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Chapter 17
Chapter 17 - The Monster Duke Mistook Me for His Wife
Translated by Arnlian
Edited by Arnlian
***
“Haaaa.”
“Ria, the ground is going to collapse then.”
“It’s better to be collapsed tho.”
I looked at the ruined greenhouse and cried.
The window glasses crashed, the pots are broken, and the plants are all dried up.
Dillian’s Runaway was like a disaster, and the greenhouse that was not far from where the battle took place received the aftermath.
The result, as you can see, it’s a mess.
There was no one intact.
“My babies… Mom is sorry.”
Hiks, I covered my mouth in the devastating sight.
Do you know how I raised them? I raised them by feeding and feeding them divine power, but it was gone in one time.
I sniffed.
“Ah, it’s cold.”
In the cold wind, my body trembled.
“Miss Ria, are you cold?”
Dillian, who recognized my condition like a ghost, approached me, unleashing his scarf.
“Put this around.”
Dillian wrapped his scarf around my neck. It was an awkward hand.
‘Am I a mummy, what’s this?’
As my face was buried in a scarf leaving only my eyes, Dillian hurriedly covered his mouth.
“Is this funny?”
Why did you close your eyes and laugh?
Dillian took a peek, then bowed down his head and waved his hand.
“Hem, it’s not.”
“Take it back please. This is Sir Dillian’s scarf, isn’t it?”
“There is no such thing as mine or yours between us.”
“What? What’s between us…”
As far as I know, isn’t it a healer and a patient or a landlord and a guest?
Dillian just smiled silently.
It was hard to open my eyes properly because of how shiny his smile was.
It is definitely a handsome face, but why does it make me uncomfortable?
It bothered me as if I had a small thorn stuck in my finger.
“Ria? What’s wrong?”
As she stared at Dillian with a grim look, Nathan approached and asked.
“Seems like something is happening that only I don’t know.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know, it’s a very, very ominous feeling.”
I feel like the world is leaving me out.
When I was organizing the greenhouse, Dillian stared through the gate.
“What’s wrong? Is someone there?”
“Yes, someone is coming.”
Crap, I knew this would happen. There’s no way they would give up easily.
I took away the shovel that Dillian was holding.
“Stay still here, okay?”
“It’s dangerous to be alone.”
“It’s more dangerous to be alone with Sir Dillian.”
What if, the person who visited was a villager, then rumors that Dillian was here might be spreaded.
“If I feel something strange, I will scream, so please just wait here.”
His face, which was full of complaints, protested loudly, but I ignored him.
‘So what? I’m the landlord tho.’
As I headed to the gate with a  shovel, a man who seemed to be a knight and a slender woman greeted me.
“Excuse me.”
“What can I do for you?”
“We are looking for someone-.”
The woman rummaged through her arms.
‘No weapon will suddenly come out from there, right?’
I tried hard to keep a smile while holding the shovel handle.
“Have you ever seen this person?”
What she took out is the portrait of Dillian.
Unlike now, when he smiles with his eyes all the time, he had a cold face that seemed like he would not bleed even if he was stabbed.
‘That’s the face that I’ve usually seen, but it’s very unfamiliar.’
Looking closely at the portrait, I shook my head slowly.
“I’m not sure. I don’t know because of the heavy snow, so I refrain from going out.”
I pretend not to know, feigned ignorance.
“Then, is there another house nearby?”
“If you go up there, there is an empty cottage…”
The two of them made eye contact. It seemed that they were planning to go there.
“Then may I go inside now?”
“We have one more question. How did your house end up like this?”
“… Last night. I was attacked by monsters. You two should be careful too. That forest, infested with monsters.”
“… Is it really dangerous?”
“Well, if you get caught, you might die. Especially, those who do not have weapons or are injured are the monster’s dish. Dish.”
Neck sliced. When I pretended to draw a straight line on my neck with my hand, the faces of the two turned pale.
They showed signs of being nervous.
“Please excuse us.”
I stared at the two people getting far away.
“It feels different from the ones who came yesterday…”
“That’s what I thought. They are contrary to them.”
“Ack! What a surprise!”
My heart pounded at the sudden appearance of a face.
“Sir Dillian?”
Dillian rubbed his ears, frowning one eye.
“I thought my ears were going to rip.”
“Not this! I told you not to come out!”
“I’m worried about Miss Ria.”
What’s that, that plain sweet voice.
I shivered at the voice I heard for the first time.
“What if something happens to Miss Ria?”
That something was about to happen now.
After coming to my senses, I hit Dillian on the back.
“Why are you worried about me? Just worried about yourself.”
“So, that means the one who can worry about me is Miss Ria.”
“What nonsense are you talking about? Hurry up and go.”
I pushed Dillian’s back hard. I definitely pushed it but,
‘What’s this, did it stick to the ground?’
Even if he pushed as hard as I could, Dillian didn’t budge.
I nervously glanced behind me.
The two people who just left were not too far away. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to have heard the sound of our conversation, but when they turned around, Dillian was in a position to be seen by them.
My heart pounded with anxiety that they were about to look back.
“I got it, hurry!”
“That’s nice, I received worried from Miss Ria.”
Seriously, this person!
I pushed Dillian’s back as if I was doing a body bump.
So I didn’t see it.
The two pairs of footprints that led to a certain distance on the white snowfield were cut off.
There was no sign of moving forward or going back.
***
A night when the darkness fell.
Dillian sighed, annoyed by the persistent gaze from outside of the window.
“Shouting to say look at me must be less straightforward than this.”
They want me to greet them, so I’ll have to do it.
Dillian, who opened the backdoor roughly, called for the ones hidden in the darkness.
“Come out.”
At Dillian’s call, who sank low, a pair of men and women walked out of the darkness.
As they looked familiar, Dillian lifted his eyebrow.
‘They’re the ones I saw during the day.’
The one is a knight, and the other one is a mage?
Dillian nerves went back to the man.
Sword on his waist, firm body, perfect posture, and energy flowing from the man.
It’s not ordinary.
‘It’s such a hustle.’
Dillian peeked down at the crowbar in his hand as he saw a sword hanging in the man’s waist.
A crowbar is not a bad weapon. It’s an excellent approach weapon that can make a pretty hole in the body as well as bone once wielded.
But he just didn’t want to swing it in an uncool way.
‘That sword looks good. It’d be perfect if I took it from him.’
The sword picked up during the last attack, after the Runaway, there was nothing that can be called a weapon because I ate it all.
‘Should I hit his head first?’
No one thought he was not a villain, he was even thinking of robbing a weapon in a very sweet way.
As he approached the opponent with the intention to carving up him beautifully, at that time,
“Eldman Katlan. I see Your Highness.”
“Kanae Hill. I see Your Highness.”
The eyes of the two pairs looking up at Dillian were full of trust.
“Your face is really damage… No, I’m glad you look healthy.”
“Yes, you look happy…”
Dillian’s loyal knight, Eldman, could not say that his face was damaged.
Dillian’s loyal mage, Kanae, agreed with that.
The shiny face was obviously a face that ate well, slept well, and had enough rest.
‘He looked better than when he’s in the Duchy…’
As expected, His Highness’s stress was all because of the elder!
Eldman, a loyal knight, has completed his self-rationalization.
Eldman, who was slowly thinking that Dillian’s face looks good, soon his face distorted.
“It’s because we are lacking. It’s not like we didn’t expect to be attacked, attacked so easily… It’s all our fault. We will take whatever punishment you want.”
Eldman bowed down at his mistake.
He bowed so deeply so that he could hit his head on the floor immediately.
‘The problem was we let our guard down just because we came here to search for a flower.’
On this cold day, the reason we came to Wilhelm, the northernmost part, was because of a flower called the dragon’s heart.
A heart-like red flower that blooms only in the middle of winter. The dragon’s heart.
It was a legendary flower that healed any disease as if the disease had been washed away.
And it was reported that the flower was recently found in Wilhelm.
Upon hearing this news, the Crown Prince told Dillian this is a duty as a token of loyalty.
It was ridiculous, but Dillian, who was tired of the Crown Prince trying to keep him in check in every case, came to find the flower by setting up his own minority elite.
“We have about fifteen days left, so it will be perfect if we go back now.”
“Your Highness, I have placed the flower in a safe place under conservation magic. No need to be worried.”
Kanae, who recalled that time, hit her forehead on the ground.
Nastiness that doesn’t give time to enjoy the happiness of finding the flower, fighting in a despicable battle while outnumbered, and scattered colleagues.
And not the herb but Dillian, that the assassins aimed.
Dillian got serious injuries because of that sudden attack.
‘This is my fault.’
I should have made a stronger barrier.
Kanae urgently used teleportation magic to protect Dillian.
The target point is the inn where they stayed.
First of all, the injured Dillian had to be sent to a safe place first.
And apparently, it was confirmed that he was moved by the magic.
But when she arrived at the inn after the tough battle, Dillian was not there.
No trace of him could be found anywhere in the inn.
To make matters worse, they were stranded by the heavy snow that began to pour.
When the snow stopped and they managed to move, the two, who were relatively less injured, wandered around the village and asked about Dillian.
But there was a problem, they couldn’t go around openly because of the hostile forces that started looking for Dillian at the same time.
That’s how fifteen days have passed. Times that took to find him.
No less, fifteen days.
Eldman closed his eyes tightly.
Even if his master told him to cut his neck here, he had no choice but to follow.
However, even after a long time, he couldn’t hear anything above his head.