Chapter 16: 16

Diana lost her consciousness as she looked at Edwin’s face.

Seeing the small body fall to the cold floor, Edwin roughly drew the knife that had been lodged in the man’s leg.

“Aww!”

A scream of pain could be heard, but Edwin didn’t mind at all and ran to Diana, who had fallen.

“Miss!”

Edwin hugged Diana’s small body and felt a moment of dread at Diana’s motionless appearance and hurriedly put his ear on her chest.

Thump-thump-thump.

It was weak, but her heart was definitely beating.

‘She’s not dead, just passed out.’

Edwin, who was frozen like ice, sighed in relief.

At that moment, Edwin woke up to the feeling  behind him and turned his head.

Then I saw a green-haired man trying to get out of the alley, dragging one of his messed up legs.

“How dare you!”

Edwin took a dagger from his waist in the urgency that he should not miss him.

However, at that moment, the man whose leg slipped and fell, and the dagger hit the man’s back neck.

“No!”

‘He must not die. ‘

Edwin took Diana in his arms and hurriedly ran to the green-haired man.

Edwin frowned as he saw the man bleeding profusely.

Thinking about the possibility, I touched the man’s neck, but as if he died instantly as soon as the dagger hit him, no heartbeat was felt on the neck.

“Damn it.”

Edwin let out a low swear word, stroking his head roughly with one hand.

Edwin sighed as he looked at the two men who had fallen in his alley.

The red-haired man was cut by the sword as soon as Edwin entered the alley.

One should have been saved, but he couldn’t judge rationally.

The moment Diana fell, he was the man whose reason had blown away.

Originally, you should have completely subdued the green-haired man and then ran to Diana.

But the moment Diana collapsed calling his name, he couldn’t think of anything else.

And when he first arrived in the alley, he saw Diana… 

“I should have come earlier.”

Edwin’s voice, full of regret, lifted up the gloomy alley. As the smell of blood began to vibrate, Edwin held Diana gently.

Then, a small sound was heard.  Edwin approached the little boy he had forgotten for a moment.

As if to come to his senses, the boy slowly blinked his eyes.

The body of the child trembled when he found the body while looking around.

Edwin quickly raised the child. Then he made eye contact with the child and said:

“It’s okay, everything is fine now, don’t worry.”

 “…”

Edwin was not  dressed as a trembling boy. Old clothes and worn shoes.

‘Is he an errand child?’

He’s got to get back to the Grand Duke quickly.

Diana was still unconscious. She had to go back and get treatment from a doctor.

However, leaving the child as it is was on his mind.

And since all those who could be presented as a gift have died, maybe the child knew at least one thing.

But I can’t take this child with me.

Just when Edwin narrowed his brow in a difficult situation, a guard appeared in front of the alley.

“What’s going on there?”

Edwin thought it was good and called them.

“It’s a knight of the Grand Duke. Come this way.”

“Oh, yes!”

Two guards, eager to hear that there was knights of the Grand Duke family, entered the alley.

When the guards found the body, their eyes widened as if surprised.

Naturally, the eyes of the guards turned to Edwin, who was holding Diana.

“Turn your gaze away.”

Edwin’s cold voice lowered the guards’ gaze down.

Edwin ordered them.

“Erase the body and take this child for temporary protection. If this child has nowhere to go… please contact me again.

 “All right.”

Edwin left the still trembling boy with the guards and hurried out of the alley.

 ***

In the castle of the Grand Duke, there was a heavy silence in the guest room.

The doctor who was examining Diana, who was lying unconscious on the bed, got up.

Then, the door swung open.

Edwin, who was about to approach the doctor, was surprised by the appearance of the duke who suddenly opened the door and entered.

“I see you, Grand Duke.” 

“Stand up.””

The duke passed the courteous Edwin as he approached the doctor.

“Is the examination over?”

The duke’s gaze glanced at Diana, who had her eyes closed, and then fell.

The doctor bowed his head to the duke and said,

“There are no major internal injuries, but I can’t say that she’s in a very good condition. As if by surprise, her body energy was very disturbed. Maybe if her body was healthy, she was weak, so I guess I’ll have to take medicine and watch the progress.”

” … Are you saying that her life could be in danger?”

“It’s really the worst case, and it’s not getting there to worry about yet.”

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“Right.”

The duke closed his mouth, feeling a strange sense of relief.

“Then, my lord, I’ll go get some medicine.”

“Do it.”

The doctor left the room and the duke stopped in front of the bed. 

There was no reason he had to be approaching Diana, but he didn’t want to leave this room.

When the general butler heard that Edwin had arrived at the castle with Diana, who was unconscious, he gave the child a room without hesitation and ordered him to call a doctor immediately.

And he got up from his desk without realizing it.

If he hadn’t asked where he was going when he opened the door, he would have gone to the place where the child was.

The duke, awakened by Rowoon’s voice, sat down at his desk again and tried to finish his work.

If only I hadn’t been thinking of Diana.

The Grand Duke could not finish all the work in the end and got up from his seat.

He could feel him looking at him with a gaze that Rowoon did not understand, but the duke ignored him and headed here.

If you sit still at your desk, you won’t be able to do your job properly.

So I tried to check only what state Diana was in.

It was because he was worried for a moment that the skinny child had lost consciousness, and that the child victimized in the fights of adults would really die.

So, he decided to just check the life or death of the child and return to the office. By the time he entered the room.

However, the duke could not take his feet even now after confirming whether the child was alive or dead.

Just when he was getting annoyed by himself and narrowed his brow deeply, Edwin approached the duke.

 “Your highness.”

The duke looked away from Diana and looked at Edwin.

“He killed the man, did he find work today?”

“Yes, it is.”

The archduke’s eyebrows rose in response to that answer.

She was chasing after a woman and found the child?. 

The duke was momentarily suspicious. The duke looked at Edwin with a cold gaze and asked.

“Is there any chance this has to do with that woman?”

“That is…”

Edwin paused at the duke’s question.

He was heartbroken, but he accidentally killed all the crucial witnesses.

Seeing Edwin unable to give a clear answer, the duke recalled what Edwin had said to him a few days ago, late at night.

-I saw Diana’s mother outside the castle.

– You said you saw Diana’s mother?

– Yes, Your highness gave orders to search for mercenaries who committed illegal acts in and out of the territory while the castle was vacant.

 -Yes, it was.

 The duke nodded and Edwin spoke again.

– In carrying out that order, when I searched the inn where the mercenaries often came and went, I saw the lady’s mother there.

-The inn where the mercenaries come and go?

-Yes, especially the mercenaries staying at the inn were places where there were many mercenaries who were trafficking people illegally. It is said that it is a place where only the bad guys gather, so it has become a place that the residents of the Grand Duke family hardly visit.  But her mother was working there.

– You said she works there…there were a lot of suspicious parts.

The duke did not recognize Diana as his daughter, but when he went to the battlefield, he really thought he had spent the night with Leah by mistake, so he was providing a certain amount of money for living expenses.

However, she dared to go out and work in a place where the most dangerous mercenaries out of many shops came and went.

Why?

At the woman’s incomprehensible behavior, the duke said to Edwin, who bowed his head and bowed his head.

-Edwin, you have to follow her from tomorrow.

 – Yes, my lord.

Edwin, who received the secret duke’s order, answered with a firm face.

Recalling that day, the duke saw Edwin licking his lips.

Unlike Edwin, he couldn’t give a clear answer.

The duke felt strange and looked at Edwin with bitter eyes.

“Is there anything you didn’t tell me?”

Edwin’s body stiffened at the duke’s frost-like gaze.

Edwin went straight to his knees.

“I’m sorry. I dared to hide something from His highness.”

 “What is it?”

“Actually … I wondered if it had something to do with the young lady’s mother working there. I heard from another person who worked there, her mother was pouring alcohol to mercenaries who mainly deal in human trafficking. Because I heard that they often shared”

But why does it have to do with Diana?

 “Is there anything else?”

“The people who attacked the young lady today were mercenaries. I couldn’t check their faces because I was in a rush to save the young lady, but if I check the faces with the guards and look into them, I can be sure that they must have been traffickers.”

Hearing Edwin’s words, the duke’s face became as cold as ice.

A brief silence fell between the duke and Edwin, as he could deduce one fact from what he had heard.

The duke looked down at Edwin, who had his head lowered with a stiff body, and moved his lips.

“Edwin, raise your head.” 

Edwin tightened his neck, which did not move easily, and lifted his head slowly.

Edwin held his breath for a moment in the vivid gold he encountered. It was as if the glittering gold inside was squeezing his neck.

The moment Edwin was as hard as a stone, unable to blink, the duke moved his lips slowly.

“So, you’re saying it’s her who made Diana like that?”

If he told a lie, a harsh blue energy was emanating from the duke as if he would cut his throat.

A cold sweat ran down Edwin’s back.

“…Yes, I guess so.”

“A mother made her child like that?”

 “Yes, my lord.”

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