Chapter 44

Seeing the blood Claudia spat, Noah called out to her in a voice filled with anxiety.

"Princess!!"

"--- Ahead!"

"!"

Noah, who had shielded Claudia from behind, stopped the snake's head that was about to be swung down with his sword.

It seemed almost miraculous that the sword wasn't knocked away from that angle. He swung his sword hard to push it back, but at the same time, all the black mist from the ceiling fell down.

"Damn...!!"

The substance that pooled on the floor began to slowly wriggle and gradually started to take on a certain shape.

Claudia sat down on the floor, still pressing her mouth and breathing heavily. The children behind her shouldn't have seen what happened, but her brothers seemed to have noticed something was wrong.

"Claudia!? Hey, are you okay!?"

"You, your body...!! Can't keep up with the magic, are you at your limit!?"

While her brothers were calling out to her, Noah frowned and reached out to Claudia.

"Princess, please step back! I'll hold them off until Lord Karlheinz breaks the barrier...!"

"... Haha!!"

Despite her shallow breaths, Claudia tried to smile as calmly as possible.

"I'm fine, Noah."

The black mist was pulsating like a giant heart.

If the curse had a will, perhaps it was longing to be a living being. She had often seen it form various shapes of living creatures or monsters, starting with the snake, five hundred years ago.

The shape the mist was now forming was that of a dragon with large wings on its back.

"I can fix this later. So don't worry, keep going."

"... Don't underestimate it...!"

Noah, who was facing the dragon with his sword, shouted at Claudia, who was trying to stand up.

"Do you think I don't know how much you're suffering and in pain!"

"!"

Hearing that, she felt a deep sense of wonder.

(... No good.)

She immediately shifted her thoughts away from Noah. As she did, she started coughing, and fresh blood kept spilling out.

(I can't listen to Noah's words...)

Her head felt dizzy. If she let her guard down even a little, she might lose consciousness.

(I need to focus on breaking that curse now...)

"I'll fight. Please, stay in the safe barrier...!"

(The curse in the form of a dragon mimics the properties of a dragon. There should be a core, a nucleus, where the magic I received from Emilia is stored, under the chin, where a dragon's reverse scale would be.)

"Please!! Retreat!"

(... I need to use magic to protect the children and Noah. ... One more time, burning it and weakening the core should be easy enough...?)

The black mist quickly formed the shape of a dragon. Occasionally, it would collapse and scatter across the floor, but it would quickly gather and wriggle again.

"Princess...!! Please..."

(Hurry...)

While standing up with trembling legs, she thought hazily.

(... My body can break... if it has to...)

Just as Claudia was about to face the curse that was turning into a black dragon,

"---... Princess!!"

"!!"

A loud voice called out to Claudia, and her blurred consciousness became clear.

Noah was holding her wrist tightly. Claudia had never seen Noah, who always tried to remain calm, raise his voice so much.

"Let go."

She told Noah, her lips stained with blood. The curse was still forming, but it could move at any moment.

"I'll break that curse right away, so be a good girl and wait."

"Bullshit."

"... Noah?"

Noah looked at Claudia with a calm anger.

"I am your servant."

"..."

Noah should be angry.

Yet, why did he look so sad? She gazed at him dazedly.

"I vowed to live for you. To be by your side...! If you're not alive, my life has no meaning."

"... I told you, my disciple, that you have many possibilities, didn't I?"

"I wish to live for you, even if it means giving up all those possibilities."

Claudia took a small breath at his sincere voice.

Normally, they shouldn't be having this conversation.

She knew it, but her thoughts wavered, and she blurted out,

"... No."

Her voice sounded like that of a very young girl.

"Absolutely not."

"Princess"

"... I don't want you to die."

Noah's gaze overlapped with that of her disciples from five hundred years ago.

Over twenty beloved disciples were all very important to Claudia, and she wanted to protect them more than herself.

"I had many. Most of them, I managed to protect."

But, she whispered softly.

"... But, I couldn't protect all of them."

"..."

"I didn't want even one of them to truly die..."

Noah, who was here now, must feel the same way as Claudia.

He must not want Claudia to die and is fighting for her. But if she had to be left behind, it would be better to leave someone else behind.

So Claudia smiled and said,

"I only do what I want to do."

"... Then!!"

Noah knelt in the hall and looked at Claudia straight on.

"If you're going to pretend to be greedy, at least choose everything."

"...?"

Claudia's blood was staining Noah's clothes.

She looked at the scene as if it were someone else's. Noah seemed to be in more pain seeing Claudia's blood than Claudia herself.

"You don't have to give up anything."

"---!"

Hearing that, she swallowed hard.

"Protect the people around you and choose the path that doesn't let me die. On top of that, choose the path that lets you live as well."

"... Noah?"

"If you want me to live, promise me that you will definitely survive as well."

Noah's obsidian eyes pierced her with a fierce intensity.

"Do you think a pet dog can live normally after losing its master?"

Claudia blinked once at his words.

"I have decided to be your servant for life. So you must also decide to be my master for life."

"... Bad boy. Let go of my hand and listen to me..."

"No, I won't let you go. ---... I will protect you, no matter what."

Noah's expression was sulky, but more than that, it was very earnest.

"...... I am your princess."

"!"

He spoke those words as if he were looking at a precious treasure.