I Want To Die One Day Before You - Chapter 78
Why? Why was she thinking that way?
“Sir Rufus, we must hurry!”
Fertina’s pale face was a mask of worry as she shook him.
“Understood.”
Rufus quickly regained his composure, calming her.
“I was already concerned about Prince Tarek’s safety and on my way.”
“Thank goodness!”
Relief and tears shimmered in Fertina’s eyes.
“The prince might be injured. I’m coming with you!”
Good grief.
This was unexpected. Rufus inwardly clicked his tongue at Fertina’s determination to follow him.
“Sir Rufus!”
“…Fine.”
He couldn’t just leave her. Reluctantly, Rufus and Fertina set off towards the prince’s tent, dodging demons along the way.
Demons were sighted en route, but they didn’t turn their attention to Rufus and Fertina.
“We’re lucky they haven’t noticed us.”
Fertina gasped with a faint smile, her body rigid with tension.
‘They didn’t just miss us—they deliberately let us pass,’ Rufus thought with a sigh.
Finally, they spotted the tent with golden pine decorations in the distance. The flag of the Hevania royal family hung limply above. It was Prince Tarek’s tent.
“Over there, Sir Rufus…!”
Fertina pointed, and Rufus turned to look.
Between the burning chariots and boxes lay red pools of blood. The stench of blood assaulted Rufus’s nostrils.
Demon corpses, pierced through the heart by magic, were strewn about. Nearby lay human bodies, the royal knights who had guarded the prince, dead with eyes wide open.
“…”
Rufus observed the gruesome scene impassively.
He felt no pity for these sycophants who had plotted their escape and mistreated soldiers and medics. They deserved their fate.
Rufus glanced at Fertina behind him. Surprisingly composed, she examined the knights’ bodies.
“Fatal wounds straight through vital organs. Even if I had arrived earlier, I couldn’t have saved them.”
A medic unfazed by blood—perhaps it was natural for her profession.
“Miss Fertina, stay here. I will check inside first.”
Rufus spoke calmly to her.
“I want to help too.”
Fertina drew a dagger from her belt.
A medic armed with a weapon.
Stunned, Rufus dissuaded her.
“It’s too dangerous. Stay here and wait for my signal to assist.”
“But…”
“Miss Fertina, you are a medic. The camp is full of injured soldiers right now. We cannot afford to lose you.”
“…Understood.”
Fertina relented, putting away her dagger. Rufus breathed a sigh of relief.
He couldn’t let her see what was about to happen inside that tent.
Fertina was a good person. Therefore, she would never condone what Rufus was about to do. If she ever got a hint of the truth, she would seek to bring Rufus to justice for siding with demons. That would leave him no choice but to kill her.
However, what is valuable must be preserved.
So,
“Wait here. Do not recklessly enter.”
I don’t want to kill you. Just remain blissfully unaware.
“Do not move without my say.”
After admonishing the medic Fertina, Rufus gripped his sword tightly.
Approaching the prince’s tent, the stench of death intensified. Blood mixed with metal invaded Rufus’s senses.
Prince Tarek was in there.
He had asked the demons to subdue all of Tarek’s loyalists, but to keep him alive.
Magic, whether of humans or demons, follows the same rule. It doesn’t work on the dead. For Tarek to be disguised as the Demon King, he needed to be alive.
And, there was one thing he needed to confirm before the prince’s death.
Rufus carefully pushed open the tent’s entrance. Something crunched underfoot.
“…”
Rufus glanced down at what he’d stepped on.
Another royal knight’s corpse.
“Oh, you’ve arrived?”
Witch Odr greeted Rufus with a bright face.
The inside of the tent was a brutal sight. Royal knights who had tried to protect their master lay scattered. Demons slain in battle littered the floor too.
At the center of it all was him.
“Ugh…”
Prince Tarek, finally subdued by the demons.
Thankfully, Iruel’s poisoned water had worked. Tarek was immobile, rigid as stone.
“You, you are…!”
Tarek’s eyes widened in shock at Rufus’s entrance, but Rufus paid him no heed.
“Great job, Witch Odr. You’ve captured him effectively.”
“Hehe, it wasn’t me. These gentlemen did it.”
The witch Odr proudly gestured towards two huge demons behind her, their red horns signifying their formidable strength.
“Ah, and my son helped immensely. Who else would think to poison the washing water? Maybe he’s a genius?”
“Seems unlikely.”
Ignoring Odr’s bragging, Rufus prodded the motionless Tarek with his scabbard.
The prince was utterly unresponsive.
Good. He’s been effectively subdued.
“Aren’t you the legitimate son of the Inferna Barony?”
Tarek challenged Rufus.
“Why are you in league with the demons? What do you intend to do with me?”
“I will kill you.”
Rufus smiled sardonically.
“Soon.”
But not yet. There’s something he must check first.
“Queen Echinacea’s demonic sword.”
