The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

The air at the front lines is always foul, no matter when you breathe it in.

Humans tend to adapt to a place if they live there long enough, but here, whether you’ve lived for a year or just revisited after a while, it’s simply repulsive.

Yet, despite that, I have returned.

To change this damned future.

“Krrgh!”

The low-intelligence dogs remain the same.

I’d love to chop off their heads one by one and taste their blood, but, regrettably, there’s no time for that.

After adjusting my grip on the sword, I immediately kicked off the ground and dashed.

-Swish

There was no need for an elaborate sword technique against a lower demon beast.

The movement flowed smoothly, like water, and the heads of the hellhounds tumbled to the ground.

The familiar smell of blood wafted from the separated carcasses.

However, among them, there was a scent that was particularly strong.

Naturally, it wasn’t the smell of the hellhounds.

Turning my gaze, I noticed traces of blood from what must be a higher demon beast scattered around, sourced from who knows where.

I have no idea where the Second Princess got something like this from.

But that’s not what I need to worry about right now.

I turned around.

“……!”

My sister, who had seemed to resign herself to her fate just moments ago, was glaring at me, clutching the wound on her abdomen.

My face was hidden behind a mask, so she might not recognize me, but in this situation, anyone would be startled regardless.

It’s been roughly two months since we last met, after the imperial banquet.

To be honest, the emotion I feel is,

Utterly dismal.

Of course, it’s my sister who’s in a dire state.

Is that really the face of someone who wishes to live?

Despite the hellhounds charging to tear her throat out, she closed her eyes.

What does that signify?

She has given up on life.

Unlike me, who was fueled by a bitter sense of betrayal and desire for vengeance, she had resigned herself the moment she realized there was nowhere to return to.

I always say, my sister is a strong woman.

Knowing her own strength, she always wished to protect others, not herself, with the power she had.

I was one of them too.

The problem was that there was no one to actually protect her.

Had there been even one person, she wouldn’t have died so vainly in her previous life.

Would anything have changed in this life?

Just as she saved me from being beaten by Cranz,

Now it’s my turn to save her from death.

“Stop! Don’t come any closer!”

However, my sister, not understanding my intentions, drew her sword and guarded against me.

“You… Have we met before?”

Indeed, we have.

Strictly speaking, this isn’t our first encounter.

“That’s right! You are definitely the person I saw a few months ago in the imperial city! You must have seen me too!”

I’m truly grateful that she remembers even the changed appearance of her brother.

“Are you here… to kill me too?”

What a terrible thing to say.

Even if the sky split in two, that would never happen.

Sigh…

I feel absolutely disgusted.

I’m witnessing the most detestable sight in the world.

Her beautiful face is plastered with sadness and despair.

It felt like the accumulated tears would burst out with a single touch.

My sister in her previous life died alone in such a place, didn’t she?

Suddenly, everything seems meaningless.

Revenge and all, should I just go back and kill them all?

“Grrr…”

A hostile howling followed by an unfamiliar presence was felt from behind.

Another beast, drawn by the smell of blood.

It seems like a rather rare guest has arrived.

I calmly turned my gaze.

Fur that seemed drenched in bright red blood, chilling to the bone.

Apparently having had its meal somewhere, its mouth was smeared with blood.

The appearance of this beast suggests that this area might become quite noisy for a while…

Seemingly recognizing us as its next prey, the creature widely opened its mouth, wetting its tongue.

* * *

The Superior Beast of Lemea Valley, ‘Red Wolf’

A predator known to perceive every living creature, whether human or beast, as prey and devour anything it comes across.

It was not a beast that merely two humans could confront.

At this, Alice realized that her arms and legs were trembling uncontrollably.

Not only because of the wound in her abdomen, but it also seemed like her body involuntarily reacted to the grandeur of facing a superior beast for the first time.

Even a moment’s distraction could result in her neck ending up in the beast’s mouth in an instant.

However, the man before her was different.

Despite the menacing aura that was enough to make one’s flesh crawl, he paid it no heed.

Instead, he straightened his waist and neck, staring down the massive beast.

“……!”

Suddenly, he turned around and pointed his sword towards the beast.

‘Is he really planning to confront that beast?’

The epidermis of a superior beast possesses a toughness far beyond that of inferior beasts.

An attack with mediocre mana could instead shatter one’s own bones, and a beast like the Red Wolf wouldn’t even allow such a strike to land.

It was astonishing that he would confront a beast that would normally require at least three superior knights alone.

Alice was flabbergasted.

-Giiing

Regardless, the man in the mask too naturally transmitted the mana manifested in his hand to his sword.

-Squeak!

“……!”

In the blink of an eye, the first sword strike was delivered, followed by three consecutive strikes.

-Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

Neither Alice nor the Red Wolf could comprehend what had just occurred.

The speed of the swing was so fast it was unclear if it had been three times.

Without even a whimper, the body of the Red Wolf was torn into dozens of pieces.

It was an anticlimactic end for a superior beast.

The man in the mask looked at the corpse of the beast indifferently, as if it were a natural occurrence.

“…….”

An indescribable tension lingered between the two remaining figures.

Just as an awkward silence threatened to ensue, with neither daring to make the first move,

-Pitter-patter

Rain poured down from the clouded sky.

As her body gradually became soaked by the rain, Alice’s lips, on the contrary, became parched.

Though it seemed like he had come to save her, she could not fathom his reasons.

Regardless of the reason for his visit, the first thing she was most curious about was:

“Who… who are you?”

His identity was the question.

But, strangely, the feeling wasn’t entirely unfamiliar.

Not just in the imperial capital, but somewhere in the life she had brushed past, she felt as if she had definitely met him before,

It went beyond unfamiliarity; she even felt a sense of familiarity.

“……”

The man in the mask remained silent.

Was he also wondering what to say?

After a moment, the man’s feet, which had been stuck to the ground, finally began to move.

-Thud

With each step he took towards her, Alice felt her anxious heart gradually calm down.

Instead, she felt a sense of comfort.

Was it normal to feel this way towards a stranger whose identity was unknown?

It didn’t make sense to her.

That meant the masked figure must be someone related to her, Alice thought.

With that thought, she looked at the man again,

“……!”

Alice’s heart trembled violently once more.

A body shape that seemed familiar, a gait she had seen before.

It was said that there was a presence not visible among blood-related family members.

An undeniable, inherent aura that couldn’t be felt from a complete stranger.

That aura, Alice was feeling it from the man before her.

The moment he stepped close enough that embracing him was possible, the man finally stopped.

He still did not open his mouth.

In stark contrast to his utterly indifferent demeanor, Alice’s entire body was trembling uncontrollably.

“Hauck!”

She flinched from a sudden pain.

The masked man had touched her wounded area.

-Ping

A white healing light appeared, enveloping Alice’s injured abdomen.

The light entered the open wound, beginning to mend the inside, and soon the bleeding stopped, and the regeneration process began to restore it to its original state.

A 7-star healing magic ‘Touch of Regeneration’

It was quite an ill-fitting magic for a man who had just mercilessly torn apart the limbs of a Red Wolf.

But, despite the awkwardness, Alice’s wounds were healing quickly.

Beyond the healing of her wounds, Alice couldn’t take her eyes off the man who was caressing her body from such a close distance.

Before she realized it, her guard was down, and she quietly lowered her sword.

The man, having completed the healing, rose to his feet and once again locked eyes with Alice.

His height was somewhat ambiguous for an adult.

In fact, Alice could look down on him from above her head.

But it was precisely because of this that her heart was all the more fiercely shaken.

To anyone’s eye, he was a young boy.

Alice, led by instinct, slowly raised her hand.

Suppressing the overwhelming emotions with difficulty, the moment her hand finally touched the man’s mask,

“There’s no need for you to confirm.”

The man in the mask finally spoke.

At the sound of his voice, Alice’s hand, which had been trembling, stopped abruptly.

Instead of her halted motion, the man himself took off the mask he was wearing.

“Ah……”

With a sigh filled with various emotions, hot tears flowed down Alice’s pale cheeks.

The carelessly falling rain made her choked-up emotions even more sorrowful.

“Cyan… is it you?”

It was a question spoken in disbelief, even after seeing with her own eyes.

To this, the man nodded calmly and said,

“Have you already forgotten your brother’s face?”

How could that be?

Even if trapped in a cave for a thousand years without seeing anyone, the one face she could never forget was that of her brother.

The figure of salvation that appeared to her, betrayed by those she trusted, left with nothing but despair, was none other than…

“The armor suits you well, Sister Alice.”

It was her youngest brother, Cyan.

Alice, her hands soaked with tears, gently caressed Cyan’s cheek.

“Why, why… are you here?”

It was utterly impossible, unthinkable.

She even doubted if she was seeing a hallucination, but the warm and soft touch was undeniably real.

Joy gradually spread across Alice’s face.

“I came to save you now, just think of it that way…!”

Before Cyan could finish his sentence, Alice had already embraced him tightly.

In truth, why her youngest brother was here didn’t matter much to her.

The fact that the last being who could give her a reason to live had appeared was enough.

It was a tremendous consolation for Alice at that moment.

“Thank you, Cyan. For appearing to me……”

Alice’s tears continued to flow down along with the rain over Cyan’s cloak.

(To be continued)