Only Violet remained unaffected by his murderous intent.

One frightened ruffian, overwhelmed by the pressure, yelled and swung his weapon wildly in panic. It was a sloppy move, hardly worth dodging.

Alec didn’t need to pay deep attention to the movement patterns of his opponents.

The only mercy he could show here was not to strike at their necks immediately—and this consideration was borne for the sole reason of sparing Violet from a cruel scene.

A group that seemed to be with the kidnappers arrived in a swarm.

Regardless, those reinforcements were quickly dealt with.

Some tried to use Violet as a shield to save their lives, but they met their end with a dagger imprint on the back of their hand.

“—Are you alright?”

Having cleared the added group in just a few minutes, Aldin approached Violet with a near-tearful expression.

His gaze was still fixed on her neck, where blood continued to flow down.

Seeing his distorted expression, Violet laughed.

“Sir Aldin.”

“Yes.”

“I think I’m about to faint.”

“What?”

“Sorry…”

Hitting her mental limit, Violet announced her impending faint.

Her voice was so calm that Aldin wondered if she was joking.

She had lost quite a bit of blood and was mentally exhausted.

Perhaps feeling relieved seeing Aldin, Violet relaxed as soon as she felt safe.

Simultaneously, her body slumped down like a puppet with its strings cut.

“Lady!”

Aldin rushed to catch her.

That was the last thing Violet saw before her vision darkened.

* * *

It was just a brief loss of consciousness due to the sudden release of tension, so Violet woke up sooner than everyone expected.

The physician wrapping her neck with a bandage was startled.

“Where am I?”

“Ah, this is Spinel Palace. We moved you here for proper treatment and safety.”

“May I know what happened?”

“Well…”

The physician looked uneasy at Violet’s question.

Feeling a throbbing in her head, Violet sat up and sighed, prompting the physician to urgently advise her to rest.

The situation she heard afterward wasn’t much different.

Regardless of everything, the hunting competition continued as planned, confusion and all. Knights were patrolling everywhere for safety, and the places where Aldin found Violet and where Cairn and Alesia defeated the assailants were now restricted.

The surviving kidnappers were all taken away.

A few who possessed crucial information would be spared, but the rest would likely be executed. They had foreign accents, so the intensity of interrogation would undoubtedly be high.

Cairn and Alesia were also receiving separate treatment and resting in the tents. Cairn’s injuries were especially severe, but he was just taking it easy after ‘supposedly’ getting hurt by a monster.

Violet clicked her tongue upon hearing that Cairn’s wounds had reopened several times due to his restlessness.

Aldin, who had rescued her, had gone to report the situation. He insisted on staying to watch her treatment, but he was dragged away by the orders of the crown prince and his seniors from the First Knight Order.

All this happened during the hunting competition.

Violet clicked her tongue and touched her bandaged throat.

The knife she had pressed against her own throat was only meant to be a threat, but it had caused a deeper wound than she thought. She had bled more than she realized.

She was the victim of this kidnapping, Violet didn’t consider this incident any of her damn business. It wasn’t her job to identify the forces that had attempted to kidnap her.

So, Violet thought,

‘I want to go home.’

She desperately, intensely, profoundly wanted to go home.

To her, the physician applied precious medicinal herbs to her neck and handed her a recovery potion.

Violet obediently drank the tasteless red liquid. Her wound would heal soon.

Despite the long day, the sun hadn’t even set yet.

Her wish to go home was easily dismissed by the physician and the maids. They kept parroting that she needed to rest.

After waiting quietly for a short while, Violet perked up at the sound of a knock from beyond the door.

This time, she would insist on going home.

“Are you feeling any better?”

It was the crown prince. Violet quickly tried to sit up to greet him.

“Forget it. I’m not so callous as to expect formal greetings from a patient.”

At Rajaden’s motion to be at ease, Violet promptly sat back down. She had no intention of displaying unnecessary courtesy.

“Thanks to you, I was safe.”

“Give your thanks to Sir Aesir. He’s the one who rescued you.”

Rajaden sat down opposite her with a smile. Violet didn’t refute his words.

Her acceptance without denial slightly furrowed Rajaden’s brow.