Kyle then went to the Lily Palace to obtain permission to use the teleportation magic. However, it was not easy to use teleportation magic. As soon as permission was granted, there was a strong backlash from other officials who were not well aware of the situation.

Kyle calmly gathered his soldiers and stood in the teleportation magic circle, his head filled with complicated thoughts about how to quell this commotion.

“Why do you have to use teleportation magic to catch a fallen aristocrat!” As the magic circle began to glow white, the loud voice of Count Godric, who was known to have a bad temper, rang out.

Instead of explaining kindly, Kyle bowed his head and smiled bitterly.

‘Why are we doing this to catch a fallen aristocrat?’

There is only one reason. Because His Majesty the Emperor wanted to see the face of Fey O’Bellie. Because His Majesty the Emperor said he would make the fallen aristocrat the Crown Princess. In that case, even if she was guilty of treason, it was the duty of a subject to appear before His Majesty the Emperor.

“Sir Thanatos. You must die here.” Like a ghost, Kyle Vellot had suddenly appeared in the middle of Ronan Bridge and declared that he would kill Vega Thanatos, the strongest knight of the era. Of course, he was only half serious.

Kyle knew quite well that it was nearly impossible to subdue Vega Thanatos with this number of soldiers. His hunch was not wrong at all, and it unfolded before his eyes like a well-drawn fairy tale.

The moment a soldier’s sword swung down at him, Vega Thanatos moved. Swinging his heavy-looking longsword like a feather, Vega Thanatos instantly knocked down the Imperial soldiers. The soldiers fell like reeds in the wind and were busy grabbing their wrists and ankles and groaning. Kyle watched the unfolding spectacle with great interest, as if it were a play.

‘What great willpower.’

None of the fallen soldiers were killed or fatally wounded. Realizing this, Kyle lightly cheered and called out.

“You’re not killing them? I told you I would kill you. And yet, you are worried about the relationship between Gashal and Brimfe. Amazing. Sir Vega Thanatos.”

As if he were a strategist who had defeated the enemy general, Kyle calmly muttered, but the situation was reversed in the blink of an eye. In no time, only one of Kyle’s colleagues remained by his side.

“Ah, ah…” Fey stepped back from the soldier who had collapsed at her feet, her face pale.

“I know. The Bridge of Silence.” Vega murmured softly. The air around him suddenly turned cold. There was a moment of silence, and all eyes turned to the blonde knight. Vega calmly announced, his eyes calm.

“I already died here once, six years ago.”

The wind carried moisture and blew through the fog. His platinum blonde hair fluttered rhythmically. It was an unpleasant wind. Kyle thought so, but he also noticed that Vega Thanatos’ breath was irregular.

“Kyle, I’m sorry, but I can’t die. And…” Vega’s emerald green eyes met Fey’s.

“I can’t let you go. We’re going to cross this bridge.”

“V- Vega.” Fey was bewildered by Vega’s determination. No, Fey was not thinking straight right now. What the hell is going on? What should she do? Fey still pretended not to know, even though she knew very well what the better decision was. Vega looked at the long bridge, leaving Fey swaying back and forth.

He saw Fey O’Bellie trembling in fear, and in that moment he saw Luné O’Bellie through her.

“Luné, my lady.”

A name that no one could hear floated in the air. His breath was ragged.

‘Am I failing to protect her again?’

He can’t protect her again? That can’t be. That can’t be.

“My lady Fey. Please rest assured.”

“Yes?”

His gentle, coaxing voice echoed desperately. Vega smiled more kindly than usual, but Fey took a step back without realizing it. Because that expression was a familiar yet unfamiliar smile in ‘Fey’s’ memory.

“This time, I will protect you.”

Kyle saw Fey’s expression change subtly. Fey realized the identity of the smile he made. It was the smile Vega sometimes gave to one person. That person was not ‘Fey.’ It was Luné.

Even though he knew who was at the end of his gaze, she had nothing to say.

Kyle watched them from afar and quietly turned up the corners of his mouth.

‘Why did Vega Thanatos help Fey O’Bellie?’

It must be love, after all.

Kyle suddenly felt bored with all this. He didn’t know if Fey O’Bellie was using Vega Thanatos’ love or vice versa. Well, that didn’t matter now.

“You are most gracious, Sir.”

Kyle muttered sarcastically.

“But unfortunately, I have no intention of handing over Marquis O’Bellie. I still have one associate left.”

Kyle crossed his arms and stood crookedly. From some point on, his eyes were filled with a slight arrogance.

“Sir, my companion is a pretty good fighter.”

A man who had been standing behind Kyle, carrying the burden all the time, quietly stepped forward. He was a huge man with a sharp impression. He looked twice the size of Kyle, with a smooth bald head without a single hair and a scar on one eye as if it had been cut with a sword.

‘A knight?’

Fey gulped. If he was a confederate of the Imperial Advisor, ‘Fey’ might have passed him once or twice, but she had no memory of seeing a man like that in Tighalst.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Despite the oppressive shadow, Vega held his sword’s hilt without hesitation. Kyle watched Vega’s shoulders shake violently and nodded slightly.

“What are you going to do?”

One side of Vega’s mouth distorted as if he smiled.

“Didn’t you say that Ronan Bridge has another name?”

Kyle blinked for a moment with a dumbfounded face, then burst into laughter and wiped his face.

“You’re going to kill me.”

“Sir!”

Fey exclaimed in surprise. More than anything, she was horrified that Vega was not denying Kyle’s words. Kyle is none other than the emperor’s loyal subject and the empire’s advisor. If Kyle is killed here, there will surely be retaliation against Gashal. No matter how Ronan Bridge is called the ‘Bridge of Silence,’ the eyes of the fallen soldiers were glaring all around. Vega couldn’t have missed that.

Was Vega, who loved Gashal and Saintess Lia so much, a person who would think so short-sightedly?

‘Oh, oh, why did this happen….’

Fey groaned. Since a while ago, she had felt an indescribable sense of discomfort.

Kyle also wondered if he was the only one who felt that sense of discomfort, and he muttered calmly, as if he were facing death.

“You know it’s pointless to kill me, but you’re stubborn. Sir, do you know why?”

“Well.”

“Because you’re not in your right mind right now.”

Before Kyle could finish speaking, Vega’s leg moved. At the same time, the huge man raised the greatsword he was holding into the sky.

Fey knew. Vega Thanatos was not one to fall to such a trick. No matter what happened after that, the moment he made up his mind, Vega would definitely kill Kyle’s confidant. She believed so.

“Sir!”

However, a completely unbelievable result unfolded. The moment she blinked, it was all over. Panting irregularly, Fey was astonished at the sight of Vega sprawled at his subordinate’s feet. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but the one lying on the ground was not the giant man, but Vega Thanatos, the commander of the Holy Knights.

“Sir! Sir Vega!”

She hurriedly ran to where Vega had fallen. Fey dropped to her knees and lifted Vega’s head as if to embrace it, placing it on her thigh. His pale face was covered in cold sweat.

“Sir, sir! Are you okay?! Wake up… huh?”

She tried to check his condition with trembling eyes, but something felt strange. An indescribable sense of dread, that feeling still lingered around her.

“Don’t worry. He didn’t even swing his sword.”

A voice came from above. She tilted her head back and saw Kyle’s shadowy face smiling faintly.

“He’s just exhausted. That’s why he collapsed.”

“Exhausted?” Fey made a dumbfounded face at the somewhat anticlimactic explanation and scanned Vega’s body once more.

However, it was the same as the first time she saw it. As Kyle said, there was not a single wound on Vega’s body. The giant man who had quietly appeared behind Kyle was the same. The greatsword the man was holding was also clean, without a single drop of blood.

Kyle was right. The giant man did not swing his sword. Vega wasn’t cut by the sword but succumbed to exhaustion.

“What happened?”

Kyle looked upon Fey O’Bellie, whose mouth was agape, with an emotionless expression.

“Marquis O’Bellie. It hasn’t even been a month since you left Tighalst, and you’ve already passed through Gwen Forest?”

Kyle shifted his gaze to Vega Thanatos incapacitated on the ground. The sweat running down his forehead and his pale complexion. His ragged breath. His trembling body. Kyle had not ignored these signs since he arrived here. Fey nodded slowly, looking back and forth between Kyle and Vega.

“Why is that?”

Kyle bent his knees to meet her eye level. It was the first time he had ever looked into Fey’s eyes. He spoke in an imitation of his nanny’s tone of voice when he was young.

“Marquis O’Bellie. Everything comes with a price.”

“A price….”

Kyle smiled wryly as Fey furrowed her brows, still not understanding what he meant. As expected, she couldn’t even grasp the situation.

“As you left Tighalst, Sir Thanatos cast some kind of spell, didn’t he? A spell that makes you walk faster. Or maybe a spell that makes your horse tireless.”

—