Chapter 3

In that instant, I could feel the chill in my bones. Oh, how cold the bitter frost traveling through my veins was. The person I loved most had pushed me into the bandit's hands for the sake of my closest friend.

I felt the edge of the blade against my neck, but I was not afraid at all. It was said that there was no greater sorrow than a dead heart. This was probably what that meant.

When the bandit saw that he had me in his hands, the panic in his eyes turned vicious. He grinned and pressed the blade tighter against my neck. His foul breath brushed my ear as he spoke in a voice only I could hear. "The legitimate daughter of the General of Ironwall? If you want to blame someone, blame it on the person who paid a high price for your life!"

My heart skipped a beat as I sensed the killing intent surging inside of him. The bandit raised his sword, but at the last second, I used all my strength and bit hard into the wrist that held me.

The bandit screamed in pain, and his grip loosened.

At that exact moment, a feathered arrow shrieked through the air.

Matthew had not come to save me. Instead, his arrow came flying at me!

The sharp arrow pierced through my left shoulder blade, then buried itself deep in the bandit's chest behind me while my blood flowed.

The pain in my shoulder made my vision go black. I had gone through martial training with my father since childhood, and that shoulder had been badly injured before. Matthew knew that, yet he still aimed for it.

I might never draw a bow or wield a sword again.

I stared at Matthew in disbelief. He stood not far away, still holding the bow he had used to shoot me. For Sabella, he could push me out as a hostage. Now, he had used my body as a shield, shooting through me before injuring the enemy!

The bandit clearly had not expected him to be so ruthless either. Clutching his chest, he slipped into the hidden passage behind the abandoned temple and vanished when he saw that things were going badly.

Matthew instinctively ran toward me, as if he wanted to catch me before I collapsed.

"Matthew, I'm so scared. I'm bleeding so much..." Sabella's pitiful sobs made him stop in his tracks. He hesitated for only a moment before turning around and lifting Sabella into his arms.

As for me, blood poured from my shoulder blade as I collapsed onto the ground and lost consciousness.

-

In the darkness, memories surged like a tide.

I remembered how Matthew had faced the two trials my father had set for him so that he could marry me.

The first attempt was to gather one hundred thousand silver coins within seven days. I was the one who had secretly taken out the deeds my mother had left me as security and helped him gather that huge sum.

The second attempt was to go to the snowy peak in the far north and bring back the legendary frost rose. He had nearly frozen to death on the mountain and barely escaped with his life. In the end, he had brought back only a few frost rose seeds.

Although neither trial had been completed perfectly, he petitioned outside the estate for three days and nights in the snowstorm. I petitioned alongside him inside the gates for three days and nights too.

Only then did my father soften and agree to our marriage.

I had always thought marrying a good man was the greatest blessing of my life. Only now did I realize that I had spent all these years looking at nothing but lies.