Ch. 25: Paired Together (2)

"No... Honestly, I'm engaged." He told her. She cracked an eye open,

"So am I." She told him.

Honestly, Adrian wasn't surprised by that. Rosy was technically the crown princess of Noctus, the same position as his was. She didn't act like it around him, but it actually wasn't especially surprising that she'd had an arranged marriage, even though she was more of a warrior than a noble lady.

Apparently deciding that more information is necessary, Rosy pushed herself up by her elbows to watch him as he took off his boots, explaining things further.

"It's an arranged marriage with that guy that we were talking about back in the meeting."

"Who?" They'd talked about a lot of people at that meeting, after all.

"That Royal, from the Crescent clan, though I was never actually planning on marrying him. He's three years younger than us, and my father's perfect lackey." She explained, "What about you?"

"Her name's Amanda. She's the second princess of the country that we were actually abducted in." He explained.

"It's an arranged marriage?" She guessed.

"Actually, Amanda and I had agreed to break off our engagement as soon as she became Queen of Salila. The entire reason that I was going to Salila was to make it official, behind my father's back." He admitted. Amanda was a good friend, but he'd never had any romantic interest in the girl, and his lack of romantic feelings were perfectly reciprocated.

"So... Both of our engagements aren't going anywhere, then. I don't see the problem in a fake relationship meant for public relations." She rationalized. 

"Unlike you, I actually care about Amanda. If it was after I'd gone to Salila and actually officially annulled our engagement, then I'd have no problem with that... but..."

"You do realize that these are two entirely different dimensions, right? Plus, our relationship isn't exactly real. Not only will nobody ever know, but you won't even be cheating on her. Technically, I'll be the only one cheating." And from the way that she spoke about it, she was perfectly fine with cheating on that Crescent Royal.

"It still feels wrong." Adrian told her, sitting on his bed.

"It's either that or just give up. We'll never find that stone of yours without the Resistance, and they'll never take my side on anything unless you're 'keeping me in line.' We're stuck together, if you want to save your home." She told him.

"You're right."

...

  Adrian dreamed about that weird garden again, with the strange gate that just wouldn't open, no matter how much it drew him in. For some reason, though, the dream ended quickly. When he woke up, he immediately realized why. 

There was magic in the air.

The entire tent was full of fog. Even Adrian could feel the mental inhibition magic laced into the fog. The only reason that he'd been capable of staying awake enough to notice the magic at all was because of his Whiteblood sword's magic nullification properties.

Rosy'd wanted him to place the sword underneath his bed like she'd done, so that nobody could steal it while he slept, but he'd known that he'd never be able to sleep or move in the morning if there was a sword under his bed, so he'd just left it strapped to his waist. It was still uncomfortable, but not painful.

Adrian tried to stand up, but he couldn't move. His sword was nullifying some of the magic, but he still wasn't able to consciously move his body. He could only watch as a man crept into their tent and got on top of Rosy, putting a dagger to her vulnerable, sleeping neck.

Then, it happened.

The unknown assailant chuckled with clear excitement in his voice. There was no reason for him to be on top of Rosy like that, if his only plan was to kill her, Adrian realized. The man was going to rape Rosy. The mere thought infuriated Adrian, but he couldn't move.

"Heh..." The man's breathing became rougher. He licked his lips. Then he died.

It happened in an instant. The moment before the dagger touched Rosy's neck, Rosy pulled it right out of her assailant's hand and stuck it in his neck in one smooth motion. It was so unexpected that there was nothing that he could do. He couldn't even scream, since there was a dagger blocking his airway.

After that, she rolled over in bed, forcing the man's elbow to bend, pushing his weight to the side of the bed furthest away from Adrian's bed. Slowly, the potential rapist's body fell off her bed with a thud, not even disturbing Rosy's sleep.

"Rosy?" Adrian called out to her. A long while after the assailant's death, the magic finally dispersed enough that Adrian could touch the handle of his sword, activating the full potential of his magic-proof sword, allowing him his motion back. Rosy didn't answer him, so he got up and shook her.

"Rosy?" He called again. This time, she roused, confirming his suspicions that she'd been unable to wake up due to the magic.

"nnrgh... It's not morning, Adrian." She muttered sleepily.

"You were attacked. They used some sort of magic sleep mist and tried to put a dagger to your throat." He told her. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. Looking around, she noticed the body on the floor. He skipped over the fact that the attacker was clearly planning on raping her. For some reason, he didn't think letting her know that would be a good idea.

"Huh." she said, blinking. She didn't react beyond that. At all. In fact, she laid back down, closing her eyes like she was going back to sleep.

"Wait, are you serious?! You're actually going back to sleep?!" Adrian asked, incredulously. He couldn't believe that she was so calm. Sure, she was probably used to killing, but this was an assassination attempt in the middle of the night, and she wasn't even going to deal with the body?!

"It's not like sleep mist is an original strategy. The body won't start stinking until the blood starts rotting, so we can just burn it in the morning or something." She said, clearly already past caring, "You'll have to get used to this sort of thing. We're in a camp full of people who want me dead, after all." She reminded him.

"Still... You're really calm. It's kind of freaking me out." There was a dead attempted rapist by her bed,, and she was going back to sleep. He was totally within his rights to be a little freaked out. 

"I've been through this so many times that my body was able to deal with it in its sleep, you know. Just go back to sleep. It's pretty rare for two attacks to happen in one night, though. They'll need a day to revise their plans. They'll probably use a projectile tomorrow."