Only with Your Heart

Arde – Present

Later that night, the entrance to the castle suddenly became crowded and noisy.

As Arde was assisting with the clean up after dinner in the dining room, Nadal, breathless and flushed, came running up to her while dragging his feet.

“Lukrov-sama is coming back …… Lukrov-sama! Chizuru-sama is with him! The messenger has just arrived. Quickly, quickly …… prepare a room!”

“Is that true!”

Arde screamed with joy, but her excitement quickly faded and was replaced with anxiety.

“Chizuru-sama’s room is ready as usual ……. What is there to prepare for?”

Nadal looked panicked and quite confused. He shook his head and struggled to figure out what to say first. 

After a few moments of catching his breath, he began to explain in short sentences.

“I’m still not sure about …… it either. But the messenger said that Chizuru-sama was injured. We need a doctor, a cloth, and hot water…..”

Arde could feel her face going pale.

Without waiting for Arde’s reply, Nadal continued.

“It seems that the messenger came in quite a hurry. The moment he arrived, his horse collapsed. But even so, he said, Lukrov-sama is right behind him……”

Nadal’s face twisted like a baby’s before he dropped to his knees and started to cry.

Originally, Nadal was an orphan that Lukrov had picked up from a nearby village when he came to the castle. Since then, Lukrov has taken care of Nadal as if he was his own nephew, and Nadal had looked up to Lukrov and loved him as if he was his father. 

He aimed to become a great knight like Lukrov, and he had never cried in public, at least not since he became a servant.

However, now his shoulders were shaking as he tried to hold back his tears.

“Stand up, Nadal.”

Arde was barely able to keep her voice from trembling.

“If Lukrov-sama is with her, I’m sure she’s fine. Go and get the doctor quickly! I’ll take care of the rest.”

Nadal raised his head and straightened his spine.

The boy’s eyes were still shaking with confusion, but he remembered his mission and slowly regained his senses. 

He replied with a faint voice, “Yes,” rose to his feet and unsteadily walked out of the dining room.

Arde looked up and straightened her trembling back.

The fellow maid next to her was staring at Arde in a daze, her mouth hanging open as if she wanted to say something.

“You heard him, come and help me.”

The maid shook her head in silence and ran off to the kitchen. 

‘Everything will be fine,’ Arde told herself. 

‘It will be fine.’ 

‘Because it has to be……’

Soon after, before the water began to boil, the area around the gates started to buzz with commotion, and Arde ran out the back door, holding the clean clothes she had gathered to her chest.

The gate, which was usually closed and heavily guarded by knights, was filled with a confused crowd.

Even from a distance, she could see that every face was filled with panic.

Arde’s heart was pounding painfully, and she no longer knew what to do. 

Usually, she would be preparing for what she was told to do, not standing there in a daze. However, Arde’s feet did not move.

No.

She could not move.

She had a bad feeling about this. Why?

Arde’s vision was blurred by the palpitations in her heart and the dust from the chaos of the gates. But Arde saw a tall, jet-black haired man staggering from the crowd and pushing his way towards her.

It was Lukrov.

He was holding something tightly in his arms that was unresponsive. 

‘No way. Please tell me it’s not.’

The night sky was brighter than usual since it would soon be a full moon. 

The castle’s bonfires and the lights in the doorways that were lit in response to the news of Lukrov’s return clearly illuminated the approaching shadows.

‘That …… Chizuru-sama!’

Arde’s voice rose to make a small scream. The one held in Lukrov’s arms was an unconscious Chizuru, drenched with blood.