Chapter 5

The moment I saw him, my mind went blank for a moment.

Hedius had an emotionless, stern-looking face, but I couldn’t help being deeply impressed by his strikingly handsome appearance.

‘Well, I’ve never seen a man this handsome or beautiful in the world I came from.’

If I were to praise his appearance for a moment…

His pitch-black hair, as dark as the night sky, was neatly swept back and gleamed under the sunlight. His sharp nose and smooth facial contours looked like a work of art painstakingly carved by a sculptor.

His deep-set, almond-shaped eyes gave him an almost decadent charm. And even though he was completely wrapped in thick leather clothing, his muscular, inverted-triangle physique was impossible to hide.

With all those features combined, watching him simply breathe and move made him seem less like a human being and more like a sculpture painstakingly molded by a god.

Even his amber eyes, glittering in the sunlight filtering through the branches, looked noble, as though someone had poured molten gold into them.

‘Hmm. I never imagined Hedius would be such a young and handsome man.’

In the history books, Hedius was described as a righteous outlaw who exposed corrupt nobles.

On the other hand, among those very nobles, he was known as a demon wearing a human face.

Almost nothing was known about his origins. And, ironically, because he wasn’t a noble himself, he wasn’t given much attention even in historical records.

Still, before he was known as a “righteous outlaw,” he had been the Emperor’s true protector. Because of that, even in my generation, it was consistently recorded that Hedius had been the leader of the Shadow Bandits.

And that was about the extent of what was known about him.

‘Who could have imagined I’d actually meet Hedius?’

Since Hedius hadn’t been a noble, no portrait of him had survived. So I had vaguely imagined him as a frightening, burly man.

I had even assumed he must have been an older, imposing man.

But who would have thought he would be handsome enough to make my eyes feel as though they had suddenly opened?

Even after looking at him again, I felt as if my previously blurry vision had become crystal clear.

‘Damn, he really is handsome.’

While a quiet exclamation of admiration escaped between my lips, Hedius looked at Leo and spoke in a low voice.

“After doing something wrong and then hiding behind someone else, Leo. It seems I haven’t taught you properly.”

Leo, who had been clenching his teeth, suddenly burst out with the words he’d been desperately holding back.

“No matter what you say, Hedius! I’m not going! I’m never going back to the village!”

Apparently, I was the only one getting anxious as Leo became more agitated.

The other bandits looked completely unconcerned, as though confrontations between the two of them were an everyday occurrence.

“So just go back, Hedius! Just don’t care whether I live or die. I’m not even a member of the bandits anyway.”

Not a member?

There were so many things I didn’t understand, but this wasn’t a situation where I could step forward myself.

If I did, there was no doubt I’d remain accused of trying to kidnap Leo.

Besides, this was the territory of the Shadow Bandits.

Once someone entered the Black Forest, even if they were killed by the bandits, there was no one in the outside world who would ever know about their death.

Unaware of what I was thinking, Leo continued.

“All you ever tell me is not to do anything! I’d rather just leave with Angel!”

“Angel?”

At Hedius’s skeptical question, Leo immediately clamped his mouth shut.

His body stiffened.

It seemed he had only just remembered his promise to me.

As expected, Hedius’s sharp gaze turned toward me.

“That’s what I’ve been wondering since earlier. Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

The murderous intent I sensed in his eyes was definitely not my imagination.

He was clearly hostile toward me.

I swallowed nervously, unsure of what to say.

“Chief, judging from the circumstances, it seems that suspicious woman was trying to kidnap Leo.”

Hustlear, the Vice Chief, reported me to Hedius.

I screamed inwardly, but all I could do was clutch the hem of my dress with my damp palms.

His golden gaze slowly scanned me from head to toe as though trying to see straight through me.

“…Yes. She certainly does look suspicious. Separate Leo from that woman immediately.”

The moment his order was given, two bandits moved in perfect unison and pulled Leo away from my arms.

“N-No! I don’t want to! I’m not going! Let me go!”

Leo struggled violently, flailing his arms and legs in the air, but it was useless.

I bit down softly on the tender flesh inside my mouth.

‘If they decide I’m a kidnapper, they won’t let me live. Because Hedius knows that Leo is an Imperial Prince. So he’ll do anything to protect Leo… And someone like me supposedly tried to kidnap him?’

In other words, I could be killed by Hedius right here.

My fingertips turned pale, but I forced a smile and took a step forward.

“Um, listen… I’m not a kidnapper—”

“……”

But when Hedius stared at me with icy eyes as though he were about to kill me, I gave up on thinking and shouted at the top of my lungs.

“I’m from another world!”

A profound silence descended over the area.

After a moment, the only thing I could hear was the frantic pounding of my own heart.

Then—

Pfft!

Someone snorted with laughter.

Soon, the bandits began clearing their throats awkwardly.

“B-But it’s true….”

It really was true.

I was from another world.

‘But what’s going on? They clearly don’t believe me at all.’

Hedius didn’t take his eyes off me as he spoke.

“Not only is a woman wearing a dress extravagant enough for a banquet suddenly found together with Leo, but now she claims she came from another world… Unless she’s completely insane…”

The wind blew, and the light in his eyes, visible through his pitch-black hair, flashed dangerously.

“She must be a spy who came here with some ulterior motive.”

“!”

Before he had even finished speaking, the sharp tip of a sword came straight toward my neck.

“So you disguised yourself as a noblewoman to deceive Leo and abduct him. Who sent you?”

It all happened in the blink of an eye, but I desperately tried not to panic and lightly bit the inside of my lip again.

“Tell me. Unless you want to die.”

‘This is bad. If I say the wrong thing here, it’s over.’

They didn’t believe that I had come from another world.

If I repeated the same thing, there was no way they would continue to tolerate me.

My heart was pounding so hard it felt as though it might burst out of my chest.

But when cornered like this, I couldn’t afford to act emotionally.

I had to think of a rational way out.

Yes.

Rationally!

Leo’s face gradually turned pale as he struggled in the bandit’s grasp.

‘Are they really going to kill her? The Angel who saved me?’

The Angel’s expression was impossible to read.

And Hedius was pointing a sword at her with an expression that made it seem as though he truly intended to kill her.

Leo’s eyes darted between the two of them.

‘I have to save her somehow. But what can I do when she’s being accused of being a kidnapper?’

On top of that, he had already broken his promise to the Angel by calling her “Angel” in front of everyone.

Leo had no idea how to fix the situation.

If it was Hedius…

He might really kill the Angel.

Leo’s crimson eyes trembled as he looked at him.

‘But why did he come looking for me in the first place?’

Actually, Leo had thought that if he told Hedius that she was his savior and said he wanted to follow her, Hedius would simply let him go.

After all, Hedius, whom Leo had followed like a father all this time, had never shown any interest in him except when teaching him swordsmanship.

Furthermore, whenever the bandits went through their training, Leo was always excluded.

The reason was that they couldn’t accept him as a bandit.

‘When did I become unnecessary to you, and why are you suddenly doing this now?’

Thinking that he could simply leave, Leo had slipped out of the bandits’ hideout without telling anyone.

There was no point in telling them.

They would obviously have refused.

But because of his actions, the Angel was now in trouble.

Leo couldn’t simply stand by and let the woman who had saved his life be killed.

Leo remembered the expression on her face when she had rushed toward him just moments earlier, when the leopard attacked.

She had been smiling brightly, like an angel who had accidentally fallen from the sky, completely unaware of how harsh this world was.

Her face had been flushed red from running through the forest, and her pink hair had been as bright as flowers.

She had reminded him of a fairy from a storybook.

But more than anything else, it had been the woman’s smile that had caught his attention.

Although her expression had immediately turned serious the moment she spotted him, Leo had felt relieved by that smile.

‘It was strange that I felt that way. Even though she was someone I’d never met before.’

That was why he wanted to believe she was an angel.

And then she had claimed, with her own mouth, that she really was an angel.

He hadn’t needed much time to decide whether he could believe her.

‘Ugh….’

Leo desperately racked his brain for a way to save her.

Come to think of it, everything about her had been strange from the very beginning.

Her noble appearance was one thing, but she had also used strange words.

S-Rank Hunter.

F-Rank Healer.

And then there was the strange way she kept looking at empty space.

Leo had wondered whether she really had come from another world, just as she claimed.

But then he shook his head.

‘What does it matter if I know who the Angel really is?’

‘I don’t know who she is, but she’s the person who saved me.’

One thing was certain.

She wasn’t a bad person.

Otherwise, she never would have thrown herself into such a dangerous situation to save someone else.

“Didn’t I ask who sent you? It seems you have no intention of answering willingly. In that case, I can’t exactly stand around waiting all day.”

Meanwhile, Hedius was slowly bringing the well-sharpened sword closer and closer to her neck.

When Leo saw a bright red drop of blood appear on the Angel’s pale white neck, he hurriedly shouted.

“Don’t! Please don’t kill her!”

Hedius’s fierce gaze turned toward Leo.

It was the first time Leo had seen him with such an angry expression.

He instinctively flinched, but he didn’t back down.

“The Angel saved me from the black leopard! That’s why I called her an Angel, but she actually—”

Leo squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before opening them again.

Then, as though he had made up his mind, he shouted,

“She was a crazy woman who claimed she was an angel from another world! She’s a poor, pitiful person. So please, don’t kill her!”

The bandits began murmuring among themselves.

Actually, judging only by the strange words and actions she had displayed until now, she really wasn’t much different from the “crazy woman” the old woman Etubebe from the village had once told him about.

In other words, someone whose mind had broken for some reason and who had become consumed by madness.

Unable to bring himself to look directly at her, Leo silently apologized in his heart.

‘I’m sorry, Angel… I turned you into a crazy person.’

But this was the only way he could save her in the current situation.

“She looks perfectly normal. What if she was just lying to Leo?”

“But didn’t she say herself that she came from another world? A sane person wouldn’t say something so absurd in a situation like this.”

The bandits began arguing among themselves, some agreeing and others disagreeing.

Then Leo began explaining clearly, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“She kept staring into empty space and saying strange things, so I didn’t believe her at first, either. But she threw her entire body in front of the black leopard to save me, even though she could have been killed! Look! She’s smaller and more delicate than you uncles. Do you really think she would have believed she could defeat a black leopard?”

The surroundings suddenly fell silent.

As Leo had said, throwing oneself at a black leopard without even having a weapon was nothing short of madness.

Unless someone intended to die alongside it, it wasn’t something anyone would willingly do.

“So—are you saying that woman really is a crazy person?”

“That’s how I understood it, too. Considering how stubbornly Leo is defending her, it might actually be true.”

At Leo’s words, the entire bandit group began buzzing with discussion.

Hedius watched Ibi carefully, checking whether she showed any signs of being shaken by Leo’s explanation.

But she simply stared at him with a clear, innocent expression, as though she didn’t even realize that blood was trickling down her neck.

As though she genuinely believed that no one would ever hurt her.

Seeing her like that, Hedius felt an unpleasant sensation creeping over him.

It was almost as though he were doing something he shouldn’t be doing to a helpless person.

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