99th Actress Chapter 35

Chapter 35. Trap

The monster approached Lian, who had fallen, again. She had nowhere else to run. The expression on the monster’s face, with only instinct remaining, seemed to speak. You are a rat in a cage of snakes.

The werewolf charged the ax at Lian’s head, who was trembling with no place to escape.

Her life here is over.

In that split second, Lepierre’s face came to mind. And… she missed him. I should have done it. I haven’t even been able to confess once. That was the time when Lian, who had a premonition of the end, closed her eyes tightly, brooding over her regrets.

Bang!!

There was a loud noise and a strong light appeared before her eyes.

The person who blocked the blow was Lepierre, whom she had missed so much just moments before. Strong magical power was erupting from Lepierre’s sword, Blissade. It blocked the ax at an amazing timing. And from there, a brilliant light that cannot be described in words was pouring out.

The ax had already broken into pieces. The werewolf, who suddenly lost what he was holding in his hand, floundered for a moment and began to lunge at Lepierre.

No matter how monster he was, he could not be Lepierre’s opponent. However, there was one strange thing. Although a werewolf is a monster, it knows pain. It has an instinct for those stronger than itself, so it will retreat or run away when it senses that their opponent has a clear superiority in strength while attacking.

Now this monster was acting as if it had no pain or instincts. In addition, while attacking Lepierre, he sometimes rushed towards Lian.

Lepierre had doubts about it for a moment, but now he had to deal with that monster quickly.

It was then. The werewolf, its arm torn off, rushed at Lepierre, its eyes red.

“Duke!!”

“Lian, close your eyes.”

Lian closed her eyes. Immediately afterwards, an unusual sound, like a squealing sound and a cracking sound, as if a joint were being separated, rang out.

At the same time, the monster fell sideways. It made a loud noise and kicked up a cloud of dust.

“Are you okay, Duke?!”

Lian ran towards Lepierre. His expression looked calmer than expected. But she couldn’t erase the impression that he was angry. He felt that kind of anger that someone had invaded his territory. Moreover, it was targeting Lian precisely. A chill like a cold north wind came from his eyes as he recalled the last poisoning incident.

***

Lepierre, who had taken Lian to the room and sat her down, was about to call the attending physician. He, who was staring at her with concern, suddenly pulled Lian’s shoulder and held her in his arms.

“D-duke…”

She was tightly hugged by his wide, firm chest, and for a moment she couldn’t breathe. Lian lied quietly in his arms, feeling the pounding sound of his heart throughout her body.  After hugging for a while, Lepierre looked down at Lian’s face and cupped both cheeks with his hands. She felt many things in his eyes as he looked down at her.

Anger, regret, and relief… 

Lian smiled softly at Lepierre, as if she could sense his feelings even without saying anything. 

There were quite a few wounds on Lian’s arms and legs from the fall earlier. Chafing marks and scratches all over her elbows, knees, and thighs, there was quite a bit of blood flowing from her knee.

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

Lepierre asked, examining Lian’s body carefully.

“Yes……. What about the Duke?”

Lepierre examined Lian’s wounds without answering, and then he lowered his mouth to the area and began licking it with his tongue. Lian spoke in confusion at the sudden sensation of hot breath.

“Duke… It’s… D-dirty….”

Even though Lian, who was embarrassed for no reason, tried to remove her arms and legs, he kept licking her wounds as if he wanted to taste every single one of them. It was fascinating. She didn’t know if it was because of her mood, but it felt like the pain was actually going away.

Moreover, she kept looking at him carefully as he was doing it.

His red tongue flickered between his lips, licking her wound meticulously and slowly. Wherever his soft lips touched, it was hot as if on fire.

It was similar to the behavior of an animal taking care of its child, but for some reason, her heart kept pounding. Feeling like she was getting more and more dirty, Lian struggled to get her words out again.

“Duke… are you okay…?” 

“I need to get treatment too.”

A little while later the doctor came. As she tried to apply her ointment to Lian’s wound, Lepierre snatched it away. Then, with an awkward hand gesture, he scooped up the ointment and delicately and carefully spread it on Lian’s wound.

Lian, who was watching his clumsy yet extremely absorbed appearance, burst out laughing for a moment. Lepierre asked with a puzzled expression at her smile. As if he was asking why she was laughing.

“Why?”

“I like it…….”

For a moment, she felt like his ears were red. The hand applying the ointment became softer. Lian’s face also turned red. Feeling like her heart was tickling for no reason, Lian waved her hand and cleared her throat several times.

The attending physician, who was watching the situation, coughed a couple of times with the nuance of saying, “I’m there too,”. She applied paste to the part of Lepierre’s arm that was said to be in pain and wrapped it in a bandage. Since there was no trauma, she wondered if he was really in pain. However, when he said it was painful, the treatment was done.

The attending physician has left and only the two of them were alone. Lian took out the handkerchief from her arms and handed it to him.

“The duke’s item was completed… but I thought I couldn’t give it to you.”

It was a handkerchief commissioned by Lepierre. There was cute embroidery on the corner.

Lepierre looked at it carefully and spoke.

“What is this…? Is it a fly?”

It looked like a living thing with wings and eyes, but it was uncertain.

“It’s a butterfly……….”

If he looked closely, it resembled like a butterfly. She didn’t know if she was embarrassed because he called her butterfly a fly, or because she gave the handkerchief. But for some reason, Lian’s face, which had been flushed earlier, had turned white.

Lepierre, who had been adjusting the handkerchief, placed his hand on Lian’s head and gently ruffled it, as if thanking her for her hard work.

“Thank you.”

In shame, Lian just looked at the floor.

Following the poisoning incident that occurred last time at the Duke’s residence, Lepierre prepared another device to protect Lian. Although she was with him many times, he had to be prepared for any occasion when they would be apart.

In case there was a problem with Lian’s safety, he placed a kind of interlocking magic on his sword and Lian’s bracelet. The magic stone embedded in the handle of the Blissade was linked with Lian’s bracelet, and the color of the magic stone on the sword changed when other forms of energy or magic was captured by Lian’s bracelet.

Sure enough, when he left the Duke’s residence for a while, something happened again. After seeing the color of the magic stone change, he entrusted the subjugation to Knight Commander Derek. Tearing up the movement scroll he always carried with him, he returned to the duke’s residence and ran like crazy to find the place where the energy was coming from.

If he had been just a little bit late, he would have almost lost her. Just thinking about it sent a chill down his spine.

It was meant to be a warning, and he used the Marquis of Hudson as an example.. Yet, the person still tried to harm Lian again. Now he was going to execute them instead.

As he looked at Lian, he made that pledge in his heart. 

***

Angelina was pacing back and forth in her own room, she was fidgeting. Her plan failed again.

There was no way she could fail! It was unclear by what route Lepierre, who had gone on a campaign, reappeared.

She just waited for the day when he was gone, lured Lian, and activated the summoning stone that was secretly delivered. She even received word from Sophia that it had been implemented without any problems.

The note on Lian’s desk was one of the magic tools that burned and disappeared on its own after a certain period of time passed. No evidence was left behind. Her own operation was perfect. If it hadn’t been for him who suddenly appeared… 

When it came to things related to Lian Roshart, he had a truly scary instinct. If only she could turn that attention to her… 

Since she had smeared the blood of the werewolf’s natural enemy, Froggear, on Lian’s clothes, it was inevitable that at least one thing on her body would be damaged. If she’s unlucky, she’ll die. It had to be one of two things.

But she escaped again. Wasn’t God on her side?

Angelina was nervously throwing the items next to her at random, and Gemma was looking at her in horror.