ICM Chapter 92

“My lady, snap out of it! This isn’t the time to be spacing out!”

“Nile?”

At the entrance to the banquet hall, Nile and the knights were barely holding back the assassins. When an arrow flew through the air and pierced a knight’s chest, Nile kicked through the entrance and severed his opponent’s neck.

“Lady Igraine, we need to get out of here.”

Neoren gripped his sword tightly as he urged Ashika.

“…Yes, let’s go. I’ll follow you.”

Though her mind was hazy, she answered instinctively. Drushia was looking for her. That single fact became the driving force that moved her.

After confirming that Ashika was moving, Neoren climbed the stairs.

The Grand Duke’s Castle cried out. The space that had been silent for so long roared, shaking the castle walls as if vomiting forth its suppressed rage.

The assassins scattered throughout the Grand Duke’s Castle were looking for exits and coming back down.

“There, over there!”

“Damn it, they’re still alive. What have you been doing all this time!”

Those trying to escape the castle spotted Nile and the knights and rushed at them. They had barely taken a few steps down the corridor when battle erupted again. However, the sword-wielding assassins staggered, unable to maintain their balance.

“The castle is about to collapse!”

The walls of the solid fortress cracked apart. The battle ceased as part of the ceiling collapsed, and fragmented stones struck the assassins’ heads.

“Aaaah!”

“Nile!”

Nile and the knights who had gone ahead disappeared from view. As the ceiling collapsed, dust rose and obscured their vision. Neoren sheathed his sword and looked back at Ashika.

“Lady Igraine, find the passage on the other side!”

The Grand Duke’s Castle still didn’t seem satisfied and wouldn’t stop its roaring. Acrid dust was swept away by wind blowing from somewhere.

In front of the pile of layered stones, in the corridor that had been cut in half, the dust cleared and a pale silver-gray blade suddenly protruded.

“No!”

With the vibration of the floor, Neoren’s body swayed. In that split second, she saw the merciless sword pierce through Neoren’s body.

“Ugh.”

“Aagh!”

Reflexively, Neoren’s sword aimed for his opponent’s heart. A terrible force pierced through the enemy and blood gushed forth. Ashika changed direction and ran toward Neoren.

“Don’t come here…”

The two men with swords embedded in each other’s torsos slowly separated from each other. Neoren withdrew his sword from the still-breathing assassin and once again severed his neck.

With a final gasp, the enemy collapsed limply. At the same time, the sword that had pierced Neoren’s body also slipped and fell to the floor.

The large body tilted toward the ground. He barely managed to support himself with one hand, but there was no way to stop the gushing blood.

“Hah, it’s been a while since I’ve had… such an injury.”

“Old Duke, h-how…”

The moment she saw the blood pooling thickly on the floor, all strength drained from Ashika’s legs.

“What should I do?”

She collapsed and crawled toward Neoren on her knees and hands. Blood that hadn’t yet cooled wetly soaked her legs. Her trembling hands couldn’t find direction and wandered aimlessly in the air.

“What a terrible first impression. Don’t be too frightened. This is common on the battlefield.”

Neoren placed his hand over the hole in his lower abdomen and muttered weakly.

“Do you remember the way we came? Go out that way. Since the enemy doesn’t know that route, you should be able to get out on your own.”

Ashika bit her lips tightly and shook her head.

If she opened her mouth, it felt like tears would burst out, so she couldn’t make a sound. Even though she knew nothing, she could tell that the blood pouring from Neoren’s body was not normal.

‘Think, I need to think.’

If he continued bleeding like this, his life would end before long.

‘Right, blood. Stop the bleeding.’

Ashika took off the cloak she was wearing and tore it up with a small knife she had pulled from her bosom. She tied together the longest strips of cloth she could cut.

“…I told you to get out of here.”

“Save your words for later. Stay still for now.”

Her thin, trembling voice was resolute. After hesitating briefly while holding the makeshift bandage and looking at Neoren’s face, she began wrapping it tightly around his waist with her blood-covered hands, as if embracing him.

“Ugh.”

“Bear with the pain.”

Ashika moved her hands without hesitation.

She was a woman who looked like a granddaughter, only half of Neoren’s size. The seemingly delicate woman’s hands were so capable that even in his pain, he let out a weak laugh.

“You need to lie down. I can’t apply pressure to the wound like this.”

“What an audacious lady. Even battlefield medics wouldn’t dare tell me to lie down. This is enough, so Lady Igraine should leave now.”

Instead of answering his complaint mixed with scolding, Ashika carefully pushed Neoren’s shoulder. Having no strength to resist, his body tilted to the floor as she guided him.

Ashika folded the remaining cloak pieces thickly and placed them over the wound area, pressing down.

“How can a lady who’s so fearful not think of running away?”

“…You’re family.”

“What?”

“Don’t leave Rushia alone.”

He had lost both parents in an accident, and Drushia alone survived. Now Neoren was the only family he had left. She didn’t want to see him left alone after losing his last remaining family member.

Neoren struggled to focus his blurring vision and looked up at the small, pale face.

“Rushia… is that my grandson’s nickname?”

Ashika quietly nodded. Just speaking Drushia’s name brought a warm feeling around her heart.

Her black eyes, brimming with tears, looked at him with a gentle curve. The sight was so pitiful that Neoren felt strangely moved.

It had been almost a month since he sent a letter telling him to return to the territory, but he kept putting it off, which seemed strange. When he heard that he was going to the Grand Duchy, he went directly to find the garrison and learned that he had departed for the Grand Duke’s Castle with Ashika. Having a bad feeling, he followed, and this disaster had occurred.

‘I suspected as much, but it’s come to this again.’

Neoren looked at Ashika with fresh eyes.

The girl who had shed tears so mournfully at the memorial service 14 years ago had grown into a woman who had stolen his grandson’s heart.

“You’ve grown up well.”

Ashika looked down at Neoren with a pallid face.

“Weive and I both missed what was truly important.”

While Drushia was dealing with his maternal relatives who were like a pack of hyenas, the eight-year-old girl would have been left alone in a lofty, high place.

“What does the lady think of my grandson?”

Her jet-black eyes widened in surprise. She never imagined she would be asked such a question.

“I don’t know what you mean…”

Feeling awkward, she averted her gaze. Ashika had almost no memory of seeing Neoren. Perhaps they had encountered each other a few times at the imperial palace. After sending Drushia to the capital, Neoren had not shown himself at all.

“I neglected that child. It’s still my greatest regret.”

Neoren was also trapped in shock and couldn’t recover. His grown son and daughter had lost their lives overnight. Even his wife fell ill from the shock and didn’t survive more than six months.

He didn’t have the capacity to care for his young grandson’s heart. To pull himself together from his crumbling spirit, he wandered the battlefields, and in his absence, the maternal relatives took over the empty space. The Talion family had no collateral branches because hands were precious.

Their purpose was clear. They were always looking for opportunities to manipulate the young boy and get their hands on Talion, and Drushia, left alone, quickly realized his situation.

He grew up calculating and being wary, thoroughly analyzing what he needed to do to protect his position. His calculating personality was a survival method he had learned to stay alive.

But when he saw his grandson after a long time, his appearance was completely different from before.

Drushia had always been cold and rational. He had always been coldly indifferent even to Neoren, but this was the first time he had seen him lose his reason and become frenzied.

“Perhaps you two might suit each other quite well.”

Despite the severe pain, Neoren’s expression remained calm. At his unexpectedly favorable attitude, Ashika spoke up.

“Didn’t you hate my grandfather?”

“That stubborn old man said that? Really, whether then or now… cough.”

“Stop talking.”

She put more strength into the hand pressing the wound. Neoren’s expression was so peaceful that she almost forgot he was seriously injured.

“What would happen if I died here? What if my grandson were left alone?”

“I told you that can’t happen. Don’t make Rushia… more lonely than he already is.”

Her black eyes, brimming with tears, were clear and bright. In her desperate plea not to die, he could feel deep affection that couldn’t be hidden.

“The lady could become family. My grandson sent a marriage proposal, didn’t he?”

“That’s impossible.”

Neoren wasn’t surprised by her firm refusal. He just looked at Ashika with an unreadable gaze.

“You came knowing something, didn’t you?”

Ashika was startled. She had never thought that someone might know her secret.

‘You’ve been pretending not to know such a big secret all this time?’

For a full 40 years, the tragedy that occurred between Igraine and Talion and the conflicts that never came to light. But would Neoren have left alone the most fatal secret even knowing it?

Even as his vision blurred, Neoren didn’t stop talking.

“Whatever the lady is hiding, tell Drushia. He’s not inflexible.”

But this wasn’t a matter where flexibility could be applied, was it? Ashika became confused.

“What do you know, Old Duke?”

“That your stubborn grandfather turned out to be the biggest troublemaker of all? chuckle, ugh.”

“Let’s talk later. Later.”

She was curious. She wanted to know more. Perhaps Neoren knew many more stories that Weive hadn’t told her. But for now, surviving was more important.

“Don’t lose consciousness.”

Seeing Neoren’s eyes flutter closed, Ashika’s heart became urgent.

“…That stubborn one… I wonder what he’ll do.”

The truth he had known but pretended not to know for decades. The problems that had accumulated layer by layer while both sides avoided each other could no longer be hidden.

“Old Duke, please!”

“…It’s okay…, everything will be okay.”

It was heartbreaking to see tears falling drop by drop from those gentle black eyes. He thought that old man must have had a hard time protecting this pretty child.

‘But if my grandson wants to take her away, he’ll be furious.’

Thinking it would be quite a sight to see, Neoren let out a weak laugh.

The vibration that he thought had subsided flowed through the ground again. This time, even the empty air seemed to vibrate and cry out together.

Thud, crash.

The already cracked wall couldn’t withstand even the weak vibration and collapsed again. Ashika covered Neoren’s head with her own body.

Tears she couldn’t control continued to flow. Everything might end like this. She might never see Drushia again.

She should have spoken up. She should have confessed honestly and asked for help. She should have said she loved him. She should have told him that she liked him so much she wanted to give up everything and be with him.

Countless regrets clawed at her aching heart. At this moment, the one person she missed and loved most filled her heart so completely that she could barely breathe.