Ch.2524. Historical Distortion (6)

# 24. Historical Distortion (6)

“Quite the gutsy one, aren’t you.”

The man looked at me with interest as I raised my sword again.

Looking at him, I said:

“It’s not you, is it? Setting up a barrier too.”

“I’m just thorough with my preparations!”

The man used [Leap] to instantly close the distance between us.

Aelin and I dodged as much as possible while dragging out the fight.

-KABOOM!-

The terrifying force emanating from him gradually destroyed the surrounding structures.

Of course, that was partly because we were using them as shields.

As he mercilessly demolished the palace corridor, he said:

“Where have you hidden the Empress? She couldn’t have gone far, could she?”

“As if I’d tell you that?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his stupid question.

But he responded with a serious expression:

“Then I’ll have to kill you first.”

He wore the same vicious expression as before while raising his sword.

Then he used [Leap] to approach me instantly.

-CLANG!-

I tried to dodge his sword, but he was even faster than I’d anticipated.

My sword collided with his, and I was ultimately pushed back at high speed, unable to withstand the impact.

But he wasn’t satisfied with that and pursued me once more.

-CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!-

I was continuously being pushed back, but I wasn’t particularly worried.

“Do you keep forgetting I’m not alone?”

Aelin, who had been in stealth mode, fired magic from an invisible position.

-CRACKLE! CRACKLE!-

But unlike before, she couldn’t inflict any significant damage this time.

He completely ignored Aelin’s attacks and targeted only me.

“It doesn’t matter, so I’m only targeting you.”

His words were incredibly arrogant, but unfortunately, they were true.

Her attacks were no longer a problem for him unless she used a unique skill.

‘She must be out of mana.’

It made sense since she had already used her unique skill twice.

It was a skill that required an enormous amount of mana to begin with.

Now we really had to rely on luck.

‘Please hurry…’

The man swung his sword with an evil smile.

-SWISH! SWISH!-

“Argh!…”

I became a bit frightened seeing the red liquid flowing from my body.

‘It hurts… it really hurts…’

The pain grew more intense with each of his laughs.

His sword dug into my body, and I kept coughing up blood.

I tried to move my body to do something.

Little by little.

I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t listen.

All I could do now was either get killed by him or turn my head to check the time.

‘I guess the latter is slightly better?’

As I was dying, I managed to turn my head with great effort to look at the clock.

The hour hand pointed to 9, and the minute hand to 24.

9:24…

I searched for that time in my jumbled memories.

I barely managed to recall what this time meant and its significance.

Memories from that moment flashed before my eyes like a kaleidoscope.

***

The woman with moon-bright silver hair spoke to her subordinate:

“Lord Albert, do you have any regrets?”

The knight called Albert carefully replied:

“I do.”

He continued with a nostalgic look:

“This was before I met Your Majesty. I was quite a pathetic person back then. I was curious about many things and tried to do everything, but the results were always disappointing.”

She listened attentively to his story.

“I would whine about things being difficult without really trying.”

His story was interesting.

“I was far from persistent and quick to give up when I didn’t see results.”

And entertaining.

“I expected tremendous growth from minimal effort.”

He was talking about what one might call his embarrassing past, but his expression remained calm.

Though these memories might be embarrassing to share with others, he didn’t show it.

“I regret living such a pathetic life back then. However…”

He continued with a smile:

“If I had worked harder then, I might not be having this conversation with Your Majesty now. Looking at it that way, it wasn’t so bad. Who I was then made me who I am now.”

When he finished speaking, she began:

“I have regrets too, though somewhat different from yours, Lord Albert.”

She, like him, had things she regretted.

“As you probably know, my mother was assassinated by an agent from the Babylon Kingdom.”

She spoke with darkened eyes:

“She died inside the palace, and I was there too. I noticed my mother was missing and went looking for her. Father told me she had gone to the study, so it was easy to find.”

Albert knew her mother had been assassinated, but he didn’t know the rest of what she was saying.

“I went upstairs to the study to find my mother. But…”

She frowned as she spoke:

“There was a barrier in place. I tried with all my might to break it. I eventually did, but by then it was too late.”

She looked at the clock hanging in the room.

“There was a clock there too. It was exactly 9:24. That’s when I discovered my mother’s body, horribly mutilated.”

***

‘9:24…’

At that moment.

-CRACK!-

The barrier trapping us shattered into pieces.

Someone was walking from outside the barrier.

She approached me, drawing all attention as if she were the only one under a spotlight in this world.

And for that moment, even the man who had been slashing at me stood still, watching her.

She spoke to him as he held me by the collar:

“Let go of him.”

My consciousness was hazy so I couldn’t see clearly, but it seemed like she was surrounded by a blue light, as if she had awakened something.

Emitting a blue aura, she warned him with a terrifying presence:

“I said, let go of him.”

This time she didn’t just use words.

A large spear emerged from her staff, instantly targeting his hand.

“Tch…”

He reluctantly released my collar.

I fell ungracefully to the floor.

She looked at my wounded body and said:

“Why are you…?”

I pointed at Aelin who had somehow returned to my side.

I had no strength to speak, so I left it to her.

Then I naturally closed my eyes.

‘I really… almost died.’

***

When I opened my eyes, an unfamiliar scene greeted me.

‘Where am I?’

I carefully tried to get up despite the headache.

“Ugh…”

But I immediately felt pain in my abdomen and lay back down on the bed.

“This hurts like hell.”

I gave up and just lay there.

Getting up was nearly impossible anyway.

“Need to rest a bit…”

After about an hour, someone opened the door and entered.

I turned my head to look, and the person who had just entered was looking at me too.

[Absolute Loyalty has been activated.]

[All stats increase by 10% when with your lord (Elizabeth Michael).]

[Your lord (Elizabeth Michael) feels affection for her faithful knight (Albert Veros).]

Once again, the status window reacted to her appearance.

‘Can’t I turn this off?’

She spoke to me as I was staring awkwardly into space:

“Hello? Is this our first meeting?”

She wasn’t in her usual Diana appearance but in her original form, just like before.

“Not exactly.”

“Right, we saw each other the day before yesterday…”

“No, it’s not our first time regardless, is it, Senior Diana?”

Hearing my words, she was startled:

“H-how did you…?”

“Isn’t that not the important thing right now? So what happened?”

That was more important now.

I was very curious about what happened after I passed out.

“It worked out well. After you fainted, that guy ran away. Fortunately, no one died and…”

She looked at my body wrapped in bandages and said:

“You were injured the worst.”

“That’s a relief then.”

“A relief?”

“Yes.”

I truly meant it when I said it was a relief.

In the end, everything was resolved as I had expected.

Though it was a bit difficult…

“It hurts a bit.”

“A bit??”

“It hurts a lot. How long do I have to stay like this?”

“Your recovery speed is amazing, so you should be able to attend school normally in about a week.”

It must be thanks to [Regeneration].

‘Having many skills is definitely good.’

Still, it’s fortunate that I only need a week.

“But how did you know?”

“What?”

I was playing dumb, but she wouldn’t let it slide.

“Tell me quickly.”

“Can’t we just let it go?”

“Do you think that’s possible?”

“Just this once.”

“Then how did you get into the palace?”

Surprisingly, she seemed to be letting it go.

“Did you know there’s a secret passage in the palace?”

“A secret passage? Where?”

She looked at me with a slightly surprised tone.

“Since I can’t go out now, I’ll tell you in a week.”