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CHAPTER 49
‘No! If this continues, Rudian will…!’
As I fell, my instincts kicked in and I quickly scanned my surroundings. That’s when I saw it—a tree branch hanging low over the pond, faintly glinting in the moonlight.
If I could just grab it with both hands, I might survive.
But in that split second…
Instead of reaching for the branch, I used the last of my strength to push Rudian forward.
Even if I didn’t make it, at least Rudian would be safe.
There was no time to consider the consequences. My body simply moved—a reflex driven by pure instinct.
Because of that push, my body veered further away from the branch. The glimmer of safety disappeared.
And then…
SPLASH—!
The freezing water swallowed me whole.
All at once, it surged into my eyes, nose, and mouth.
‘I… can’t breathe…’
The more I thrashed, the farther the surface slipped away from me.
The pond’s pitch-black waters choked my throat and filled my lungs, and a searing pain flooded my chest. My vision blurred.
‘I… don’t want to die like this…’
Despite the desperate will to live, my eyes slowly began to close.
My entire body was growing numb… but one sensation remained painfully clear.
A feeling I’d already experienced twice before.
Death… was right in front of me.
“…Leticia?”
When Idris returned to the balcony, Leticia was gone.
‘Where did she go?’
At first, he assumed she had gone to the restroom and waited—but even after a while, she didn’t return.
Eventually, Idris left the balcony and returned to the banquet hall.
But Leticia wasn’t there either.
He briefly wondered if she had fallen ill and gone back to the estate early…
“The lady hasn’t come this way.”
Even her carriage was still parked outside.
‘There’s no way Leticia would just disappear without a word…’
Then a sudden memory came to mind—the person who had been tailing them near Amon’s shop. A wave of dread washed over him.
Just in case, he checked on the main suspects—Deon, Peydan, and Elise—but they were all still inside the hall.
Idris left the banquet and searched the palace garden, but Leticia was nowhere to be found.
After a long, frantic search, he finally found a palace attendant who had seen her.
“Lady Leticia went toward the pond. She looked like she was urgently searching for something…”
The direction the attendant pointed was deep inside the palace grounds, far from the main hall where the banquet was held.
‘Why would she go to the pond all of a sudden…?’
Though confused, Idris headed straight in that direction.
The farther he got from the palace, the quieter it became. The celebratory noise faded, and an unsettling silence grew.
Idris began walking faster. Then, nearly running.
That’s when he heard it—just as he reached the pond.
“Leticia!”
“…Rudian?”
A child’s tearful voice pierced through the stillness of the night.
And then—
Silence.
As if the sound had been cut off with scissors.
The sudden hush was chilling.
His heart plummeted.
Before his mind could even process it, Idris’s body moved instinctively.
He ran in the direction of Rudian’s voice—and as expected, found him.
And standing beside the boy… a maid—or rather, an assassin.
When Idris saw Rudian limp in the woman’s grasp, his mouth covered and body still, fury erupted and snapped his reason.
The maid had planned to use the boy as a hostage—but Idris was faster.
In an instant, he closed the distance and cast a powerful spell.
BOOM—!
With overwhelming speed and magic, the assassin didn’t even have time to scream. She was dead before she could react.
Rudian slipped from her arms.
“Rudian!”
Before the boy could hit the ground, Idris caught him in his arms.
He wasn’t breathing.
But—
‘…He’s alive. Just unconscious.’
Relief washed over Idris as he confirmed the boy’s condition.
Then he suddenly remembered what Rudian had shouted just moments before.
‘Didn’t Rudian call out Leticia’s name…?’
But Leticia was nowhere to be seen.
As that thought passed through his mind, something floating on the surface of the pond caught his eye.
‘That’s…’
His gaze narrowed. His eyes began to tremble violently.
Floating in the water was a flower-shaped hair ornament.
Leticia’s—something she had been wearing.
‘No… It can’t be.’
A chilling premonition strangled his chest.
No… Please, no.
Driven by dread, Idris dove into the pond without a second thought.
He didn’t consider the possibility that Leticia was somewhere else—or that the ornament might not be hers.
He wouldn’t rest until he confirmed with his own eyes that she wasn’t in there.
But contrary to his desperate hope—
Leticia was in the water.
The same beautiful figure that had enchanted him again earlier that day… now floating with her eyes closed, as if dead.
‘Leticia!’
–SPLASH!
Idris reached her limp body, brought his lips to hers, and began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation without hesitation.
But Leticia remained unresponsive, eyes shut like a lifeless doll.
Still, Idris didn’t stop. He continued breathing life into her lungs as he swam them both back to the surface.
Even though the pond wasn’t that deep, it felt like dragging her up from the bottom of the ocean.
Laying her down on the bank, Idris checked her condition.
Her face, pale to the point of bluish, looked like that of a corpse. Fortunately, her heart was still beating—but she wasn’t breathing.
He continued mouth-to-mouth, quickly applying pressure to her chest.
“Leticia…”
Please… don’t go like this.
Please…
After what felt like an eternity of artificial breaths—
“Cough…! Ha… ugh…”
Finally, at the end of that hellish moment, Leticia gasped and vomited water as she coughed.
Thank the heavens…
For the first time in his life—even on the battlefield—Idris found himself praying to a god.
His limbs gave out from relief.
But he still couldn’t relax.
Not until he saw her eyes… looking back at him.
“…Idris?”
As he was wrapping her in the jacket he had discarded before jumping in, the voice he had longed to hear reached his ears.
He looked up to meet her gaze.
The moment he saw those blue eyes—the ones he had feared he’d never see again—his throat tightened, and words caught in his mouth.
She was alive. Leticia was alive.
Instead of answering, Idris simply nodded, waiting for her next words.
“What about His Highness…?”
At her first question, all the emotions he had been holding back threatened to spill over.
Swallowing the rising wave in his chest, Idris answered softly:
“…He’s safe.”
Then he buried his face in her shoulder, finally releasing the breath he’d been holding.
No—more accurately, it felt like he could finally breathe again.
The faint sound of her breathing, the soft beat of her heart… those small, simple signs of life—
He had never realized how precious they could be.
“It’s all right now…”
Idris held her like that for a long time—
Until his trembling hands finally stilled.
