Two-Faced Princess

The moment Apollonia closed her eyes.

Swish-!

Screech-!

Its terrifying upper body halted in the air and tilted diagonally.

Shhhk-!

The two wings stretched out widely fell to the ground like a torn kite. The cut was quick and neat, as if it was shaped like that from the beginning. Behind the monster, a tall boy appeared with a sword as long as he was tall

“Uriel.”

The sight of her looking at him, covered in the monster’s blood, was far from his memories of her appearance that he used to see on a daily basis. His blue eyes were full of anger and resentment.

A messenger. A beautiful messenger.

“I’m here to follow your order.”

He wiped off the blood on his face as he spoke.

“You told me to die protecting you.”

“……”

The two stared at each other for a few seconds with the corpse of the monster between them. Unlike the breathless Apollonia, Uriel did not tremble one bit.  His deep-sea eyes glared at her fiercely.

Did she forget the pressure when he first met her just because he had been obedient to her for a while? At the moment, Apollonia was truly overwhelmed by him.

“Ugh….”

She felt the pain in her left arm again, which she had forgotten for a while because of the shock. Her bones weren’t broken, but she lost a lot of blood.

Uriel’s pupils dilated at her groan. In one step, he crossed the distance between them and knelt down in front of Apollonia, making eye contact with her.

“I’m alr-”

“Stay still.”

No one besides the Emperor and the Liefer family could interrupt her. However, Apollonia knew that it wasn’t the right time to point that out. Uriel’s eyes glanced from the tip of her head to her left finger. Seeing the scar, he nibbled his lips gently and carefully grabbed her shoulder.

“Ugh…”

“Stay still.”

He said again. Unlike his fierce expression earlier, his voice was calm. No, it was more placating. As if to soothe her pain.

How dare he.

Her clothes were torn by the monster’s attack, revealing her left arm and shoulder. Even in the midst of suffering, Apollonia couldn’t help but care about Uriel’s breaths that brushed past her neck and collarbone.

She tried to extricate her arm from his grasp, but Uriel tore fabric from her hem without letting go of her hand.

“Uriel.”

He stopped the bleeding by tightly wrapping the makeshift bandage around her shoulder.

“Uriel.”

“It’s done. You’ll have a scar, but you’ll be able to move once you heal.”

His diagnosis was correct. But that only applied if Apollonia was an ordinary person, which she wasn’t. The monster problem was solved, the problem now was Uriel.

“Go back, Uriel. It’s dangerous over here.”

“If Your Highness doesn’t go, I won’t go either.”

He no longer looked angry at her words, and it seemed that her latest order hadn’t been enough to convince him. Apollonia sighed.

“Uriel, the truth is—”

Rumble-!

The sound came from the mountain. Obviously, this was the cry of the mountain that the Bellas was talking about.

Rumble-!

This time, the sound came with a strong vibration.

“It’s dangerous!”

Uriel’s voice rang in her ear as she could feel his arms tightly wrapped around her. The next moment, her feet were off the ground. As Uriel lifted Apollonia up and leaped forward at the same time,  a pillar of fire rose up from where they were sitting.

“Hold tight.”

Pillars of fire sprang up all over the mountain with no discernible pattern nor warning. He simply relied on his keen instincts to guide him to safe land.

Boom-!

Once again the flames erupted, and a large tree fell near them. Uriel threw himself sideways while holding Apollonia.

“Uriel.”

The tree crashed into his legs and he felt a dizzying pain. As he stumbled and tried to get back up, Apollonia spoke, releasing her arms that had been hanging around his neck.

“Put me down.”

“No, I don’t want to.”

“Uriel, trust me.”

She wrapped her hands around his face as she spoke. Even though she was dying, her voice was filled with a strange conviction, something deeper than mere stubbornness.

“Why would I….”