HKRH | CH 09

Chapter 09

Natalie frowned and ran to the balcony to see what was happening outside.

“What are those things?”

She leaned out over the railing and blinked in disbelief.

There were monsters—huge bat-like creatures with wings nearly two meters wide and bodies with no feathers—flapping their wings and spitting fire onto the roof.

Down below, knights and servants were struggling desperately to fight them off, running in panic.

‘That’s strange. These monsters weren’t supposed to appear.’

In her dreams—and in the “base version” of the story she remembered—the monsters that attacked were fire-type spiders and snakes, mid-level and high-level creatures.

But the ones she was seeing now were top-level fire-type monsters, rare ones that hadn’t even been discovered yet in her original timeline.

‘Those bats weren’t discovered until next year,’ she thought, frowning.

‘The story must be the “complete version.” Maybe the difficulty’s been raised.’

Even though things had gone mostly as she remembered so far, she knew there could be differences between versions.

A horrifying shriek echoed through the air.

The roof—painted a lovely blue-gray—began to glow red-hot as it burned.

“Protect the mansion!”

“Everyone, evacuate!”

The knights and servants finally came to their senses, shouting and running everywhere.

Then, the massive black gate opened—and two white horses galloped in.

“The Duke is here!”

“The Lord has arrived!”

Everyone cried out with relief.

The Duke of Aylesden and his son, the Young Lord Anatole, charged forward, drawing their swords. Their blades gleamed as holy aura flared around them.

Woom!

A blinding white light gathered along the edges of their swords and shot toward the monsters like a crescent moon.

Slash!

Screech!

The aura struck one of the bat monsters, making it stagger—but not killing it.

Instead, the creatures grew even more enraged and spewed fire everywhere.

Light and fire were both heat-based elements, meaning they didn’t deal much damage to each other. Unless one side’s power completely overpowered the other, neither could easily destroy the other.

That’s why lower- and mid-level monsters were easy for the Duke and his son to handle—but the stronger ones, especially in large numbers, were a nightmare.

In her dream, her family had been killed by high-level monsters like these.

And now, facing top-level ones, the danger was even greater.

Physical force was the only real solution—but the bats were perched high on the roof, out of reach.

Still, the Duke and Anatole kept attacking, sending out blast after blast of light.

Meanwhile, Natalie, the only one who knew the real solution, watched calmly from above.

‘It’s useless,’ she thought.

Sure enough, the longer they fought, the more the bat monsters raged.

The roof began to burn completely.

“The Duke’s aura isn’t working!”

“My Lord! The young ladies are still inside!”

At that shout, the Duke and Anatole froze mid-attack—then both looked up.

And Natalie met their eyes.

Suddenly, one of the bat monsters screeched and clung to the wall.

It flipped upside down and started crawling rapidly downward—straight toward Natalie’s balcony.

It was sheer bad luck that her room was in its path.

The monster landed on her balcony, roaring as it spotted its prey.

“Grrraaagh!”

Natalie’s whole body stiffened.

She’d never faced a monster in person before. Her hair stood on end.

‘This wasn’t supposed to happen,’ she thought, trembling.

‘Especially not getting eaten by a top-tier monster!’

She coughed at the disgusting smell of its spit flying everywhere, but quickly forced herself to move.

She turned to run into her burning room—

—but the monster laughed, a screeching sound, and lashed out with a clawed hand.

Whoosh!

“Ah!”

It caught her dress. Natalie cursed, dragged toward it—then snatched a decorative curtain pin.

Stab!

She drove the sharp end into the monster’s hand.

‘Got it—!’

But the pin bounced off uselessly against its tough skin.

The monster howled and squeezed her waist tight.

“Ugh!”

Her breath was crushed out of her—

Thud!

Screech!

‘Huh?’

Suddenly, the horrible pressure vanished.

She gasped and opened her eyes—just in time to see a thick stream of water wrap around the monster and drag it off the balcony.

‘Water!’

Natalie ran forward with relief, looking out.

Whoosh!

Splash!

Screeech!

Dozens of water pillars had erupted all over the grounds.

“How… how is that possible?”

“That’s the power of the Water God—the one most blessed by the sea itself!”

Knights gasped and stared in awe.

The black spider monsters were torn apart by the rising water jets.

The bat monsters that had been burning the roof were caught in swirling water tornadoes and slammed into the ground.

Crash! Screech!

Pinned down, they tried to resist, but the water only grew heavier, crushing them completely.

The once-hopeless battlefield was now flooded with victory.

The knights cheered and rushed forward to finish off the weakened monsters.

Natalie smiled.

In the center of it all sat a man on a black horse—Roger Crawford.

He met her gaze calmly, water spraying around him.

‘He looks like a satisfied predator,’ she thought.

A proud, catlike predator.

He seemed pleased—after all, he had unleashed his overflowing water power to its fullest.

“I should take him to a nest of fire monsters next time…” she muttered half-jokingly.

Then—

Rumble!

She looked up.

The ceiling of her room was glowing red-hot, almost white, with bits of ash falling.

‘It’s collapsing!’

She grabbed the railing just as shouts broke out below.

“The roof—it’s falling!”

“My Lord! The young ladies are still inside!”

Right then, a terrified scream came from the west wing—the opposite side of the mansion.

“Father! Brother!”

It was Sharon, clinging to her own balcony.

Unlike Natalie’s calm face, Sharon’s was pale and wet with tears.

Both sisters’ rooms were on the verge of collapsing.

The Duke and Anatole exchanged a look. No words—just understanding.

In the next instant, both of them shot forward like arrows—the Duke toward Natalie, Anatole toward Sharon.

Rumble!

The ceiling above Natalie began to cave in.

Neigh!

The Duke’s white horse galloped closer—and beside it, just as fast, came Roger Crawford’s black horse.

Natalie narrowed her eyes as Roger looked up at her, calm and professional, and nodded.

“Natalie!”

Her father’s strict voice called out.

‘Even now, he’s still strict,’ she thought wryly.

Without hesitation, she climbed over the railing.

At that exact moment, both horses stopped side by side below her balcony.

She didn’t hesitate—she jumped.

“Ahhh!”

Behind her, the entire room collapsed.

The crowd below screamed as Natalie fell.

Her white nightgown and golden hair streamed behind her as she plummeted.

Splash!

But before she hit the ground, a spiraling column of water rose and caught her gently.

It wrapped around her softly—completely unharmed, she landed safely atop the black horse.

Cough, cough.

She coughed from the water spray.

Roger held her easily, his expression unreadable.

“Impressive courage,” he said flatly.

“Only a little,” she joked, smiling. “I imagined jumping off the balcony a few times before.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Did you?”

“It seemed like it’d be refreshing. And it was—kind of thrilling, actually.”

She tucked her damp blonde hair behind her ear and grinned brightly.