CH 8.1

Damn it. If I had known this, I would have just gone quietly to the aerial garden.

Clank. As the sound was heard again, the iron knight took a step forward. I was immediately stunned.

[This is bad. Because you touched that thing, Elijah Dell has noticed. You will be caught soon.]

The text appeared in a very explicit red color. I hurriedly took off the shoes I was wearing. I also threw the cloak. I pulled my dress up to my knees and squeezed it tightly.

Now all the preparations were done.

“Is that a problem to you, right now?!”

I yelled and started running to save myself.

“I don’t care about Elijah, I’m going to get chopped by that lump of iron right now!”

Unfortunately, the rattling sound from behind became louder and louder, and the gap became narrower and narrower. The stomping sound coming from my feet as if in defiance was lowly beyond description.

As I was running away like that, it was clear that the eyes of the people in the picture frames were turning towards me. I got goosebumps on my back.

Since when was the genre horror?!

“Sorry for stealing your cloak! I apologize! I was just cold!”

Celina’s voice echoed in the hallway. In the distance, I saw two options. A corridor, and a staircase.

The time for thinking was short. I chose the latter, as it seemed difficult for an iron knight with inflexible joints to go down.

“But I gave it back! Why are you still chasing me?!”

I hurried across the stair like Cinderella, with her transformation undone, running away from the Prince. I was out of breath, but I couldn’t stop here.

Then, I glanced back. Surprisingly, the iron knight was coming down the stairs very skillfully. I was horrified. The sword in its hand couldn’t be scarier than it was.

“Hey! Give me some help!”

I shouted pitifully, but Celina seemed unwilling to help. She didn’t even show a single sign of being angry.

Why is no one passing by here! Half-tearfully, I ran for life and death down the far-stretched corridor.

Come on, whether it’s a crystal ball or Elijah or Ian, anything is fine, so please show up. Or even a place to hide.

The superhuman stamina that came out at the urgent situation was slowly decreasing. My running slowed down a bit, as if I had weights hung around my feet.

I looked back, wondering if it was over now, but I felt dizzy, and my eyes blurred. It seemed like I was going to lose consciousness again.

At that moment, when I was staggering greatly due to the dizziness, something suddenly hit me from behind.

“You’re fine now.”

I was surprised for a moment until Mikael whispered in my ear. In an instant, I was overwhelmed by a warm and soothing wave.

He wrapped his left arm around my waist and extended his right hand in front of me. His fingers were long and pretty, so the movement of casting magic was dynamic and elegant.

Within a few seconds, the iron knight crumbled down like a sandcastle on the spot, as if it had lost its power. A small part that had disassembled rolled over and stopped at our feet.

My body had also lost its strength. Because the tension was relieved in a heartbeat.

“How is your dizziness?”

“I think I’m fine now. Thank you.”

I let out a sigh of relief. I was still a little dizzy, but it was tolerable.

“How in the world did you get here?”

Keeping that posture, he buried his head on my shoulder. His hot breath heated the back of my neck.

“Why are you here?”

“I came to pick you up. As you can see, it’s a bit dangerous here.”

The arm that was wrapped around my body felt a little stronger. Dear God, I was starting to lose my mind in a different way than before. My heart, which had been calm for a while, started pounding again without me realizing it.

“I’m regretting it. I was bored, so I asked the crystal ball to take me anywhere, and it turned out like this.”

But I didn’t want to easily succumb to my inner desires, so I answered in as casual a tone as possible.

“You should have called me. I would have stayed with you for as long as I could.”

“Wait, wait a minute!”

But that rebellion didn’t last long. I couldn’t stand the strange sensation of someone else’s lips accidentally touching the back of my neck anymore, so I slapped Mikael’s arm and forced him to release me.

“Thank you so much for saving me. But you shouldn’t hug someone like this without permission. Do you understand?”

Mikael moved his eyes as if he was taken aback by my seriousness, and then blurted out, ‘Oh…’ Then, he lined up a series of apologies that made the recipient feel burdened.

“No. That’s not the problem.