His expression changed. He looked back at Her Highness and nodded. “That is correct. My subordinates witnessed him going to the bridge and being attacked by the mercenaries.”
“No...!” Her lips quivered. “You knew, yet you let him die?!”
Her anger flared, but right as Lord Simeon began to respond, a sudden, high-pitched noise pierced through the air.
“Huh?” I crouched on reflex. The sound repeated itself twice, three times, and all the knights jumped out into the hallway. Even Lord Simeon left me.
“What happened?!” shouted a knight.
“What’s going on?!” yelled another.
Knights spilled out from other locations as well, all called by the emergency whistle. I lifted my head to see what they were all focusing on.
“Vice Captain, my apologies...!” croaked out one knight, who was being supported by another. Blood was spewing from his head. “They escaped!”
“All of them?”
“Only the ones who could move. They left those with severe injuries.”
Were they referring to Mr. Meyer and his lackeys? The mercenaries that Lord Nigel had mentioned went with them?
“We examined everything, even in their shoes, but they apparently had knives with them. Many of their ropes had already been cut by the time we found them.”
“Don’t force that one to stand. Lay him down.”
Lord Simeon ordered the knight to set his comrade down in a space he cleared, but the injured knight refused. “I was only cut a little, sir. I’m fine. But the enemy ran that way. Tellier and the others are chasing after them.”
He pointed not to the exit but to the passage that led deeper into the castle. Why would they run to a place where they could be cornered? Was there another exit? They’d infiltrated this castle the night before, so perhaps they knew the layout.
“They may be hiding something deeper in. Tell Second Lieutenant Tellier not to attack without caution.” Several knights ran off at Lord Simeon’s orders. “The third unit will guard Their Highnesses, and the rest will patrol outside.”
“Yes, sir!”
Lord Simeon and most of the other knights ran off, leaving only a fraction of them with us. They were headed straight into the rainy outdoors.
From behind them came an intense gunshot.
“Aaaaah!” I covered my head and crouched.
The bullet had come from the hallway on the other side of the room. A group of men wielding small guns appeared. They weren’t the mercenaries we’d caught—these men were unscathed. Their uniforms were similar, however, so it was obvious at a first glance that they were accomplices.
“Reinforcements!”
Several people were shot, and they fell to the ground. Where’s Lord Simeon?! Another bullet flew through the air as I tried to look around.
“Lord Simeon!”
“Get back!” My husband’s voice resounded against the castle walls, and at the same time, someone grabbed me from behind. Lord Nigel yanked me back into the room, and Ms. Eva, who’d been stationed near the entrance, ran forward. She fought back, striking at the assaulters between their attacks.
What should I do? We have to get rid of the guns. I can’t even help the injured at this rate!
I fervently glanced at every corner of the room, then leaped toward the knapsack Lord Simeon had pulled the water bottles from. Knowing him, he had to have brought something in it. Something like a handgun...
A familiar round object lay within—I pulled it out. It was a bit heavy and large compared to my hand. But not so large that I couldn’t throw it.
Prince Severin went pale. “Wait, Marielle! Don’t touch the pin!”
A hand reached over from the side to pluck the grenade from my grip. Arthur then gestured toward Lord Nigel and Ms. Eva. “Master, Ms. Eva, please stand back.”
Lord Nigel raised an eyebrow. “Won’t the castle collapse?”
“It’s not that strong.”
As uncaring as ever, Arthur pulled the pin from the tip of the grenade in an artless motion, then lobbed it out into the hallway with a blank expression.
A moment later, the sound of a big boom echoed. The gunshots ceased. Lord Simeon and his subordinates ran through the hallway. Th-Thank goodness he’s all right!
The knights that had stayed in this room ran through the door to help the injured.
Lord Nigel turned to Prince Severin. “Your Highness, please leave now. Take the princess and Lord Hilbert with you.”
“Isn’t it too dangerous for us to leave?”
“Look at that.”
His Highness followed the tip of Lord Nigel’s finger. Outside of the window, more mercenaries were running straight toward us.
“Retreat!” Prince Severin grabbed Princess Mira and shouted orders while Lord Nigel scooped me up with one arm. As soon as we were out of the room, the windows shattered and bullets began to rain down.
“Gaaaaah!” Lord Hilbert was screaming healthily.
“Seems we can’t use the exit,” huffed Lord Nigel. “We’ll be face-to-face with them there. It should be safest to go where the Vice Captain went.”
“That’s our only chance!” yelled Prince Severin.
Thanks to the hand grenade and the knights, no more gunshots were blasting beyond the hallway. From the sounds of it, the fight was ramping up, but we decided that joining Lord Simeon would be the safest option.
“Why are there so many of them?!” cried Lord Hilbert as he clutched his head. “Didn’t you capture them all?!”
“Please calm yourself, Lord Hilbert.” I did what I could to soothe him. “They most likely had another unit waiting in the wings. Their plot was supposed to be over by this point—I assume they were going to leave the island by boat before low tide.”