A-haha hahaha! You should see the look on your face, Adrian! Hahaha haha!

Princess, please behave. You shouldn’t mock someone when they’re down.

Oh, relax, Mina. Adrian and I go way back. Isn’t that right, Adrian?—my valiant knight! Hahaha ha! What was that? ‘Hand me the girl and nobody gets hurt.’ You honestly believed my guards were bandits, didn’t you? Didn’t you?!

S-shut up, you spoiled brat! It was an honest mistake, okay!?

Oh, Adrian, my sweet, clumsy devil. Or should I call you Lady Amelia, now?

Call me whatever you want. I don’t give a damn anymore.

Oh, don’t be like that, Adrian. Look at the screen. Look at the precious moment when the two of us meet. Oh, isn’t it romantic? A young villain rescuing a beautiful damsel in distress.

Damsel, my ass.

Hey, I didn’t know these two were close.

Duh. One’s a princess. One’s the devil who kidnaps the princess. No one in their right mind would think they were on speaking terms.

Oh, narrator.

Huh? You mean me, your r-royal highness?

You’re the one. May I narrate this part? It is my story, after all.

You may. You may, your royal highness.

Thank you. Now, where were we? Ah, yes, our favorite shapeshifter just realizes he accidentally played hero. And now, he is entrusted with keeping the adorable thirteen years old Princess Grace Graham safe.

“Sir knight! Sir knight! Sop!”

Adrian awkwardly scratches his neck as he watches me mourn over the captain of the guard. He then walks to pick up a saber and loot the corpses.

He finds a paper written in code on the soldiers and decides to keep it. He also finds a strange-looking device.

“Hmm… Is this a… gun? I feel mana in the chamber. Perhaps it shoots magic. Interesting.”

He searches the body more thoroughly and finds two magical bullets. Both are imbued with unknown magical spells.

“Neat toy.”

Adrian takes the gun along with another saber and looks back at me. He clicks his tongue and pulls me up by the arm.

“It’s time to go.”

“Ow! But the knight he’s…”

“Dead. And unless you want to join him, we’ve gotta leave, now.”

“B-but I… Yes… I understand.”

I wipe my tears and fearfully glance at the young knight who rescued me. It’s wrong for me to do so, but I’ve just witnessed him brutally massacring five men with ease.

Adrian avoids my eyes and walks forward. I swallow my whimper and follow him. We return to the flip carriage. Adrian rummages through the wreck and takes out the luggage.

“These yours?”

“Yes, sir knight.”

“Got any warm clothes and walking shoes?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Huh? Yes, there’s a minx coat that my father—”

“Get change. We’ve got a long way to walk.”

“Walk!? F-father said when I’m in trouble, I must stay in place and wait for help.”

“Be my guest, girl. Either way, I’m leaving. Got places to be, things to do.”

“Wait! Where are you going?! You’re my knight so—”

“Get down!”

Adrian pushes me down to the dirt as something hits the carriage and it erupts into a fireball. I scream as Adrian protects me from impact.

He looks at a hill on the other side of the dirt road and smiles.

“I see you.”

Adrian runs on all four, zigzagging uphill. He leaps on the mage that attacks us and bites her neck like a wolf. He sucks her mana dry and then eyes the three other soldiers in the area.

They scream and run away, but Adrian captures one in his hands.

“Why, hello there.”

Adrian grin as blood drips down his bloody fangs. The soldier screams incoherently and begs for his life.

“Let you live? Now, why would I do something like that? I could kill you with a squeeze. Doesn’t that make you hate your powerlessness? Doesn’t that make you hate me with all your heart, soldier boy?”

“P-please, don’t kill me, man! Don’t kill me! I’ll give you the information! I’ll give you whatever you want! Just don’t kill me, man!”

“First, who are you? Why did you and your cronies attack the carriage?”

“W-we were ordered to! I’m just doing my duty. Please, I have a family! Three boys and two girls at home and… and…”

“Orders? So you’re a real soldier?”

“Yes! Private Jameson, 73rd company!”

“And which city are you from?”

“T-the royal capital.”

“And what do you want with the girl?”

“G-girl?”

“I see your superiors didn’t tell you a damn thing, did they?”

“N-no, sir! They made sure none of us have all the… the information…”

“Then what good are you?”

“I-I-I…”

The man pees himself and Adrian drops him.

“You got a horse, Private Johnson? A cart, maybe?”

“J-Jameson.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing, sir! Nothing!”

Adrian takes the poor private back to the carriage wreckage. And Johnson is shocked to find out that the target is me. After a bit of back and forth, it turns out that nobody knows anything about anything and Adrian is getting annoyed.

Private Johnson leads us to where his vehicle should be but we only find a donkey.

“Fucking wonderful.”

Adrian ruffles his hair and takes out a map.

“Johnson!”

“Yes, sir knight!”

Adrian grabs Private Johnson by the nap of his neck and shows him the map.

“Where is your company stationed? Oh, and if you lie to me… well, I honestly wouldn’t mind. It means more fresh meat for me.”

Adrian bares his fang. His amber eyes have a tinge of red.

“In a campsite near Squash Town, sir! I-I’m pretty sure there are people in Carrot Root and Honey Inn as well.”

“We’re cornered from all sides. Wonderful.”

“But why? What do you people want from me?!”

“I… I don’t know, my princess. We’re just following orders.”

“Good little soldier does as he’s told. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.”

“Nothing!? My people are dead! My horses are dead! My knees are bleeding and my life is in danger!”

“Bla. Bla. Bla. Stop your yapping, girly. You’re giving me a headache.”

“Why you…!?”

“Suppose I can get you to a city. Can you contact somebody you can trust?”

“My uncle is at Lilac Mountain. We can trust him!”

“Bet ten grand, he’s behind all this.”

“S-sir knight… I don’t have that much money.”

“How about fifty silver, soldier boy?”

“You’re on! I bet on somebody no one would expect, like… like a kindly advisor!”

“Deal.”

“What the heck are you two talking about!?”

Adrian has Johnson and the donkey carry the luggage and lead our way. He walks ahead without waiting for me to catch up, so I whine and complain at him the whole way. Oh, Adrian, since when does creating chaos and ruining lives turn into causing minor annoyances to people?

Tch! Don’t talk to me, brat.

We avoid the main roads and camp in the woodlands. Adrian tears my expensive clothes to pieces and sews them into a tent. My young self can understand the necessity of that, but gets enraged when Adrian plops down next to me.

“W-what are you doing in my tent?!”

“Yours? I made it.”

“Get out! Get out of here!”

“It’s cold outside. Now shut up, I’m trying to sleep.”

“Why you… you… ruffian!”

“Either shut your lips or I’ll sew them shut. Your choice, princess.”

We keep heading north, and I notice Adrian behaving strangely. He doesn’t walk as fast and is the first to ask for a break.

“What’s wrong, you big brute? Tired already? I can still walk for another mile.”

“Feel free to go ahead. Just shut up… you’re giving me a headache…”

“What’s wrong? You look sick. Wait, you’re burning up!”

“Don’t touch me! Cough! Cough!”

Adrian coughs blood, and that is when I learn something is seriously wrong with him. I beg him to find a doctor, but he smirks and says,

“Look around, princess? Do you see any doctor nearby? Plus, there’s nothing they can do for me.”

“D-don’t say that! You’ll be fine! A big heartless brute like you can’t die to a little thing like this!”

“Huh? Who said anything about dying?”

“Sop! It… it must be back then, wasn’t it? When you got stabbed. I… I thought you healed it and… Oh, god, I’m so sorry! Whaa!”

“Shut up! I just have Silver Blood. It’s no big deal.”

“Oh god, you have Silver Blood on top of it! You must be in unimaginable pain! I’m… I’m so sorry for everything I said to you… Whaaa!”

“Sigh… Fuck me… Fuck my life.”