207: Chapter 207 A Token of Proof! Caroline! 94 points! She personally heals her wounds!

Outside Golden Flame Castle.

Garuvi leaned against the wall, panting heavily several times, then took a deep breath, stepped out from the shadows, and stumbled toward the castle gate.

"Who goes there?!" The guards at the castle entrance immediately gripped their sword hilts in alert, shouting sternly.

Garuvi did not answer.

She merely staggered forward a few more steps, then pulled the silver badge from her bosom, held it high, and with her last remaining strength, said in a hoarse voice, "I am... an envoy of the royal Princess Alice... I have urgent business and must see Count Golden Flame..."

The guards used the light from the porch to look at the woman standing at the foot of the steps.

She was wearing a tattered gray cloak.

Her face was covered in dust and dried blood, making it impossible to see her true features, and a few strands of hair, stained gray by dirt, peeked out from the edge of her hood.

Only her eyes, in the dim light, still revealed a sharpness that could not be ignored.

Her hand holding the badge trembled slightly, and she seemed so weak that she could collapse at any moment.

The guard captain took the badge and examined it carefully by the firelight for a moment.

Although he did not know the specific origin of the badge, its exquisite craftsmanship and the royal emblem engraved on the silver surface indicated that this item was by no means ordinary.

He dared not delay and quickly said, "Please wait a moment, I will go report this immediately!"

With that, he turned and hurried into the castle.

Golden Flame Castle, study.

Rowan was sitting behind his desk, holding a briefing that Helena had just submitted.

The main content of the briefing was a summary of the latest intelligence regarding the incident at Cangyuan City in the north of Gino County.

It detailed the entire situation reported by the Will Province Governor's Office and demanded that all regions hunt down and capture the Blood Rose Knight, Garuvi.

After reading it, Rowan fell into deep thought.

Just then, the study door was knocked on lightly.

A maid walked in, bowed, and reported, "My Lord, a woman has arrived outside the castle, claiming to be an envoy of the royal Princess Alice, saying she has urgent business to see you. This is the token she presented."

The maid presented a silver badge with both hands.

Rowan was slightly surprised upon hearing this.

An envoy of Princess Alice?

After the results of the previous vote on the ownership of the Golden Flame Territory came out, he knew that his ascension was largely thanks to the crucial vote from Princess Alice.

After successfully taking his position, he had even written a flowery letter of thanks to the Imperial Capital, which, for an Incubus, was just a casual gesture.

However, why would she suddenly send an envoy, and at such a late hour in the night?

He took the badge and examined it carefully.

He did not know what the so-called royal princess's token looked like specifically.

But the craftsmanship of this badge was indeed extremely exquisite.

The silver base was engraved with the Tudor royal emblem, and the back was inscribed with a line of elegant, delicate characters: "To my dearest friend, Princess Alice."

Both the material and the craftsmanship of the badge did not seem like something a counterfeit could achieve.

Thus, he pondered for a moment, then stood up, "I will go out and see."

Outside the castle, Garuvi's consciousness had begun to fade.

She leaned against the cold stone wall of the castle exterior, the firelight in her vision began to blur into double images, and a tidal buzzing sound filled her ears.

She did not know what result awaited her.

Would Count Golden Flame take her in for the sake of Princess Alice, or would he tie her up and hand her over to the Provincial Governor's Office in exchange for a bounty?

She had no way of knowing.

But since Princess Alice had specifically praised the other party in her letter, it meant that the other party and Princess Alice should have a fairly good relationship.

Therefore, she could only wait.

In that expanding blur and buzzing, she seemed to see the castle gate open.

A tall, upright figure walked out from within, backlit, making it impossible to see his face.

She could only see a well-defined silhouette walking toward her, illuminated by the firelight of the porch.

She wanted to try hard to open her eyes and see the person's appearance clearly, but her body would no longer allow it.

Her legs went weak, and she tipped forward, losing consciousness.

In the final moment before her consciousness plunged into complete darkness, she felt as if she had fallen into a warm and strong embrace.

That embrace carried an aura that put her at ease.

Then, she knew nothing more.

Rowan caught the fainting woman.

He looked down at the face in his arms, which, despite being covered in dust and blood, could not hide its exquisite contours, and instinctively pulled up the system interface, his gaze sweeping across—then, his pupils suddenly constricted, and a huge surge of surprise welled up in his heart!

[94 Points]!!!

This was the highest-rated human female he had seen since coming to this world!

It was 1 point higher than Aria's 93 points!

It was even further above Cecilia and Helena's 91 and 90 points!

Although he had roughly guessed the other party's identity the moment he saw her, he had not expected her rating to be this high!

Higher than Aria's score could only mean one thing: her cultivation level was highly likely to have already surpassed Aria, rather than being the High-Order Grand Knight mentioned in the briefing.

He didn't know why she had come to find him, nor did he know why Princess Alice's token had ended up in her hands, but none of that mattered.

What mattered was that this was 94 points!

He was determined to protect this woman!

As for the wanted poster, let it go to hell!

He immediately raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the guards present, his voice low and stern: "Regarding tonight's events, no one is to reveal a single word to the outside world. If anyone asks, just say that nothing happened tonight. Do you understand?"

Although the guards were full of doubts, under The Count's rarely seen stern gaze, no one dared to ask more, and they all lowered their heads in agreement.

Rowan picked up the unconscious woman in his arms and turned to walk into the castle.

In a quiet bedroom in the castle, Rowan carefully laid Garuvi flat on the soft bed, then began to personally examine her injuries.

He unfastened her tattered cloak and jacket, revealing the undergarments beneath.

What should have been white undergarments were now stained a dark brown by blood, and the dried blood had caused the fabric to stick to her skin.

She had multiple wounds on her body, looking like traces of having been eroded by some kind of corrosive Battle Qi, with the edges of the wounds showing an unnatural gray-black color.

The most serious injury was below her left ribs.

A fist mark that had already begun to fester emitted an ominous aura.

Rowan frowned slightly.

He reached out, and a layer of soft, moon-white light shimmered on his palm.

This was the [Vitality] characteristic he had fused into his [Fire Bearer], containing gentle life energy that could accelerate wound healing and promote tissue regeneration.

This was his first time using it.

He gently placed his palm over Garuvi's most serious wound and slowly channeled the [Vitality] Battle Qi into her body.

The moon-white light flowed over the wound.

The edges of the fist mark began to recede at a speed visible to the naked eye, the swelling gradually subsided, and the color of the wound began to change from gray-black to a healthy red.

In her coma, Garuvi seemed to feel the nourishment of that gentle energy, her tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly, and she let out a faint, almost imperceptible sigh.

However, when Rowan tried to channel the [Vitality] Battle Qi deeper into her body to repair the damaged internal organs and meridians, he encountered an obstacle.

Deep within her body, a highly stubborn foreign Battle Qi lay dormant.

That Battle Qi had a grayish hue, entrenched at the key meridian nodes in her body, constantly eroding her Vitality.

As soon as the [Vitality] Battle Qi touched that foreign Battle Qi, it was like sinking into a quagmire, entangled by the cold, sinister power, and could not make substantial progress.

Rowan tried several times but failed to disperse or purify that foreign Battle Qi.

He frowned slightly and withdrew his hand.

With his current strength, it was not impossible to forcibly clear that foreign Battle Qi, but it would require a great deal of time and energy, and the process might cause secondary damage to Garuvi's already fragile body.

For now, he could only treat the wounds on her body surface, stabilize her vital signs, and wait until she woke up before finding a way to solve the problem of the foreign Battle Qi.

He took warm water and clean gauze from the maid, personally cleaned her wounds, reapplied medicine and bandaged them, and changed her into a set of clean pajamas.

After doing all this, he stood by the bed, looking down at Garuvi's sleeping face, which appeared exceptionally serene under the lamplight.

Her clean face, even in a coma, was still breathtakingly beautiful.

Her plain face, devoid of makeup, was as lustrous and flawless as fresh snow.

Her cherry lips were small and delicate, like a half-opened flower bud in the morning dew.

Her brows were clear and relaxed, her nose bridge straight, and her jawline smooth with a hint of stubborn curvature.

Her eyelashes were long, casting two faint shadows under her eyelids in the lamplight.

Even in her coma, her brows were still slightly furrowed, as if she were struggling against something.

Rowan looked at her and began to ponder.

The other party was currently an imperial fugitive, and this matter was indeed somewhat tricky.

If it were discovered that she was hiding in his castle, he might be dragged into a direct conflict with Duke Witton and even the imperial authorities, which was not a favorable situation for him at present.

However, since the other party held a token from Princess Alice, it meant that there was some kind of unusual relationship between her and that Princess from the Imperial Capital.

Perhaps there was still room for maneuver.

He withdrew his thoughts, stopped overthinking, turned to the maid guarding outside the door, and instructed, "If she wakes up, notify me immediately."

Then, he walked out of the quiet room.