I’ll Quit as The Empress

The moment Fabian saw Evelyn’s trembling hand, he threw away his hesitation.

“I’m going to save him.” Fabian whispered to Evelyn, and he got on his horse immediately, spurring it to the direction the carriage was heading for.

“Your Majesty!”

Serus was one step late. He attempted to discourage him from doing so, but he failed. So he quickly got on his horse, chasing Fabian. They were accompanied by the knights who were still alive. The only one left was Logan, who was ordered to protect Evelyn.

“Me, too, I ‘m going too.”

“Yes, I think it’s better than staying here.” Logan agreed. It was riskier to stay in the forest where there was nobody else besides the two of them.

“Hold on tight, because I will drive the horse fast.”

He carried Evelyn on the front of his horse and ran across the forest. Logan couldn’t see well in the dark, but he sensed that the sound of the demon’s wings was getting closer.

Evelyn struggled not to fall off the rough horse. Meanwhile, the running carriage looked like a black cloud wrapped around by a group of Devil Eyes at a distance.

Fabian gathered all his strength and followed behind it. He had to end this chase quickly since horses and humans would run out of stamina first.

“Your Majesty, there’s a cave in the east!” Serus’s voice sounded glad. Devil Eye was basically a bat-like demon. A research found that their giant eyeball was colorless and had little vision, and they sensed the direction by hearing the sound waves.

So, if the flock of Devil Eye was driven into a narrow cave, they would be trapped and turned into chaos, not knowing where to fly.

“Shoot the flame arrows, steer the carriage’s horses!”

Fabian’s order was delivered, and some arrows of fire flashed in front of him. The carriage shook violently and then turned around.

“I’m going in to the cave!”

Fabian also sped up his horse. The flame arrows were shot to the wheel at the back of the carriage, making it easier for him to follow the light. The fire wheel was swallowed up into the cave as a planned. Fabian and Serus then stopped in front of the cave’s entrance.

“What about the explosives?”

“I have one. Before that, does Your Majesty has an antidote?”

Fabian nodded. To send the Emperor into a place like this, Serus must have a minimum of safety equipment.

“If I give a signal, detonate the explosives. Then burn all the demons that fall to the ground and those who revolte…”

“I’ll kill it.”

The knights standing behind Serus nodded together. They were just four, but they were able to defeat the demons because they had a geographical advantage over the cave’s shape.

“I’m going in.” Fabian stepped into the cave. As predicted, a group of Devil Eyes smashed into the cave wall and dropped to the ground. Still, as a demon, they roared fiercely and didn’t give up easily.

“It’s a terrible thing.” Fabian cut the Devil Eye, which flew in front of him with a sword.

The smell of demon blood was really disgusting, especially when it mixed with humid air. The cave was getting narrower and more crowded with Devil Eyes. So there was only darkness in front of Fabian right now.

“Your Majesty, the carriage is in the north… it has been overthrown!”

“I’ll go.”

Fabian slashed the demon right in front of him again. Then he hurried to the direction of the carriage. He didn’t know what was driving him this far, but Fabian felt like he had to go.

“Your Majesty……Please do not come!!!” The knight’s voice suddenly rang out in the dark.

“There are so many of them!!!”

The knight’s breath was panting. Fabian finally saw a disturbing sight in front of his eyes. He sighed, then got off his horse and plunged into the fierce battlefield.

It was a demon’s immortality, which never died despite being cut many times. The endless sounds of monster death kept ringing in the cave and made his head hurt. Fabian didn’t know how many eyeballs he had to cut just to take one step forward.

“Hah, hah, hah…..”

Fabian’s breathing was getting harder without realizing it. Extreme fatigue overwhelmed him. But he couldn’t stop moving. He found the carriage’s window that had fallen sideways was right in front of him.

“Die, you filthy things!”

When Fabian wielded his sword, some of the Devil Eyes fell down again. Just then did he see that the window of the carriage was broken. Inside, a maid with an almost fainting face was desperately holding the crying Adrian.

Yet, suddenly, the swarm of demons came rushing in endlessly. As if they had been targeting the carriage from the start. And Fabian didn’t have time to get there.

“Why, they’re running around here.”

It was strange. A Demon initially attacked a big person. Besides, Devil Eye didn’t have the intelligence to plan or cooperate. They should only aim and target nearby prey. So Fabian didn’t understand why they could catch up here even though there was an obstacle called a carriage.

“Stop! Die!”

Another demon corpse had collapsed. But still, it was like a situation where three people would come out together after one of their friends was cut. And it seemed that this carriage was their only target.

“Did the Vatican send you again?”

Fabian’s chilling anger made the Devil Eyes flustered.

‘Khikkk!’ ‘Khikk!”

Their screams were like scratching Fabian’s ears. The blood splattered everywhere, and the cry of a child trapped in the carriage made the current situation almost like hell.

A Devil Eye suddenly crashed into the carriage window. At this rate, Adrian would be in danger. Fabian positioned his shield, the only armor he had, on the window and blocked the carriage with his own body.

“Tell the master who controls you.”

There was a lot of life in the dark.

“Today’s incident won’t be redeemed by just his death. If he dare try to harm my thing…. He better beg me to kill him.”

His low voice sounded like a curse.

Spratt!

The demon blood splashed into Fabian’s face. He slashed his sword recklessly as if he didn’t care about doing the massacre.

He swung his sword for someone else’s sake for the first time in his life. Fabian didn’t realize it, but this was the first time he had fought to protect something that he kept behind him.

“Serus, are the explosives ready?”

This fight wasn’t difficult because of the rage that was different from before.

“…It’s almost done!”

“Blow it up as soon as you’re ready! They’re too many!!”

Fabian was literally attempting to rip all those demons to death with his own hands, if possible. But if he did, Adrian would pass out from over crying.

For some reason, Fabian didn’t want to see that boy cry. But he hated Evelyn’s crying more than that.

“Your Majesty, we’ll blow it up! Watch your ears!”

But Fabian couldn’t hear it because Serus’ words were swallowed by the sound of the Demon Eyes flapping.

Krackkk!!!!

A huge explosion sounded through the cave and made Fabian’s ears almost deaf. Looking around, most of the Devil Eyes blew up and fell. The rest was the job of Serus and the other knights to get rid of it since there were no longer demons around the carriage.

“We just need to clean up what we see now.”

Fabian’s eyes glistened gruesomely. As he said, after swinging his sword a few times, he could see the air instead of the damned Devil Eye. He sheathed his sword and took out the shield that protected the carriage window. But, at that moment, he heard the deafening sound of something crumbling.

Gruduckkk…..

His hearing hadn’t returned, but Fabian could immediately understand what was going on as he looked back. The big explosion that happened just now had destroyed part of the cave, too.

“I must say that he was a lucky kid ….”

But it wasn’t t a very pleasant situation. Even though the place where the pile of stones collapsed was just a few steps ahead of the carriage.

“Your Majesty, are you alright?! The demons have already been cleaned up.”

“It’s okay here. I’ll take a look at the Prince, so get rid of this first.”

“Yes!”

Fabian, who communicated with Serus through a gap in the pile of stones, opened the creaking carriage door.

“Oh, she passed out.”

The old maid was bleeding on her forehead as she bumped her head when the carriage fell. Yet she deserved to be rewarded for hugging the Prince to the end. In return, Fabian personally pulled both the maid and Adrian out of the carriage.

“Huh…… Ugh….”

Adrian was about to burst out the tears he had been holding back. After Nora passed out, he was so afraid of the demon’s attack that he closed his eyes tightly while Fabian killed all Devil Eyes.

“Huaaaa Ji….moo*!”!”!”

(T/N: 짐 ( Jim) means 'I' / 'Me' used by a King/ Emperor. Fabian used to refer to himself as 짐 when he spoke. So Adrian called him '지무' ( Jimoo ) I couldn't translate it since it's like a person name )

For Adrian right now, Fabian was like a hero in a fairy tale. He was the one who came to rescue him after slaying the scary demon. Adrian’s whole body was wet with sweat and tears. With his hands wide opened, he begged Fabian to hug him while shedding tears.

“Jimoo! T- The demon,…. I’m scared, I’m scared!”

Fabian hugged the child who came to him in fear. There was no other way but to embrace his soft, thin body, which hadn’t yet dried up.

“There’s no demon anymore. I killed all of them, so don’t worry.”

Fabian didn’t know the right words to soothe a child. So this was the best he could do.

“No demon? Jimoo, did you win?”

“……….Yes.”

It was clear that he killed them, but Fabian chose not to correct Adrian’s words. He also decided not to mind his title right now.

“Evelyn? Evelyn, is she hurt?”

“She’s okay. The demons was defeated by me.”

Fabian said to comfort Adrian, who was shedding a bit of tear, pulled him closer, and made eye contact. Then Adrian’s attention turned to his cold -black eyes.

“Jimoo…… looks so cool.”

Adrian, speaking shyly, hugged Fabian in the neck.

“Hey…hey, stop.”

It was too difficult for Fabian to deal with a child. Mostly if his entire body was covered with demonic blood.

He held Adrian awkwardly. But, Adrian, who seemed oblivious to that, just leaned his cheek to Fabian.

“Jimoo, you saved me. The demon…wanted to kill Adrian… I was so scared…”

Fabian could tell from his voice that Adrian started to cry again. He felt embarrassed and patted Adrian on the back. Fabian hugged him tightly, then the child’s breathing seemed a bit more steady.

“Keep going, keep going. Kill Adrian!…..the demon said that, I was afraid of them………I want to see Evelyn.”

“We’ll see her soon.”

“Ummm….”

Perhaps because of the fear, Adrian’s body was hot.

“Jimoo, you’re a black hawk. You’re brave… You’re strong.”

Adrian had to be very shocked. There was no strength in his muttering voice.

“Protect Evelyn, too. Demon….. it’s so cold…… Adrian hurts.”

“What?” at a moment’s notice, Fabian examined Adrian’s body, touching him in some part. He quickly picked up Adrian and looked up at his face. Unlike before, Adrian’s gaze kept dropping.

“The monster bit me with his teeth, it hurts …”

Fabian had never heard of a Devil Eyes assaulting a human by biting with their teeth. But nothing was impossible since it was a demon, after all. Besides, it was hard to perfectly protect the child from the countless hordes of demons.

“Adrian, look into my eyes. Tell me, where were you bitten?”

Hugging Fabian, Adrian’s head fell even limper. On the back of his plump hands, Fabian saw vicious tooth marks and blood.

“Jimoo. If the demons comes again……..will you protect Adrian again?”

Fabian’s heart was beating nervously as he felt that Adrian’s forehead was hot as if it were burning.

“Yes, I will protect you.”

But Adrian had lost consciousness before he could hear the answer.

“Adrian?”

For the first time, since he was born, this was the first time that Fabian’s hand trembled with fear. But he must regain Adrian’s consciousness as soon as possible. He examined the demon’s bite mark, lifted him, and laid Adrian down.

Only

“Damn it.”

Why didn’t he find it earlier?

As Fabian hurriedly turned Adrian’s back, blood was flowing through countless bite marks. Counting the amount was pointless because the bleeding was quite severe. He could no longer smell human blood, as it was covered in the stench of demon blood.

“Adrian…..Adrian, open your eyes.”

His heart seemed to fall into despair. The little hand that hugged him a while ago was no longer moving.

“Adrian!!!”

The little boy tried hard to hold back his tears, said that he was cool, and thanked him. But Fabian just couldn’t protect this one.