I am not the Villainess

Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

Tatiana run towards the direction where the arrow came from.

After the third explosion, Tatiana noticed a silhouette a few meters behind Noah. She looked at it intently when she noticed something flickered. It was then that she realized that the person was aiming an arrow at Noah.

She reacted quickly and grabbed Noah’s sword to block the arrow. Then, she saw the figure run away, entering a forest.

Tatiana immediately ran after him. That man may be the one behind the bombing, so she has to catch him. It will only be then that she’ll find out why this commotion happened when it was not mentioned in the novel.

Tatiana entered the forest and heightened her senses to feel her surroundings. As expected, there were a lot of them. Tatiana could feel at least a total of 10 people lurking around this part of the forest.

The person Tatiana was chasing earlier have called for his companions. It was because he felt like Tatiana was not someone he could mess with alone. With her mysterious appearance and the fact that she’s holding the Crown Prince’s solitary Golden Sword, she was definitely not to be looked down upon.

However, despite Tatiana’s terrorizing presence, the assassin knows they have to kill Tatiana no matter what. And they must do it before the Crown Prince catches up to them.

Tatiana walked further to the center of the forest. She walked calmly like someone who was merely strolling in the forest—except she was holding a huge sword.

The group of assassins followed her while still hiding in the shadows. Though, Tatiana could feel their presence.

After a while, Tatiana stopped walking and so did the assassins that now surrounded her.

The forest was then filled with silence. No one was making a move and even breathing will seem like a go signal.

Tatiana decided to take the first move and spoke,

“Come out,” she said simply.

It took a couple of minutes before a man came out from the shadows. It was the same man she was chasing earlier.

When only one man came out, Tatiana spoke again.

“...all of you.”

The assassins were caught off guard since they weren’t expecting that their covers were blown. But soon enough they came out from the shadows and pointed their swords towards Tatiana.

All of them were wearing a black mask that only reveals their eyes. They were also wearing an all-black outfit like Tatiana; except they were not wearing a cloak. Also, among all of them, only the man Tatiana was chasing earlier was holding a bow and arrow instead of a sword.

He must be the one assigned to kill Noah.

“Who sent you?” Tatiana asked them. However, no one answered, and instead Tatiana could feel their smirks behind their masks.

Tatiana, who was standing in the middle of ten assassins with all their swords pointed at her, suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu.

In her previous life, she had faced a similar situation. It was during the first time she almost killed a person.

Jane’s stepsister, Joanne, paid a group of men to r**e Jane. Jane was around 15 years old and has been training in martial arts for 5 years during that time. Fortunately, it was that 5 years of training that saved her.

She was so scared and angry during that time that she let it all out to one of the boys who tried to touch her. It was to the point that she got carried away and almost killed that boy. It's a good thing she was able to stop or else she would probably be sent to jail.

The group of boys who got beaten up by Jane all went to Joanne the next day to report about Jane’s assaults. They wanted to imprison Jane. However, Joanne didn’t listen to them and only paid them for their service. She also warned them especially the one that almost got killed to not speak to anyone about that incident. With the Dela Vegas backing Joanne, the boys were scared and promised to keep that incident to their graves.

Although Joanne also wanted to send Jane to prison, she was still scared of her father. The incident itself was dreadful, so if it got out to the public, the Dela Vegas would be in trouble. Consequently, if it was known that Joanne was the one who caused that incident in the first place, then her father would certainly not let her go. So, even though Joanne was disappointed with the outcome, she chose to silence everyone involved and made it seem that the incident never happened.

After that, Joanne’s bullying died down, but Tatiana was left traumatized.

Now, as Tatiana, she’s much stronger, but she still won’t kill anyone. In this world with swords and magic, killing is a normal thing. If you did wrong and broke the law, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill you.

However, no matter how much these assassins in front of her deserves to die, Tatiana promised to live up to her values and not resolve to kill as much as possible.

“I’ll ask again, who sent you?” Tatiana asked again. This time the man with the bow and arrows responded.

“If you tell us who you are first, maybe we’ll give you a hint,” he said and laughed mockingly. Tatiana heard the others snicker as well.

Tatiana smirked at him though he can’t see it due to her mask. They were confident they could beat her just because they are greater in number.

Pathetic...

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll tell you my name. It’s Julio.”

The assassins came back to being serious again when Tatiana did tell them a name. Although they didn’t know that she gave a fake name. Tatiana purposely used her father’s name in her previous life because she knows the assassins thought of her as a man.

Then after a couple of seconds, the man with the bow and arrows started laughing once again. He was laughing because he thought Tatiana was a fool to really give them a name.

The man noted this name in his mind and even thought of how their master would be glad if they offer Tatiana's body to him. Though it's not the Crown Prince's body which he requested, he thought that this mysterious man in front of them would be useful as well. Besides, this mysterious man is carrying the Crown Prince's sword, which must mean they are somehow related.

“To think you’ll really give us your name, how stupid." he ridiculed. "I did say ‘maybe' we’ll give you a hint, but what can we do...I suddenly want to change my mind.” He laughed again and some assassins also laughed with him as well.

But Tatiana only smirked at them again.

Did they really think I would give my true name? What a bunch of fools...

Thinking that she’s just wasting some time with these stupid assassins, Tatiana took the chance of them being distracted and strike the closest one to her right.

"You see..." Tatiana said as she kicked the first assassin she attacked. She then turned, so she'll be behind him, and choked him with her arm. "What I really hate the most is when someone deceives me despite my honesty." She continued and stared at the man with a bow and arrow. Her hood was lifted a bit so her sharp and dark purple eyes were visible to the assassins, making them shiver in fear.

Her sudden attack caught the assassins off guard, but when they got hold of themselves, they started attacking as well.

Tatiana used the flat side of her sword to strike the assassins that approached her right side which left them unconscious. She doesn’t want to spill any blood, so all she did was punch, kick, and beat them with the flat side or the end of the handle of her sword.

Tatiana was dealing with two assassins when she noticed that the man, she was talking to earlier raised his bow at her. She could block it with her sword but since the others were attacking her as well, she couldn’t swing her sword without slicing anyone.

She saw the arrow was released, so she kicked the one to her left and immediately turned and grabbed the closest assassin to use him as a shield.

The assassin cried out from the pain of being hit by an arrow. He started bleeding and because Tatiana was holding him, the blood got to her cloak.

Tsk.

Tatiana pushed him aside and continued to deal with the others. She then rushed forward towards the man with the bow before he could shoot again and hit him with the flat side of the sword. He immediately fell to the ground and fainted.

Now, everyone was either unconscious or unable to move due to pain.

Tatiana looked at the man who got hit by an arrow. It wasn’t her intention to cause someone to bleed, but she has to do it to save herself.

She sighed.

Tatiana was about to approach the wonder man when she heard some footsteps approaching, probably the knights.

I have to leave before they see me and interrogate me here.

She was about to leave when she realized she's still holding the Crown Prince's sword.

Tatiana couldn't possibly bring the sword with her so she pierced it to the ground before she fled from the scene. She wasn’t able to get some answers, but at least the knights will capture those assassins alive and interrogate them. She’ll probably just ask Aaron afterward.

Meanwhile, Noah was behind a tree not far from where Tatiana fought with the assassins. He was able to see everything from start to end, and the reason why Tatiana wasn’t able to notice him was that he hid his presence well—something only the adept knights can do.

Noah was about to help out Tatiana when the assassins started to surround her, but before he could do so, Tatiana started attacking and he was left stunned at what he just witnessed.

It was similar to that night when he first saw Tatiana fight with the three bulky men to save a poor child. However, this time, she dealt with 10 professional assassins, who has swords and arrows. He knew those assassins are not the ordinary ones considering how they were sent to kill the Crown Prince, and yet Tatiana was still able to beat them alone.

The last time, Noah was simply amazed, but this time, he was completely speechless. Not to mention, it was Tatiana, the noblest lady of the empire.

How did she become this skilled? 2 years ago, she was just the weak and annoying lady, but now she's so strong that she could even beat me.

Even Noah, who is the owner of the Golden Sword and known to be the strongest knight of the empire, could say that Tatiana could beat him. Her moves were simply unique and out of this world.

Now, Noah could only think one thing: Tatiana is a genius.

Noah walked out from his hiding place and approached his sword that was pierced on the ground, where the lifeless assassins laid.

He looked around and noticed that only one was bleeding from an arrow. He scoffed in disbelief.

She was that skilled that she can control her strength and attacks just so she wouldn’t kill or wound them.

Such a clever and interesting woman...Tatiana, just who are you, really?

Noah grabbed the sword from the ground and placed it back to his waist. It was still a mystery to him how Tatiana could hold and use his sword, but he pushed it aside as knights approached him.

“Your Highness! Are you okay?” Aaron, who led the knights, asked with worry.

Noah only nodded and looked around. Aaron also then noticed the scene.

“What happened?” Aaron mumbled as he took the scene in.

“Arrest them and lock them up in the interrogation tower,” Noah ordered the other knights before turning back to Aaron. “They are assassins and are probably the ones behind the bombing. One of them tried to hit me with an arrow earlier, so the bombing must be a distraction. Their real target was me.”

Noah clenched his jaw as he thought of how many innocent lives were gone just for them to kill him.

Whoever's behind this, I will definitely kill them with my own hands.

“What?! They tried to kill you?! Who would do such a thing?!” Aaron exclaimed.

“I don’t know yet, but I have some suspicions. We’ll talk about this tomorrow. For now, make sure the people are taken care of.” Noah said.

He was about to leave when Aaron called him again.

“Ah your highness, my sister...did you see her? Charles said you went to look for her...” Aaron asked quietly.

He was extremely worried when he heard that Tatiana was on the scene during the bombing and that Sir Charles lost sight of her. He immediately sent troops to look for Tatiana, and he even went to the evacuation area himself to look for her.

However, after an hour of searching, they couldn't find her. The only place they didn't search was the forest, so they thought Tatiana went into the forest, and that is how they came but saw Noah instead.

“Yes. She already went back home. I got her a carriage since staying here was dangerous.” He lied.

Aaron and Sir Charles sighed in relief at that.

"Thank you, your highness. I owe you my life." Aaron said and bowed deeply. Sir Charles also did the same.

Noah nodded and continued to leave while the knights took care of the assassins.

Sir Charles was leading the knights but stopped when a thought suddenly came to him.

How did His Highness recognize Lady Tatiana when she’s wearing a disguise?

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