“Ah…!”

Fey shuddered. The reason was twofold. One was that Vega had indeed cast something like a magic spell on the horse, and the other was that Kyle was talking about it as if he had seen it himself.

‘Wasn’t that just a spell?’

Fey recalled the time when Vega had cast a spell. After he had put his head against the horse’s muzzle and recited an unknown spell, the horse ran without stopping, and Fey had to sleep sideways on the horse’s back with difficulty.

Vega still gasped for breath, exhausted. Fey felt sorry for him and carefully held his limp hand. His hands were cold.

“It wasn’t just a spell…”

Fey muttered to herself. She thought that Vega’s magic was just a convenient magic that relieved the horse’s fatigue, and she had even grumbled to herself that he shouldn’t have cast a spell on it but her.

Even without waiting for Kyle’s answer, she felt as if the whole story was fitting together like a puzzle. He didn’t get hurt and succumb like this. He cast a spell that made the horse tireless. And everything has a price…

If she had received a hint up to that point, she had no choice but to reach one conclusion.

Kyle said in a small voice, “It’s a kind of white magic. It’s usually a magic used to treat the wounded. It is said that you can transfer the other person’s fatigue to yourself.

“Sir Thanatos used that magic on a horse. He took on the fatigue that the horse should have felt all the way here. Normally, you die if you use this magic like this, but he must have a good constitution.”

“That’s impossible…”

How could that be possible?

Fey felt like shouting that denial, but she shut her mouth tightly. Because it was possible in this world.

Someone has the blood of a fairy, someone has a vampire mother, and someone possessed the body of a villainess all of a sudden. In this world, unbelievable things often happened.

Fey bit her tongue.

“But… he was fine. He was completely fine.”

“He was just pretending to be fine. If he was fine, he wouldn’t have collapsed like this,” Kyle replied indifferently and brushed Fey’s side hair back behind her ear.

In less than a month, Vega Thanatos and Fey O’Bellie reached Ronan Bridge with one horse. It was a distance that could never have been reached on time if they had ridden a horse normally. Kyle thought that they must have used some unorthodox means.

In this world, unorthodox naturally meant magic.

So, just before using the teleportation magic, Kyle stopped by the Magic Tower and asked for advice.

‘But surely, they wouldn’t have used such a desperate method.’

Strictly speaking, this was closer to a rule of thumb than an irregularity. It was something that ordinary people could never dream of, using magic that was only used for patients with mild symptoms on a horse that was running without rest.

That was why Kyle was skeptical until he arrived at the bridge and checked Vega’s condition himself. No, even after seeing it in person, he wasn’t completely sure.

Because Vega Thanatos looked and behaved so healthy that he could incapacitate dozens of soldiers who rushed at him at once, just as Fey O’Bellie said.

“If the horse’s fatigue had completely gone to Sir Thanatos, no matter how great a knight he is, he would have felt his physical limits. He’s been brave to hold on until now.”

“So that’s why you prepared so many soldiers.”

As Fey muttered in a half-resigned voice, Kyle chuckled.

“Yes. I didn’t expect them to kill Sir Thanatos. I just wanted to buy as much time as possible to break Sir Thanatos’ great willpower.”

He even brought a colleague who couldn’t be seen outside unless necessary in case he was fine even after knocking down the soldiers. Fortunately, he collapsed before he could swing his sword.

“What do you think, Marquis O’Bellie?”

A flirtatious voice pierced Fey’s eardrums.

Feeling goosebumps rising on her arms, Fey slowly shifted her gaze to the side. She saw Kyle Vellot’s arrogant face, grinning at her.

“Now, your last protector has disappeared.”

Fey bit her lower lip. She tried to look away from Kyle’s gaze and lifted her head with difficulty, but unfortunately, she couldn’t see anything in front of her. She brushed Vega’s bangs, which were soaked in sweat, to the side.

She wanted to do something for him, who was still breathing heavily, but unfortunately, ‘Fey’ had no medical knowledge. She couldn’t use healing magic either.

‘I’m sorry.’

She apologized inwardly. Vega tried to keep his promise to Fey until the end. Even though he saw Luné in her at the end when his mind collapsed, he didn’t abandon Fey. On the other hand, she didn’t keep her promise to him.

‘I will never harm the Saintess and you. So please take me with you.’

She did harm him. She had a hunch that things would turn out like this when the soldiers appeared from the fog. She knew why they suddenly popped up and how they could appear there.

Nevertheless, she never declared that she would return. Even when Kyle declared that he would kill Vega. Her whole body went limp and her legs trembled, so much so that she could barely stand. Because she knew that she would die if she went back.

‘Deneb told them everything.’

Suddenly, her fingers tightened. The Imperial Family wouldn’t have used teleportation magic just to take her away.

Kyle was right. Everything has a price. There must have been a reason for using teleportation magic.

The Imperial Family must have found out. That ‘Fey O’Bellie’ killed her sister.

There was no other explanation. So if she returned to Tighalst, she would most likely die.

Even though she thought of this much, she had no way to deal with it.

She was helpless. And apathetic. In the end, Fey was defeated.

Still, she couldn’t speak. She didn’t even make a conventional plea, saying, ‘I’ll go back, so please spare Vega.’

Even in the face of impending death, her mouth remained shut.

At that moment.

“Lady Fey.”

A feeble voice was heard. It was Vega. Fey lowered her leaden head and looked down at Vega.

“Sir?”

The moment their eyes met, her pupils shook greatly. The face she met held raw emotions.

“I’m sorry…”

It was like utter despair. A face filled with sorrow, more miserable than Fey, who was facing imminent death.

“I’m sorry. I should have protected you….”

“….”

Fey stared blankly at his face.

Eyes that wanted to die at any moment. That misery and despair didn’t reach him. And it didn’t reach Fey either. There was only one person who could have his despair.

‘Luné…’

She bit the inside of her mouth hard.

Fey wanted to push Vega’s shoulder and get angry at him. She wanted to scream that the person he was apologizing to wasn’t the woman he loved, but rather the one who killed her. But her mouth still wouldn’t open.

He was truly in a pitiful state.

“Sir Vega”

After a while, Fey broke the silence and called Vega’s name. She held his hand tightly. And smiled. She smiled, imitating someone’s smile in her memory.

She didn’t have the courage to tell the whole truth, but she didn’t want to see Vega Thanatos, who had helped her this far, suffer. So she shamelessly decided to borrow Luné’s expression for a moment.

Fey gently stroked Vega’s cheek.

“Sir Vega. You did well.”

“…!”

Vega’s eyes opened wide.

“So please rest now. Help Saintess Lia. It’s okay. We will definitely meet again, until then….”

Fey repeated word for word what Luné had once said to Vega.
“Let’s bless each other. Let’s pray for each other’s well-being.”

“…Lady Luné.”

Vega’s eyelids trembled and a tear flowed down from beneath them. He closed his eyes and didn’t move anymore. His ragged breathing began to steady. It seemed like he had fallen asleep.

“Whew.”

Fey let go of Vega’s hand and slowly tilted her head back.

A faint shadow of a bird was seen beyond the fog-covered sky.

It looked exactly like the bird she had seen in the Gwen Forest because of its somewhat familiar shape.

Of course, it was probably just her imagination.

“Sir Kyle,” She said. “I’ll go back.”

Her calm voice was devoid of emotion. Now, her voice finally came out. She continued speaking like a sinner confessing.

“I will return to Tighalst. I have committed a sin that I cannot tell His Majesty the Emperor. I will go to him in person and receive the appropriate punishment. So please, send Vega Thanatos back to Gashal safely. I am solely responsible for this.”

She thought that Kyle might really throw Vega under the bridge. She didn’t want to see that. People die. She wasn’t a humanitarian, but she didn’t want to be burdened with unnecessary guilt.

Silently watching Fey and Vega’s tearful melodrama, Kyle smiled faintly.

It was over. He wanted to hear Fey O’Bellie say that she would return to Tighalst. He wanted the arrogant and fallen noble to surrender before His Majesty the Emperor.

If she abandoned the Crown Prince, he wondered if her affection had shifted to Vega Thanatos. He didn’t know if his prediction was correct, but the result was similar. That was enough.

“Alright. Let’s go. Marquis O’Bellie.”

In the end, Fey O’Bellie’s easy plan fell apart before she even arrived in Gashal, and her heart was also in shambles.

—