He opened his eyes, feeling as if his body weighed a thousand pounds.
Arendt, who had been dazedly blinking, suddenly shivered as a chill ran through his body.
“Ugh…”
As he tried to wrap the blanket tighter around himself and curl up more, a voice full of disbelief ca from right beside him.
“If you’re awake, get up, you brat. You need to eat.”
It was Arthur.
Arendt grumbled without even opening his eyes, still wrapped in the blanket.
“…I don’t want to. It’s too much of a hassle.”
“Ugh, seriously. You’re not a kid, you know. You getting up or not?”
The sight of silver hair occasionally peeking out from under the blanket made his blood boil with frustration.
In the end, Arendt only groggily sat up after Arthur yanked the blanket away from him.
“Ugh, you’re seriously such a pain… Why are you bothering so much?”
“Who said you can’t rest? I’m telling you to at least eat. Do you even know how many days you’ve been skipping als? A senior as great as is bringing you food with his own hands, and you don’t even appreciate it?”
“If I thank you for sothing like that, drag to a healer right away… Yawn.”
Arendt yawned and leaned back against the headboard.
“People only change when they die. I plan to live a long ti.”
Muttering nonsense, Arendt still blinked slowly, as if not fully awake. Arthur placed a tray in front of him and scolded him again.
“You talk so well, you punk.”
“How many days has it been?”
“Four days.”
Half ignoring Arthur’s brief reply, Arendt struggled to fully wake himself up.
Arthur, who had been staring blankly at the sight, frowned slightly.
“Are you feeling unwell?”
“What do you think?”
“That’s strange. You look fine on the outside, but why are you groaning like that?”
“I’m not groaning, I just can’t wake up. Who do you think I am, the sa weak senior as you?”
Arendt replied irritably, his eyes still half-closed.
It felt like he had slept soundly without a single nightmare for the first ti in a long while.
‘I think I had a dream.’
It was a fairly peaceful sleep considering he had passed out after going through such a rough ordeal.
The only faint mory that lingered was the feeling of sothing completely enveloping his unbearably heavy body.
He was just staring blankly at the gently breaking sunlight without even realizing how much ti had passed…
His eyelids began to feel heavy again.
“…Hey, hey. Don’t fall asleep right now. Eat first and then go to sleep!”
“Ah.”
When Arendt suddenly raised his head again, Arthur sighed deeply and placed a tray of hot soup in front of him. Then he handed a spoon to his junior, who still hadn’t co to his senses, and pulled up a chair and sat down.
Arendt stared blankly at the spoon in his hand, or more precisely, at his fingers holding it.
All of his fingers were bandaged, looking like a mummy’s.
“What the… no wonder it was hard to move. Why do my hands look like this?”
“It’s frostbite. If you were an ordinary person, your hands would’ve fallen off. By the way, your feet are in the sa state, so don’t even think about walking for a while.”
Arendt muttered in bewildernt at Arthur’s gentle explanation.
“Seriously, this is driving crazy.”
“You’re so stubborn. How did you manage to hold out until you ended up like this? Since Lord Lexion isn’t here right now, you should take care of yourself. And for the ti being, you’re prohibited from using the artifact.”
Arthur, who said that, wasn’t in good shape either.
He still had wounds that would have normally disappeared in a few days, and his hands were wrapped in bandages due to severe burns.
Although he was pretending it wasn’t happening, it seed like the broken bone hadn’t fully healed yet, judging by the awkwardness when he moved one of his legs.
“You don’t look so great yourself, senior. No wonder you’ve been loafing around here instead of working.”
“At least I don’t want to hear that from you, you bastard. What’s that supposed to an, coming from the one who’s the most beat-up right now?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m still handso.”
Only then did Arendt begin to eat.
With his mouth full of warm soup, Arendt asked.
“How are things going? This is the palace, right?”
“Just eat and sleep without worrying about anything. I bet you’re sleepy.”
“What are you talking about now after making wake up?”
Arendt grumbled as he quickly emptied his bowl of soup, for once he had sothing to eat, he suddenly felt hungry.
Only then did Arthur put the empty bowl away with a slightly relieved expression on his face.
Arendt leaned back on the bed again and pulled the blanket up to his neck.
“Ugh, it’s cold. Anyway, tell what’s going on. Since we’re already back at the palace, it seems like things have been sowhat settled…”
Arendt glanced around and looked at Arthur.
“Did His Highness the Crown Prince decide this?”
“It’s not really wise to leave the palace unattended for too long. And we never know when the enemies might strike again.”
Arthur answered with a sullen face.
“It would be better to defend this place, even if it ans being surrounded, than to lose the palace. That’s the will of Crown Prince Victor. Our captain also agreed.”
“That scrap tal prince has actually stepped up. I thought it would take quite a while longer.”
Arendt shrugged, burying himself deeper in the blanket.
It would not have been an easy decision to return straight to the palace in the middle of a battlefield.
‘I thought he’d be playing the victim for a while.’
It seed he planned to take the commander’s position sooner than Arendt had expected.
“The traitors within the royal family were Her Majesty the Queen and the Noble Consort. The Noble Consort tried to attack the Crown Prince but was executed on the sport, and Her Majesty the Queen… has now beco a traitor. In any case, she is being held in the underground prison. The trial will be held after things have been sowhat sorted out.”
In fact, she was in a position where she could have been dealt with imdiately, but since she was a senior mber of the royal family, they treated her with so courtesy.
First of all, the Queen was the Crown Prince’s biological mother.
“The prince and princess have decided to move to a villa near the Nephele Kingdom. It would be better for them to recuperate there for a while rather than staying here.”
Arthur added with a displeased look on his face.
Both Prince Louis and Princess Rieta were in a state of extre psychological shock.
It was inevitable given the circumstances.
Arendt, who had been listening quietly, frowned slightly.
“Are they going to the villa?”
“Why? What’s the problem?”
Arendt thought for a mont and then shook his head.
“No, it’s nothing. By the way, what happened to Lexion?”
“…He suddenly disappeared.”
Arthur answered, though he still looked uneasy.
“Later, Stellar ca and said that he had stepped away for a while. I think he went into the lair to recover.”
The fight between the two dragons was terrifying. If they had been just a little bit later, the entire castle would have been destroyed.
The palace was almost completely intact thanks to the defensive barrier, but the surrounding comrcial districts and residential areas would require extensive repair work before they could be used again.
“It’s like a severe typhoon just passed through. So for now, the residents are staying in temporary shelters…”
Arthur, who had been speaking in a tired tone, glanced at Arendt.
He hesitated for a mont and then asked cautiously.
“What happened?”
“What do you an?”
When Arendt feigned innocence, Arthur imdiately frowned.
“What do you an? Didn’t you do sothing? Otherwise, there’s no way all those enemies just left all at once. Lexion and Nikephoros suddenly stopped fighting, as well.”
“Do you really think I’m that great?”
A sharp retort ca back.
Arthur flinched at the suddenly cold tone.
After a mont, a brief wave of regret quietly surfaced.
‘…I brought that up for nothing.’
It was clear that sothing unusual had happened.
Rider couldn’t rember anything, and Salem had stayed silent, so that part was easy to guess.
But even so, it was not an appropriate thing to say to soone who still needed to rest.
“Okay. If you’re tired, just sleep…”
“Well, of course.”
Just as Arthur awkwardly tried to change the subject, Arendt’s calm voice cut in.
“I really am that great of a person.”
“…”
Arthur, who had abruptly stopped, turned his head stiffly.
The apprentice knight, buried in his blanket, looking like a worm, was staring blankly at him.
“What, what did you say?”
“I’m really that great. Don’t make say it twice. It’ll hurt my mouth.”
“…”
Arthur was speechless.
Arendt shrugged his shoulders as he faced Arthur’s dazed expression.
“What’s the big deal? Isn’t it obvious? It’s not like I’ve just beco great overnight.”
“What should I do with this bastard?”
Regardless of whether his senior was muttering in dismay or not, Arendt rested his chin on his hand, which was completely wrapped in bandages.
‘I was definitely feeling awful just before I passed out…’
The intense sense of alienation and the overwhelming anxiety as if being pushed off a cliff. On top of that, there was a burning hatred toward the gods.
He couldn’t co to his senses because so many emotions were rushing in at once.
It felt like a miracle that he was able to sohow squeeze out so lines after spotting Rider and Salem.
But now, his head was strangely clear.
Although his body was in incredible pain and he was constantly feeling chills due to the side effects of the Frosty Touch…
He could easily endure this much if his ntal state was sane.
“Anyway, there must be a bunch of people other than you who are curious about that. I guess I’ll have to deal with them one by one.”
Arendt, leaning back comfortably, silently looked around.
“This is fun.”
There was sothing lively about those golden eyes that caused Arthur to have a very uneasy feeling.
“…Hey.”
“What.”
“Why are your eyes like that again? You look like you’re about to cause so trouble.”
At Arthur’s wary question, Arendt spoke in amazent.
“Wow, you’ve grown up so much, senior. You know how to be aware of that.”
“I was originally older than you, you little bastard! And do you think I’ve only known you for a day or two? You think I wouldn’t recognize that dark scheming look on your face?”
Eventually Arthur lost his temper, but Arendt, of course, pretended not to hear.
“I’ll behave today, so please run so errands for .”
“Errands? What do you an errands?”
Arthur was left even more dumbfounded by such an outrageously cheeky choice of words.
“Well, if you don’t want to, I’ll do it myself. That wouldn’t be so bad either.”
“…”
But Arthur had no choice but to keep quiet at the words that followed.
“First, please tell them to stoke the fireplace a bit more. I’m freezing to death. And bring so snacks too. I feel like munching on sothing.”
“…You’re just using your sly tongue to manipulate your senior.”
Arthur let out a deep sigh and got up.
“Okay, you piece of shit. I’ll tell the servants.”
“Oh, and the most important thing.”
Arendt called him back as he was about to leave the room. When Arthur turned around, Arendt spoke:
“Tell Salem to co over here right now. And you, senior, go take care of your own business. Don’t get in the way.”
“Seriously, you’re so rude… Why Lord Salem?”
Arthur asked curiously, but as expected, he only got a strange response.
“What are you going to do with that knowledge?”
“Ugh, seriously. I’m the idiot for asking.”
He limped out of the room.
Thud.
The door closed, and Arendt, now left alone, leaned back against the pillows, clutching at his throbbing wound.
“Well, what now…”
A soliloquy ca out with a sigh.
Thanks to a good night’s sleep, his head was quite clear, but the situation still wasn’t good.
The evidence that would lend credibility to the words of a re apprentice knight had vanished from the stage forever.
And under pressure from Iris, he even destroyed it with his own hands, so now he had to explain the whole situation.
‘It’s so frustrating.’
In addition, he promised to keep silent about it.
He knew better than anyone that he couldn’t break the promise he made with her.
Because the surrounding darkness would beco Iris’ eyes and ears, watching everything.
‘But…’
He will find a way.
Just like always, on this haphazardly woven stage.
For now, it seed like his first priority was to have a brief conversation with the little boy who was probably cowering in fear.
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