HSMDW 4

Chapter 4

It’s okay.

Illin covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut.

I hadn’t dreamed of myself dying.

I hadn’t dreamed of monsters appearing either, and in my prophetic dreams, I had always been perfectly fine, without a single injury.

—Kyaaak!

—Kyak!

Something violently scratched against the wall of the carriage.

The scratching stopped as the carriage sped up even more, but the monsters’ howls remained.

“It’s okay.”

Her heart was pounding like crazy.

It’s okay.

I’ll be safe.

She exhaled again.

At least I wouldn’t die before the wedding night I had foreseen.

Bang!

Illin’s eyes flew open when something suddenly slammed into the window.

Without thinking, she looked toward it—and her eyes met those of a bright red creature.

Red scales were visible beside its eyes, which consisted of nothing but black pupils.

Snow was packed between the scales, making the creature look mottled in red and white.

Even in that brief moment, she could see its black pupils darting back and forth.

The excited monster opened its mouth wide.

“Eek!”

Just then, the carriage made a sharp turn, and the monster, unable to withstand the momentum, was thrown off.

As if it had tried to hold on until the very end, the sound of its claws scraping the wall passed by the window and disappeared toward the back of the carriage.

Fortunately, the window remained intact, though rough scratches were left across it.

—Grrrrrk!

Illin shuddered as though she herself had been scratched.

Cold sweat broke out, and her body trembled.

Illin reminded herself once again.

I’m not dead yet.

But I’m scared.

I’m scared.

Whether from the cold or from fear, her entire body trembled.

She squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears.

She had no idea what might leap out or where it might come from.

There was no way she could shake off monsters capable of catching up to a carriage traveling at this speed.

“Neigh!”

The agitated horses continued racing without slowing down.

It was then that she saw a fortress wall through the window marked with claw scratches.

Illin instinctively half-raised her hunched body.

If there was a fortress in this wintry region, there was only one.

They had arrived at Bifalten Castle.

They were in a safe zone now.

Or so she thought.

“Damn it!”

The coachman’s curse came through clearly.

Illin couldn’t believe her eyes.

The creatures crawling up the fortress walls looked exactly like the red-scaled monsters that had been clinging to the carriage earlier.

They were surrounded by monsters—those attempting to climb over the fortress walls ahead of them, and those pursuing them from behind.

The coachman abruptly turned the carriage sideways.

He was trying to get as far away from the fortress wall as possible.

—Kyaaak!

Screeeech!

The sound of the monsters clawing at the back of the carriage was painfully clear.

As her body was thrown toward the wall, Illin’s shoulder slammed against the carriage handle.

“!”

She couldn’t even scream.

If the monsters realized she was inside, she felt as though their claws would tear the carriage apart without mercy.

“Eek!”

At that moment, the carriage tilted violently before finally skidding and coming to a stop, practically buried in the snow.

And through the window, Illin saw the coachman outside fighting off the monsters.

Clang!

When the monsters’ claws collided with his sword, the sharp sound rang out like metal striking metal.

Illin’s body went rigid.

The coachman was skilled with a sword.

But there were simply too many monsters.

He was strong enough to protect himself among the many monsters, but not strong enough to protect the large carriage as well.

—Kyaaak!

When the monsters realized the coachman wasn’t an easy opponent, they turned their attention toward the carriage.

Illin noticed this and grabbed the door handle with trembling hands.

If necessary, she would have to get out of the carriage.

She bit her lips so hard they nearly bled.

There was no way she could escape.

How could she possibly outrun monsters that had even caught up with a moving carriage?

No. I haven’t dreamed of dying yet.

Even if her dream wasn’t a prophecy, Illin didn’t want to simply close her eyes and wait for death.

If she had been willing to do that, she would have killed herself back at the estate long ago.

The reason she had endured nearly twenty years of contempt and being treated like a monster who could see terrible futures was that she didn’t have the courage to wait through those brief moments between hanging herself and dying.

Death was frightening.

She didn’t want to be lonely or abandoned.

Bang!

The monsters slammed into the carriage.

At that moment, Illin opened the door on the opposite side and jumped out.

“!”

Illin held the breath she had been about to inhale.

The breath escaping from beneath the blue cloth covering her face immediately turned to frost and scattered.

The biting wind scraped against her bare hands.

The snow wasn’t soft.

It was sharp.

Red scratches instantly appeared across the delicate backs of her hands, but Illin couldn’t stop.

I have to run!

Her feet sank deep into the accumulated snow, making it difficult to run, but she forced strength into her legs and pushed forward.

Then it happened.

Something suddenly landed against her face with a soft thud.

It was cold on the outside, but still better than the blizzard.

Startled, she pulled away, and the blue cloth slipped from her head and fell to the ground.

“……What is this?”

A black uniform with decorations trimmed in red appeared before her.

The red was so vivid that it would have stood out even if it had fallen in the middle of all this white snow.

The low, clear voice that pierced her ears sounded as wild as a growling beast.

He didn’t seem cold at all. There wasn’t even a trace of protective clothing around the exposed line of his neck.

A sharply defined, masculine jawline. Above it, a strong, proud nose and blue eyes with an impassive gaze.

His eyes met Illin’s.

Illin froze for a moment, but then felt relieved.

Perhaps because the only man in Bifalten she could think of was Duke Arden de Bifalten himself, she had momentarily mistaken this man for the duke.

But since she was perfectly fine even after making eye contact with him, he apparently wasn’t the duke himself.

The man’s black hair whipped wildly in the snowstorm.

“A woman?”

It was at that moment that the monster pursuing Illin pounced at her from behind.

Before Illin could even turn around, she felt the monster’s damp, foul breath wash over the back of her neck.

The man swung his sword without hesitation.

Illin stood between the monster and the man.

She saw the flash of the sword and closed her eyes.

She could think of nothing but the end.

“Kieek!”

At that moment, a shrill scream erupted right beside her.

The man grabbed Illin’s face and pulled her away from the monster.

His large hand covered her face.

It didn’t seem as though he was trying to cover her eyes.

He had simply grabbed her and pulled her away as though moving an annoying object out of the way.

But his hand was warm.

So Illin opened her eyes without thinking.

Through the gaps between his fingers, she saw the monster collapse.

“Ah……”

The man plunged his sword into the ground and looked down instead of at Illin.

“This is—”

Narrowing his deep-blue eyes, he crouched down beside Illin.

When his large body, which had been shielding her from the biting wind, moved away, the blizzard immediately rushed over her entire body.

Her cheeks froze in an instant.

“If you don’t want to freeze to death where you stand…”

The man tossed the blue cloth onto her head with his black-gloved hand.

It was the cloth he had just picked up from the ground.

Only then did Illin realize that she had dropped it in her shock.

“Take good care of this.”

Her vision was covered in blue once again, and warmth began returning to her frozen cheeks.

“Your Highness!”

Your Highness?

There was only one person in Bifalten who could be addressed as Your Highness.

The Duke of Bifalten was nearby.

Don’t make eye contact.

Illin closed her eyes and lowered her gaze.

At that moment, the man beside her released her and disappeared.

As if he had never been there in the first place.

The cold wind blew violently, as though it might tear the blue cloth from her head.

Illin hunched her shoulders.

The area around her was growing noisy with movement, as though the battle was coming to an end.

One of the knights who spotted her looked toward the carriage, apparently determined her identity, and escorted her inside the fortress walls.

Although she was wrapped in a blanket, her body still felt as though it might freeze solid.

The only part that had begun to warm was the area covered by the blue cloth.

Under its blue tint, Bifalten looked even colder.

Still, Illin held tightly onto the cloth so it wouldn’t fall.

‘I didn’t even get to thank him.’

She couldn’t forget those deep blue eyes, so dark that they needed no further hint of blue.

The man who had picked up the cloth for her had already disappeared without a trace.

The knights cleaning up the area around the fortress walls moved in perfect order, but they showed little interest in her.

They saw her shivering from the cold and brought her back to the carriage, but that was the extent of their concern.

“Please wait a moment.”

Judging from their polite speech, they seemed to know who she was.

Even so, she had to be left alone for quite some time.

It wasn’t until much later, when she felt the carriage begin moving again, that Illin thought,

I’m used to this kind of indifference anyway.

This place is still better than the hostile Arlen estate.

Illin arrived at the Bifalten ducal residence several hours later.

“Welcome!”

The greeting was far more enthusiastic than anything she had received at the fortress walls.

The clothes worn by the person hurrying toward her were unusual.

A wide piece of fabric was wrapped around his body over what appeared, at a glance, to be a formal suit.

Perhaps it was because this was such a cold region?

Illin glanced at the blue cloth still resting on her head.

It was made of a different fabric than the one she was wearing.

“How dare you leave the young lady standing out here!”

The elderly man angrily pointed a finger at a passing maid.

The blue tassels on his clothing swung roughly.

“……I’ll show you inside.”

The startled maid finally led Illin away with a displeased expression.

A red ornament swayed from the hair of the maid, who wore her black hair loose.

That alone would have been fine, but Illin wasn’t the only one being escorted by the maid.

The man who had followed her bowed deeply to Illin in front of the room the maid had shown them to.

“This will be your room for the next week.”

One week?

Illin tilted her head.

“What happens after one week?”

“Ah, goodness. Were you not given any explanation?”

The coachman had been a silent man.

They had ridden nonstop in the carriage, been attacked by monsters, and now they were here.

Illin hadn’t heard a single explanation about what would happen next.

“None at all.”

At that, the elderly man clicked his tongue.

His graying hair moved as he shook his head.

Illin clearly heard him muttering under his breath.

“Those useless Delroze bastards.”

Who is Delroze?

Was he referring to the knights or the coachman? Occasionally, some families had separate names for their knight orders or private soldiers.

Was that the case with the Bifalten family as well?

“Ah, I haven’t introduced myself.”

The man suddenly seemed to remember.

“My name is Ridan of the Blue Nose.”

“Blue Nose?”

He didn’t look like a knight.

Even though Illin knew nothing about swords, she could distinguish between someone who had trained and someone who hadn’t.

The man who introduced himself as Ridan didn’t have a particularly muscular build, nor was he carrying a sword.

“My apologies…… Ah, I heard you had quite an ordeal outside. I’ll arrange for our children to accompany you and explain Bifalten to you.”

He was the sort of person who seemed as though he was about to explain something, only to end up saying whatever he wanted to say.