The Abandoned Empress

“Sir Monique, you know who your partners are, right? When you notice a suspicious man, blow the whistle right away. See you in the evening.”

“Okay. See you later, Sir Freia.”

After introducing myself to the members of my unit, I started the mission with two apprentice knight partners, Sir Lake and Sir Spia.

How much time passed? I started to check anybody who seemed to have a similar build to Marquis Mirwa’s, or those who seemed suspicious. As I was so focused on the search, I became tired rapidly. As it happened, it was almost lunch time, so I looked around my partners, I saw a man suddenly flinching while walking toward us.

“Hey, there, can you come here for a second?”

“…”

“We are the knights of the 2nd Knights Division. I need to check something, so I hope you can cooperate.”

But as soon as the man heard it, he immediately turned around and started running away.

Startled by his running, I began to chase him, while instructing them urgently, “Sir Lake, let me and Sir Spia chase him, so if you feel it’s hard, blow the whistle right away. Got it?”

“Okay.”

“Good. Let’s go, Sir Spia. ”

Thanks to my strenuous efforts to develop my stamina, I could drastically shorten the distance between him and me when I ran fast.

‘Okay, I think I can catch up with him if I turn around that corner.”

But when I reached there, there were already several men standing, drawing their swords to attack him.

“Sir Lake!” The moment I urgently shouted, an arrow was flying through the air and hit the young man’s chest who was trying to take out a whistle.

I smelled the strong scent of blood gushing from his chest.

The whistle fell from Sir Lake’s hand and rolled on the stone ground. The silver whistle being dyed red through the blood that permeated into the ground.

At that moment, I quickly hid myself behind a street lamp, instinctively lowering my body, when I heard an arrow flying toward me. It passed by me by a hair’s breadth.

After pulling out a dagger, I stuck out my head to locate the archer. He was a bit closer to me now.

I sent hand signs to Sir Spia standing on the other side of the street lamp. With his face turned white, he drew a dagger. When I confirmed it and stuck out my body to the outside a bit, the archer immediately shot an arrow toward me.

I quickly hid myself, then threw the dagger at him.

“Ugh!”

Did I hit him?

When I heard the man’s little but clear moaning, I quickly pulled out the sword and looked at Sir Spia, who was at a loss about what to do.

As soon as he put his body back after taking a deep breath, another arrow was shot at him. Terrified, he got close to the wall.

When I looked back, I noticed the whistle submerged in a pool of blood. I hurriedly measured the distance to it with my eyes. It was about five steps. I bit my lip.

Why didn’t I have such luck here? My job would have been simpler even if I had killed the archer.

I moved back while taking a deep breath, then stepped back again.

I waited for a moment, but there was no incoming arrow.

‘He will shoot it the moment I pick up the whistle.’

I gnashed my teeth at his cunning actions, but I had no choice. At a glance, there were more than 20 enemies out there, so I had to pick the whistle and blow it to deal with them, which was the only way now.

I took a deep breath, then ran to the area where the whistle fell.

At that moment, multiple arrows were shot at me.

I bit my lip.

‘Hope the arrow won’t hit my vital spots.’

When I reached out for the whistle, lowering my body as much as possible, somebody blocked my vision and pushed me to the wall. Though I felt a sharp pain in the back, I strongly resisted, enduring the pain.

“I’m Seymour, Lady Monique. Rest assured. ”

I felt relieved at the familiar voice. I saw some familiar people behind the blonde knight who reassured me. I also noticed Sir June, Sir Lank, and Sir Spia whose face had turned white.

“Just listen as I don’t have time to explain. We are now under siege by the enemies. Fortunately, one of our colleagues managed to get out of here, so all we have to do is to hang in there until our reinforcement units arrive to help us out. Got it?”

“Yes, I got it.”

“Good. We killed the archer in the back, so be careful about the arrows shot by the archer in the front. Now, let me count one, two, three. When you hear three, just run. One, two, three!”

I followed Sir June who ran fast, then I wielded my sword to the right in sync with Sir Lank who wielded his sword to the left and right. But I felt something got stuck.

The moment some hot liquid soaked the sleeves of my uniform, I heard the screaming of a familiar man from behind.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Sir Spear?

I felt enraged at the moment, but I wielded my sword more violently instead of looking back.

At that moment, somebody fell down from behind.

Sir June got hit by an arrow. He had blood on his shoulder, but quickly wielded his sword, narrowing the distance between him and the enemy.

The enemy archer fell, with his strained eyes open wide. Sir June kicked away the body of the killed archer, then turned.

“Step back slowly in escort formations!”

The two knights running from the side and behind quickly turned. I felt heartbroken when I didn’t see one of my colleagues, but I silently turned and slowly stepped back with the knights surrounding me in a triangular shape.

One step, two steps.

When my back hit the wall finally, Sir Seymour, who took a deep breath, wiped off the blood from the sword and said, “I’m sorry for the apprentice, but don’t worry. I will protect you by all means.”

“If we have to hang in until our reinforcement unit arrives, I can chip in…”

“No, please stay here, so we can fight without worrying about you.”

“…Okay.”

When I answered in a low voice, Sir Seymour nodded and lifted his sword.

Then, he charged toward the masked men.

Clang!

The sound of the swords hitting against each other rang out endlessly. My heart beat fast like crazy.

Who made this plot? Is Marquis Mirwa also responsible for this?

If so, why is he bent on doing this, even giving up his escape to his estate?

Assassination? Or disturbing the situation? If his goal is assassination, am I his target? But how? It was only yesterday that the emperor issued a special mission. Besides, only the members of my unit knew I would come here. If so…

“Be careful!”

Startled by the hot liquid splashing on my face, I raised my head. Blood was gushing from Sir Lank’s left arm. It looked like a deep cut, but he grabbed his sword again after giving it a quick glance.

The sound of swords hitting against each other, somebody cutting someone, moaning and screaming were all mixed in the fierce fighting.

While I was protected by the three friendly knights battling against the enemies, I only heard all kinds of noises, which left my nerves on edge more and more.

When is the reinforcement unit coming? Why is it taking so long for them to come?

“Tia!”

By the time the uniforms of the three knights were stained with blood, I heard someone calling me from the distance. Only

My ears perked up at that calling because the voice that came through all kinds of noise was very familiar to me.

Carsein?

I saw a young man jumping off the horse with his red hair fluttering, and a woman with dark hair who was shuddering with fear, holding the reins.

The masked men were confused by the unexpected situation. The three knights quickly caught their breath, staring at them.

“Damn it! We have to kill that slut first! Getting rid of our target is the next.”

What? I couldn’t afford to think about it. While I was catching my breath and blocking the enemy wielding the sword, I noticed a strange scene amid the fighting. Jiun was holding the horse’s neck, dozens of masked men jumped at her, and Carsein was stopping them.

Why aren’t others coming?