ICM Chapter 152

Drushia instructed the knight to watch the outside, then entered the inner area where Ashika was. Jeanne reflexively stepped in front of Ashika and looked at Drushia.

“Your Grace.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Sensing the unusual atmosphere between the two, Drushia’s expression also hardened. Ashika was completely frozen. Even in the darkness, her fear could be felt so clearly.

Unable to hide her fearful feelings, Jeanne’s voice began to tremble.

“…Her water broke.”

“What… do you mean?”

Not understanding what Jeanne was saying, Drushia asked back like a fool. Jeanne closed her eyes tightly, then opened them and composed her expression.

“It means the child could be born at any moment.”

“…Now?”

Drushia couldn’t close his mouth, which had fallen open in shock.

Ashika’s face had hardened like wax, beyond pale. It was only about seven months along. Even with all the preparations at the ducal castle, it would be a dangerous situation, but this was in the middle of a forest with no physician or midwife.

“Is that… possible?”

Drushia’s words lost their strength. There was still plenty of time left until the due date. Drushia belatedly understood what it meant for such a child to be born now. His vision went dark.

The shock was brief; Jeanne was the first to regain her composure.

“We have to make it possible.”

Saying this, Jeanne removed the cloak from her shoulders and spread it on the ground.

“Please bring the other knights’ cloaks as well. We need to light a fire. And gather some dry firewood.”

“Now… here?”

Ashika barely managed to squeeze out her voice to ask. It was equally difficult for her, the person involved, to accept the current situation.

“How about moving to a slightly safer place?”

It would be better if they could at least go near where the lake was. Drushia looked at the cramped interior full of dust and his face became grim.

However, Jeanne’s attitude was resolute.

“It’s better to hide in a place we’ve already passed than to keep running from here.”

If they moved any more, both the mother’s and child’s lives would be difficult to guarantee. Jeanne gently grasped Ashika’s shoulder and led her to the ground where the cloak was spread.

“Have you had any contractions?”

“It hurt. Since earlier…”

The pain had continued since they left the villa. But it wasn’t a situation where they could stop just because it hurt.

“You should have told me earlier… No, the pain will get progressively worse now. You can’t move anymore.”

Ashika’s face contorted as if she might cry. In the end, she had become a burden. In a situation where their hiding place could be discovered at any moment, they could no longer leave this spot.

Drushia roughly rubbed his face with his hands. This was the first time he’d faced such danger. His mind went completely blank, unable to think of what to do.

“Sir Berth, can you do it?”

“I’ve never done midwifery before, but I’ve given birth to two children.”

At least she would be better than the unmarried male knights here.

“Yes. You have to be able to. You have to.”

Drushia muttered as if talking to himself. At this moment, Jeanne felt like a lifeline. The only lifeline that could save Ashika and the child in her womb.

“Is there anything else we need to prepare?”

“We need water…”

There was no way to obtain it. The only tools they had were the water bottles the knights carried, and it was difficult to find water in the dry forest.

“Guard the entrance firmly.”

The enemies spread throughout this area could discover the hiding place at any time. The imminent threat pressed in from both inside and outside.

Ashika crouched on the ground and bit her lips.

“Don’t hold back the contractions. It’s okay to say it hurts when it hurts.”

Jeanne’s voice was softer than ever before. Like that of a mother soothing a child. At the gentle voice, the pain she had been enduring rushed in all at once.

Ashika broke out in cold sweat and barely managed to open her mouth. Her panting breath came in short gasps.

“…It hurts… It hurts so much… So much…”

It hurt enough to make her want to cry. Watching Ashika crouched while clutching her belly, Drushia was restless. He wanted to push Jeanne aside and hold her himself, but he realized he shouldn’t do that.

“The pain will come periodically. The shorter the intervals, the more imminent the birth.”

This was normal. Jeanne offered what seemed like false comfort, doing her best. However, despite the comfort, a thick smell of blood suddenly wafted up.

“Sir Berth.”

Drushia’s face went white. He could see the cloak where Ashika was sitting turning red on the ground.

“Your Grace, please step aside. Your being here won’t help.”

Jeanne poured out words she normally wouldn’t have been able to say without reservation.

Drushia looked back and forth between the blood soaking into the ground and Ashika’s face. He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak, afraid of frightening Ashika who was even more terrified than he was.

“Your Grace.”

Jeanne’s voice pressed him again. As she said, now was the time for each to do their utmost at their respective tasks. Drushia clenched and unclenched his fists several times, then finally stepped back without saying anything.

The fierce wind had died down. The fire burning in the distance no longer came closer. The acrid smoke flowing from the fire scene spread like mist throughout the surroundings, following the slow air currents.

Even the forest seemed to hold its breath. It felt as if the earlier chaos from the gale was a lie.

Drushia and all the knights hid in the rock crevices, their nerves on edge. They fixed their gaze on the dark forest and held their breath in the eerie silence.

It was a long, long night that seemed like it would never end. As if each other’s breathing was severing and stretching out each moment in time.

Everyone’s wish was the same. Please let this time end quickly. Let this night and the imminent threat disappear as soon as possible.

Drushia’s nerves were directed not outward, but inward. Toward the place where the painful moans continued, unable even to scream freely.

There was nothing he could do. He hadn’t known that this would be such blood-drying, heart-wrenching agony. The only comfort was that Jeanne’s voice, heard intermittently, hadn’t lost its composure.

“Your Grace.”

Pelburn called him in a greatly lowered voice. Drushia, who had been concentrating on the inside, suddenly came to his senses.

Rustling movements through the forest were rapidly approaching. The light footsteps, going tap-tap, tap, were not just one or two.

“Get ready.”

At Drushia’s instruction, the knights gripped their swords tightly.

Soon after, a large black form suddenly burst out from the darkness. It was a pack of wolves.

They prayed the wolves would just pass by, pretending not to notice, but it didn’t work. The lead alpha noticed the human presence and bared its teeth. At the alpha’s signal, the other wolves crouched low and approached near the rocks.

The threatening growling could be heard clearly in the quiet forest. As the distance closed, the wolves bristled their fur more fiercely. They had caught not only the human scent but also the smell of blood.

The moment one wolf leaped toward the rock crevice, Drushia threw his dagger.

Clang.

Hit precisely in the neck by the dagger, the wolf rolled on the ground. At the same time, the rest of the pack rushed in all at once.

“Don’t waste time!”

At Drushia’s instruction, Pelburn and the knights came out and engaged the wolves.

The battle between the trained elite knights and the wolf pack was no contest. Throats were cut with single strokes, legs were severed, and the number of wolves was reduced by half in an instant. The howling of the wolves continued noisily until their last breath.

The wolves who lost their companions belatedly realized they were no match. When one wolf ran into the forest, the others followed with their tails between their legs.

The knights lowered their swords and breathed sighs of relief. At Drushia’s gesture, Pelburn dragged the wolf carcasses and pushed them into nearby grass.

“What about the blood traces?”

“We need to clean them so they don’t show. It seems dawn will break soon.”

Time was already racing toward dawn. Faint light could be seen seeping in at the edge of the pitch-black horizon.

But the relief was only momentary.

Whoosh. Tap-tap, tap.

Without even a moment to catch their breath, blind arrows flew from the darkness. Arrows of unknown origin cut through the air with sharp metallic sounds.

“Damn it!”

The wolves coming because they smelled blood had been the problem. The wolves’ howling had been too loud in the quiet forest. It was impossible to gauge how many enemies were spread throughout this forest.

“Don’t give the enemy time to regroup!”

Drushia’s group was overwhelmingly disadvantaged. These were elite knights skilled in individual combat. They judged it better to strike and retreat before the enemies could gather, rather than form a defensive formation.

Drushia leaped into the darkness, swinging his sword. A shadow as black as the forest shadows parried his sword and was knocked back at the same time. In an instant, four or five assassins who had charged from the front were cut down by the knights’ swords.

Those who had been charging all at once hesitated and stopped. They realized the forest with many trees was disadvantageous for them.

“Call for support!”

“Where to!”

“Ahhh!”

The enemy trying to light an arrow on fire had his arm severed by Drushia’s sword. The sword that returned in an arc cut the throat of the one who was screaming.

The dense tree trunks blocked the view, so the enemies couldn’t track Drushia’s group’s movements.

“Don’t go too deep! Strike and retreat!”

Confirming that Pelburn was not visible, Drushia shouted.

“Your Grace, look north!”

One of the knights shouted urgently. Through the dense forest, bright light seemed to flicker, then suddenly cut through the air and flew in.

“These crazy bastards!”

“Retreat!”

The enemies fired flaming arrows without hesitation. The dry trees caught fire in an instant. Smoke thicker than the fire rose with an acrid smell, obscuring their vision. The malice of wanting to burn the entire mountain to kill them could be felt.

“Cough… Your Grace.”

They had no choice but to retreat. At Drushia’s signal, Pelburn and the knights escaped toward the direction of the cliff. Right behind them, inside the rock crevice, was Ashika.

Drushia gripped his sword and blocked the entrance. If they stayed still, the fire would grow larger and larger, and Ashika, who was in labor, wouldn’t be able to flee this place.

‘This can’t happen.’

Anger rose more than fear. He had experienced despair worse than death and ultimately met a miserable death without being able to protect anything.

Having endured all that pain to finally obtain this opportunity, that cursed Marquis Maiheller was trying to take even that away.

“I should have killed him long ago.”

The rage and killing intent boiling up from his entire body made his breath catch. What needed to be killed and eliminated was Marquis Maiheller, but he felt like he might die from suffocation, feeling wronged and frustrated.

It shouldn’t have been left to the Emperor’s hands. Instead of waiting while watching the punishment being postponed again and again, he should have taken direct action. He thought everything was over, but he hadn’t expected such persistent and tenacious pursuit of the two.

He could feel enemies approaching from the forest through the acrid smoke. Even though fire was spreading nearby, the opponents approached fearlessly, apparently unafraid.

Behind them, a limping man appeared, spotted Drushia, and burst into laughter.

“I knew this would happen. There’s nowhere for you bastards to run.”

Surprisingly, the first person to show himself was a familiar face.

The black-clothed assassins hadn’t even fully gathered yet. Before the opponent could completely reveal himself, Drushia gripped his sword and lunged forward in one breath.

“Your Grace!”

Drushia rushed alone into the midst of the gathering assassins. Aiming solely at one person.

“Ugh!”

“My Lord!”

It was a strike made by abandoning concern for his own safety. Pelburn and the knights jumped into the crowd of assassins regardless of front or back. They deflected the swords flying at Drushia in one stroke while surrounding him.

“Cough.”

The Marquis stared with bewildered wide eyes at the sword embedded in his heart. Drushia gritted his teeth and spat out his cold rage.

“Once you die, it’s over.”

Even if I die in the process. Then Ashika and the child will be safe.

The Marquis’s face contorted. What he coughed up was definitely red blood.

“Heh heh…”

The face that seemed distorted with pain was laughing grotesquely.

“What is this…”

Clearly, the sword tip had pierced through Marquis Maiheller’s heart. Deep enough that the spurting blood soaked Drushia’s clothes.

But the Marquis was laughing. Even while coughing up blood, he slowly raised his hand and grasped the sword that had pierced his heart. Not only Pelburn and the knights, but even the black-clothed assassins froze in shock.

“I don’t die. I don’t die!”

The Marquis burst into convulsive laughter like a madman. He couldn’t help but laugh, amazed at his body’s newfound ability.

Marquis Maiheller’s reach into the imperial palace hadn’t been just a matter of one or two years. Yet with all the foundation built over many years, all he could do was flee. His blood boiled with rage at that fact.

But Drushia’s sword, which had rushed to kill him, had lost its way so futilely. It was so satisfying that losing his marquis position didn’t seem regrettable.

Drushia snapped back to his senses. The moment he kicked the Marquis and retrieved his sword, the nearby assassins also came to their senses.

“Cough.”

The Marquis, who hadn’t died despite being stabbed in the heart, ended up rolling on the ground from Drushia’s kick.

“Protect the Marquis!”

The number of assassins, which had been five or six, had somehow grown to more than ten. And the presence of enemies continuously gathering from beyond the forest could be felt.

“Retreat!”

“Kill them! Kill them all!”

The moment Drushia retreated, Marquis Maiheller shouted as if having a fit. Drushia and the knights stood back to back, parrying the swords of the charging assassins.