alley.
“Commander-nim! What are you doing there? What about the leader? Uh?”
Amavand opened his eyes wide when Khalid, who was chasing the leader that had fled with the ledger, came out holding someone.
“What happened, who is that person?”
“Get rid of the fallen bastards at this place. Hear from Dame Luna here about this matter.”
“Dame Luna?”
Amavand tilted his head at the unfamiliar name, then saw Luna behind Khalid and let out an exclamation. He knew who she was.
“I’ll take care of His Imperial Highness, so don’t worry and just discuss it with Sir Amavand here to clean up the surroundings. After that, follow me.”
“Thank you very much.”
Luna bowed her head to Khalid. She wanted to go to the official residence together with him, but she had to go to Louis who was waiting for them in the dwarf’s workshop.
“And the doctor? You follow me.”
“Pardon? Ah, yes!”
Hearing Khalid’s words, Baikal responded with a solemn expression. Holding Renato in his arms, Khalid strode towards the carriage. Even though Renato had lost his mind, his body was still weakly trembling, making Khalid feel strangely anxious.