Why Are You Just Watching? Have You Betrayed Me Too?

All the elements were certainly there, but wasn't something off about the direction this was taking?

He shook his head hard, casting aside those ill-timed associations.

The woman before him was a genuine elite knight of Caria, a wielder of Twin Moon True Magic. Even if she seemed in poor shape now, she was certainly not someone he could treat lightly.

That "Kuh, kill me" was most likely some stubborn expression of defiance after defeat, or simply something she had blurted out in a fit of rage.

Looking at Rellana's barely supported yet still upright figure, then taking stock of his own injuries and depleted reserves, which were hardly encouraging either, Horace Loux felt that neither continuing this standoff nor simply walking away was a good choice.

Rellana was clearly badly injured. If he left her alone and something happened to her here, or some ill-intentioned passerby took advantage of her, things would really get interesting.

Not to mention Miriel's earlier hint and her own attributes...

"Can you still walk?" Horace Loux asked tentatively.

Rellana did not answer. She merely "stabbed" him with an icy gaze from behind her visor and tried to stand straighter, only to bring another barely perceptible tremor to her body and quicken her breathing.

The destructive energy within Bayle's Flame Lightning had clearly inflicted considerable internal injuries on her.

Horace Loux sighed and walked up to her. As Rellana's gaze abruptly turned wary and resistant, he bent down, slipped one hand beneath her knees, wrapped the other around her shoulders and back, and lifted her sideways with a little effort-a textbook bridal carry.

Rellana's body instantly stiffened, as though she had become a cold lump of iron.

"How... how dare you! Put me down!" Her voice shifted in pitch with shock, anger, and weakness. Her hands instinctively tried to push Horace Loux away, but her injuries left her unable to muster any strength.

"Stop squirming, Miss Knight." Horace Loux's voice was flat as he turned and carried her toward the Church of Vows.

"Can you walk back to the church on your own in this state? Or are you planning to spend the night in these woods, waiting for wild dogs or something worse to find you?"

Rellana stopped struggling, but her stiffness and the almost tangible air of humiliation and anger around her only intensified.

She could feel that his arms were steady and strong, his steps measured. Carrying a fully equipped adult woman along with her suit of armor seemed to take him little effort.

But this complete loss of control, being carried in this position by a strange man-especially a "barbarian" who had just defeated her-was simply harder for her to accept than the defeat itself.

Her cheeks beneath her visor were probably burning red by now, though unfortunately no one could see them.

Carrying her, Horace Loux soon returned to the clearing in front of the Church of Vows.

Twilight had given way entirely to night. A bright moon had risen, bathing the ancient church and Miriel's enormous tortoise body in its clear light.

Miriel slowly opened its gentle eyes. It did not seem surprised to see Rellana carried back by Horace Loux, though noticing the way Horace Loux held her gave it a moment's thought.

Horace Loux carefully set Rellana down on a relatively flat, clean stone platform in front of the church.

As he lowered her, he gauged her weight and unconsciously muttered, "Tsk, Miss Knight, that outfit of yours really is heavy."

He was not truly complaining about her. It was more an offhand grumble born of post-battle exhaustion, along with... well, a little deliberate "levity."

He had keenly sensed that the lady knight in his arms was so humiliated, furious, and tense that she was almost suffocating. If he did not distract her, something might genuinely go wrong.

Sure enough, his words were like oil poured onto a fire.

"You-!" Rellana whipped her head around. If the glare behind her visor could kill, Horace Loux would have been riddled with holes by now.

That gaze held overwhelming fury, utter humiliation, and a trace of anger born of embarrassment.

Even Miriel beside them could only shake its enormous head slightly in resignation, its gaze toward Horace Loux taking on a hint of, "Young man, you really have no way with words."

Horace Loux pretended not to notice and turned to Miriel. "Lord Miriel, I've brought her back. Bayle's Flame Lightning is a little troublesome. She needs treatment. If the church has any medicine, or if you have some way..."

Miriel slowly nodded. "The church keeps some ancient herbs that have a modest effect on internal injuries. However..."

It paused, its gaze falling upon its forelimbs, which lacked dexterous fingers.

"As you can see, I possess no such convenient things as 'hands,' and cannot perform delicate work."

Horace Loux: "..."

He looked at Miriel's broad, fanlike forefeet, better suited to smashing rocks than preparing herbs, then at Rellana on the stone platform, who was angry but clearly in poor condition and unable to care for herself. A headache promptly came over him.

Well, the implication could hardly have been clearer.

With a resigned sigh, he walked toward a corner Miriel indicated, where several earthenware jars and leather pouches sat.

He checked them. They did indeed contain ground medicinal powders and pleasantly fragrant ointments. They looked quite old, but should still have retained their potency.

Returning to the stone platform with the medicine, Horace Loux looked at Rellana. "Miss Knight, pardon the intrusion. We need to tend to your wounds and apply some medicine."

"No! There's no need!" Rellana's reaction was unusually fierce. Despite her weakness, she used every ounce of strength to shrink backward, both hands held tightly over her chest.

"I... I can do it myself! Go away!"

"Yourself?" Horace Loux raised an eyebrow, pointing at her still faintly trembling arms and the armor over which occasional traces of orange-red lightning flickered.

"Are you sure you can get out of that tin can by yourself, then find your wounds accurately enough to apply the medicine? Bayle's Flame Lightning is corrosive. The longer we wait, the more trouble it'll cause."

"That's none of your concern!" Rellana's voice carried an all-or-nothing resolve.

"I'd rather die than... take off my armor!"

It seemed her humiliation and anger had completely overwhelmed her reason and concern for her injuries.

Horace Loux could not be bothered to waste any more words on her.

For the tribe's future, Rellana could not be allowed to die here.

The longer they delayed, the more troublesome treatment would become.

He stepped forward and, without allowing any argument, pressed down on Rellana's shoulder while his other hand reached to undo the clasps and straps at the side of her breastplate.

"Stop! You... insolent barbarian! Miriel! Lord Miriel!"

Rellana struggled desperately, but had no strength to resist. She could only cast a pleading look toward the enormous tortoise sitting quietly as a mountain beside them, her voice even taking on a faint, despairing sob.

"Are you... just going to watch? Have you... betrayed me too?!"

Faced with the lady knight's grief-stricken, furious accusation, Miriel calmly raised its enormous head and gazed up at the bright moon in the night sky. In a lilting tone that seemed wholly detached from the tense atmosphere, it sighed, "Ah... how beautiful the moonlight is tonight, and how brilliant the stars. May this tranquil radiance soothe all agitation and pain..."

Rellana: "..."

She froze completely, even forgetting to struggle, left with nothing but disbelief and the desolation of having been "abandoned by the world."

The fate of members of the Carian Royal Family is tied to the stars and moon. At least, that is the case for Ranni.

Also, no matter how I count, I can't figure out who the three sisters of the so-called Three Sisters towers are.

If I really had to make it fit, the only possibility would be Renna, Rennala, and Rellana as the three sisters.

But if that's the case, where did Renna go? Was she the snow witch?

Yet that contradicts her growing old. If those three were sisters, it wouldn't make sense for one to die of old age while the other two were still young.

Surely their age gap couldn't have been that huge.