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“Miss!”

Blanshe arrived at the scene in a flurry, looking around. Fortunately, Bella was easy to find. There was one person among the special police officers cleaning up the scene who kept glancing her way. It was Bella, a beautiful woman with silver hair. Recognizing Blanshe, Bella waved her hand.

“Ah, Blanshe. Over here.”

“Miss! Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere…?”

As Blanshe spoke, her eyes slowly narrowed. There was a man next to Bella who shouldn’t have been there.

“…Count.”

“Yes.”

“What are you doing there right now?”

“Can’t you tell? I’m being treated.”

“…I know that. I’m just asking why Miss Bella is the one treating you.”

Tristan’s abdomen was wrapped in a freshly changed bandage. And the person finishing up by cutting the end of the bandage with scissors was none other than Bella.

“All done. Don’t overdo it now.”

“Miss… why are you treating that man?”

“Ah, I had no choice. If I didn’t, he might have died.”

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

Blanshe tilted her head in confusion. Bella spoke with a tone of regret.

“The Count risked injury to save me, and this is what happened. So what could I do? I didn’t want to, but I could at least help with the treatment, right?”

“It was you who asked me to treat you.”

“Oh dear… look at this. You must’ve hit your head. You don’t even remember properly.”

“My head is fine.”

“How pitiful…”

“……”

Tristan opened his mouth to say something but then closed it. He looked oddly tired. It seemed true that he had tried to protect Bella. Blanshe bowed her head deeply to him.

“…First of all, thank you very much, Count. I had no idea something like this would happen while I was away.”

Then she turned to Bella with a stern tone.

“Miss. If you ever plan to come to a place like this again, you must tell me.”

“I’m sorry… Blanshe.”

“Miss, did you hit your head? Are you bleeding?”

Blanshe asked worriedly, looking at the blood-stained gauze on the back of Bella’s head.

“I’m really fine. It’s just a small bump.”

“Well, that’s a relief… but you almost had a big disaster today. Huh?”

Only then did Blanshe notice the child clinging to Bella’s side.

“By the way… who’s this?”

“She’s a lost child. We got kidnapped together, so she’s staying with me until we find her parents.”

“I see…”

Blanshe’s expression softened as she looked at the child. She knelt down and extended her hand to the girl.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Blanshe. What’s your name?”

“Alice…”

Alice hesitantly shook Blanshe’s hand.

“Alice… that’s a nice name.”

“Tall sister…”

“Yes?”

“Tall sister… are you the fairy’s servant?”

“The fairy…? Ah…”

Blanshe exchanged glances with Bella and then chuckled.

“That’s right. I’m the knight who protects the fairy.”

“A knight…?”

“Yes.”

“Then will you punish bad people too?”

“Bad people, you say?”

At Blanshe’s question, Alice pointed her finger at Tristan.

“That man is bad. Punish him.”

Alice seemed to be throwing a bit of a tantrum as she said this. Blanshe coughed awkwardly and asked Tristan.

“Count… did you do something to this child?”

“Just as the child said. I did something bad.”

“…?”

Blanshe tilted her head, even more confused. Tristan remained silent, as if it wasn’t worth explaining. Then, suddenly remembering something, Blanshe asked Bella.

“By the way, the bad guys who kidnapped you… I mean, where are they?”

“They’re being taken away. As you can see…”

“…Hmm?”

Blanshe frowned as she looked where Bella pointed. There, special police officers were escorting a group of men. But the men were in a pitiful state—one writhing in pain, another clutching a broken arm and screaming. It looked more like the special police were transporting patients rather than criminals. It was also a scene familiar to her.

Then, Alice whispered in Blanshe’s ear.

“That bad man did it.”

“……!”

The Count?

Blanshe looked at Tristan with disbelief. He sat there with his usual arrogant demeanor.

Blanshe had fought Tristan before, so she knew well how strong he was—strong enough to inflict serious injuries on her. Of course, his limits were clear, but the fact that Tristan was a formidable opponent remained unchanged.

‘But that…’

At a glance, Blanshe could tell. The men who had kidnapped Bella were thoroughly broken.

It was the technique used by assassins—techniques to kill people with bare hands.

The finishing was clumsy, but there was no doubt. It was something only someone who knew how to ‘break humans’ like her could do.

The Tristan Blanshe knew might have been able to take them down somehow. But even so, he couldn’t have done that.

‘……’

Blanshe fell into thought for a moment. Her cold, rational mind considered all possibilities. And she came up with one possibility.

‘Could it be that he wasn’t going all out back then…?’

It was undoubtedly a fierce fight. In that fight, Tristan hadn’t used any martial arts. In a life-threatening situation, he had fought her with only a gun and sheer willpower.

Why?

Tristan was a thoroughly calculating man. He had judged that he could defeat her with ‘that’ alone.

Even if he had used his martial arts, Blanshe was confident she could have beaten him. But was he really just hiding his martial arts? Blanshe could no longer make any definitive judgments about Tristan’s strength.

She recalled what he had said.

– I know. The fact that you’ll come after me again.

– But I won’t die. I’m confident of that.

Her head felt cold. Blanshe carefully picked up Alice and muttered softly.

“Indeed… I see.”

So that’s why he was confident. Blanshe smiled at Alice. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have known what expression to make.

“Don’t worry, Alice. I’ll make sure that man doesn’t do anything bad… I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Okay! Thank you, tall sister!”

Blanshe hugged the beaming Alice tightly. At that moment, she noticed a special police officer walking toward them. The officer, who seemed to be of high rank, bowed his head.

Toward Tristan.

“Count. Is this the person you were looking for?”

Behind the man stood a woman Blanshe had never seen before. The one who recognized her was Alice, still in Blanshe’s arms.

“Ah, Mommy!”

“Alice!”

Alice jumped into her mother’s arms. The two hugged each other and cried. It was a heartwarming scene of a mother and daughter reunited.

“We found a woman searching for a missing child near the market.”

“Good work.”

“Not at all, Count. I’m glad we found her. Please call us if you need any further assistance.”

“Hmm.”

Having completed his task, the special police officer bowed respectfully and returned to his duties. Watching this, Bella spoke up.

“Hmm… Count, do you have connections with the special police? Or should I say, money connections?”

“…I’ll be going now.”

“Where are you planning to go in that condition?”

“I have places to be.”

“Alone? Without any guards?”

“Yes.”

Just as Tristan was about to walk away, ignoring Bella as if she were a nuisance.

“May I accompany you?”

“Blanshe…?”

Bella tilted her head in confusion. Blanshe had appeared out of nowhere and was now blocking Tristan’s path.

“You saved Miss Bella, so I can’t just let you go off alone in such a dangerous state.”

She added with a polite but bold stance.

“Ah, of course, only if Miss Bella allows it.”

 

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