ATHG 01

 Chapter 1

**【Prologue】**

The drizzling rain soaked the ground. Every time the carriage wheels passed over the muddy road, a squelching sound echoed. It was rain that fell throughout the journey, as if determined to take all the vitality from the land.

“Akarna, is there anywhere you are uncomfortable?”

At the coachman’s words, the black-haired woman inside the carriage raised her head. Even after hearing the question, she blankly watched the raindrops hitting the window, nodding her head a few beats late.

Even after confirming her answer, the coachman seemed concerned, lifting the curtain several times to check on her condition.

“We will arrive soon, so please endure just a little longer.”

He then left her alone. The woman listened to the men’s conversation, heard intermittently amidst the sounds of horse hooves, wheels, and splashing mud.

“Lady Akarna doesn’t look well. Is she alright?”

“Isn’t this her first time going out to the frontier this far? She’s probably anxious.”

“More than that…”

The voices lowered slightly.

“They say His Highness the Crown Prince is going to get engaged, leaving Akarna aside. She must be troubled.”

Strength entered the hands she had placed neatly on her knees. Engagement. A word she hadn’t wanted to hear for a while.

The man she had loved for five years, defying the opposition of the temple and the imperial family, was apparently getting engaged to another woman. And he wasn’t just any man, but the Crown Prince of the Empire. It was only right that he shouldn’t have an ordinary marriage. It was natural for him to be matched with a daughter from a good noble family.

His partner was the first daughter of the most honorable Marquis of the Frontier. A family with a long history that had held the hand of the imperial family for centuries, protecting the empire from the magical beasts threatening the border. Due to their strategic location, the Marquisate had few heirs, so there had been no opportunity before, but it seemed a connection had been made this time.

The master of the empire and the family that protects it. The young, highly decorated Crown Prince and an unspoiled, lovely young lady, loved and raised like a princess in a prestigious family. It was the perfect setup for everyone to create a romantic story.

But the woman in this carriage was different. Although Akarna was a person revered in the temple, that didn’t mean the temple was her sole financial and social backer. The temple treated her according to her duties, but that was only when the woman faithfully fulfilled her ‘duty as Akarna’.

And that duty was far from noble. Things like leaving for the frontier with only this small escort and a coachman.

*Purify the land being eroded by mana and save the suffering people.*

This was a duty the temple naturally owed to humanity, and it was also the duty of Akarna, who was said to carry out the god’s will.

But the woman had never once wanted this work. It was only because she fell in love with the Crown Prince that she willingly accepted that suffering, for the sake of the empire he would rule. And she had no doubt that her love would bear fruit.

Because they had loved each other so ardently for five whole years.

But that expectation was cruelly shattered as soon as the Crown Prince announced he would get engaged to someone else.

She had seen that Marquis’s daughter from a distance. A lovely young lady, laughing brightly, receiving the Crown Prince’s escort, smiling radiantly like a flower in full bloom.

An honorable and proud family. An unblemished personality. Wide territories and a high status. Wealth that surely never lacked for anything. Even looks that made everyone lose their minds and stare. All of it was different from her own gloomy, timid self.

“Haa…”

*Clunk. Clunk-clunk!*

The carriage continued to run. The rain grew heavier, slowing their progress more than scheduled. Unable to camp out, the carriage traveled through the mountains all night. The deeper they went into the mountain path, the rougher it became.

She wondered if it was her fault for saying in a fit of anger that she would go somewhere farther than usual. But even that faint self-reproach was quickly scattered by the carriage shaking too violently.

No. It wasn’t the carriage—the ground itself was shaking.

*‘What’s happening?’*

Just as the woman inside the carriage tensed up, her senses on high alert, she heard panicked shouts from outside.

“Turn the horses around! It’s a landslide!”

“It’s too late to turn back here! We need to abandon the carriage and take cover…!”

*Clatter-clatter! Crash!*

But before anything could be done, a massive pile of dirt crashed down onto the carriage. The woman’s vision flipped in an instant. The carriage shook as if hit by an earthquake. The woman, who had tried to brace herself in a corner, ended up tumbling head over heels inside the carriage. When a seat broke loose and struck her back, she even let out a scream.

“Huk! Eu-ugh…”

The woman barely regained her senses. The half-wrecked carriage was precariously lodged on the edge of a cliff. Inside the increasingly tilted carriage, the woman tried to steady herself and hold on. But the floor she barely managed to stand on was wet and slippery from the rain.

“Aah!”

In the end, she slipped, barely managing to grab onto a protruding piece of the broken carriage and hang on. But she didn’t know how much longer she could endure.

*Creeeak.* The carriage tilted even further, and the woman was not physically strong. Moreover, the incessant rain did not help.

“Akarna, just hold on a little longer! We’ll come down to you right away!”

Fortunately, the guards quickly came to find her.

They had to properly escort the one and only Akarna; if something happened, they’d be beaten by their superiors. Watching them fidget anxiously, the woman felt, surprisingly, no particular emotion.

If I’m saved here, what comes next?

Do I just go to the original destination, fulfill my duty as Akarna, and then return to the empire?

Waiting for her there was just the same tedious routine. Helping people who came to the temple needing assistance, occasionally being dispatched to the blackened lands eroded by mana. There, again, helping people, helping, helping. Doing rewarding work, receiving the gratitude of countless people, being revered as a saintess.

And if she endured that, a grand ceremony would be held soon. The engagement ceremony of the man she loved.

“Ha.”

She didn’t know why she laughed.

Impulsively, the woman let go of the strength in her hands.

The guards shouted, calling out to Akarna.

The sudden sensation of falling was frightening. But at the same time, she felt an inexplicable sense of liberation.

She closed her eyes.

The person she had met in secret, defying the temple’s opposition. The person who had taught her letters and words. Even after being betrayed like this, she missed him.

The memory of them whispering foolish love, holding hands in a place with no one else around, flickered before her eyes.

—

**【Akarna】**

—

A single morning was enough for the world to turn upside down.

One day, when Seo Ji-woo opened her eyes, instead of the mechanical sound of an alarm clock on her desk, countless people were watching her. The pure white buildings and large pillars visible behind them. Without thinking deeply, she knew this was some kind of temple.

And she was sitting in the center of all those people, by something like an altar. Still wearing the pajamas she had put on before sleeping.

But there was no time to be bewildered by the suddenly changed environment. Someone among them approached her.

He seemed like a high-ranking person. Even judging by his demeanor, he was elderly with luxurious clothes. The large crown on his head. As he walked forward, even the surrounding people bowed their heads.

Even if the style of clothing wasn’t familiar, she could tell this was a place people held sacred. If this was a temple, that person seemed to be something like a bishop.

But when he bowed his head politely to her, Ji-woo became even more confused.

He opened his mouth.

“Akarna, welcome. It is an honor to meet you.”

Strangely, language was not a barrier. Even though they weren’t speaking Korean, Ji-woo could understand their unfamiliar words.

“Ah, A-Akarna…?”

“You are the guardian, Akarna, who has descended to the earth to carry out the will of the divine lord.”

“Ah…”

Ji-woo let out a rather stupid exclamation, but it wasn’t because she agreed. It was simply because, although she could understand the words, she could not speak the language.

Besides, talk of divine will, guardians of the earth… wasn’t that the kind of thing religious fanatics said?

Seo Ji-woo was an office worker who was too bothered by her next day’s commute. She wasn’t religious, and even if she were, she wasn’t leisurely enough to engage in such activities during precious time. If such people approached her on her way to work, she would only think of how to awkwardly escape, and she usually succeeded. But even in reality, surrounded by a crowd like this, she probably couldn’t have gotten away.

Seeing Ji-woo become even more wary after hearing his words, the elderly man who seemed to be a priest smiled.

Then he pulled a ornate short sword from his bosom. Before Ji-woo could react, he grabbed her arm and in an instant, slashed the palm of her hand.