CH 41

“Dimitri…!”

I banged on the barrier with all my might. I had no idea what was going on outside.

“Open this!”

No matter how much I tried, nothing happened to the barrier. I quickly gave up because I had read in the novel that it was almost impossible for an ordinary person to break the barrier of dog shapeshifters. Dimitri, who broke that barrier like glass, was called a monster by the shapeshifters.

“I can only wait and not waste my strength…”

I did not know how long it was.

The pure white crystal seemed to absorb even the sound I made while completely cutting off the passage of time and the connection with the outside. I became more and more dazed within the barrier. It was as if I was submerged in water.

The reason why the dog shapeshifter’s barrier was so scary was not just that it could not be penetrated through on its own. If you stay within the barrier, it absorbs all your senses for a long time so you would lose your senses and become caught up in your instinctive anxiety.

In psychology, the most disliked emotion is called anxiety. Anxiety serves to inflate negative emotions.

Inside, the fear that the five senses were not working properly met with the anxiety of not knowing the external situation at all inflated like a balloon. The senses of the passage of time were mixed up in a dizzying mixture, and I was horrified by the unknown sense that it seemed like a very long time had passed.

‘…What will happen to me if no one breaks this barrier?’

It felt as though I continued to sink into the depths of the sea floor.

Everywhere I looked, it was all white, and even the sense of perspective was lost in this space without contrast. At least, I was relieved to be able to touch the wall. It was because I was afraid of losing the sense of perspective as the space had been so vast.

“…It’s okay. It’s okay.”

I went around inside the barrier to soothe the anxious whining.

The fact that there were living and breathing creatures together in a pure white space where nothing could be seen gave me some relief. So, I hugged the horse’s neck and closed my eyes, standing there for a while. Though I hurriedly opened my eyes because I suddenly heard a noise outside as if it had been unmuted.

When I glanced towards the sound, there was a small hole in the ceiling of the barrier.

“Rowaine, step away from the wall!”

It was Dimitri’s voice.

With the sound, the lost sensation that had disappeared returned at once. For a moment, I felt like I was going to burst into tears as a sense of relief came.

I calmly pulled the horse and settled in the center of the barrier.

Then, soon after, there was a sound ‘Sweeaeaak,’ and something was stuck in the barrier. The wind pierced a hole in the wall. It seemed that Dimitri struck hard against the wall leaving many holes, causing inconsistency connecting the hole.

Unable to withstand the shocks applied one after another, the barrier shattered with a cracking sound.

Crash—!

I reflexively covered my head and face and bent down. Fortunately, the shattered fragments scattered in the air and disappeared.

“Come back, Samael.”

Dimitri looked into the air and spoke.

Raising my head following his gaze, I made eye contact with a mass of black mist that was spinning rapidly in the air.

“….?

It was strange.

‘Eyes…?’

It was written that in this world, humans could not see the true nature of demons. That mist must have been a demon of Dimitri, but I could not see the devil’s eyes.

Still, I definitely felt that our eyes met.

‘…I must have been wrong.’

Without thinking too much, I hurriedly turned to Dimitri.

“Are you okay, Dimitri?”

Dimitri shrugged his shoulders with a pretentious face before busily cleaning up his messy hair and outfit. It looked like he was doing ‘grooming,’ which a cat does when the hunt is over. After confirming that he was fine, I stood with my mouth wide open and looked around at the several dogs lying around him.

“Did you kill them?”

As he closed his mouth and pondered over my question, he soon smiled softly and asked a question back instead.

“Do you want that? If so, I’ll kill them.”

Even though I did not know what he was trying to do, I stopped him from raising his hand threateningly.

“Oh, no!”

He shrugged his shoulders and lowered the hand he had lifted as if to stop if I did not like it. Worried about his attitude, I looked closely at the dog shapeshifters then I was surprised.

‘Huh? This dog shapeshifter…’

It was a dog shapeshifter with three white patterns that looked like cute pearls on the neck. It certainly looked like a string of pearls.

‘No way, the male protagonist…?’

It must have been Cadis, the male protagonist of this novel… The Emperor’s hunting dog with three white round patterns in the middle of its neck as if wearing a pearl necklace. Dimitri grumbled as I looked down at him, worrying that he might be dead.

“He wouldn’t have died like this. They’re strong, even if they look like that.”

I did not know what it looked like from here.

‘Looking at it from here, he still looked strong.’

I was relieved to see Cadis’ chest rise and fall.

‘…Thank god. If something is wrong with him, the Princess will not stand still.’

Without realizing it, I almost walked down the villain’s path with Dimitri.

‘How hard did I try to escape the fate of being executed at the hands of the main characters… It was almost in vain.’

As I swept my chest, Dimitri asked as if displeased.

“Are you worried about these men who tried to attack you, Rowaine?”

“Dogs are not guilty. If there’s a problem, the owner’s always at fault.”

After I said that, I gazed at Dimitri, who immediately noticed what I wanted and turned his head away.

“You can’t.”

It meant that I was not allowed to heal Cadis with my ability.

“If it was something anyone could enjoy, wouldn’t it be too much of a loss for me?”

His words were right. He was accepting a contract marriage by giving me a large amount of dignified maintenance in return for almost monopolizing my abilities.

‘I wish I could give the male lead a favor, so I would surely escape the villain’s fate.’

After thinking about whether there was a better way, I suggested it to Dimitri.

“You’re not going to leave them here, are you? Let’s take them. Why don’t we take the Emperor’s soldiers and treat them with courtesy and return them to the imperial palace in a dignified form?”

I smirked mischievously and continued.

“I think they’ll give you a diamond mine in return if you do well.”

“Diamond mine?”

“Because it was originally meant to be in my hands.”

What this meant was that the Emperor must have been so bold because he believed that Dimitri would never publicize today’s damage, fearing that it would turn out to be a muddy love fight.

In the first place, my existence would be a thorn in the eyes of the elders, and it would be fortunate if Dimitri would not take the blame for me for taking the wrong woman and tarnishing Blois’ reputation. For this reason, the Emperor must have thought that Dimitri would ponder for a long time and come to the conclusion that he had no choice but to bury it.

But now, in front of us, three hounds, precious evidence, were lying pretty.

‘Even the Emperor would not have known that the hounds he sent out would suddenly be divided into small groups and fight against Dimitri.’

It did not matter if they took me under the pretext of having a conversation — especially if it was a situation where my father was forced to send me away. However, trying to use force was a problem. Although the Emperor may not intend to leave any evidence of the use of force, the evidence remained.

‘Now that we have solid evidence that they tried to kidnap me by force, no matter how displeased they are with Dimitri, they could not help but support him.’

When the nobles who supported Blois united, they could demand compensation from the Emperor and even start a war. Because of that, I persuaded Dimitri to use that point to threaten the Emperor.

‘…In this situation, it makes more sense to dig out diamond mines than war.’

If it was meant to be given to Rowaine anyway, it would not be something as though it was life-threatening bleeding. Still, it would be enough to twist the stomach because it was a waste.

‘I can also show favor to Cadis at the same time…’

I will give them good memories by feeding them a lot of delicious food. Sharing delicious food, no matter the time of year or age would be the easiest thing to do to win the favor of others.

Delighted with the result of all my actions today, I laughed out loud.

We would not have been able to get the hounds as witnesses if I had not ripped the hounds into pieces with ‘Plan B,’ and if Dimitri had not come just in time to beat them down.

It was a situation where everything worked out so well that it was a win-win situation.

‘Somehow, it became perfect.’

At times like this, perhaps I could use arrogant words like luck is also a skill?

Dimitri also realized what I was thinking and gave me a thumbs up. Then, I opened my mouth very generously.

“The profit is six to four, six for me. I’m sure Dimitri will recognize my work, right?”

“You’re generous, Rowaine.”

“If I’d known that you’re going to agree so easily like this, I would’ve said seven—three!”

“You’re still not very good at negotiating.”

He chuckled and commanded the devil.

“Shedim, put them on horseback.”