That look was one I’d never seen before.
No, not that I hadn’t seen it before. I saw it tons of times when I was younger.
It’s just that I didn’t think I’d see it now, when he’d undergone a complete character transition. Gone was the timid, vulnerable Rudrick.
But why does he look as helpless as he did when he was younger?
‘Does he think it’s because of him?’
That was more than a decade ago.
And even then, I told him several times that it wasn’t his fault, thinking he was convinced and had gotten over it.
However, that look on his face might have come as a shock to him.
‘I didn’t see this coming either.’
I didn’t expect the trauma to last this long, but I don’t know if it should be any different, especially considering how late I realized my symptoms.
So I tried to call him more casually. But it was Rudrick who was the first to leave the room.
‘We’d better get a carriage.’
He stared at me for a moment, and then turned away with those words.
I could only stare after him as he quickly disappeared into the distance.
Later, when Lord River said, ‘I will also try to help,’ and walked away.
And when I finally got back to my quarters, I felt a twinge of annoyance.
I hadn’t thought it was anything serious, but Rudrick’s reaction just made it worse.
Later, I decided I’d have to talk to him privately, and whether he was reacting out of guilt or obligation, I’d have to tell him firmly.
Until, exactly, I was about to get in the carriage.
‘Huh?’
The next time I saw Rudrick, he’d obtained a carriage from somewhere.
Despite my best efforts to avoid him, he called me out first.
Thinking that I needed to resolve this tension quickly, I responded to his call and was left speechless by the scene in front of me.
‘What is this…?’
There was a carriage.
Something halfway between a caravan and a normal carriage, to be precise. It looked and sounded like it was about to collapse at any second.
But the innkeeper who had brought it to them was confident.
It was a carriage he had used countless times when traveling throughout the north, and it hadn’t broken down once, no matter how rugged the terrain.
Hearing the words in one ear and letting them drift out the other, I pondered for a moment. I tried to suppress my anxiety and asked in a passing tone.
‘Isn’t this a caravan?’
‘No, it’s a carriage.’
‘…?’
I felt weird, but it wasn’t like I had any other options.
I wondered if it would be better to walk, but then I heard that all the knights traveled on horseback for faster transportation.
Eventually, I had no choice but to weep and take the carriage. As soon as I boarded the carriage, I was told that it would be better to endure the inconvenience than to fall off the horse.
Hestia asked anxiously from the sidelines, ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ I replied with a determined smile.
‘It’s no big deal.’
And soon enough, I regretted my words.
‘It’s a big deal!’
For now, I was hanging on to the carriage rather than riding in it.
Not only that. The carriage rattles like it’s about to break at the slightest speed, and I wondered what happened to the carriage that was ‘unbroken by any rough terrain’ and felt like I’d been scammed.
Yeah, it’s a little wobbly and out of place, but the wheels still roll, so it’s not broken.
“Ahhhh!”
With another thud and a bouncing bottom, I howled, clutching the door frame for dear life.
‘I should have just gotten on the horse!’
So I rode with Hestia and the maid, at first in the carriage and eventually with the knight.
Even when I sent them pleading glances that they shouldn’t leave, they gave me a look that said, ‘The living must live,’ and said, ‘I’ll come back when I feel better.’
But they hadn’t returned until now.
Where are the women who were determined to ride in the carriage with me until the end, saying that riding a horse hurts their bottoms.
I shuddered at the betrayal, but even more so at my current situation.
Having chosen the carriage thinking I could not ride a horse, it was useless to change them now.
Still, I insisted that I would endure it, but the carriage was about to collapse, and the march was delayed, slowing down my hasty plans.
If I switched horses suddenly, I’d be cursed by those behind me. Above all, there was the problem of how to mount the horse.
There’s no way in hell I’m going to be able to keep my senses. I had two options: take a sleeping pill and wake up by the time we got there, or pass out and walk over…
‘Do I really want them to knock me out?’
Pain for a moment, rest forever.
While wiping the sweat off my face with the back of my hand.
Knock, knock—
There came a knock on the carriage from somewhere.
Dazed, I looked in the direction of the knocking. I thought I was hallucinating from the exertion, but then I heard another polite tap on the carriage, and I reached up and pulled the curtain off.
Yes, it was. This carriage surprisingly had windows. No glass, just plain, and they had to be covered with cloth.
“Lord River?”
My eyes widened at the sight of his face.
He must have been in the forefront, but somehow he had crouched down to see me. He smiled softly at the sound of my voice, then turned grim as he took in my haggard face.
“Are you having a hard time?”
“I wouldn’t say I’m fine…”
“You look like it. Perhaps you should take a little rest.”
Taken aback, I stared at him.
The march had already been delayed because of me… I couldn’t afford the inconvenience of stopping halfway…
“Please.”
Please just do something.
When I looked at him pleadingly, he let out a laugh that sounded like a sigh.
Then he told me to wait a moment, straightened his back again, and rushed to the front of the procession.
I gazed longingly after him, not daring to return the window cloth to its original state, and soon the procession came to a halt.
‘I’m saved…!’
Although the pause caused me to almost poke my nose forward from the jolt, it was worth it.
Most importantly, I could now rest.
Without my attendant or the lady’s escort, I was about to open the carriage door.
My eyes were swirling, and my stomach was churning, and all I wanted to do was get my feet on the ground.
But before I had a chance to do so, the door swung open. I smiled from ear to ear, expecting it to be Lord River.
“River…”
“Lord River?”
But it wasn’t Lord River who opened the door.
Surely Rudrick, the commander-in-chief of the marching army, should be at the head of the procession.
I stared at him in bewilderment.
But before I could even ask, ‘Why are you here?’ he scoured my complexion and summed my demeanor up in one word.
“You’re a mess.”
‘If it was obvious, you should have stopped.’
But he’s the commander-in-chief, he doesn’t get to look the other way.
Still, I wanted to take a break, so I tried to tell him to move out of the way.
My words, however, were never spoken.
“Okay, if you’ll excuse me, so I can get off the… Ugh!”
Rudrick was just at the door when he caught me by the waist and swiftly lifted me to the ground. I stared up at him, my heart nearly dropping in a different sense than it had in the carriage, but he was unfazed by my gaze and covered my forehead with his hand.
“Wait a minute.”
And with that, he scurried away on his long legs.
Rudrick had appeared and vanished as quickly as a storm, and I had to stare in bewilderment, but then my stomach growled again, and I looked for a place to sit down and rest.
No, not to sit down and rest, but to get some water, some water…
And then, like a beacon of light, my savior appeared.
“Dahlia?”
It was Lord River, the hero of the day, who noticed I was struggling and stopped the procession.
And what’s more, he didn’t stop there, he had something in his hand. Something to eat and… water.
‘Lord River…!’
Sir River was like my husband, bringing me what I needed without me having to ask.
Aye, that’s what I call a husband. I took the water he offered and gulped it down quickly, barely catching my breath.
“Thank you for that earlier, you saved my life by letting him rest.”
“Oh, that’s…”
Lord River stared blankly for a moment, then burst out laughing.
‘What is it?’
But before I could ask, he held out something.
“We still have a long way to travel, and I didn’t want to make it harder for you, so I brought you something you need.”
“What do I need?”
I tilted my head to look at the object in his hand. It was a long string, wrapped around something…
“A gem?”
“An enchantment stone.”
I looked up at the straightforward answer in his voice.
“An enchantment stone?”
“Yes. If you keep it with you, it will warm you up and make you feel better.”
“But aren’t magic stones useless in the north?”
“That’s okay. It contains the element of fire, not magic, so magic fields do not affect it.”
The element of fire, I thought, as something red flickered inside the transparent stone.
I took the magic stone from him and examined it curiously, then turned to look at him as he held out his hand again.
“Let me tie it to your arm.”
I held out my hand with the amulet nonchalantly. Such a natural touch, I couldn’t miss it.
Lord River smiled weakly and bowed his head. Soon, he grasped my hand with a respectful grip and unraveled the string that held the magic stone.
He stretched the long string out wide and wrapped it around my wrist a few times, finishing with a skillful ribbon.
‘Wow…’
His dexterity was amazing, but even more amazing were the golden eyelashes that fluttered downward.
The pale-colored lashes were unexpectedly thick and dense, so much so that I could almost see dew on them.
Moreover, his eyelashes fluttered motionlessly as if he were concentrating, which added to his innocent, wistful look.
At one point, his eyelashes fluttered up, revealing the blue eyes of the living soul. And as soon as our eyes locked, they curved beautifully into a crescent shape.
As I stared at it, I was mesmerized and said, “Please teach me how to tie it.”
That look was one I’d never seen before.
No, not that I hadn’t seen it before. I saw it tons of times when I was younger.
It’s just that I didn’t think I’d see it now, when he’d undergone a complete character transition. Gone was the timid, vulnerable Rudrick.
But why does he look as helpless as he did when he was younger?
‘Does he think it’s because of him?’
That was more than a decade ago.
And even then, I told him several times that it wasn’t his fault, thinking he was convinced and had gotten over it.
However, that look on his face might have come as a shock to him.
‘I didn’t see this coming either.’
I didn’t expect the trauma to last this long, but I don’t know if it should be any different, especially considering how late I realized my symptoms.
So I tried to call him more casually. But it was Rudrick who was the first to leave the room.
‘We’d better get a carriage.’
He stared at me for a moment, and then turned away with those words.
I could only stare after him as he quickly disappeared into the distance.
Later, when Lord River said, ‘I will also try to help,’ and walked away.
And when I finally got back to my quarters, I felt a twinge of annoyance.
I hadn’t thought it was anything serious, but Rudrick’s reaction just made it worse.
Later, I decided I’d have to talk to him privately, and whether he was reacting out of guilt or obligation, I’d have to tell him firmly.
Until, exactly, I was about to get in the carriage.
‘Huh?’
The next time I saw Rudrick, he’d obtained a carriage from somewhere.
Despite my best efforts to avoid him, he called me out first.
Thinking that I needed to resolve this tension quickly, I responded to his call and was left speechless by the scene in front of me.
‘What is this…?’
There was a carriage.
Something halfway between a caravan and a normal carriage, to be precise. It looked and sounded like it was about to collapse at any second.
But the innkeeper who had brought it to them was confident.
It was a carriage he had used countless times when traveling throughout the north, and it hadn’t broken down once, no matter how rugged the terrain.
Hearing the words in one ear and letting them drift out the other, I pondered for a moment. I tried to suppress my anxiety and asked in a passing tone.
‘Isn’t this a caravan?’
‘No, it’s a carriage.’
‘…?’
I felt weird, but it wasn’t like I had any other options.
I wondered if it would be better to walk, but then I heard that all the knights traveled on horseback for faster transportation.
Eventually, I had no choice but to weep and take the carriage. As soon as I boarded the carriage, I was told that it would be better to endure the inconvenience than to fall off the horse.
Hestia asked anxiously from the sidelines, ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ I replied with a determined smile.
‘It’s no big deal.’
And soon enough, I regretted my words.
‘It’s a big deal!’
For now, I was hanging on to the carriage rather than riding in it.
Not only that. The carriage rattles like it’s about to break at the slightest speed, and I wondered what happened to the carriage that was ‘unbroken by any rough terrain’ and felt like I’d been scammed.
Yeah, it’s a little wobbly and out of place, but the wheels still roll, so it’s not broken.
“Ahhhh!”
With another thud and a bouncing bottom, I howled, clutching the door frame for dear life.
‘I should have just gotten on the horse!’
So I rode with Hestia and the maid, at first in the carriage and eventually with the knight.
Even when I sent them pleading glances that they shouldn’t leave, they gave me a look that said, ‘The living must live,’ and said, ‘I’ll come back when I feel better.’
But they hadn’t returned until now.
Where are the women who were determined to ride in the carriage with me until the end, saying that riding a horse hurts their bottoms.
I shuddered at the betrayal, but even more so at my current situation.
Having chosen the carriage thinking I could not ride a horse, it was useless to change them now.
Still, I insisted that I would endure it, but the carriage was about to collapse, and the march was delayed, slowing down my hasty plans.
If I switched horses suddenly, I’d be cursed by those behind me. Above all, there was the problem of how to mount the horse.
There’s no way in hell I’m going to be able to keep my senses. I had two options: take a sleeping pill and wake up by the time we got there, or pass out and walk over…
‘Do I really want them to knock me out?’
Pain for a moment, rest forever.
While wiping the sweat off my face with the back of my hand.
Knock, knock—
There came a knock on the carriage from somewhere.
Dazed, I looked in the direction of the knocking. I thought I was hallucinating from the exertion, but then I heard another polite tap on the carriage, and I reached up and pulled the curtain off.
Yes, it was. This carriage surprisingly had windows. No glass, just plain, and they had to be covered with cloth.
“Lord River?”
My eyes widened at the sight of his face.
He must have been in the forefront, but somehow he had crouched down to see me. He smiled softly at the sound of my voice, then turned grim as he took in my haggard face.
“Are you having a hard time?”
“I wouldn’t say I’m fine…”
“You look like it. Perhaps you should take a little rest.”
Taken aback, I stared at him.
The march had already been delayed because of me… I couldn’t afford the inconvenience of stopping halfway…
“Please.”
Please just do something.
When I looked at him pleadingly, he let out a laugh that sounded like a sigh.
Then he told me to wait a moment, straightened his back again, and rushed to the front of the procession.
I gazed longingly after him, not daring to return the window cloth to its original state, and soon the procession came to a halt.
‘I’m saved…!’
Although the pause caused me to almost poke my nose forward from the jolt, it was worth it.
Most importantly, I could now rest.
Without my attendant or the lady’s escort, I was about to open the carriage door.
My eyes were swirling, and my stomach was churning, and all I wanted to do was get my feet on the ground.
But before I had a chance to do so, the door swung open. I smiled from ear to ear, expecting it to be Lord River.
“River…”
“Lord River?”
But it wasn’t Lord River who opened the door.
Surely Rudrick, the commander-in-chief of the marching army, should be at the head of the procession.
I stared at him in bewilderment.
But before I could even ask, ‘Why are you here?’ he scoured my complexion and summed my demeanor up in one word.
“You’re a mess.”
‘If it was obvious, you should have stopped.’
But he’s the commander-in-chief, he doesn’t get to look the other way.
Still, I wanted to take a break, so I tried to tell him to move out of the way.
My words, however, were never spoken.
“Okay, if you’ll excuse me, so I can get off the… Ugh!”
Rudrick was just at the door when he caught me by the waist and swiftly lifted me to the ground. I stared up at him, my heart nearly dropping in a different sense than it had in the carriage, but he was unfazed by my gaze and covered my forehead with his hand.
“Wait a minute.”
And with that, he scurried away on his long legs.
Rudrick had appeared and vanished as quickly as a storm, and I had to stare in bewilderment, but then my stomach growled again, and I looked for a place to sit down and rest.
No, not to sit down and rest, but to get some water, some water…
And then, like a beacon of light, my savior appeared.
“Dahlia?”
It was Lord River, the hero of the day, who noticed I was struggling and stopped the procession.
And what’s more, he didn’t stop there, he had something in his hand. Something to eat and… water.
‘Lord River…!’
Sir River was like my husband, bringing me what I needed without me having to ask.
Aye, that’s what I call a husband. I took the water he offered and gulped it down quickly, barely catching my breath.
“Thank you for that earlier, you saved my life by letting him rest.”
“Oh, that’s…”
Lord River stared blankly for a moment, then burst out laughing.
‘What is it?’
But before I could ask, he held out something.
“We still have a long way to travel, and I didn’t want to make it harder for you, so I brought you something you need.”
“What do I need?”
I tilted my head to look at the object in his hand. It was a long string, wrapped around something…
“A gem?”
“An enchantment stone.”
I looked up at the straightforward answer in his voice.
“An enchantment stone?”
“Yes. If you keep it with you, it will warm you up and make you feel better.”
“But aren’t magic stones useless in the north?”
“That’s okay. It contains the element of fire, not magic, so magic fields do not affect it.”
The element of fire, I thought, as something red flickered inside the transparent stone.
I took the magic stone from him and examined it curiously, then turned to look at him as he held out his hand again.
“Let me tie it to your arm.”
I held out my hand with the amulet nonchalantly. Such a natural touch, I couldn’t miss it.
Lord River smiled weakly and bowed his head. Soon, he grasped my hand with a respectful grip and unraveled the string that held the magic stone.
He stretched the long string out wide and wrapped it around my wrist a few times, finishing with a skillful ribbon.
‘Wow…’
His dexterity was amazing, but even more amazing were the golden eyelashes that fluttered downward.
The pale-colored lashes were unexpectedly thick and dense, so much so that I could almost see dew on them.
Moreover, his eyelashes fluttered motionlessly as if he were concentrating, which added to his innocent, wistful look.
At one point, his eyelashes fluttered up, revealing the blue eyes of the living soul. And as soon as our eyes locked, they curved beautifully into a crescent shape.
As I stared at it, I was mesmerized and said, “Please teach me how to tie it.”
