Chapter 52: Shining Knight (10)

Ewin stood up due to the commotion that occurred while subduing the man; She seemed to have noticed my actions from afar.

“Oh…Oppa…! What is this…”

“Don’t come near me, Ewin!”

I reached out a hand and blocked her approach.

Ewin froze at seeing my hand.

“..I’m sorry. It seems difficult to talk today.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“S… Mr. Smith…?”

Ewin looked at the man I had suppressed and spoke. She seemed to have known him already.

“Ewin, I know the situation is confusing, but this person... he’s been spying on you.”

“…uh…uh…that…is that really Mr. Smith?”

“…Ouch…! Please help me… I was wrong…”

“Quiet. I told you to answer my question honestly if you want to save your life.”

“Uhhhh…!”

The man let out a painful sound, but I didn’t care.

“…Ewin, I’ll come back and explain the details later.”

“…uh…where?”

“To your room.”

“…the dormitory is outside the academy…”

“….ah.”

I blinked in response to Ewin.

I didn’t know why I thought her dorm would be nearby, like the twins’ dormitory.

Once again, if Ewin was actually being targeted, I felt how vulnerable she would be.

But after Daisy, they targeted Ewin... It was easy to guess the reason now; the center was me. Most of the people around me were being monitored.

I could feel my heart burning with anger.

It was because the person behind this monitoring could gradually be narrowed down to Asena.

Because there was no reason for anyone else to spy on the people around me.

I pondered and got up, lifting the man I had been restricting, and then I bent his arms behind his back.

“Ewin, come with me. I’ll escort you home.”

I started walking towards the stable, ignoring the man who was still moaning in pain because of how harshly I was holding his arm.

✧ ✧ ✧

Ewin didn’t say anything while walking beside me.

I hadn’t been able to completely solve the awkwardness yet, but it seemed like I couldn’t even speak out to do that because of this situation.

I was starting to feel sorry now; She had to have this experience because of me. So, in my mind, I decided to finish this business today. I didn’t want to make a fuss around me and put her or Daisy at risk again.

Remembering that, my anger which had calmed down after a few minutes walk, ignited again.

Before this, I was at a loss as to how to solve the problem, but as I moved on, the solution became clearer.

As Lord Horslow said, a knight can talk with a sword. I had no talent for solving problems with words anyway.

On the way to the stable, there was no one I met. It was rather fortunate; if this was really related to Asena… I wanted to look into it, but I didn’t want the matter to get bigger.

However, upon reaching the stable, I met someone.

It was Judy.

She was stroking her white horse, Goldie, and feeding it apples.

I didn’t even want her to find out about this, but I’d come a long way to go back.

Judy turned her head noticing our presence. And after seeing me, Ewin, and a man named Smith, whom I had held as a criminal, she slowly opened her mouth.

“…Cayden… uh…”

“Judy. I don’t have time for a long explanation. Let’s talk later. Do you have a rope?”

“….rope?”

“Tie this guy up.”

It must have been the first time she had ever seen me behaving so wildly, but perhaps because she trusted me, she quickly brought a thick rope from inside the stable and handed it to me.

“….who is he?”

At her question, I replied, tying Smith’s hands, who was still complaining of pain.

“The one who has been monitoring the people around me lately.”

“…..uh?”

“…I feel like he's a member of some kind of organization. Whatever it is… I have to deal with it today.”

When I tied up his hands and feet, I connected the rope to the reins of my horse, Storm.

“…Deal with it? How will you deal with it, Cayden... What are you going to do?”

“I'll take action... Because I couldn’t come up with an answer when I thought with my head.”

I opened the door for Storm to come out, who spat at Smith once, then passed him and stopped next to me.

I smiled at Storm’s action. Then I climbed onto him and reached my hand out to Ewin.

“Come on, Ewin. Get on.”

But it wasn’t Ewin who held my hand. Judy, from whom I had not yet heard an answer, took my hand.

“Cayden. What are you going for?”

“…..”

Was it because Judy was born in the cold north? Her body seemed to naturally produce heat, I thought because the hand holding me felt very warm.

I looked at Judy for a moment, then said slowly.

“For now, I’m going to take Ewin home.”

“Ewin?”

Judy turned her head to look at Ewin.

“She's a sister from my orphanage days. We met recently. This guy here was monitoring Ewin and Daisy... Not just this guy. There are quite a few, but I caught only him yet.”

“I understand taking your sister home, but where are you taking this guy? Can’t we just leave it to the guards?”

“I said I was going to deal with it today. If we leave it to the guards, it won’t solve anything. And… I’ll have to get this out of the way before Daisy is finally ambushed.”

I waved my hand to shake Judy’s hand away and reached out for Ewin again.

But this time as well, Judy persistently held my hand.

“I'll come with you.”

“…What?”

“So, to deal with it… means to enter their base. It’s dangerous.”

“Judy, this is my job.”

“It must have to do with what I said about Sharon Payne a few days ago...”

“…..”

“If I was wrong about what I said, wouldn't I feel guilty?”

“…..”

“Cayden. It’s you who said we are friends. I didn’t want to leave my prejudice behind, but you insisted on it and opened my eyes. That’s how we became friends, so why do you stop me from acting like a friend?”

Judy reached out and opened Goldie’s partition. After that, when she nodded to Goldie, her white horse naturally came out of the Cannes and stopped next to Judy.

Judy then got on the horse and reached out to Ewin as I had done earlier.

“You’re tying him up. Yeah… I’ll take care of your sister... Get on.”

“……”

Ewin looked at me for a moment, then grabbed Judy’s hand and rode on her horse.

“There you! Guide us to the base!”

Judy also ordered Smith with the same hardness as me. I looked at Judy who behaved like that and said:

“…..Thank you.”

I didn't refuse her and thanked her instead because I knew she wouldn’t go back even if I tried to convince her.

✧ ✧ ✧

After we left Ewin at her dorm safely, we got off our horses and questioned Smith who was still weeping and pleading.

“Please don't do this… If I go back like this, I will die.”

“Even if you don't go now, you’ll die. Don’t you know that your life doesn’t mean much to me?”

Ignoring his begging, I whipped him with words. Of course… I didn’t really think of Smith’s life as a fly. I also wanted to solve this problem without harming anyone if possible. After all, Prysters were famous for their unnecessary use of violence, so if I spoke peace for once, I didn't think the opposite party would ignore it…

But making Smith walk even with his arms crossed was getting harder now. The more he walked, the closer he got to somewhere, and the more his feet began to drag on the floor.

I kept feeling like he didn’t want to go.

Eventually, I made an offer.

“If you just take us nearby, I’ll let you go.”

“…yes…yes?”

“I’ll let you go. So just guide us.”

After all, Smith’s life was not my goal. It was more important for me to visit their home base first.

At my words, Smith wiped away his tears and, with renewed strength in his legs, began to walk.

Soon we entered a dark alleyway.

Judy watched my back. To be honest, it was very helpful. I felt blessed to have a friend like her.

“I… it’s over there.”

Pointing to some distant door, Smith stopped. I pushed him further, but soon he did his best not to move and fell to his knees. He didn’t go any closer.

“D-Didn’t you say that if I take you, you’ll let me go..”

“……”

I glanced at the door he pointed, and told Judy.

“…Judy. look at this guy.”

“What?”

“I’ll check to see if he's lying or not. Maybe that’s not where their home base is.”

“Are you going alone?”

“I’m fine. It’s more of a problem to lose this guy. If we miss him, we'll lose a clue…”

Removing it from Storm's leash, I handed Judy the rope, then tapped her on the shoulder.

“I didn’t come here to fight. I came here to check a few things… and tell them to stop.”

"Cayden, you really don’t know the dangers here-"

“I know. So I’m going alone. You’ve helped me enough with this. It’s my problem from now on. Please wait here.”

“C-“

Judy called me, but I turned around.

I slowly approached the door, step by step. The more I walked closer to it the more light around me dimmed.

As I told Judy, I was not here to fight. I was here to talk and warn them.

Soon I arrived at the door Smith pointed to and knocked on it.

– Knock Knock Knock.

“…..”

There was no reaction.

I tried a few more times. But it was the same over time... there was no response.

I turned my head to look at Smith. He was on his knees, covering his face from afar - like someone who wanted to hide.

Seeing him like that, I felt that he would not have lied to me. Then… did they already know I was coming? Or was there something wrong with the way I knocked on the door?

I put my ear to the wooden door.

“…..”

As I sat still with my eyes closed, I heard something.

‘Shh..!’

And as soon as I heard that sound, I leaned back and hit the door with all my weight.

-Bang!

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