Chapter 9
If you ask why I didnât tell himâwell, it wasnât intentional⊠no, actually, it was.
Explaining things one by one honestly didnât suit me. Even today alone, how many hours had I spent talking?
I stared blankly up at the dark ceiling and replied,
âAsk Margrave Staufen for the details yourself.â
One thing was certain.
From here on, the road of hardship truly beganâfor a saintess who couldnât even use holy power, and a forsaken prince.
At dawn the next day, we left the inn just as the snowfall began to ease.
Iâm so damn sleepy.
Did I even get four hours? The moment I boarded the carriage, I shut my eyes.
I was just tired, but Lothar, sitting across from me, asked,
âAre you offering a prayer to the Goddess?â
âWhy donât you do that yourselfâŠ.â
My life had turned out like this because of a messed-up prayer.
I shouldnât have made a wish to just any god when I didnât even have a religion.
âLetâs just sleep. Clear thinking and mental strength come from rest.â
âI see. Since when did you develop such severe sleeping habits?â
ââŠâŠâ
This bastard?
It was a trivial jab, but my eyes snapped open.
âHey, that was just once. You really hold grudges, donât you?â
âAre you unaware of your own sleeping habits?â
âWhat. Why. What did I do this time?â
âHm⊠never mind.â
There are two ways to annoy someone.
The first is cutting off what you were about to sayâ
âYouâre not going to finish that properly?â
âIâd rather you just get angry and kick me.â
âWhat are you even saying? Hey!â
This guy was better at irritating people than I thought.
No matter how much I pressed, threatened, or coaxed him, he kept his mouth shut. My fists began to tremble.
Even if I hit him, it probably wouldnât leave a scratch⊠so what should I do?
Just then, something was placed over my lap.
âUse it and sleep.â
A thick, warm piece of clothing. Lotharâs jacket.
ââŠâŠWeâll talk about this later.â
The drowsiness that had briefly faded returned with that warmth.
I shot Lothar a glare, then pulled his jacket over my head. With my vision blocked, sleep came even easier.
âSleep well.â
His low voice, like a lullaby, was the last thing I heard.
Even so, it took another week to reach Graupfels.
At first, we stayed in inns, but as time passed, villages became scarce. Still, I slept perfectly fine inside the tents the knights set up.
As for Lothar? No idea. He always went to bed later than me and woke up earlier.
The closer we got to the border, the rougher the roads became. Here, one of this bodyâs few advantages truly shone.
I didnât get motion sickness.
Even as the carriage jolted like it was deliberately hitting every bump in the road, I dozed off.
The day we arrived at Graupfels wasnât much different.
âHalt!â
âGahâ!â
I jolted awake at the shout from outside the carriage.
Strange. Just a moment ago, it had been early dawn.
Confused, I looked out the windowâonly to see the sun already high in the sky.
How long had I slept? I started counting on my fingers.
âPfft.â
A stifled laugh.
I looked up immediately to see Lotharâs indifferent face.
Whatâs with him? Why pretend youâre not laughing?
I glared at him, eyes wide, and he slowly raised a finger to point at my mouth.
âWhat?â
âThereâs something there.â
âWhat is it?â
âDrool.â
Damn it. How embarrassing.
I scrubbed my mouth with the sleeve of the jacket I was wearingâthen a second later realized it belonged to Lothar. Iâd forgotten since he handed it to me like a blanket every time we got into the carriage.
When I glanced up, I saw his profile as he deliberately looked away into the distance.
Hey. Your lips are twitching.
As if nothing had happened, Lothar turned back and reached out. With his thumb, he rubbed the other side of my mouth several times.
Wait, I didnât clean it properly?
He soon withdrew his hand and said calmly,
âAfter observing you for several days, you seem more careless than expected.â
âThatâs a first.â
âIs it? It seems you lack loyal retainers like myself. Only sycophants surround you.â
No confusion this time. That was 100% mockery.
As I stared at him in disbelief, a faint smile tugged at his lips.
His finger brushed past mine, grazing my lips, along with a quiet greeting.
âWelcome to Graupfels.â
Only then did I turn to look outside again.
Beneath the raging snowstorm stood a towering fortress, majestic and imposing.
Between the gray walls rose a tall spire bearing the empireâs flag. It was a place where guards watched the border all year round.
It was a fitting first gateway to the northern frontier.
Be it other races or monstersâanyone seeking to prey upon the empireâs prosperity would have to break through here first.
And the fortress of Graupfels had never been breached.
Not once, since the House of Staufen had settled here.
âA family that produces nothing but terrifying monsters.â
Just looking at Lothar, who had dented a carriage door, made that clear.
The gates slowly opened. The halted carriages began moving again.
Still, it was far too quiet.
âIt canât be helped. Officially, the Staufen family has turned its back on Lothar.â
Howeverâ
ââŠThere are flowers.â
At my murmur, Lothar looked out the window, his expression turning strange. Then he tapped on the carriage wallâa signal to stop.
Soon after stepping out, Lothar looked down at his feet.
A barren stone road. Along its edge lay a star-shaped flower covered in soft white fuzz.
âŠNo. Not just one.
Following him out, I looked down the road ahead.
âEdelweiss?â
They were lined upâone by one.
âA resilient flower found only in snow-covered high mountains.â
With that explanation, Lothar bent down. He began gathering the edelweiss scattered along his path.
It was far too modest a sight for a princeâbut I had no desire to stop him.
It was the first time I had seen him smile like that.
âSo he was loved in his own way.â
Even at the Grand Temple, I had never received such a heartfelt welcome.
Someday, Iâd make the archbishop kneel and crawl between my legs.
I was busy forming grand revenge plans as I followed behind Lothar.
Whooshâ
At the faint sound of wind cutting through the air, Lothar suddenly ducked.
Thud.
Something struck the ground where his neck had been just a moment ago.
Thatâsâ
No matter how I looked at it, it was an arrow.
Lothar straightened slowly and turned toward the direction it had come from, a strange smile forming on his lips.
âWhat a grand welcome.â
His voice was icy.
Had he been pretending to be harmless in front of me? Not that he had ever seemed harmless.
His gaze landed on the wall of the right tower.
I followed itâand let out a hollow laugh.
âIs everyone in this family insane?â
A figure stood atop the wall, aiming a bow at Lothar.
Ash-brown hair whipped in the wind.
A towering physique, built entirely of muscle.
Nothing had changed since the last time I saw her. The fierce, tiger-like impression remained the same.
âShe kind of looks like Lothar.â
She shouted down at her nephew.
âLothar, you idiot!â
Hmm. Yeah. Definitely a different personality.
Waving the bow in her hand, the margrave unleashed an endless stream of abuse.
âIf you were going to get locked up anyway, you shouldâve at least cut off Maximilianâs fingers! And you call yourself a man of Staufen blood?!â
âAh, the disgrace of the family! Itâs a miracle your mother hasnât risen from her grave at the sight of this!â
Even family holiday gatherings wouldnât be this intense.
Amid the torrent of insults, Lotharâs lips twisted further. Ignoring everything she said, he simply greeted her.
âItâs been a while, Margrave.â
Wow.
Polite. Dry. And all the more distancing because of it.
What kind of nephew greets his aunt like, âHello, Ms. Kim Sunjaâ?
ââŠWhat did you say?â
The margraveâs face flushed red in an instant.
