Chapter 024. Let’s Go, to the Land of Anata! (5)

“Pants… you mean.”

Sionne slowly lowered his gaze. Crumpled in his hand was a pair of Hernian military uniform trousers.

“Yes. You need to change your pants too.”

Rosalyn was already dressed in uniform, so there was no need for her to change further. But in Sionne’s case, both top and bottom had to be switched out.

A heavy silence fell over the inside of the carriage.

“…”

Of course, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t change. There had been female knights on the battlefield, and in those conditions, they’d all seen more than enough of one another.

‘Right, I just have to treat it like that…’

Sionne raised his eyes and looked at Rosalyn.

But staying unaffected under her calm, steady gaze turned out to be harder than he expected.

“?”

Rosalyn tilted her head slightly.

“What are you waiting for? We don’t have time.”

Pressed by her tone, Sionne lowered his hands. If he waited any longer, her gaze would only sharpen. He figured he’d better start changing before that happened.

Clunk. The carriage suddenly tilted to the right.

And at that moment, its speed began to decrease.

“We’ll need to get out.”

Rosalyn pulled back the curtain to check outside and muttered.

“If I stay and watch, it’ll probably take you half the day.”

She turned back to Sionne and clicked her tongue in clear irritation before grabbing the door handle.

As she opened the carriage door, she said with a teasing tone,

“I’ll take my leave, so change in peace, Your Highness.”

At some point, she had started calling him “prince.”

But unlike before he lost his memory, it no longer sounded like a jab. If anything, it carried a trace of playful mischief.

However, Sionne’s thoughts shifted completely with her next words.

“Wouldn’t want to disappoint the image of the ‘prince in white.’”

Rosalyn muttered as she shut the carriage door behind her.

“Hah.”

He took it all back. No title had ever felt more insulting than “prince” did in that moment.

* * *

As Sionne stepped down from the carriage, Rosalyn brought her horse to stand in front of him.

“Sionne, get on this horse.”

Sionne mounted with ease and looked down at Rosalyn, who stood on the ground holding the reins.

“What exactly is my role?”

“My shield.”

Rosalyn scanned the left side of the woods beyond the carriage as she spoke. In one hand, she held a crossbow.

“So if an arrow flies, block it with your body.”

She always had a way of saying cruel things like it was nothing.

“But Your Grace right now, you look a bit…”

“A bit?”

“Like a squire.”

With her cloak pulled low over her head, Rosalyn’s smaller frame stood out compared to the other knights.

It was probably why she was keeping behind the carriage, pulling the horse along like an attendant would.

“If a knight takes an arrow for a squire, it’s a strange picture. But the other way around? Understandable.”

“What?”

“I’m joking. Since you’ve been teasing me nonstop.”

Sionne quickly turned his gaze away from her.

He bit the inside of his cheek. He should be nodding at her every word, but instead, he kept answering back.

“Of course, if it’s for Your Grace, I’d gladly take the arrows.”

“Hah.”

Rosalyn let out a dry laugh. This consort of hers always looked obedient, then suddenly said the most unpredictable things.

It was amusing—but there was no time for idle chatter.

“I don’t feel safe leaving my life in your hands. Fall back to the rear, Sionne Feitan.”

Sionne quickly turned to her.

“What do you mean?”

“Drift slowly to the rear and retreat with the servants.”

Rosalyn’s voice was cold, devoid of emotion.

She had never intended to rely on her consort in the first place. The only reason she had him wear a knight’s uniform was to get him out of sight quickly—on horseback, it would be easier.

‘To make him blend in.’

She looked up at Sionne atop the horse. Wearing the uniform, Sionne Feitan looked every inch a knight.

“I refuse. I’ll fight, too.”

But the stubborn consort never followed orders quietly.

“I can’t just leave Your Grace here alone. If you’re staying, I’m staying.”

The words sounded noble, but his true motive was far less so.

Rosalyn would surely send him away as soon as they reached Anata. This was his only chance.

“I’ll protect you.”

Sionne needed to prove his worth and gain her trust.

“I was joking when I called you my shield. I’m not so weak I need protection from a consort.”

Rosalyn frowned.

“Don’t waste time. Go.”

“But…”

“I decide who gets to help me.”

With that, she ran to the back of the front carriage. Sionne watched her leave, looking helpless.

Moments later, Jacob’s shout rang out from the front:

“Ambush!”

Arrows began to fly from the forest. The sound of air tearing filled the air as they thudded into the carriages.

“Take cover behind the wagons and return fire!”

Jacob shouted orders from the front line.

‘About ten archers.’

Rosalyn, crouched behind a carriage, identified the enemy’s position. She aimed her crossbow in the direction the arrows had come from.

Swiip. Her bolt flew, striking a black-robed figure who tumbled from a tree.

She immediately aimed at her next target.

Thwack!

“Gah!”

Right then, the knight beside her took an arrow through the neck.

“Sir!”

She called out in alarm, but he collapsed clutching his throat.

“!”

Rosalyn clenched her jaw and fired in the direction the arrow had come from. The bolt pierced the enemy’s gut, her rage fuelling the shot.

‘Pull yourself together, Rosalyn de Hernia.’

Her ears buzzed with adrenaline.

The killing intent. The urgency to strike first before she herself was hit.

And the instinctive fear—she could die here.

Her emotions surged violently, and her hands began to slip. She barely managed to grip the string again.

‘I underestimated this.’

She had assumed that if her twenty-eight-year-old self had done it, she could too.

But that had been foolish arrogance. She finally realized it now.

“Ugh!”

Another Anata knight took an arrow to the shoulder.

Seeing her knights fall one after another made her doubt everything.

‘Was this the right call?’

She’d always been praised by her military strategy tutors. She’d believed in her tactical skill.

But on the battlefield, she was nothing but a green amateur.

‘Should I have listened to Jacob’s advice—to strike first?’

Were all these people dying because of her?

“Haa… haa…”

Her hands were trembling more with each passing moment.

The arrows that always hit their mark were missing now.

‘Damn it. Stupid valerian!’

Then a firm hand grasped hers.

“You’ll scare them off shooting like that.”

Sionne Feitan supported her hand from below. The arrow he loosed pierced an enemy in the forehead.

“And after each shot, you have to change position.”

He pulled her toward the carriage as he spoke. Rosalyn, now unintentionally in his arms, looked up at him.

“Stay in the same spot too long and you’ll be found immediately.”

Swiip. As if to prove his point, an arrow hit the spot where she had just been.

“Why… are you here?”

“I got lost on my way. So I came back.”

The consort offered an absurd excuse.

But Rosalyn couldn’t scold him.

“Stay calm. We have the upper hand now.”

Despite how ridiculous his words were, they steadied her.

“Then help, since you’re here.”

Rosalyn quickly scanned the opposite side. The number of incoming arrows had decreased significantly.

‘Three on the left, one on the right.’

Only four archers remained. She raised her crossbow again.

“Kill her! Find the red-haired woman and kill her!”

With their archers nearly wiped out, the enemy assassins charged. Dozens of enemies with swords and spears poured forward.

“Strike fear into those who defy Anata!”

Jacob rallied the Anata knights to meet the charge.

Thwack.

Rosalyn calmly took out another archer. Her hands still trembled, but bracing them against the carriage wall helped her stay steady.

‘Three.’

Sring. Beside her, Sionne drew a fallen knight’s sword. He cut down enemies closing in on Rosalyn.

She glanced at him before aiming again.

Thwack.

‘Two.’

Just two left now.

And then—