Chapter 15
The price for daring to stage a hostage situation in front of him was death.
The villain’s head, severed from his body, tumbled into the darkness of the alley.
When an unrecognizable sound reached her from somewhere beyond her line of sight, Ri-Na turned her head to check.
“It would be better if you didn’t look.”
As Edwin held her back, Ri-Na—having vaguely guessed the truth—squeezed her eyes shut and stood perfectly still. She pressed them so tightly that the muscles around her eyes strained in protest.
Edwin chuckled, deliberately making his presence known as he approached so he wouldn’t startle her.
“This way.”
He pulled Ri-Na toward him, shielding the corpse with his own body.
“You can open your eyes now.”
However, her eyes remained fused shut.
“I told you it’s fine, didn’t I?”
Only after Edwin teased her a couple of times, asking if she planned to spend the rest of her life in darkness, did Ri-Na finally look at him. Her violet eyes were brimming with tears. She let out a small, pained sound, her body trembling as if the tension had yet to leave her limbs.
“You coward. Where did you get the nerve to be so reckless earlier?”
Edwin rummaged through his inner pocket, pulled out a handkerchief, and handed it to her, chiding her needlessly. Taking the fabric, Ri-Na dabbed at the tears pooling at the corners of her eyes.
“You told me, Lord Rohas, that you would buy me some time. I thought I should try to do something.”
“I did?” Edwin asked, puzzled.
“Isn’t that right?” Ri-Na moved the handkerchief toward her left eye, then paused. “You winked at me.”
“That was to signal you not to mistake the situation for a smokescreen,” Edwin said, his tone flustered. He pressed a hand to his forehead, dumbfounded by how poorly his message had been conveyed.
“Ah.” Ri-Na let out a hollow laugh.
“I should be the one who’s dumbfounded.” Edwin’s scolding was half-mixed with laughter. He was speechless, yet he couldn’t bring himself to be truly angry. “In the first place, there is no way I would ask Miss Diaz—who has never even held a wooden sword, let alone a real one—to attempt something like that.”
Edwin explained patiently, uncharacteristically for him.
“If there is a next time, don’t do this. Just stay still until I save you.”
He remained firm about her conduct, sensing the fragility of the moment. “We were lucky this time, that’s all.”
If his timing hadn’t synced up with hers, the corpse on the ground might have been Ri-Na’s. No matter how outstanding Edwin’s martial prowess was, it was far more likely the villain could have stabbed Ri-Na before he could intervene. If she had been his subordinate—though, of course, someone with no martial skill could never be his subordinate—he would have given them a severe lashing for such stupidity.
Edwin felt a strange, unfamiliar leniency toward her.
“Yes. Thank you for saving me, Lord Rohas.” Ri-Na nodded obediently.
Edwin eventually turned away, avoiding her violet gaze. When his long-winded scolding showed signs of ending, Ri-Na seized the opportunity to shift the subject.
“I’ll wash the handkerchief and return it to you.”
Before he could tell her to simply throw it away, the neatly folded fabric vanished into Ri-Na’s pocket.
“Do as you like.”
Edwin replied with a casual nod, though his gaze remained fixed on the fingers that had been fidgeting with the cloth.
Soon, his attention drifted elsewhere—toward the sensation that had been bothering his nerves like a persistent insect since they entered the alley.
“Miss Diaz, would you mind closing your eyes and holding out your hands?”
Taking the recent chaos as a lesson, Edwin approached the remaining villains while keeping Ri-Na within close range. These were the same men who, at the moment they took her hostage, had tried to rise with bravado despite being severely injured. Now, having missed their chance to escape, they were once again feigning unconsciousness.
Edwin verified that Ri-Na was safely positioned and raised his sword. Extortion and attempted murder were crimes of a different caliber; he intended to execute them all on the spot.
Sensing the shift in the air, the villains scrambled to their feet and prostrated themselves.
“We didn’t recognize your nobility!”
“We were wrong! If you spare us, we’ll wash our hands of this and live honest lives, so please…”
“I have a wife and children back home…”
Edwin ignored their pleas with a cold smile. “If you valued your life, you shouldn’t have committed the crime in the first place.”
His sympathy was reserved only for the deserving. As his sword cut through the air toward the neck of the nearest villain, the man squeezed his eyes shut in pure terror.
“Wait a moment!”
“Why?”
The strike was aborted. The blade stopped a palm’s width from the villain’s neck. Edwin turned to look at Ri-Na, barely managing to suppress the murderous intent that still clouded his vision.
“Are, are you really going to kill them?”
Her violet eyes were wide with terror. Edwin felt a sense of injustice; if any passerby saw this, they would surely mistake him for the villain.
“Those who attempt murder deserve the death penalty. If they belong to a criminal organization, the same sentence applies to all of them.” Edwin explained, keeping his voice steady as he justified the price of their crimes.
“Even so…”
Ri-Na’s eyes, alternating between him and the cowering men, remained soft. She clearly wasn’t convinced.
“Rather than trying to kill me, couldn’t it be that they were just trying to use me as a hostage to escape from you, Lord Rohas?”
Ri-Na fidgeted, interpreting their intentions with an unsettling charity. Edwin stared at her, his expression hardening, and forced a thin smile.
Startled, Ri-Na averted her eyes. She knew she was being frustrating, and the villains, realizing they had found a lifeline, immediately clung to her.
“As you saw, my lady, it was all his doing alone!”
“That’s right! We have never harmed anyone. Please…”
The villains were weeping like children, drunk on the sudden hope of survival. He could see Ri-Na’s heart, soft as ripe fruit, wavering. Edwin let out a loud, deliberate sigh.
Ri-Na spoke, carefully gauging his mood. “It’s not that I want to forgive them. It’s just that it doesn’t seem like they did something worth dying for.”
Though her attitude was passive, she was doing her best to express her opinion. From a certain perspective, it was a remarkably courageous act. This was the first time since ascending the throne that someone had opposed him so fervently.
Surprisingly, he wasn’t angry. It felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his seething rage, cooling the heat.
“I didn’t know you were such a devout person, Miss Diaz. To be this merciful even to those who tried to harm you.”
But that didn’t mean he welcomed her defense. When he poked fun at her, Ri-Na wore a dejected face, unable to counter.
*I didn’t mean to discourage her.*
Edwin smoothed his furrowed brow and offered a softer expression. Seeing this, Ri-Na regained a bit of her spirit.
“The law also distinguishes between intentional crimes and crimes of impulse… And it seems a stretch to say these people planned it all together…”
Seeing her glance up at him tentatively after every sentence, a hollow laugh escaped him. *Why is her frustration not annoying? Why is it actually… cute?*
Edwin finally broke, letting out a short, dry laugh. “Why didn’t you become a legal scholar like your father?”
His tone was cold, but the edge had been blunted. Noticing the change, Ri-Na pouted, asking, “Isn’t one supposed to protect private information obtained in the course of duty?”, before breaking into a bashful smile.
As he met her eyes, which crinkled beautifully, he felt a tickling sensation in his ribcage, as if touched by a feather. *Or perhaps I have simply grown so accustomed to peace that I no longer find bloodshed welcome.*
Unable to bear the feeling, Edwin turned away, pretending to be heartless. “Even so, I cannot let them go. They are criminals.”
Perhaps she hadn’t expected that much; Ri-Na answered only in a small voice. Edwin turned to the villains, his voice dropping low enough that it wouldn’t reach her.
“You’ve saved your lives thanks to the soft-hearted Miss Diaz.”
The words were whispered, but they were vicious enough to make the men’s knees knock together.
“I intend to ensure that you lot never commit a crime again.”
Edwin grabbed one of the villain’s wrists and severed the tendon with a sickening snap.
“Don’t make a fuss,” Edwin smiled, issuing a final warning.
The villains clenched their teeth, knowing this was the greatest mercy they would be granted. He soon led them—now unable to ever hold a sword again—toward the nearest Security Force station.
The end of the eventful festival was drawing near.