Chapter 44
After leaving the Grand Duke’s castle of Luxia,
once we passed beyond the walls surrounding the city of Lafren, a vast expanse of pure white snowfields unfolded before us.
Whoooosh—
“……”
For a moment, I stared at the overwhelming northern snowfield, where a blizzard raged relentlessly, and thought to myself—
‘…I always wonder this at times like these, but is the genre of this world really a romance fantasy?’
No matter how much the original story had drifted because of me, at this point it felt less like a northern grand duke romance and more like a northern disaster-adventure story.
Last night, I had fallen asleep imagining all sorts of romantic travel moments…
but now I was in a situation where I had to worry about both my safety and my favorite character’s survival.
“Well… still, this was the best option for now.”
I muttered to myself, almost like self-hypnosis.
In the original story, around this time, Sion and Genevia would each have been dealing with various struggles back at the castle.
Then they would meet the main male lead after his return, and Genevia would fall into a fated love with him. Meanwhile, Sion—who had already started developing feelings for her—would begin his tearful one-sided love.
Despite everything that had happened so far, Sion showed no real interest in Genevia, nor any sign of developing something with her—so this expedition was a drastic measure I had taken.
‘Right. Thanks to this expedition, at least Sion and Genevia won’t end up separated, and we managed to keep the main male lead away for now. That’s a relief… for the moment.’
Whoooosh—
“Ugh, it’s so cold.”
The biting wind slammed against my face, making me shiver.
Sion asked,
“Are you cold?”
“Yeah. I’m really weak to the cold.”
I answered, clutching my favorite coat tightly around me.
Not that it was surprising—back in my previous life, I had never even gone camping or glamping, let alone done any outdoor activities.
I had been a natural homebody and a full-on fangirl since birth, so this kind of extreme cold was a very high-level challenge for me.
“That’s unexpected. According to northern folklore, fairies are said to live deep within nature, such as snowy mountains. I didn’t think you’d be weak to the cold.”
“Well, I’m a bit different from other fairies. It can’t be helped.”
Seeking warmth, I burrowed deeper into Sion’s collar.
His body stiffened slightly.
“…Rin.”
“Hm?”
“Don’t burrow in too much.”
“Oh. Okay.”
I quickly pulled back up, peeking my head out.
“Sorry. Was I too cold?”
“……”
Sion said nothing and kept his gaze forward. For some reason, his expression looked slightly stiff.
Just then—
“Alright, we’ll now be entering the Idlan Snowfield.”
Diene, who was leading the group on horseback as our guide, spoke.
“For reference, this route isn’t one used by civilians or merchants—it’s the shortest route used by the knight order, so it’ll be quite a forced march.”
That didn’t sound good.
“…How intense are we talking?”
“Hmm, we’ll cross the snowfield and then go straight over the mountain range… so, about ten days.”
“Ten days?! That long?!”
“Normally, it takes over two weeks to travel from the Grand Duke’s castle to the border region. If we had more time, we could’ve passed through small towns or villages—but since we need to finish traveling before the severe cold sets in, the shortest route is our only option.”
Garen, riding up beside Sion, added,
“Please don’t worry too much, Lady Rin. If nothing happens, it might not even take the full ten days.”
“What do you mean by ‘if nothing happens’?”
At my question, Diene answered cheerfully,
“For example, if we run into demonic beasts… or if there’s an avalanche.”
“……”
I looked up at Sion.
“Hey, Sion.”
“What is it?”
“I’m just asking, just in case… but isn’t there a safer and more comfortable route?”
“As Diene said, if we want to reach the border before the severe cold begins, crossing the snowfield and mountains is the only way.”
“…I see.”
With a pale face, I looked over the expedition members again.
‘…With this lineup, nothing too bad should happen, right?’
Even excluding Sion—who was a hidden powerhouse and had reached the level of aura manifestation—we still had two veteran knights.
‘And most importantly…’
I glanced back.
‘We have the heroine, Genevia!’
I looked at her with reassuring eyes.
But she seemed to interpret my gaze differently and replied lifelessly,
“…I’m fine.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve already been dragged this far, so it doesn’t really matter if you try to be considerate now.”
She gazed at the snowfield with the detached eyes of someone who had seen it all.
“Even as a low-ranking priest, I’ve been to all sorts of places. Sleeping out in a snowy wasteland is nothing…”
“……”
For some reason, Genevia now seemed to have absolutely no expectations left for life in the north.
I felt a bit guilty seeing her so worn down, but looking at the harsh road ahead, I swallowed my groan.
“…We’ll be okay, right?”
