As soon as he heard a sound, Duke Kyar immediately took off his robe and walked toward the chair where his uniform was neatly draped.
After dressing up, he took his sword and told Isabella. “Stay in the barracks until I get back.”
Duke Kyar exited the barracks, leaving her behind.
Then, she heard another grim howl of a demon beast.
“Casa.”
Isabella called the lower-ranked fire spirit in alarm.
“Can you go to the dark forest to look after His Highness? I’m sorry for making you do this.”
Casa nodded as he looked at her with fearful eyes.
Then, he vanished and left Isabella alone in the barracks.
She attempted to sneak out of there, but Louina had stopped her from doing so.
“It’s dangerous outside, Isabella. Please stay inside for your safety,” Louina warned her while standing guard at the exit.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know the details either. I just hope everything is fine.” Louina replied in a subdued voice while watching the knights thunder towards the dark forest on their horsebacks. “Please go inside the barracks in the meantime. His Highness ordered me to keep you out of trouble.”
Louina was determined to keep her safe, and Isabella had no choice but to follow the Archduke’s command.
While biting her nail anxiously and pacing inside the barracks, Isabella jerked in surprise when Casa appeared in front of her instantly.
Casa’s palm-sized body shook before he spread his arms wide.
“There’s a big secret?”
Fists clenched in terror, Casa gave her a vigorous nod.
Casa might not speak their language and only communicate with hand signals, but Isabella was able to read his emotions.
“You were afraid, weren’t you?”
Casa nodded, and his tiny body shivered, begging her not to send him back to the forest again.
“Is he alright?” Isabella gave him a warm, gentle smile.
Casa sighed in relief when he understood that she wasn’t asking him to return.
“Thank you, Casa. You did a great job.”
He glowed bright red before he disappeared.
Was Duke Kyar alright in the dark forest when Casa was terrified of seeing those demonic beasts up close?
She knew that Duke Kyar was powerful, but she wasn’t relieved.
“Is the pharmacist in there?”
Isabella heard a boy looking for her outside.
“What’s going on?”
“The doctor needs a pharmacist. We’ve got a lot of injuries. We need her help!” The boy answered Louina.
Isabella hurried out of the barracks and saw Jake, a page, standing beside the knight.
“Pharmacist. The demonic beasts attacked the knights who patrolled the woods early in the morning. All of them had serious injuries! The doctor asked me to bring you there.”
“No. His Highness ordered that Isabella—-”
“This is an emergency, Knight Louina. I want to help the doctor. Don’t worry. I’ll come back to the barracks immediately once we are finished.” Isabella said.
Louina exhaled a heavy sigh and gave her a reluctant nod.
Isabella returned to Duke Kyar’s barracks and carried the medicine bag she had packed beforehand.
As Jake and Louina visited the barracks where the wounded knights lay, anguished groans came to their ears.
When Isabella followed the two, she saw that the knights had bloody wounds here and there as if someone had tried to rip their skin off their bones.
“Isabella, if you have painkillers and hemostatic agents, take them all out!” A doctor spoke urgently to Isabella as he examined the injured knights.
Isabella opened her medicine bag and took out the hemostatic and painkillers the doctor needed.
“I’ll help stop the bleeding,” Isabella told the injured man while the doctor was bandaging him.
Isabella glanced at Louina and Jake. “I need warm water and a clean towel, too.”
Both of them nodded and exited the barracks.
Isabella approached the bleeding knight, took a pill of painkillers, and sprayed his tear with a hemostatic agent.
She could only hear pained groans and breathe the scent of blood inside the barracks.
**
Finally, Isabella could rest after the carriage had brought the wounded Knights back to Rubella Castle.
It was dark outside before she knew it.
“Thank you, Isabella. I would have had a hard time without you.” The doctor said, and Isabella smiled at him.
“You did a great job, too. Thank you for your help, Knight Jake and Knight Louina.” Isabella
Louina nodded once without a change in her expression.
The page smiled shyly and scratched his freckled cheeks.
Jake was fifteen years old this year, and it reminded her of Kyle.
Isabella had asked Casa to spy on him, but she felt terrible whenever she heard that the child looked depressed.
She patiently waited for Kyle’s vacation at the academy, and then he would be able to return to Rubella Castle.
She wasn’t sure whether Kyle would open up to her as he used to in the past, but she would do her best.
Isabella wanted to be the kind of person Kyle could lean on.
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