Ch.197Chapter 197. Night of Destiny (2)

* * *

‘Huh…?’

I was momentarily frozen by the surreal sight of Lady Irene carrying Lady Serpina on her back.

Just then, Irene spotted me and rushed over with an urgent expression.

“Swen…!”

I could tell immediately upon hearing her voice.

Something had happened.

I quickly ran toward Irene with Reika.

“What happened?”

“My lord…!”

Looking at Serpina being carried, I noticed her waist was tightly wrapped with torn pieces of clothing.

‘…!!’

So something had happened after all.

After quickly assessing the situation, I asked Irene.

“How’s the current situation?”

Understanding the implication of my question, Irene replied with urgency.

“I killed one, and one is incapacitated. Both… were my lord’s knights.”

‘My goodness…’

What a cruel twist of fate.

To be the target of an assassination attempt by the knights she trusted most.

If I hadn’t planted Irene there, it could have been disastrous.

No.

Her survival might also be within the range of predicted outcomes.

With the change in assassination date… perhaps she was destined to survive.

But that wasn’t what mattered right now.

“I think we should head straight to where the doctors are. As for cleaning up the scene…”

“I asked soldiers to immediately imprison them on my way here.”

“I understand. Then we should hurry.”

She nodded.

Just then.

“Wait…”

I heard Serpina’s voice from where she was being carried on Irene’s back.

“Unnecessarily… making this… a big issue… will only cause confusion. If we go to the hospital… rumors will spread… it’s dangerous.”

A sovereign nearly assassinated and in a dangerous state?

If that fact spread, the country would inevitably fall into chaos.

But now wasn’t the time to worry about such things…

“But my lord…”

“Arrange… for a doctor… to be called… to another location.”

“…”

Irene carefully looked toward me.

This was it. She was asking me to make the decision.

If we went to the imperial hospital, rumors would spread immediately. I wasn’t sure how Irene and the soldiers would handle the aftermath, but it could potentially become quite troublesome.

Considering her current position, this was especially true. While her own safety was important, avoiding national chaos would be something she’d want to avoid as well.

I carefully looked at Serpina.

If she were truly in a life-threatening situation, I shouldn’t have listened to her.

But if her survival was a confirmed future, listening to her would be more reasonable.

Fortunately, Irene seemed to have stopped the bleeding well, and the wound didn’t appear to be extremely fatal—but I needed more concrete evidence.

‘I need to find a way to determine this…!’

As I was desperately thinking, at that moment.

“…Swen.”

Serpina addressed me in a faint voice.

“I want… to ask… if not taking me to the hospital… is the right decision…”

‘Lady Serpina…’

I see.

Serpina had posed this question for my benefit, seeing my hesitation.

She knew about my ability, after all.

But.

[Unknown.]

…As expected.

I had anticipated this, but the answer came back as “unknown.”

Despite her thoughtful question, my Intelligence 100 couldn’t determine whether it was right or wrong.

Perhaps noticing something from my expression.

Her voice reached me again.

“Of course… even you… cannot know everything… I’m sorry… for burdening you…”

For some reason, Serpina’s words made me emotional, and I approached her and whispered.

“My lord. Please save your words. …I’m fine.”

Seeing her haggard face made me resent my ability even more.

If only I had received an answer like “The fate of continental unification will shift” here, I would have taken her to the hospital regardless of confusion or anything else, given the life-threatening situation.

If that had been the case, we would have gone to the hospital without delay…

‘…Wait?’

Just a moment.

Continental unification…?

The moment I recognized the keyword “continental unification.”

I realized there was exactly one “question” that could confirm whether Serpina would survive.

‘…Is Lunarian Ineanne destined to become the ruler who unifies the continent?’

Thump.

Thump.

With a trembling heart, I checked the answer that appeared before me.

[Yes.]

‘…!!!’

It’s okay.

Lady Serpina won’t die.

We don’t necessarily need to rush her to the hospital right now. The fact that Lady Luna’s fate remained unchanged despite not being in a hospital meant she would survive.

Just to be sure, I also input a question about Lady Serpina, and seeing “No” as the output meant nothing would happen to her.

If she won’t die, then I can honor her request.

I nodded and said.

“I think it would be best to move her to our mansion and call a physician.”

“…Understood.”

After hearing Irene’s response, I slowly turned my head to look at Ms. Reika.

She too seemed to have grasped the seriousness of the situation, nodding and silently following behind us.

Why did this happen?

I thought we had avoided fate, but had we merely escaped the immediate danger of death?

Or was this situation itself the “avoidance of the fate of death”?

No, from the beginning… I couldn’t understand how a knight of Irene’s caliber allowed Lady Serpina to get hurt.

‘I can hear about what happened later.’

After organizing my thoughts, I followed behind Lady Irene with Ms. Reika.

I couldn’t be more thankful that she was such a strong person.

*

After moving her to the bedroom in our mansion.

Only when the imperial doctor, summoned through a maid, entered the room to examine her condition, was I able to hear from Irene about what had happened.

“She was trying to protect you, Lady Irene?”

“Yes… My lord… was injured… trying to protect me.”

Irene clenched her fist in frustration, on the verge of tears.

“I’m a failure as a knight… After all that training. I was taught to throw away my life to protect the one I’m guarding, and yet…!”

“…Lady Irene, you did nothing wrong. It was simply beyond your control.”

Indeed, how could a newcomer like her have noticed that two of the knights, excluding herself, were assassins?

Even I hadn’t anticipated it, and Serpina hadn’t either, which is why she had kept them close.

Moreover, the perpetrator had been guarding Serpina since she ascended to the throne.

How could anyone have anticipated such a person would turn a blade against them?

Suddenly.

I recalled what she had said when calmly accepting that she “could not become the unifying ruler.”

She had said that when you feel the malice that exists in this world toward you… you might anticipate such things.

Was this what she meant?

That the people around her who followed her would one day all hold knives to her throat?

Even if she had killed all the imperial princes, from what I heard, the imperial family’s conflicts were much worse when her brothers were alive, and she just cleaned up a bit excessively at the very end…

In an era where neither human nor heavenly ethics existed, was she alone such a great criminal to be hated by everyone?

I almost got lost in my thoughts, but we had no time.

I took Irene’s trembling hand and said.

“Lady Irene. Let’s leave the review of the situation for later and focus on what we need to do now. That will be more helpful to our lord.”

“…Okay.”

“First, please go to the palace and handle the situation as quietly as possible. The justification of ‘by the lord’s command’ should be sufficient. You’ll be fine, as you’re not just a knight but also the deputy commander of the occupation forces. And regarding the treatment of the assassins… since State Counselor Jenna is currently absent, you’ll need to handle it independently here.”

“But to say it’s the lord’s command when the lord hasn’t said anything…?”

“It’s fine. I’ll take all responsibility.”

I said that, but I didn’t think Serpina would reprimand either me or Irene over this matter.

She wasn’t that rigid a person.

“…Alright, Swen.”

Irene wiped her tears and stood up resolutely.

“I’ll take care of everything… please look after our lord.”

“Don’t worry about this side.”

Watching Irene’s retreating figure, I couldn’t help but feel fortunate that she had already established her position.

As someone who had already secured her place, her words would carry more credibility.

By the way.

Why did Lady Serpina… try to save Lady Irene by throwing herself in harm’s way?

While I was confused by her actions, which were not at all rational for a ruler and hard to understand—

I slowly rose from my seat at the sound of the door opening, as the physician and two female attendants who seemed to be acting as nurses came out.

“How is the situation?”

“Fortunately, her life is not in danger… but she seems to have lost quite a bit of blood, so she’ll need absolute rest for a while. I’ve taken all necessary measures… but I think it would be best for her to rest for a few weeks, or even a few months at most.”

Although he said he had taken all necessary measures, this wasn’t a world with highly advanced medicine like the one I originally came from.

In that sense, it was truly fortunate that the wound wasn’t deep.

Whether it was because “this was how it was meant to be” according to my prediction, or simply because she was lucky, I couldn’t say.

“Is there anything else that needs to be done?”

“No. Just that she needs to rest…”

“…I understand.”

“I’ll be staying in this mansion today, so please call me anytime.”

After sending the physician off.

I carefully opened the door and entered the room where Serpina was lying.

*

In the bedroom, Serpina was lying peacefully.

Was she asleep?

I approached her side as carefully as possible, trying not to make any sound.

‘Lady Serpina…’

She seemed to have fallen asleep already.

It was only natural that she would need sleep to recover, as she must have been greatly weakened.

Her waist was wrapped in bandages beneath her snow-white clothes.

Even for the nurses, touching the emperor’s body must have been quite a daunting task.

Although they said the wound wasn’t deep… judging by the area covered by bandages, it was quite extensive.

Being cut by a knife to that extent must have been extremely painful, yet she hadn’t made a single sound of distress on the way here.

A ruler who throws herself to protect her knight… feeling the irony of those words as I gazed at her face, suddenly.

In the end, she ended up protecting Lady Irene, didn’t she?

Wait a minute.

If so, then why…?

Just as my mind was beginning to race, at that very moment.

“…!!”

Feeling someone grab my wrist, I looked down—

Serpina had extended her pale, slender hand to grasp my wrist.

Turning my head, I saw she had opened her eyes and was looking at me.

“Are you awake, my lord? You should rest—”

“…Swen.”

“My lord.”

She who had always looked down at me, now looking up at me from her lying position—

With that fragile, delicate voice… she uttered words sharp as a blade.

“…Don’t leave me, Swen…”