Chapter 237 Part 1: The Thing to Protect
Armand nervously leaned down to check Rachel’s breathing. Only after confirming that she was still alive did he finally breathe a little easier. Carefully, he held the sleeping Rachel in his arms.
Her breathing was steady, and there were no wounds on her body. The only obvious thing was a small bruise on her neck, clearly from a needle.
Although it seemed that Rachel had only been given a shot of some kind of sleeping drug and was otherwise fine, Armand couldn’t be sure if anything else had happened to her.
Worried, he quickly slashed through the chains that Grey Dove had used to keep Rachel from escaping and pulled her into his arms.
Evelia was already…
So now, he couldn’t let anything happen to Rachel too.
Armand didn’t know if the people from the House of Nightingales had done any experiments on her. The most important thing now was to get her out of here and find a doctor to check her thoroughly.
He held the small child close to his chest, hiding her under his cloak. He paid close attention to her body temperature. As long as she stayed warm, that meant nothing was immediately wrong.
At least for now, he had to protect this child.
And after this... he would send her far away. Keeping Rachel by his side was far too dangerous. He had to find a safe and good family to take her in. At least let her have a peaceful childhood.
“—?!”
But just as Armand stood up with Rachel in his arms, he suddenly felt a chill rush up his back. A wave of killing intent came out of nowhere, sending shivers down his spine.
Clang!!
A dagger flew straight at his back without warning. If he hadn’t instinctively turned around and swung his sword, even being half a second late would’ve meant getting stabbed straight through.
Even though he wore a chest plate, it only protected the front. The cloak on his back offered very little defense, it wasn’t magical armor. At best, it could stop scratches, but a powerful flying knife like that would have cut through it easily.
Right after that, without giving him any time to rest, a figure in a deep red cloak rushed at him like a gust of wind.
Thanks to the glowing stones Armand had left behind for light, the attacker clearly saw where he was. Without hesitation, she gripped her blade and lunged straight for his neck.
Clang!!!
This time the sound of metal hitting metal was even louder. The room was too small.
The “Red Crow” had enough space to swing her dagger, but Armand’s longsword was too long to use quickly at such a short distance. So he had no choice but to use his gloved hand to grab the incoming blade.
The dagger scraped across his palm, making a sharp ringing sound of metal grinding against metal.
“...!!”
Armand was already weak and exhausted. Meanwhile, Evelia, who was now the “Red Crow” and hadn’t recognized him, was fighting with everything she had out of fear for Rachel’s safety.
Even though Armand normally would’ve been able to match her strength, this time his arm was shaking, and he was being pushed back step by step. He could only watch helplessly as the tip of the blade got closer and closer to his throat.
He could feel that he was losing.
With no time to worry about technique or honor, Armand used all his strength to kick Evelia in the stomach, sending her flying across the room.
Evelia flipped mid-air and landed steadily, using her hand to stop herself from sliding backward. She looked at the shadowy figure standing in front of her, he was standing exactly where she had hidden Rachel earlier. And this person was now hiding his left arm under his cloak, as if he were holding something.
Putting those two clues together, Evelia immediately understood what was going on.
“...Give her back to me...”
From under the cloak came a low, unclear, gender-neutral voice, distorted by the alchemy interference built into the cloak.
Evelia no longer cared about the rule of "not speaking during a mission." She dug her fingers into the ground and clenched her hand into a fist.
“GIVE HER BACK TO ME!!!”
With a muffled roar, Evelia charged at Armand. Both hands gripped her daggers tightly like the claws of a wild beast, filled with killing intent.
Armand paused when he heard the roar. Even though he knew these cloaks could block sound and hide presence, the voice still felt strange to him somehow.
But what exactly was strange? His foggy mind couldn't quite figure it out.
He was already not thinking clearly, and most of his focus was on defense, he had no time to think more. So he chose to throw himself fully into the fight.
Clang!! Clang! Clang!!!
Evelia was incredibly fast. Armand, who could only use one arm to defend while protecting Rachel with the other, was quickly overwhelmed. He kept backing up until he finally reached a window.
With one strong hit, he smashed the window open and escaped from the cramped room into the open outdoors. Before jumping out, he yanked some furniture over to block the window and stop anyone from following too quickly.
But outside was even more dangerous for him.
Thump—!
“—?!”
A heavy arrow came flying at Armand with a loud and terrifying sound, cutting through the air like a thunderclap. The sheer force of it startled him. He quickly leaned back, and the arrow narrowly missed his nose, flying past and piercing a thick tree behind him with a deafening crash.
Armand kept his balance, but when he saw the size of the tree and the massive arrow that had pierced it, he was stunned.
Who shoots arrows that huge?
That’s not an arrow, that’s basically a spear!
What am I fighting against, a siege weapon?!
Still, Armand could tell the person who shot that arrow wasn't some superhuman who could fire giant arrows one after another. If it had been a real siege ballista, the next shot would've come much faster. The fact that there was a pause meant the hidden archer needed time to build up power before shooting again.
But that wasn’t comforting either.
Right now, fighting even one "Red Crow" was already enough trouble, and now there was a hidden archer too. Now he was being attacked from both sides.
Soon, "Red Crow" burst through the side door. She knew the person in front of her was holding Rachel in his arms, so while slashing with her left hand, her right hand reached toward Armand’s chest to grab the child.
Of course, Armand wouldn’t let her succeed. He twisted his body to dodge, making Evelia miss her grab.
But Evelia reacted fast. When her right hand missed, her left hand moved to attack. She spun her dagger in her hand and stabbed it straight into Armand’s right shoulder.
Then she twisted her wrist hard, turning the blade inside his shoulder.
“...!”
Even though getting hurt was nothing new for Armand, pain was still pain, as long as his nerves still worked. Cold sweat immediately broke out on his forehead.
He wanted to pull the dagger out of his shoulder, but one hand was busy blocking Evelia’s next attack, and the other was holding Rachel. He had no time to rest or recover, so he could only grit his teeth and dodge Evelia’s attacks as best he could.
If their previous encounters had all been limited and controlled because of missions, this time, because of Rachel, Evelia was truly trying to kill.
She had to bring Rachel back to the estate… back to the home she shared with “Mr. Armand.” What she didn’t know, though, was that the “Mr. Armand” she was thinking of now had a hole in his shoulder, caused by her own blade.
Of course, honestly, for people like them, wounds like this were painful in the moment but not a big deal long term.
As a “well-trained guard dog” raised by the royal family, Armand had access to the best medicine. The royal alchemists and doctors always managed to create amazing healing salves.
For example, Armand often used a special kind of medicine that could quickly heal surface wounds to hide scars. It didn’t heal internal injuries fast, but it made sure outside wounds were covered up well.
So Armand wasn’t worried about healing later. What he had to focus on now was how to get Rachel out safely.