There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 47

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 47.
Hanno Becker noticed my gaze lingering on him and explained, fidgeting with the fingers of the hand he was holding.
“My s-siblings kept insisting I write to them often……”
A fortunate household, it seemed.
He appeared to have a warm bond with his younger siblings as well.
Likely he had given to his departing family member the thing he cherished most.
I nodded and relayed the information that had been written in the trainee’s personal details form from earlier.
“In principle, trainees are prohibited from leaving the Training Facility until their education period ends. Sending letters to the outside is strictly forbidden as well.”
“B-but how do we stay in contact with family……”
“I’m not entirely certain, but I’ve heard there are designated times when trainees are allowed to write letters.”
“Thank you for telling me.”
He said it out of habit, but his shoulders slumped in visible disappointment.
Was it so sorrowful to be unable to contact family for merely a few weeks?
It was an emotion I could not imagine, having no family of my own.
That must have been why.
I added something I needn’t have said.
“Still, once your training period ends, you can freely exchange letters through the Raven Tower located east of the Fortress. The Nox organization even bears the cost.”
Judging by the worn condition of the very luggage bag he’d brought into the Training Facility, his circumstances were clearly straitened.
For ordinary commoners like that, even the cost of sending a letter became a burden.
“R-really?”
Just as I’d expected, Hanno Becker’s face brightened at my words.
“Yes. Your luggage inspection is complete. Take this Inspection Certificate and enter the Outer Wall—someone from the Training Facility will be waiting there.”
“Y-yes. Farewell, or rather, stay well.”
Hanno Becker took the inspection certificate and hurriedly grabbed his luggage bag.
As the old padlock clicked shut, that rattling sound struck me as deeply unsettling.
As I left the Guard Post and made my way back to my position, Hanno Becker bowed his head respectfully in farewell.
Jake, who witnessed this exchange, spoke up.
“Polite fellow, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, surprisingly mild-mannered despite appearances.”
“Don’t be naive. Once trainees get assigned to a decent unit, they start showing their true colors—believe me, Rookie.”
“I don’t think he’s that type.”
“You still don’t understand how the Nox organization works……”
Just as I thought another round of life lessons was about to begin—
Clop-clop! Clop-clop!
The heavy sound of hoofbeats approaching from within the fortress walls grazed my ears.
Not one horse, but several.
As I turned to look inward in confusion, someone shouted urgently.
“The Duke is coming out!”
“The Personal Guard! Stand aside!”
“Make way!”
The merchants and residents who frequently passed through the Main Gate moved with practiced ease at the Guard Detail’s direction.
They stepped aside to clear a path for the rapidly approaching horses.
But today, this situation was not witnessed only by those familiar with it.
“The D-Duke? W-what, how……”
I could see Hanno Becker hesitating in the middle of the road.
Already wound tight with tension, he had become flustered by the sudden words “the Duke” and the urgent commands to get out of the way.
Still, being trainee material, he clumsily followed the others’ movements despite his slowness.
But that old padlock, which I’d felt uneasy about from the moment of inspection, finally caused disaster.
“Oof!”
Click!
The luggage bag, colliding heavily with someone hurriedly clearing the road, abandoned its duty and burst wide open.
The contents spilled across the ground in a tumble.
Though I clicked my tongue softly at the sight, I felt little else.
I only glared at Killian Nox and his Personal Guard, who were drawing near at such a tremendous speed that dust rose visibly over the well-swept ground.
Clop-clop, clop-clop, clop-clop!
“You there! Get out of the way! Move!”
I faltered when the increasingly loud hoofbeats mixed with Jake’s cry.
“W-wait just a moment……”
Hanno Becker’s mind had definitely short-circuited from the sudden crisis.
There was no other explanation for his priorities to be this scrambled.
To fear Jake’s roar more than the threatening hoofbeats that made his ears ring and the earth shake; to value a toy given by his siblings more than his own life—
“Damn fool.”
Before I’d even realized it, I was already running.
Whether this brainless oaf got trampled under Killian Nox’s war horse had nothing to do with me.
If his guts burst or his head was crushed, he was nothing but a stranger passing through my life.
“L-look out!”
“Aaaah!”
Yet there I was, rushing through the screams of the crowd, already grabbing Hanno Becker and pulling him hard.
If his family was close enough to pack letters in his bag, Hanno Becker’s death would not be merely his own.
His family would carry the weight of their son’s, their brother’s death like a yoke around their hearts for the rest of their lives.
That was far too cruel a burden for those left behind.
“Argh!”
Hanno Becker cried out as he rolled across the ground tangled with me.
Even his startled screams sounded foolish.
Eventually, when my body was pinned beneath his tree-trunk legs and I could no longer roll, I faced the sky.
Neigh—!
With a long cry, the horse’s body leaped high and passed over my view.
And the moment I saw the rider’s silver hair glinting in the sunlight, I yanked Hanno Becker’s head down and shouted.
“Duck!”
Behind Killian Nox came a whole pack of Personal Guard!
One of my legs still lying in the road, I clenched my eyes shut, bracing for it to be crushed.
‘Just don’t die.’
That moment of gritting my teeth and enduring stretched like an eternity.
Dark shadows swept over my eyelids again and again.
Mercifully, the horrible pain I’d steeled myself for never came.
The hoofbeats that had battered my ears gradually faded into the distance.
Only then could I finally release the breath I’d been holding and open my eyes.
“Hah!”
I exhaled in relief and immediately checked on Hanno Becker, whom I’d pulled into my arms.
“Thank… thank you……”
Fortunately, he was intact enough to stammer out words.
We survived.
Filled with relief, I called out to the person who had witnessed this scene.
“Jake!”
I expected him to come running the moment I signaled I was safe.
But Jake stood several paces away, hesitant, unable to approach.
And he wasn’t even looking at me.
“What are you……”
Following Jake’s gaze and turning around, my vision filled with an enormous black horse.
And atop it, shaking its massive head, reins taut—
“…Your Grace.”
As I called out blankly, Killian Nox, rather than answering, gathered the horse’s reins more tightly in his grip.
Damn it.
Judging by the gaze and expression far colder than the day he’d turned me into a Raven, Killian Nox was clearly displeased.
Well, he’d been riding splendidly when those obstacles suddenly appeared and forced his horse to stop.
Moreover, suddenly jumping over obstacles was dangerous for both the horse and its rider.
With that realization, I quickly rose to my feet and bowed my head deeply.
“Forgive me, Your Grace!”
It was the Guard Detail’s duty to ensure such problems didn’t occur when the Duke departed or returned.
Not only had we failed to clear the road in time, but I’d also recklessly jumped in to save a trainee.
In doing so, I’d nearly put him in danger, which went without saying.
I’d harbored no expectations that Killian Nox would grant me special consideration simply because I’d become a Raven.
There was no reason for him to do so.
While I was strangling, forced to drink blood, and answering his riddle, he’d been wondering how to kill me in a way that wouldn’t bore him, even for a moment.
He’d said “prove your usefulness,” but we hadn’t crossed paths since then.
So I’d harbored a faint hope that perhaps Killian Nox had simply forgotten of my existence.
I bowed once more in apology.
“Forgive me. I deserve to die for……”
“Who said you could decide that?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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