After Putting the Slayer of the Night to Sleep, I Ran Away - Chapter 36

“Your pretty forehead was all wrinkled.”

“What? Oh… right.”

Ayla quickly covered her forehead with her hand and took a step back, clearly flustered.

Leo, feeling slightly embarrassed under her wide-eyed stare, shifted the topic.

“I meant that I’m fine. This is nothing. It’s no worse than a mosquito bite. It’ll heal on its own without treatment.”

“How can you say that? How could that wound be the same as a mosquito bite? If you don’t treat injuries like this, they’ll get worse. It’s exactly because you brush them off like this that you end up—”

Ayla suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

Her eyes had landed on the many scars etched across Leo’s body.

Had his body always looked like this?

Even though she had shared a night with him, she had never noticed before.

She had known he was physically strong, but that night the room was dark and she had been far too overwhelmed to pay attention to anything else.

She had focused only on the wound on his shoulder just now. She hadn’t realized what was right there in front of her.

She had only meant to comment on the scars she could see near her, but now she found herself unable to speak.

Leo looked at her curiously.

“Why did you stop talking?”

Ayla pressed her lips together, unable to answer. Her eyes flickered with emotion.

What was she supposed to say in a moment like this?

Should she ask what kind of life he had lived?

Should she demand to know who had done this to him?

Looking closely at the countless scars that covered his body, Ayla finally spoke in a low voice.

“Why do you have so many scars?”

“Ah, that.”

Leo finally realized why she had been so shocked, and a crooked smile appeared on his face.

“I thought I mentioned this before. The man you picked as your future husband isn’t just any ordinary man.”

His joking tone made Ayla turn her gaze away. She picked up the ointment and squeezed a bit onto her fingertip.

“I really didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what?”

“That if I was going to be your wife, I should have studied medicine.”

She gently applied the ointment over his wounds, then carefully wrapped them in bandages. Only after that did she collect the basket and stand up.

“If something like this happens again, please come to me.”

“Are you actually planning to study medicine?”

“No. I’m going to scold you. A lot. So much that you’ll start taking care of yourself just to avoid hearing me.”

“What?”

“Well, I’ll be going now. It’s getting late, Your Highness.”

Ayla left the room quickly, almost as if escaping.

She could feel Leo’s gaze on her back, but she didn’t look back.

Walking quickly down the hallway, she returned to her room, leaned against the closed door, and slowly slid down to the floor.

“Why did he have to take his shirt off?”

When she touched her face, it was burning like it had been scorched.

Trying to shake the image of Leo’s bare upper body from her mind, Ayla shook her head and stood up to find Bami.

Thankfully, Bami had made it back safely and was lying right in the middle of her bed. He sleepily opened one eye before closing it again.

“Honestly, Bami. Running off like that without warning.”

Ayla muttered as she trudged over to the bed. Bami only perked up one ear in response.

Ayla had no intention of scolding anyone. She quietly took off her coat, hung it on the back of the chair, and sat beside the sleeping Bami with a soft sigh.

“What kind of trouble are you causing in the middle of the night?”

It had happened just as she was thinking about putting her book down and going to sleep.

Suddenly, Bami had jumped off the chair and started scratching at the door. Curious about what was going on outside, she had slightly opened the door to take a peek, and that was when everything had started.

She had seen Bami shoot out like a bullet, grabbed her coat in a rush, slipped her arms through the sleeves, and chased after him.

That was how she had found the slightly opened door. She had leaned in, wondering if Bami had gone inside.

Now she lay on her bed, recalling what she had seen.

A massive wolf with ash-gray fur, a giant bird with wide wings, and a crow that almost looked cute in the middle of them.

At the center of it all was Leo.

With moonlight shining through the window, he had looked both dangerous and breathtaking.

“How can a man be that beautiful?”

And beneath that handsome face, the body he had kept hidden under his clothes was even more striking.

His entire frame was solid with muscle. Thick and strong. And the scars that marked him told stories she could not imagine.

Ayla’s face turned slightly red, then darkened.

She did not know the full story, but some of those wounds looked like they had once brought him to the edge of death.

What could have happened to a man like him?

She suddenly remembered something he had said.

She had once told him that royalty probably did not live that differently from others. But he had replied that the difference was beyond anything she could imagine.

“What kind of life has he lived?”

For the first time, Ayla found herself truly wanting to know more about him.

They say that from a distance, it looks like a comedy, but up close, it is a tragedy.

That was exactly the atmosphere at Count Esteban’s estate.

The sudden engagement between Lady Ayla Everett and the First Prince Leomond Zigranta had become the talk of the entire capital. And the man left behind from the broken match was none other than the count’s eldest son, Rodrigo Esteban.

The family’s honor had taken a heavy blow.

One rumor in particular had spread rapidly. It claimed that Lady Ayla had ended the engagement because of Rodrigo’s improper behavior.

To make matters worse, Rodrigo had tried to drag her away by force during a royal banquet, and the First Prince had challenged him to a duel. It was beyond humiliating.

“You reckless fool. What were you thinking?”

The voice of the enraged Count Esteban thundered through the mansion.

Rodrigo stood with his head bowed, his eyes bloodshot with frustration.

“Everything was set for you. Yet because you could not control yourself, you ruined everything. Do you really think you still deserve to inherit this family?”

“I will fix it.”

“Fix it? What do you mean by that? Are you actually thinking about dueling the First Prince?”

“If that is what it takes.”

“What did you just say?”

“If I win, none of this will matter. The engagement can go forward again.”

“You arrogant fool. Your biggest problem is that you do not understand your own limits. Do you think the First Prince is someone you can take lightly? That man has survived a lifetime drenched in blood. Do you really think you can stand against him?”

Rodrigo said nothing.

“Enough. Until we find you another suitable match, you are to stay quiet and out of sight. And you are not to set foot near that Moonlight Mansion again. Do you understand?”

Rodrigo remained silent.

“Why are you not answering me?”

“Understood, Father.”

“Tch. Useless boy.”

Count Esteban clicked his tongue in frustration and left the room.

Rodrigo was left alone. His cold, furious eyes stared at the empty space his father had just vacated.

“You’ve always thought I was pathetic. Do you really think I don’t know that?”

His voice came out low and sharp, like a beast growling to itself.

Since he was a child, his father had never been on his side.

Instead of guiding him, Count Esteban had chosen to send him away to study abroad because of his violent temper and aggressive nature.

Rodrigo had been forced to grow up alone, far from home. As soon as he graduated from the academy, he was sent off again, this time to knight training school.

No matter how many times he begged to return home, his father never listened. He would always bring up Rodrigo’s past mistakes and minor scandals to justify keeping him away.

To cope with the loneliness that had eaten away at him for years, Rodrigo had thrown himself into social circles. Thankfully, his good looks earned him popularity, and eventually, he built up enough of a reputation to be allowed back home.

It had been such a difficult road.

“I’m not going to give up that easily.”

And it all started with Ayla Everett.

She was the reason for everything.

The only way to fix this was to marry Ayla Everett as originally planned.

Rodrigo clenched his jaw and bit down on his lower lip as he recalled the First Prince, Leomond Zigranta, who had dared throw down a glove in front of him.

That arrogant bastard. Just like the northern barbarians he came from.

Rodrigo had been genuinely afraid when the First Prince threw down the glove without a second thought. He had heard the rumors. He knew how skilled Leomond was in battle.

But when the Emperor later intervened and Leomond pretended to step back, that fear inside Rodrigo twisted into something else.

It turned into rage and the thirst for revenge.

A crooked smile appeared at the corner of Rodrigo’s mouth.

“We’ll see about this. We’ll see who’s laughing in the end.”

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