One Day, My Fiancé Brought His First Love Along - Chapter 89

“What is that? I’ve never seen a monster like that before!”

“Hey, move! Get down, now!”

“Watch out for its claws! That thing hides them and then lashes out all of a sudden!”

I had expected monsters to appear, but not this many. It was as if they had gathered every monster in the area and sent them all at once.

And not just the numbers the types, too, were beyond anything I’d imagined. Some of them I had never even seen before. No matter how much theory the knights had studied, actual combat was a completely different story. There were monsters here that even the best records said were extinct.

“Sir Niar!”

A tail, thick and coiled like a whip, came flying straight for Niar’s neck as he fought by my side.

“Kyaaaah!”

Instead of Niar’s screams, the monster’s terrifying roar tore through the ears of the nearby knights.

“Thank you, Sir Aireen!”

Aireen, who had just severed the monster’s tail, stood back-to-back with Niar, not even sparing a reply. Her arms never stopped moving.

“There’s too many of them!”

Someone shouted in panic. It was Piel, the one leading the charge, yelling as he swung his sword at the front.

“Don’t joke around! I can handle it all!”

“Yeah!”

But that brief moment of confidence didn’t last. Flying monsters—far harder to deal with—soon joined the battle.

“Watch out! Don’t get hurt! Archers, fire the flame arrows!”

Unlike a normal forest, there weren’t many trees here. There was little risk of fire spreading, so the soldiers could shoot flame arrows freely and without hesitation.

They fought with everything they had, trying desperately to protect the mountain from being consumed by fire. But it wasn’t enough to stop the unfamiliar types of monsters that kept coming.

Eventually, one by one, people started getting injured.

“Just a little more strength! You can still hold them off!”

Piel’s voice rang out—his tone now twisted, as if taken over by something evil.

Even then, he was still able to call for reinforcements from Carlisle. While there hadn’t been any deaths yet, the situation was growing worse. It might have been difficult to chase down and eliminate the monsters, but defending the position was still manageable.

Besides, with this mine under such heavy attack, there was no guarantee the other two mines wouldn’t be targeted next. We had to stop them here—at all costs.

In the midst of the chaos, a loud scream echoed from far away.

A soldier was being dragged off while still alive by a monster. Niar, who was nearby, rushed toward him the moment he saw what was happening.

That soldier was also a citizen of the Empire, someone with a family in the territory. As knights, we must protect our own.

Remembering Carlisle’s words, Niar didn’t hesitate. He swiftly cut off the arm of the monster holding onto the soldier’s ankle.

“Sir Niar!”

It was then that Niar let out a breath of relief.

But before it could even settle, another scream erupted—and at the same time, another monster crept up from behind and grabbed Niar by the back of his neck.

Then I began to be dragged away.

I swung my sword, struggling against its crushing grip. But I couldn’t reach it. Worse, I ended up provoking more monsters, making things even more dangerous.

Aireen, who had been fighting nearby while keeping an eye on me, looked utterly shocked.

I have to save Niar. That one thought echoed like an alarm in my head.

Aireen raced through the gaps between the knights and monsters like a flash of lightning. As soon as she reached the spot where Niar was in sight, she drew her sword and swung it in a wide, powerful arc—just like Carlisle had taught her.

The monsters surrounding Niar dropped all at once, their bodies falling like rows of corn slashed by a scythe.

“Oh, thank you.”

“Let’s get out of here quickly.”

“Yes!”

Just as Aireen was about to send Niar to safety first, a sudden cold wind swept behind her. All the nearby monsters should have been dead.

She quickly turned around—but saw nothing.

Then… what was it?

Suddenly, I looked down. Thick black smoke was rising, swirling around my waist like chains.

No. It wasn’t smoke.

It was the tail of a monster, wrapped in black smoke.

“This—!”

“Sir Aireen!”

Black chains coiled around Aireen and pulled her down. She was dragged away helplessly.

He swung his sword with all his strength, but the monster’s arm—shrouded in black smoke—wasn’t even scratched. It was as solid as iron. He couldn’t cut through it at all.

From a distance, several knights tried to rush to her aid, but they were surrounded by monsters and couldn’t get close. Before long, even those figures vanished from sight.

I have to survive on my own. Aireen clenched her jaw and fought back with every ounce of strength she had.

After dozens of attempts, she finally managed to wriggle halfway out of the monster’s grasp. She didn’t notice it at the time, but the black smoke surrounding the creature had started to thin.

And that was when it happened.

The monster, reeling from Aireen’s fierce resistance, slammed into a rock that had suddenly jutted out. The force of the impact caused Aireen to be flung from its outstretched arms.

She flew—straight toward a steep cliff.

The cliff…
Am I really going to die this time? I finally got a proper mission…

Aireen closed her eyes as her body tumbled down the slope. It felt like she could hear Niar’s voice calling her name from far away.

After easily wiping out the unusually weak northern invaders, Carlisle returned to his barracks.

Without much care, he wiped the monster’s blood off his hand and turned his cold eyes toward the knight kneeling in front of him—tied up and silent.

“I suggest you start talking. I’ve already given you enough time.”

Boris.

Carlisle’s attention had first turned to him when he started harassing Aireen.

At the time, the goal had simply been to keep an eye on her—to stop her from doing anything reckless. But at some point, Carlisle realized something was off.

“Boris, haven’t you been feeling strange lately?”
“Oh, yeah. I thought the same thing.”
“He never seemed like someone who would act out like that.”
“Maybe he was angry and didn’t even realize it… He is a knight, after all. But I really didn’t think Boris would start a fight with Revart.”

Carlisle had overheard murmurs from the Knights of the Reel. They, too, were suspicious.

There was the sudden appearance of a monster… the leak in the route…
And Carlisle already knew the northern immigrant factions had ways to disguise themselves through sorcery.

It wasn’t baseless paranoia. So, he’d deliberately placed Boris in the same unit as himself.

First, to keep this dangerous man away from Aireen.
Second, to bring him under his direct control—and confirm his identity.

And after the first battle, the truth came out.

Boris wasn’t just a knight. He was Haller.
Carlisle had caught him just after he finished communicating with the Marquis through the message port.

Carlisle looked straight at Haller with calm, icy eyes—like the quiet before a storm.

The one who bullied Aireen.
The one who tried to hurt her.
The one who nearly got her killed.

There were too many reasons why Haller couldn’t be let go. Carlisle’s rage simmered beneath the surface, threatening to spill over.

If I want to catch someone even more dangerous, I can put up with this anger a little longer.

“I’ve seen everything. If you admit it now, it ends here.”

“…I am Boris.”

“Can you take responsibility for that name?”

A heavy sense of pressure clung to his throat. Haller Petter swallowed dryly, barely able to force out a response.

“Yes.”

“If you find the real Boris, you’ll die. He might be a northerner trying to steal information from our allies.”

The calmness in the threat made it all the more terrifying. Haller quickly weighed his options.

The real Boris has already been caught.
If he denies it and Carlisle finds the real one, he’ll be executed.

Disguising yourself and hiding your identity makes you an easy target for accusations of espionage.

If I reveal that I’m the child of a count, maybe they’ll spare me. I’m still a noble of the Empire. No matter how foolish I’ve been, my father wouldn’t just let me die.

I hated Aireen so much. I wanted to rip her apart.
But now wasn’t the time.

My heart sank the moment I caught Carlisle using the communication device.
I realized I had to plan for the future—now.

After long hesitation, Haller finally opened his trembling lips.

“…That’s right. I am Haller Petter.”

“Testify again later. If you do, I’ll spare your life.”

The words hit like a death sentence. If he told the truth, the Marquis of Hessden would kill him.

But he had no other choice.

Haller nodded, over and over, saying he understood. He had to survive this first.

That was when—

“Captain! We’re in big trouble!”

Someone shouted frantically outside the barracks.

Carlisle rushed out immediately—and froze at the sight before him.

“What happened, Piel?”

Piel, Niar, and several knights knelt with dirtied, bruised faces. Their expressions were worn with fear and exhaustion. Piel, speaking on behalf of the group, opened his mouth and trembled.

“Sir Aireen is missing! Commander, please… kill her!”

Carlisle’s heart sank. A suffocating pressure closed in around his chest. His heartbeat grew frantic.

His sharp gaze swept over the knights, cold and calculating.

He spoke lowly, urgently.

“Just tell me the main point.”

“Suddenly, dozens of monsters attacked. While Sir Niar was trying to save the soldiers, he was dragged away—and disappeared.”

“That’s why I couldn’t go after you.”

“Everyone nearby was either injured or locked in battle with the monsters.”

Carlisle turned around without a word.

His normally detached expression now twisted with regret. Despite criticism and strange looks from others, he had stationed more troops around Irene.

They had caught Haller Petter not long ago—but only now did they learn the monsters had been swarming the mine where Aireen was sent.

If he had known the northerners would concentrate their forces there, he would’ve never sent Aireen.

Is she okay? Is she hurt? What if I lose her forever?

He didn’t believe in God.
But in that moment, Carlisle prayed—for protection, for her life.

A thousand thoughts spun through my head as I moved toward where the incident had happened.

If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have hurt Irene.
If I’d known she’d disappear like this, I would’ve never let her go with such cruel words.

If Aireen disappeared from his world, it would be shrouded in complete darkness. Like the pitch-black night.

–Carlisle, I really like you.
–Carlisle, we’re finally getting married. We’ve waited so long! I’m so happy.
–Carlisle… Are you lying? A broken engagement? A pregnancy?
–Carlisle, I regret every moment I ever loved you.

The moment he met Irene.
Loving her. Hurting her.
Being hurt by her.
Every one of those memories flashed before his eyes like a panorama.

Knock. Knock.

“Ah…”

Through tear-filled eyes, Carlisle finally realized, He was crying.

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