What Do We Do!?

My left arm was yanked sharply downward.

No, it wasn’t something that mild. It felt like I was about to be dragged away with my whole arm.

The moment my body lurched sideways, Shitoen’s scream burst from her lips.

“Shitoen!”

Dropping my left knee to the ground, I looked at her.

Still collapsed face-down, Shitoen was being dragged into the garden shrubs at tremendous speed.

She didn’t seem to understand what was happening to her either.

Her eyes were wide open, her face deathly pale as she was pulled farther away from me.

“Shitoen!”

By then, her figure had already vanished into the hedge.

Gripping the hilt of my sword, I sprang forward in a crouch.

Something cracked deep inside my head with a sharp pop.

Particles of heat surged through my body like a raging torrent.

I ground my back teeth together.

With a hiss, my vision turned crystal clear.

In the dim darkness, only the target stood out in white.

I leapt over the hedge.

At the same time, I drew my sword from its scabbard.

With a smooth rasp, the blade slid free.

I raised it overhead.

Below me.

On the lawn.

Shitoen was pinned facedown.

One man was holding her legs.

At her head, another man stood with his back to me, blade drawn, about to lop off Shitoen’s neck.

“Get away from her!”

I roared, bringing my sword down before I had even landed.

Tilting my body to the right, I dodged the great spray of blood that burst upward. One single drop splashed onto my left cheek, and I clicked my tongue.

“Shitoen! Get up!”

Beyond the blood welling up like a fountain,

I saw the man holding her legs lift his hips and draw a dagger from his waist.

He was aiming for Shitoen’s back.

She struggled desperately.

The man I had just cut down was about to collapse on top of her, so I kicked him and changed his trajectory.

A heavy thud rang out.

I assumed he had fallen onto the grass, but I couldn’t check. The man at my feet was trying to drive his blade into Shitoen’s back.

Shitoen looked like she was trying to escape, but she wouldn’t make it in time.

I threw myself over Shitoen just as she was trying to push herself up.

With a splat, Shitoen was forced face-down to the ground again beneath my stomach.

“Prince Saryu!”

Her scream, and the pain in my back.

Then the weight hit all at once.

“…Ghk!”

The man groaned on top of my back.

Apparently, the dagger had sunk into the protector I was wearing under my clothes and gotten stuck there, leaving him unable to move. After all, the tip had pierced through far enough to reach my back.

“Saryu! Saryu!”

Beneath me, Shitoen writhed.

“Stay still!”

I said it and forced myself upright.

The man struggling to pull out his blade staggered and lost his footing. When I shook my torso like a dog flinging off water, the man was thrown off my body.

I kicked him as hard as I could.

“Move! Captain!”

Raul’s voice rang out from behind me, and I instinctively twisted my body toward Shitoen.

Right past me—just barely—came the whoosh of a sword swing as Raul leapt in.

The blade struck straight into the man’s shoulder, and blood burst into the night like a red flower.

“…Tch…!”

The man clutched his shoulder and clicked his tongue. Then he turned his back and fled.

“After him.”

Raul called out to several knights. To the knights who obeyed, I hurriedly shouted,

“Don’t make a scene out of this. The reception is still going on!”

Whether they heard me or not, the knights glanced my way for a moment, then spurred off with a clatter of jangling gear.

That’s why I’m saying do something about that damned noise!

“What do we do?”

Raul flicked the blood from his sword and tilted his head as he sheathed it.

He nudged the dead man lying on the lawn with the tip of his boot.

“Should we investigate who this guy is right now?”

“If word gets out that thieves snuck into the reception hall and nearly killed us, it’ll be a disgrace for generations. Hide it. Hide it.”

I said that, then stood up and turned my back to Raul.

“Hey, pull this out for me.”

“Uwaah. What are you going to do? You’ve still got to see off the guests, and now there’s a hole in your clothes.”

“As long as I keep facing forward, they won’t notice, right? It’s on my back.”

“Ehh… I dunno about that.”

“Ah! A cape! Let’s wear a cape!”

“Ohh, nice idea!”

Raul snapped his fingers, and the two of us were laughing when—

“Show me your back!!!!”

Shitoen screamed.

I was so startled that before I knew it, I had ended up hugging Raul.

Right in front of us,

Shitoen was standing there with her feet planted wide.

And the state she was in was absolutely terrible.

More than anything, I was relieved that her garnet necklace was unharmed, but the front of her dress was completely ruined.

Probably because she had been thrown facedown and then dragged along the ground. The skirt was torn, and the whole thing was smeared with dirt.

“Eek!! What are we supposed to do about seeing off the guests now!?”

“A replacement dress!! Some kind of dress!! Is there one anywhere!?”

As Raul and I flusteredly stamped our feet,

“You’ve been stabbed! What are you saying…! What are you even saying, you idiot!!”

S-she even called me an idiot….