Forced to Sell Myself to the Female Lead After Killing the Male Lead

Huh? What's...?

Huh?

M-My head?

It hurts so much?! Hiss...

Hm? Wait... this smell? This is... damn it, that's horse manure!

"Damn it!"

Letting out a furious roar in his mind, Royal Knight Captain Abik instantly snapped awake from unconsciousness.

The moment he opened his eyes and saw the brown substance that nearly drove him insane, Abik hurriedly sat upright and frantically wiped the disgusting pile of filth off his face.

Gagging as he vomited, he clutched the huge lump on his head.

Damn it!

Who the hell were those people?!

They actually dared to attack a convoy under the protection of the Royal Knights?!

...Wait!

The prisoners?!

Realizing the true problem, Abik stopped cursing. A look of panic and fury spread across his face as he rushed toward the prison wagon and thrust his head inside.

However...

There were no prisoners left.

The wagon was completely empty.

"H-How is this possible?! Where are they?!"

Staggering backward in disbelief, Abik's face turned deathly pale.

As one of His Majesty's elite soldiers, he should have completed his mission flawlessly and escorted these criminals back to the Imperial Capital, Skyvault.

Instead...

They had been taken.

Someone had actually snatched the prisoners away from the Royal Knights!

"Damn it all!"

Veins bulged across Abik's forehead as he let out an enraged roar before turning toward the unconscious Royal Knights scattered around the camp.

"Stop sleeping and get up! The prisoners have been taken! What the hell are you sleeping for?! Move! Find them!"

His furious shout, mixed with a surge of powerful battle aura, swept over the fallen knights, gradually waking them.

"W-What's going on...?"

"You've got the nerve to ask?! Grab your weapons and start searching! The prisoners escaped! And you, Little Te! Contact the other squads immediately! Tell them to send reinforcements!"

Looking at his recently awakened subordinates, Abik urgently barked out orders.

If they could still capture the prisoners...

Perhaps he could make up for this disgrace.

He absolutely could not disappoint His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince.

However...

Just as Abik was about to reorganize his forces and salvage the situation, an overwhelmingly terrifying presence suddenly entered his perception.

His expression changed instantly.

An indescribable fear surged into his heart.

"T-This aura?!"

It wasn't only Abik.

The Royal Knights who had just regained consciousness also felt an immense pressure descend upon them. Their breathing nearly stopped.

The oppressive feeling emanating from this aura surpassed even that of their commander.

More importantly...

It carried an icy hostility that froze them to the bone.

The next moment—

Under Abik's horrified gaze—

A graceful figure wrapped in pure white energy descended from the sky and landed directly in the middle of the camp.

Before Abik and the others could even make out the person's appearance, the white light flashed.

The figure shot across the battlefield at a speed completely invisible to the naked eye.

Although the Royal Knights immediately raised their swords and assumed defensive stances...

The opponent was simply too fast.

Their weapons might as well have been decorations.

The white figure effortlessly swept through the formation before mercilessly smashing each knight over the head.

Smack~ Smack~...

As the white radiance faded...

Every knight who had been struck looked dazed.

After staggering unsteadily for a few moments...

They all collapsed unconscious once again.

'T-This is bad! I... I have to retreat!'

Cold sweat poured down Abik's back.

Although every instinct urged him to defend the honor of the Royal Knights and defeat the attacker...

He at least possessed enough self-awareness to recognize reality.

The mysterious individual who had attacked them...

Was absolutely not someone a mid-Sixth-Tier swordsman like himself could fight.

Even if a hundred of him charged together...

They would only be throwing away their lives.

That aura...

It was Holy Aura.

An Eighth-Tier wielder of Light-attribute Holy Aura.

'Damn it... Why is one of the Heavenly Apostles of the Asumos Church here?! Didn't they sign an agreement with His Majesty?!'

Roaring inwardly, Abik immediately turned to flee.

However...

The instant he turned around...

He discovered that an incomparably familiar and beautiful silver-haired girl had somehow appeared directly behind him.

She was silently staring at him with icy eyes.

?!

"Y-You?! Miss Mengxi?! Why are you...?!"

Before he could finish speaking, Mengxi let out a cold snort.

Then...

She suddenly produced a spiked club from somewhere behind her back.

Without saying a single word—

She swung it straight into Abik's head.

"Boom~"

Accompanied by an earth-shaking impact, Abik's eyes rolled back into his head.

Foam poured from his mouth.

He lost consciousness once again.

"H-How could this..."

Letting out one last unwilling cry, Abik collapsed face-first...

Directly into the very same pile of horse manure.

With Abik's collapse, every Royal Knight in the camp, after remaining awake for barely three minutes...

Returned to unconsciousness once again.

...

Looking at the Royal Knights sprawled across the ground, a trace of disgust gradually surfaced in Mengxi's pale violet eyes.

The reason she despised these people wasn't simply because they had captured Sister Yumo.

Another reason was the way they conducted themselves.

Though they called themselves Royal Knights, they did not truly abide by the Empire's code of chivalry.

Everything revolved around carrying out Xue Tianao-Valedin's orders.

Although Xue Tianao-Valedin was now Emperor, and the Royal Knights were naturally obligated to obey him...

These people no longer resembled honorable knights.

Instead...

They looked like brainwashed religious fanatics.

Compared to the fanatics of the Heavenly Punishment Holy Church...

They weren't much different.

Enmm...

Strictly speaking...

Quite a few people around Xue Tianao-Valedin—especially his trusted followers—were exactly like this.

'How boring...'

Mengxi let out a quiet snort.

At that moment, a streak of white light suddenly shot toward her.

As the white radiance dispersed, the Heavenly Apostle White Yama appeared before Mengxi, her beautiful white hair flowing gently while she casually carried a crowbar.

"So? Did you hit his unconsciousness acupoint?"

Looking at the miserable Abik lying on the ground, White Yama asked calmly.

Mengxi nodded slightly.

"Mm."

"Oh, good. According to that recent study from Dogshit Academy, striking that spot can effectively erase the last two or three minutes of memories before someone loses consciousness. That way, they won't know it was us. Oh, right, Mengxi—you can throw away that spiked club you stole from the goblins. Don't you think it's filthy?"

"...It doesn't matter."

After replying softly, Mengxi released the club.

It fell freely...

And landed directly on the back of Abik's head once again.

Clang.

The sound made White Yama flinch.

Looking helplessly at the silver-haired girl before her, she sighed inwardly.

Looks like Mengxi really is incredibly protective of that child.

This guy had simply spoken disrespectfully before...

Yet Mengxi still made sure to give him another beating.

Honestly...

What am I even thinking?

If she wasn't so protective of that child, she never would have dragged me all the way here to rescue her...

Sigh.

I'm one of the Heavenly Apostles...

And here I am hijacking prisoners.

Ridiculous.

"By the way... that girl..."

"...She's gone."

Looking into the completely empty prison wagon, Mengxi's mood instantly plummeted as though someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her.

She had already guessed that Sister Yumo would most likely continue disguising herself as Xia'er and head toward the Imperial Capital.

So she had simply decided to rescue Sister Yumo herself.

After all...

To maintain her disguise, Sister Yumo probably wouldn't resist.

Yet...

'Where is she?'

Seeing no trace of the pink-haired girl, Mengxi slowly clenched her fists.

Judging from the chaotic state of the scene...

And the confused condition of these Royal Knights...

There had clearly been another battle here before they arrived.

Did Sister Yumo escape by herself?

But...

There wasn't any Shadow of Silence Power at the scene.

Mengxi frowned.

After absorbing Sister Yumo's Shadow of Silence Power day after day, Mengxi had become extremely sensitive to it.

If Sister Yumo had fought...

She would undoubtedly have sensed the release of that power.

Instead...

There was only the faint trace remaining inside the prison wagon.

Which meant...

'Sister Yumo didn't escape on her own...'

But these Royal Knights had obviously been defeated with ease.

If Sister Yumo hadn't made a move...

Then who had?

The people of Wind Facing City?

No.

With their strength, they couldn't possibly overcome Xue Tianao-Valedin's Royal Knights.

At the same time, the conversation she had overheard while pretending to be unconscious—

The one between Sister Yumo and that monstrously strong little girl—

Resurfaced in Mengxi's mind.

Her expression immediately darkened.

'Was it... the Black Rose Family?'

If it was them...

Then perhaps they really did °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° possess that kind of strength.

Just then, after inspecting the surrounding area, White Yama walked over thoughtfully.

"Strange..."

"Hm? What's wrong?"

White Yama rarely sounded this surprised, immediately drawing Mengxi's attention.

White Yama thoughtfully pointed toward the direction where the other Royal Knight squads should have been.

"If you look carefully, this escort unit drifted off its original route. Not just a little, either—they wandered far enough to become completely separated from the other squads. That's probably why nobody discovered they had been attacked for so long. Heh... these knights sure have a lot of confidence."

"They drifted off the route? You mean they got lost?"

"Highly unlikely. Elite troops don't make rookie mistakes like that... Besides..."

White Yama glanced toward the surrounding forest.

"There are traces of magic here. I'd say someone deliberately made them leave their original route."

Mengxi froze.

"Magic that can make the Royal Knights lose their way? Sister White... do you know what kind of magic it was?"

Looking at the dense forest surrounding them, White Yama rested a hand beneath her chin and thought for a moment.

"If I remember correctly... the only thing capable of something like this should be the Elves' exclusive Saint-Domain spell..."

"Wandering Forest."

"The Elves?"

Mengxi's face filled with confusion.

Hadn't the Elves always remained neutral?

So...

Why would they suddenly help...

Rescue Sister Yumo?