Dawn Breaks Once More
Some time later, Rudell opened his eyes once again.
"Ugh..."
He awoke with a dizzy head, his gaze falling upon a familiar ceiling.
The Viscount's mansion. His room.
"...!!"
As this realization hit him, he abruptly tried to sit up.
Or rather, he attempted to.
"Gaaaaah...!!"
A sharp pain shot through his chest, forcing a groan from his lips as he collapsed back onto the bed.
What in the world had happened?
With that thought, Rudell slowly began to retrace his memories.
The intense pain that struck him as he was leaving the inn after dealing with the aftermath of the battle with the cult members.
The last thing he remembered was seeing the arrow embedded in his chest.
"..."
It had been a blunder.
Those scoundrels were far from honorable.
It was foolish of him to assume that the visible enemies were all there were.
And this was the price of his naivete.
Not only that, but with his existence exposed, the Viscounty would no longer be safe.
"Damn it..."
Overwhelmed by a sense of frustration he couldn't quite articulate, Rudell covered his face with his hands.
Just then,
"You're awake."
"Kyle..."
The door creaked open, revealing Kyle, dressed in casual clothes, carrying a box filled with bandages and medicine.
"How is your wound?"
"I think it's alright. You did this?"
"Yes."
The potion bottles scattered on the floor and the blood-soaked bandages spoke volumes about the urgency of the situation just moments ago.
However, the fact that the Viscounty remained quiet meant that Kyle had handled everything cleanly.
"I seem to have caused you unnecessary trouble."
"Don't say that. I am the one who failed to protect you properly, Young Master. I will gladly accept any punishment."
"Please don't say you'll commit suicide..."
Kyle knelt, placing the box on the table beside the bed. Rudell let out a chuckle, watching him.
Even without Kyle, he had more than enough headaches to deal with right now.
"If you say so, Young Master..."
"Were you really thinking about it...?"
Rudell couldn't hide his astonishment as he looked at Kyle, who nodded his head.
"So, what happened after that?"
"We managed to catch the one who shot you, but..."
"But?"
Rudell tilted his head at Kyle's hesitant tone.
"He committed suicide. They were a tenacious bunch."
The fact that Kyle didn't elaborate on the method of suicide indicated that it must have been gruesome.
"Good work."
It was frustrating that they couldn't extract any information from them, but it wasn't a critical issue.
He already knew everything he needed to know about them.
Their objectives, their operations, their headquarters, their plans.
All of that information was already in his head.
"Do you think any of them escaped?"
"We searched thoroughly, but we couldn't find any trace of them."
"That's good to hear."
Weinstein Viscounty was home to many skilled hunters.
No one could match their ability to track footprints and other signs, so there was no need to worry about that anymore.
"Ha..."
Perhaps it was the relief of the situation being resolved, but a short sigh escaped Rudell's lips as he felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him.
"Let me change your bandages one last time."
"Yes, please."
The blood-soaked bandages bore the marks of treatment.
Keeping bandages clean was common sense, wasn't it?
Rudell struggled to sit up, and Kyle began to carefully unwind the old bandages.
The only sound in the room was the rustling of the bandages. Kyle finished removing them and reached into the box for a fresh one to wrap around Rudell's wound.
That's when it happened.
-Creak...
Rudell's door creaked open, making an old, worn-out sound.
Both Rudell and Kyle froze on the spot. The figure that emerged from behind the open door was...
"Mmm... Rudeeell...?"
...Leje, rubbing her eyes with a sleepy expression.
"..."
I'm screwed.
I'm really, truly screwed.
That was the first thought that popped into Rudell's head.
How on earth was he supposed to explain this?
She woke up, went to her friend's room, and found a tall, dark stranger bandaging her friend's chest in a messy room, with empty potion bottles and blood-soaked bandages strewn everywhere.
Moreover, the frozen expressions on their faces were the classic reactions of people caught in the act of something unspeakable.
'Think, Rudell. Think!'
Find the best possible explanation to get out of this situation.
And so, in a silence that stretched on for an eternity, Rudell desperately searched for the right words.
"..."
"Huh...? Uh oh...!"
Leje's body began to tilt, and she collapsed backward. Kyle and Rudell stared at her motionless form, speechless.
A brief silence filled the room once more...
"Is this... a good thing?"
"F-for now, I suppose?"
Kyle responded to Rudell's question with an uncharacteristic hint of panic in his voice.
And so, a crisis that never existed in the original novel had been averted.
* * *
Sunlight streamed through the window on a bright morning.
"Hyaa!?"
A strange groan escaped Leje's lips as she bolted upright in bed.
"Huh...? Uh...?"
She looked around the room with a dazed expression, tilting her head in confusion.
But only for a moment.
"Ha..."
A short sigh escaped her lips as she surveyed her surroundings.
It was a sigh of relief.
The dream she had last night...
It had been too vivid to simply dismiss as just a dream.
It was so real that her hands were still trembling.
The room awash in a pool of blood. Rudell's lifeless body lying in the middle of it all.
It was a horrifying sight, beyond her wildest imagination.
How could she not be relieved that it was just a dream?
"I can't just lie here."
With that, Leje got out of bed.
Someone once said that dreams are like windows to the future.
Even the most trivial dream could be a warning about what lies ahead.
If that was the case, then there was only one thing she could do.
"Rudell! Good morning!"
She rushed to Rudell's room next door, throwing the door open with a cheerful greeting...
"What? Is he already downstairs...?"
She muttered to herself, her eyes scanning the empty room.
Fortunately, Rudell's room was exactly as she remembered it.
There was no pool of blood, no Rudell lying on the bed covered in blood-soaked bandages.
There was no sign of anything related to that ominous dream.
"Thank goodness..."
She murmured, closing the door behind her and heading downstairs.
Now that she had checked here, it was time to check the next location.
* * *
The Viscount's mansion looked the same as always.
But perhaps due to the unsettling dream, Leje felt a strange difference in the atmosphere.
'I hope it's just my imagination...'
A sense of unease tightened its grip on her chest. She frowned.
The thought that it was just a dream kept repeating in her mind, but with each step she took, she felt increasingly anxious.
Soon, she arrived at the dining hall. She paused at the door, taking a deep breath and composing herself.
Then, she carefully opened the door.
"Good morning, Viscount Weinstein, Viscountess."
"Good morning, Princess Lagrind. I trust you had a comfortable night?"
Carlos greeted Leje with a courteous bow, befitting her status as a princess of the Dukedom.
"Yes, thank you."
Leje nodded and walked towards the empty table...
"You're late today."
"I had a bad dream."
She replied to Rudell, who was already seated at the table.
"A dream? What kind of dream?"
"Well..."
Leje started to speak but stopped, a hesitant look on her face.
The blood-soaked room, Rudell with bandages stained crimson...
"Leje?"
"I dreamt that I was falling from a high place. It was terrifying..."
When Rudell called her name, sounding puzzled by her silence, she quickly made up an excuse.
She couldn't bring herself to tell him about that disturbing dream, especially not when it involved him.
At that moment,
"Hmm... Is that so?"
"What's with that look?"
"Well, you see..."
Rudell narrowed his eyes at her response, and Leje glared back at him.
He looked at her with a mischievous grin, as if debating whether to say something. Then, he finally spoke.
"There's an old saying that dreams about falling from high places mean you're going to grow taller."
"Ugh! Get over here!"
I must be crazy to worry about this guy.
With that thought, Leje lunged at Rudell, forgetting that they were in the Viscount's mansion.
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04: I'm rooting for his manhood and singleness.
ReplyDeleteReally looks good 👍
ReplyDeleteHow often is the updates gonna be?
ReplyDeleteBOO!! I wanted to see the Princess get medieval on folks!
ReplyDeleteI'm confused, are they living in the duke's place or in the viscount's place? when was it mentioned?
ReplyDeleteIt was mentioned that she was visiting the Viscounty .
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