Chapter 348: Maiden? You’re No Maiden!

Claire tried to lift his upper body off the ground to help him breathe.

Adrian just shook his head. He opened his mouth, closed it, took another painful breath, and opened his mouth again.

"Let me just rest here for a while," he rasped. "Do you have a pillow?"

He chuckled at his own words but immediately winced in pain due to his broken ribs.

"Of course you won’t have a pillow," he groaned.

Claire just let out a worried sigh. She shifted her sitting position and gently placed his head down onto her lap.

Adrian didn’t complain. He just stared up at the passing clouds and didn’t say anything else. He didn’t really think much of the situation at all. He was just exhausted.

He let out another long exhale as he heard heavy footsteps approaching.

Draven was stumbling over toward them. It wasn’t really a stumble, but more of a heavy limp. The warlord was clearly struggling to walk after burning through a lot much stamina since he had fought for an hour straight.

Draven slowly lowered himself down and sat right beside Adrian in the dirt.

He looked down at Adrian.

"I am two ranks higher than you as a knight and one rank higher than you as a mage," Draven said between breaths. "And you... if we fought with real weapons, you could have killed me, right?"

Adrian slightly turned his head on Claire’s lap to look at the man.

"Before I tell you that, did you go easy on me?" Adrian asked.

Draven chuckled tiredly. "Not really, I didn’t. I couldn’t go easy on you even if I wanted to. If I did, I would lose my face in front of my men. You forced my hand."

Adrian chuckled too, which led to another groan of pain.

"Well, there were a few new spells I created recently to help me in combat," Adrian admitted. "They would be highly effective against you, but I didn’t use them because I just wanted to test out my physical limits. And well, let’s just say if we used real weapons and I didn’t hold back my magic, yes. I could have killed you."

Draven just looked at him for a long moment. He let out a heavy sigh.

"You need to be humble sometimes, but I’m glad that you’re truthful here," Draven muttered. "But you know, you should also learn some manners, kid."

Draven reached out and flicked his thick finger squarely against Adrian’s forehead.

"Ow," Adrian winced.

"I forgive you just this once for threatening to kill me before the fight," Draven said. "But it’s not going to be the same for others. You can’t just casually threaten to kill people like that."

Adrian let out a sigh.

"Well, yeah, maybe you’re not wrong," Adrian admitted. "I’m sorry. I just really wanted someone to fight, and thanks to you I just realized something about my own limits."

Adrian smiled faintly and turned his head to look up at Claire.

"I think I’ve recovered enough to not die if I’m carried or picked up now," he said. "So can you just take me to my tent and put me on my bed?"

Claire nodded silently. She carefully raised his head a little higher before shifting her arms under his back and legs.

She stood up, effortlessly lifting him off the ground in a perfect princess carry.

She looked down at him as she held him against her chest. His face was already turning a noticeable shade of red.

Adrian was just as embarrassed. He hated being in a situation where he was the one getting carried around like a fragile damsel in front of thousands of his own soldiers.

He leaned his head in slightly and muttered just quietly enough so only she could hear him.

"Just take me to my tent really quick. This is kinda embarrassing."

Just hearing those words was more than enough to make Claire feel so much better about the whole situation. She couldn’t even explain why it made her so happy, but looking down at Adrian’s flustered face brought a very playful smile to her lips.

There was absolutely no way she wasn’t going to take full advantage of this.

She looked around at the massive crowd of soldiers watching them. Instead of rushing to the medical tents like a normal person, she started walking extremely slowly. She took her sweet time, parading him through the camp.

She looked down at him with a teasing glint in her eyes.

"It must be fun, right?" she whispered. "Being carried by a beautiful commander like a cute little princess."

Adrian’s face immediately turned red. It wasn’t because he was flustered by her beauty, but purely out of sheer public embarrassment.

He immediately tried to squirm out of her grasp. He tried to jump off her arms and land on his feet, but her grip was strong. She was holding him incredibly well, and his battered body just didn’t have the energy required to actually push a C-rank knight away.

He gave up and let out a defeated sigh.

"I’ll get you back for this," he warned her quietly. "Just trust me, I will."

"What are you gonna do?" Claire teased back. "Are you gonna carry me?"

"Oh, I will carry you," Adrian shot back. "But I’m gonna do much more than that. Just wait."

Those words hit Claire like a physical blow. They landed right in the exact spot where they had the most devastating effectiveness.

Her mind immediately went into the gutter. Her imagination ran completely wild with what he meant by doing ’much more than that’ while or after carrying her. Unable to handle the sudden spike of heat rushing to her face, she instantly quickened her pace.

She practically sprinted the rest of the way to his private tent and quickly dumped him onto his cot.

She stood by the side of the bed with her face burning bright red.

"It is not fair for you to say something like that to a maiden," she stammered out.

Adrian turned his bruised face to look at her from the pillows.

"What do you mean maiden?"