Chapter 45
Before Melissa could call for reinforcements as she had wished, Nelly had already pulled her back.
Rosalia had also turned around at some point and drifted past Melissa, her skirt fluttering behind her like a leaf trembling in a storm.
She went straight for the person in black without hesitation, stopped abruptly in front of him, and carefully stood on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck, holding him tightly, tightly.
This development was so unexpected that Nelly was stunned for a long moment. Her first reaction was to turn and look at Kal.
Kal’s brow was furrowed, his red eyes flickering, clearly deep in thought.
Looking at Melissa again, her face was stiff with surprise. After a long moment, she finally managed to ask in a low voice, “What is…”
Rosalia turned to the side, nestled against the person in black’s chest, and smiled faintly. “Although this is very abrupt and willful, could you please just let us leave like this?”
It was a dazzling smile. From the curve of her eyes to the half-revealed white teeth of her pale red lips, it was pure, unadulterated happiness. This was the Rose Princess’s true smile. Compared to it, the curve that had previously lingered on her lips was nothing more than an emotionless mask. Because of this smile, her deep, charming green eyes seemed to have melted into the brightest stars in the sky, shining brilliantly. Her whole face seemed to be glowing because of this smile.
Melissa was even more confused. “But…”
But the person in black had already swept Rosalia up into his arms and was about to turn and leave.
Kal expressionlessly waved his quill, and a faintly glowing barrier instantly appeared in front of the two of them.
Rosalia looked back, her lips tightly pressed together, clearly on the verge of tears, but she tried her best to suppress her anxiety and said, word for word, “Please…”
“This is a barrier that isolates movement and sound. Don’t worry about alerting the guards below.” Kal stated calmly and mercilessly, unmoved by the Rose Princess’s plea. “Please give us an explanation. Otherwise…” He paused. “Not only did we fail to capture the person in black, but we also lost the Rose Princess. Even the Lord Hero may not be able to bear this responsibility.”
Nelly knew that what Kal said was reasonable, but she couldn’t help but be slightly taken aback by his extraordinary calmness.
Rosalia’s feelings for this person in black were clearly genuine, and even Nelly had been moved for a moment just now. To be able to so coldly act against the fated lovers breaking through their bonds to pursue happiness, Kal was abnormally emotionally detached.
“My father wants to lock me up here and marry me off to… anyone who can afford the army’s expenses.” Rosalia said quickly and softly. “Not only that…”
Before she could finish, the person in black suddenly dodged to the side with her in his arms.
A terrified guard was standing behind the doorway, his mouth opening and closing, all his shouts blocked by the barrier. The person in black decisively put Rosalia down, and with a flash, Nelly felt a gust of wind brush past her, and she was pulled back several steps. She lowered her head slightly, and a sharp dagger was pressed against her neck, reflecting her blurry outline.
Melissa cursed in a low voice.
The person in black still didn’t speak, but his posture said it all. Nelly was the hostage, and the condition was to let him and Rosalia go.
In that brief moment of change, a dense crowd of guards had already gathered at the doorway. Although they were all thin, their expressions were so agitated they were almost crazed—who wouldn’t want to rush in and claim the top credit? If it weren’t for the Viscount blocking the way, someone would have probably charged into the barrier immediately.
But Kal reacted quickly. He took a step forward and stood behind Rosalia, the pages of his grimoire rustling. He raised his quill, the tip of the quill just about to touch the paper, and looked at the person in black with a blank expression. “My casting speed will be faster than yours. Both you and she will die.”
The “she” he was referring to was, of course, Rosalia.
“Kal!” Melissa called out sharply, only to receive an indifferent glance from the white-haired mage.
Nelly wasn’t very afraid. She even calmly analyzed the situation. “It’s not too late to stop now. If you don’t take Rosalia, you can easily deal with the guards blocking the door.” She lowered her voice. “You can always come back another day.”
The dagger pressed closer, and Nelly could even feel the slight pain of her skin being cut.
Kal lowered his eyes. “Stay where you are, let her go, and I will remove the barrier. I will only count to ten. One, two, three.”
The person in black’s breathing clearly became more rapid.
But Rosalia moved. She walked to the front of the stairs, and to the Viscount outside the barrier, she made a gesture, ordering him to take his men and leave. The Viscount was practically pressed against the other side of the barrier, constantly saying something, his expression anxious.
“Four, five.”
Rosalia paid him no mind, just stubbornly repeated the same action, and in the end, she even drew a finger across her own neck, threatening him with her life.
“Six, seven, eight.”
The Viscount was covered in sweat. He gritted his teeth and, with a wave of his hand, was the first to walk down. But the group of guards had no intention of retreating and instead looked like they were about to pounce. The Viscount waved his arms and repeated his order, as if he were cursing, but because they couldn’t hear what he was saying, it looked comical, like a shadow play. Only a few people walked down slowly with unwilling expressions, looking back as they went.
“The guards don’t trust this Lord Viscount. This is an excellent opportunity for you to escape.” Nelly once again spoke to the person in black in a low voice. The fingers holding the dagger clearly tightened, but he still didn’t let her go.
“Nine,” Kal paused thoughtfully, glanced nonchalantly at the doorway, and the corners of his lips curved. “Ten.”
It all happened in an instant.
The barrier suddenly dispersed, and a few guards charged directly at Rosalia.
Nelly was pushed hard to the side and fell to her knees. Before she could see what was happening on the other side, her vision blurred, and she was pushed to the ground, rolling to the side at an incredible speed.
Boom—!
The sound of an explosion was heard nearby. The aftershock was hot, and it sprayed on her skin like a scorching flame. Nelly forgot to move, her ears buzzing with only the aftershock of the explosion, and she felt dizzy.
Gravel fell, hitting her side, hitting her head, but Nelly couldn’t hear any sound.
For a moment, she suspected that she had been deafened by the loud noise.
The impact of the explosion on her consciousness finally subsided a little, and only then did she realize that she was being protected in someone’s arms.
Her slightly out-of-focus vision became clear, and in front of her was a black mage’s robe. Nelly tried to prop herself up, and as soon as she moved, she realized that her whole body ached as if it had been crushed.
But she still managed to sit up. She looked at the person beside her in a daze and was horrified to find that Kal was injured. But he turned his gaze to the top of the stairs, signaling her to look at the situation there first. A few guards with their bows drawn were kneeling in the doorway, their arrow tips pointed to the left.
Following the direction of the arrows, past a few fallen figures, her gaze finally settled on a man and a woman standing huddled together in a pile of rubble.
The first thing Nelly saw was the disheveled, gray-faced Rosalia. She was tightly holding the person in black’s waist, in a posture of support. The person in black’s hood had finally fallen, revealing the face underneath.
Golden hair that reminded one of the sun, eyes like a green lake. Although he looked haggard from the stubble and dust, it was still the handsome face of one of the top knights in the royal capital.
Sir Theon.
Nelly closed her eyes, and the image of Theon looking at the opposite gallery during the audience flashed through her mind.
She then remembered Rosalia’s melancholy as she looked at the courtyard, and how she had stopped watching the practice after Theon had left. And the first time the person in black had appeared on the road, Rosalia’s abnormality… A closer look revealed that it was indeed fear, but she was afraid for her lover who had taken a risk to come for her. Even in her anxiety, there was an unconcealable joy. He had come for her after all, to save her.
She was a princess locked in a tower, and he was a black knight who came in the night.
The only question that remained was why Theon hadn’t just taken Rosalia away, and had even decisively intervened when the hero was clearly preoccupied the second time.
Nelly carefully sized up Theon’s condition. The tails of arrows were sticking out of his shoulder and right arm, the snow-white feathers extremely conspicuous against the black background.
“What is…” Nelly’s voice was hoarse.
“The Viscount actually called for archers. One of them is a low-level mage, and he used an arrow to detonate the explosive runes by the wall.” Kal coughed and stood up, his condition not much better. If he hadn’t been right next to Nelly, she would have almost missed his low voice.
Nelly gasped. Is the Viscount insane? What if Rosalia had been caught in the explosion…
Kal let out a mocking sneer, but it turned into a violent cough, and blood was faintly visible on the fingers covering his mouth.
“Your Excellency Ciro, please let him go.” Rosalia raised her chin slightly, trying her best to put on the air of a princess.
The Viscount said drily, “Please forgive me, Your Highness. Everyone here saw…” He glanced at Theon and strangely fell silent.
Rosalia audibly took a deep breath, but before she could speak, Theon suddenly said, “I understand. Then at least please conceal the fact that I was ever here, so that Her Highness will not be troubled because of it.”
“Theon!” Rosalia sensed something and trembled, clutching his arm tightly. She squeezed out the words through gritted teeth, the syllables fragmented. “Don’t leave me.”
The young blond man lowered his head and kissed her hair, a faint smile on his lips, which lingered for a long time. He was relieved that he finally didn’t have to suppress his feelings and could freely express his love. Like a caged bird that had finally flown into the sky, even though he knew that the injuries to his wings would not allow him to soar for much longer, he still felt a joy from the bottom of his heart, and there would be no regrets even if he fell.
Theon slowly wiped the blood from the corner of his lips with the back of his hand, cupped his lover’s face, and gazed into her eyes, saying slowly and gently, “I can’t implicate my father and my brothers at home.” He lowered his golden lashes and pressed his forehead against Rosalia’s, saying softly, “I am not a qualified lover… If I could have violated the knight’s code and taken you away directly, instead of being concerned because my opponent was at a disadvantage…”
Crystal-clear tears rolled down the corners of Rosalia’s eyes. She tried to curve her lips and shook her head. “No, it’s precisely because of that that I fell in love with you.” She paused. “And I will always love you.”
Theon and Rosalia’s gazes met. Their eyes were both a captivating green. Hers were deeper, with the deep glow of a forest spring. His were a vast green lake at the end of a plain, calm and peaceful. But when they looked into each other’s eyes, the same violent tide surged in the deep and light green.
“Promise me you’ll live well.” Theon suddenly took half a step back, putting some distance between them.
Rosalia stubbornly shook her head, clutching his arm tightly, her voice becoming hysterical. “No… don’t…”
“Promise me.” Theon’s tone was still gentle, but a little stern.
Rosalia just shook her head. Theon turned to look at Viscount Ciro. “Please.”
The Viscount’s face was ashen. He gritted his teeth and nodded.
Theon looked at his beloved girl with a lingering expression and, with his uninjured left hand, firmly and gently pried her fingers open, one by one. Rosalia was almost unable to stand. All her strength was in the two remaining fingers that were still tightly gripping his sleeve. She was like a person struggling on the edge of a cliff, desperately unwilling to let go of the crumbling rock.
“Please,” Theon calmly asked for her final promise, slowly blinking his lashes, once, twice, as if counting down Rosalia’s surrender.
The sleeve slipped from Rosalia’s fingertips. She collapsed to the ground, closed her eyes, and for a moment, her expression was like a stone carving, devoid of all emotion. She then slowly opened her eyes, leaned forward, and pressed Theon’s palm to her cheek, whispering as if in a dream, “If time could be turned back, if everything could start over, please come and take me away sooner. Or… or you could become that knight who turned into a white eagle, fly into my window, and take me away.”
She looked up, and the night wind blew in from the cracks in the stone wall, carrying the dim starlight, messing up her hair, and the remaining light melted into her eyes.
Rosalia smiled brilliantly. “Or, I won’t wait in the tower for you to save me anymore. I will escape from that cage myself, escape to a forest where no one is, and I know you will be waiting for me there.”
“But please, my knight, please, please remember to come and take me away.”
“As you command,” Theon knelt on one knee and reverently kissed the back of the princess’s hand. “Her Highness is afraid of the dark, but please bear with it for a little while before I arrive.”
With the posture of one stepping onto a tournament field, he turned around calmly and stepped from the top of the high tower into the starlight and the tide.