Chapter 89 - I’ll Protect You

Before I went to sleep, I changed into my pajamas and sat on the sofa. I felt Luciana’s soft touch as she dried my hair and fell deep into thought. I wondered how in the world they did it.

I was still thinking about the assassination attempt. Miltiades survived, but he was quite seriously injured. No matter how much I thought about it, I still didn’t have a clue. How did they manage to grab a hold of Miltiades and push him to the brink of death? 

“Let’s go to sleep now,” Luciana said, laying me down on the big bed.

“Luci.”

“Yes?”

“What would you do to kill an extremely strong person?”

“An extremely strong person? Hm…I’m not too sure but, wouldn’t people usually use their weakness against them?”

“Their weakness?” Miltiades acted like he didn’t have one, but he did. Just one. But they couldn’t use it against him. 

Suddenly, there was a flutter of activity outside. 

“What’s going on?” Curious, I tried to get up and take a look, but Luciana pushed me back down. 

“There’s no need for you to worry. Please go to sleep.”

“But I’m curious.”

“I’ll find out what’s going on,” Luciana went outside. Usually, I would have waited patiently for her to come back, but my curiosity was overflowing that day. 

“…His Majesty…” What were they saying? Straining my ears, I heard someone cry in shock, “He disappeared?!” Someone disappeared? Who? 

“His Majesty has disappeared? What happened?”

“Sir Callian is looking for him, so we’ll find out soon, but be careful that rumors don’t start to spread.”

I stood there with my eyes widened in shock after eavesdropping on Luciana and Margaret’s conversation. Daddy disappeared? This wasn’t good. Could it be an omen? It was better to be safe than sorry. I needed to find him. Everyone else kept quiet to avoid arousing suspicions and causing rumors to spread. Only I knew the seriousness of the situation. He was not in the palace. If he was, Callian and the knights would find him. I ran out. 

In any other situation, I would have been caught immediately, but everyone was preoccupied with Miltiades so I was able to sneak around and avoid the guards thanks to my small size. 

“Where should I go?” The surrounding area suddenly became quiet. I felt a familiar sensation in the strange silence as if something was calling out to me. In the past, I would have been suspicious of this feeling, but this time, I didn’t have a reason to be. I followed the familiar sensation to the ruins in the palace. I had been here before.

“Margaret said that Daddy ruined this place…” For some reason, after Miltiades made a mess of this area, he didn’t allow anyone to rebuild it. He didn’t answer when people asked, but I knew what happened. I didn’t know if I should feel relieved or not, but I saw Miltiades amidst the ruins. 

“Ah…” Just as I was about to call out to him, a strange sensation held me back. I took a closer look and saw reddish-black energy seep towards him. I wondered when this ominous energy had started forming in the palace.

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind. This was the place where I had fought Claud. I didn’t know what was going through Miltiades’s mind, but he had a pained look on his face when he saw me. His golden eyes flashed. Anyone who saw him then would have known that he wasn’t in his right mind. 

Just when I thought that I was going to be in trouble, clang! The sound of swords clashing pulled me back into the moment. “Please run away,” a young man came out of nowhere to block Miltiades’s sword. 

“…Enoch?” I blinked, wondering if I remembered the correct person. Enoch nodded. And then the two men clashed swords again. I backed away instinctively but didn’t think of running away. If I did, Enoch would die here. I wondered if this was where he died in the novel. The atmosphere grew cold as I wondered grimly to myself. I swallowed and looked at Miltiades again. 

There was ominous energy surrounding his body. How in the world could I get rid of it? I didn’t think my divine power would be of much use against that. All of a sudden, Miltiades’s sword clashed against Enoch’s with a loud crash! 

Enoch staggered backward and coughed up some blood. He seemed to have been injured internally. If Ludwig was here, he would have put up a better fight. I became nervous. There must be something that I could do, anything…!

“Call for me,” a voice suddenly rang in my head. 

“Call for me, Child of Light.” As soon as I heard it, I knew: this was the voice I had been hearing. It had familiar energy. “I don’t know who you are but please come!” I clasped my hands tightly, and a huge flood of light appeared. A giant, glowing tiger with wings let out a ferocious roar and charged at Miltiades.