Grand Ducal Couple’s After Marriage Love story - Chapter 64-1

Ancient ruins appeared throughout the continent, and when someone said the words: “The entrance to the ruins has appeared,” it usually meant a phenomenon in which a passage through where one could enter the ruins had been created. And compared with other countries, this passage appeared very often in Hessenguard.

At first, the passage had remained in the same position instead of appearing in various places. It had been in the same spot, but not everyone could see it.

According to research at the Wizards’ Tower, it was said that long ago when wizards ruled the continent, it had been created between this world and another world. But in order to acquire access to the ruin, one must possess a special kind of power, but as centuries passed, such knowledge had become forgotten. People could no longer enter the ruins.

However, as centuries passed again, cases in which a space between this world and the ancient ruins opened as if an old wall was collapsing. Certainly, it was an uncommon occurrence; the passage was only a glitch as a result of the ruins repairing themselves, the passage would close shortly afterwards. If someone were to enter the passage out of mere curiosity, he would become stuck inside, never returning to his world.

Despite such risk, people pursued the ancient ruins solely for one reason: the priceless precious treasures the ruins held within. There was a rumor that the Piece of the Sea were hundreds in the ancient ruins.

Kalion, who had been inside an ancient ruin before, knew it was an exaggerated rumor. Though it didn’t mean there weren’t any treasures, however. The rumor was quite a problem because gold and silver were not treasures, but ancient devices.

I should go take care of this, thought Kalion. He had to examine the ruins with his knights after they succeeded in subduing all of the demons. Usually, the passage of the ruins remained from as short as five hours to as long as a week. Since it was opened now, there was ample time to explore it.

Kalion and Erna looked around. There were still demons left. Even so, it wasn’t a big problem for the two of them.

The demons, who had caught on to these unusual opponents, flew back up to the sky, but Erna’s magic was quicker. As the hand that had written down countless of magic formulas moved without hesitation, the light in the air quickly grew like a vine and grabbed the wings of the demons in the sky, pulling them to the ground.

Kalion couldn’t understand the language of demons, but he could at least understand that a scream meant deathly pain. He moved first before Erna summoned another magic trick. Woosh! At the same time that she heard a noise that sounded like a sword swipe, the head of a demon was seen rolling away.

She certainly is comfortable, Kalion thought. He understood why other countries were desperately trying to protect wizards. The strength of one powerful wizard matched that of ten knights. But this is also possible because of Erna…

A normal wizard could never summon such powerful magic like this. Hadn’t the wizards he met in the past struggled and wasted time by just drawing magic formulas?

I cannot understand why Haband is trying to take her away.

King Haband would have a burning feeling in his stomach. A wizard as strong as Erna would be the best, even in the tower. Her mere presence could put strong pressure on the surrounding kingdoms, but it was natural that he wanted to have her back again because he had abandoned his daughter before knowing her full potential.

Kicking the demon’s head which rolled on the ground, Kalion stared at another one heading toward Erna. At first, they had seemed to be hiding while sending one at a time, but since that hadn’t worked, somehow they all seemed to be attacking at once. Kalion intended to take care of them, so he approached her and stood guard.

His face staring at her was as stiff as a stone. Seeing her up close, he saw sweat dripping down her temples and her lips trembled under her harsh breathing.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

“Look! In front of you!”

When the shocked Kalion drew closer, Erna, dumbfounded, screamed out loud. Is he crazy? How could he take his eyes off the demon headed at us? Right before the demon’s claw could reach him, however, he quickly turned around, kicked it to the ground, and sliced its head off as it vigorously flapped its wings in shock.

Erna’s vision darkened the moment she saw the blood-stained sword and heard the flapping sound. Something warm wrapped around her. It was only then that she could see Kalion’s face with his head down in front of her eyes; Erna realized that he had covered them both with his cloak.

She heard the sound of a sticky liquid dripping beyond the cloak, which was protecting them from bloodstains. Erna’s face blushed after feeling his body temperature, like she’d felt when she was in bed with him, along with the smell of sand from the cloak surrounding them. Why did this scent give her comfort?

Kalion immediately removed the cloak and shook it off. As it was a cloak made solely for the purpose of hunting, the blood dripped to the ground, leaving it unscathed. Perhaps because Kalion had sliced it just right, he immediately stared at Erna again after glancing at the carcass on the ground.

Thanks to the remnants from the stream of light she had summoned earlier, her face shone clearly. Streaming sweat; dry lips; sunken eyes; all the way down to her skin which looked rougher than normal. Anyone could tell that her condition was not normal.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Don’t touch me!” She sharply smacked his hand away when Kalion tried to grab her. At that moment, his body faltered.

Usually, when he came up above her and clung to her, he didn’t falter no matter how hard she pushed. Kalion couldn’t have faltered like that just because he had his hand smacked away.

At that moment, Erna’s body started to stumble. Looking down at the ground in shock, there was something else, not earth, nor a demon. It was…

“…a passage of the ancient ruins?”

A passage of the ancient ruins which had sprung up to the side had grown enormous. Not only the place where they stood but also the surrounding scene was distorted at the same time, illuminating different spaces. Not even in books had they seen the passage spring up massively like this.

On top of that, the shape was not roundly perforated as it had been so far. This looked like the door had opened; like it had been waiting for its owner.

Erna felt her body sinking.

Right when she screamed out in shock at the sudden situation, Kalion grabbed onto her hand. The place where he stood, however, had also transformed in the passage, and the two began to sink into the ground together. Looking up at the distancing sky, Erna lost all senses.