Chapter 65: I took away Yeju's first love.
Aster blocked the wolf's front paw with one arm and sliced its body with a knife from behind the man's shoulder.
I instinctively pushed away the person who had pulled me into their arms.
When I realized who it was, chills ran down my spine.
"T-Thank you for helping me, Your Highness, Duke."
My voice trembled. I averted my gaze and huddled my body.
Fortunately, Andrew stepped back willingly.
I never imagined it would be him. I was so startled that my body shook.
Pio, who had been held in my arms, looked up at me as if to ask if I was okay, but my head was spinning.
Aster's voice brought me back to my senses.
He was looking at Andrew with a cold gaze, his eyes ready to pounce at any moment.
I stepped between them to ease the tension.
"I'm fine. Thank you for saving me, Your Majesty."
My shirt was soaked with blood from blocking the monster's claws with my arm.
"Goodness! Are you alright?"
He kept his eyes on the Duke without moving.
While I hesitated, unable to touch him, people started to gather.
My mother and father rushed over and surrounded me.
Father examined my body with tears in his eyes.
Mother looked like she was about to cry too.
"You always say you're fine, don't you, doctor!"
Mother fussed and went off to find a doctor.
Father checked me over, making sure I wasn't hurt anywhere.
I looked up for Aster. The doctors were already examining his arm.
Knights and people quickly gathered, making it noisy.
Despite the commotion, Andrew kept staring at me.
His dark eyes were filled with sticky, dirty emotions.
It was uncomfortable and unpleasant.
"I'm tired and want to rest."
"Ah, yes. Let's go inside."
I hugged Pio and left the scene as if fleeing.
When we arrived at the camp, Lily ran over with tears in her big eyes.
She couldn't even touch me, just examined me and then burst into tears.
"What is this? Where did you get so many injuries?"
Lily, who was crying, saw Pio, who was snuggled in my arms.
"Ah, his name is Pio. Isn't he cute? I met him wandering in the forest. We'll be living together for a while."
I struggled to explain and made up a story.
Pio didn't help much, but he was cute, so it was fine.
She sighed in relief when she saw my face.
"I'm glad you're safe, Lady."
She then dismissed the people around me, except for my mother.
"I'll take this one too. If you're going to keep him, he needs a bath."
Pio, shocked by Lily's words, hid behind me.
But she picked up the puppy by the scruff of his neck and took him outside.
I could hear his whining, but I always left such tasks to Lily, so there was nothing I could do.
"Come this way and lie down. We need to check the wounds on your back."
Under my mother's intense gaze, I took off my shirt. The bandages, which I had wrapped carefully, were soaked with blood.
Alison slowly unwrapped the bandages and examined the wounds.
"Fortunately, they haven't gotten much worse."
Mother, who was watching from the side, asked.
Alison nodded as she disinfected and applied medicine.
"If you apply the medicine regularly and come for scar treatment occasionally, you should be fine."
"Scar treatment? Is there such a thing?"
It was a new treatment method.
"It's a treatment method I developed."
Mother's eyes sparkled as she asked Alison various questions about the new treatment.
"Combining medicine and magic."
Encouraged by Mother's reaction, Alison began to seek advice on her own research.
Before I knew it, my treatment had turned into a scholarly discussion between the two.
"Oh, I'm sorry. This is the first time I've met such a kind magician."
Alison, who had been speaking passionately, blushed and muttered.
Her face still showed her lingering attachment to her research.
I seized the opportunity to ask.
"Can I help Alison, Robert, and Professor Eric work together on research?"
"Professor Eric has already accepted my offer. As for Mr. Robert... he's still considering it, but I plan to persuade him over time."
Alison reacted strongly to the name Robert.
I had a feeling they weren't just ordinary acquaintances.
Alison smiled mysteriously.
"If I'm there, Robert will never work."
After receiving the medicine from Alison and setting a date for the scar treatment,
"Is this okay? The Duchess won't just sit by, you know."
"During your absence, the Duke will provide everything you need. So don't worry."
Alison's words reminded me of Andrew, who had pulled me into his arms.
But it was a rare opportunity to see Alison again, so I couldn't refuse.
"Can I also check the Emperor's wounds?"
"Of course. Could you find out when the Emperor is available?"
"I'll contact him separately."
After Alison left, Mother turned to me.
"Why do you always get into trouble? Do you know how worried we were?"
"It's fine. This time it was an accident."
"No, it wasn't an accident. Raymond did this."
"What? Is that true? Tatiana was in the position, and Raymond arrived late."
"I don't know how he did it, but it was Raymond's magic. And a mind control spell made my body move to the river on its own."
"If it was mind control... it must have been Raymond's magic. Hold on."
Mother extended her hand to check the traces of magic left on my body.
"Indeed, the forest must have absorbed it, leaving no trace. That boy really uses his head in strange ways."
Mother, grinding her teeth in frustration, looked at my bracelet.
"I can't let this go. Give me that bracelet."
Mother examined the bracelet carefully.
"I thought there might be something, and there is magic left on the bracelet."
"It's hard to completely remove magic from artificial devices. With this, we can formally protest to the Magic Tower and get that boy removed from the position of the next Tower Master."
"I want to do something else."
I couldn't let this opportunity slip away.
Mother thought for a moment and nodded.
"That's a method too. If you want, we can do it that way."
Mother returned the bracelet, from which she had extracted the magic, and stood up.
"I need to talk to your father about a plan."
She hurried out of the tent.
After the commotion, I thought of Aster.
'I hope he's not badly hurt.'
Aster had saved me, but Andrew had acted as if he had saved me.
Worse, Aster had seen that scene, which bothered me.
His cold gaze, watching me and Andrew, kept replaying in my mind.
I went outside and headed toward where Aster was.
As I approached the central tent, I saw doctors bustling around.
I was worried he might be badly hurt.
I approached the knight guarding the tent.
"Tell His Majesty that the Lady of Paeonia is here."
The knight bowed and went inside.
Soon, the doctor came out with the knight.
"The wounds are deep, so he's in a lot of pain. We don't have oral painkillers, so we used a strong herbal medicine. It's better if you wait a bit before going in."
I stiffened at the doctor's words.
Using the fastest-acting inhalation painkiller meant the pain was severe.
I pushed past the doctor and went inside.
I didn't want to waste time waiting outside when I was the reason he was hurt.
Inside, a few candles provided dim light, and the air was filled with the bitter smell of herbs.
Aster, lying on a long sofa, sat up and turned to look at me.
His half-lowered eyes slightly raised, and a fierce, predatory gaze flashed through the smoky air.