In the end, a place to spend the night was decided without much friction. While the soldiers were lighting fires throughout the fortress and preparing dinner, the Grand Duke and she looked around the fortress. Beneath the castle walls, a dense coniferous forest stretched endlessly. The rugged mountain range in the distance had gray hair, as if it had been standing there for a long time.
“It’s a useless piece of land, but I have to admit that it looks nice.”
“I know, right.”
The scenery was so spectacular that it opens his heart. A little while ago, something was bothering him in a corner of his chest.
“Your Highness.”
“Huh?”
“Actually, you hate me cooking so you’re dragging me along?”
The Grand Duke smiled sheepishly as if he had been caught. The soldiers seemed to want her to prepare dinner with them. Because everyone liked her cooking. She was really happy. She tried to roll up her sleeves, but the Grand Duke gave her no time and dragged her around the fortress.
“It’s not difficult because I just have to lift a finger.”
“It’s hard for me to watch. It breaks my heart that my lover cooks for other men. If this continues, I will be jealous that I breathe the same air as another man.”
The Grand Duke, who had been laughing, suddenly turned with a straight face. What was he thinking now?
“Do not do it.”
Obsession was prohibited! She gave a stern warning and held out her index finger, and the Grand Duke kissed the end of it.
‘What. It’s a fox. I guess he was possessed by a fox.’
In an instant, her face became a tin roof in the middle of summer. Only after she promised not to cook was she able to come down from the castle wall. As she was going down to the courtyard where several pots were boiling, someone came up from the basement and shouted.
“Your Highness!”
“What’s going on?”
“I hear suspicious noises coming from the basement.”
They immediately went to check the basement. The basement of the fortress was like a maze. Monsters usually pop out from places like this. She glanced around nervously, held the Grand Duke’s hand, and followed where the soldier was leading.
“Can you hear me?”
It was true. The deeper she went, the more she heard a strange rumbling sound. The sounds were not continuous but irregular. Another suspicious thing was that the sound seemed to come from underneath the maze rather than from inside it.
“Is there any way to go further down?”
“There is nothing we have confirmed.”
“It’s definitely suspicious.”
She didn’t feel any magical power. The Grand Duke turned his head and whispered so that only she could hear.
“What happened?”
The Pope must have heard the rumor and came with a group of priests and knights. And eventually Sir Daniel followed her down. They each took charge of their own area and began searching this maze-like basement. Still, there wasn’t much to say other than the occasional strange sound.
“First of all, it doesn’t seem like a monster. “Is there a secret passage?”
It was the moment when the Pope, who was looking at a stone wall engraved with hieroglyphs whose meaning she did not know, touched her hand and muttered.
“Ahh!”
The stone floor beneath her feet tilted downward.
“Hazel!”
The Grand Duke, who had wrapped one arm around her as she fell, lost his balance and stumbled. As he was trying to keep his balance, the person he caught without realizing it was Sir Daniel, who was standing next to him.
“No!”
And the Pope suddenly caught the rest as she fell into the secret passageway with them. There was no way the Pope alone could bear the weight of three people.
“Aaaahhh!”
The screams echoing through the passage eventually numbered four.
‘What do we do.’
The light above her head gradually became smaller and eventually became invisible. There was only darkness everywhere. There was no end to the fall. By the time she stopped screaming because her throat hurt, they were still falling.
“Is there no floor here?”
The Grand Duke’s voice echoed in all directions. The door to this secret passageway was clearly only big enough for two people to pass through, but the pit underneath was wide enough for the four of them to hold hands side by side.
“Hazel, don’t you know about levitation magic?” the Pope asked in a puzzled voice.
“No. Not at all.”
She should have learned it! Even if a light object was floated upwards, it was difficult for people to do so.
“Isn’t there something similar in sacred power?”
She asked urgently, but no one answered. There were only four people with extraordinary powers, but right now, none of them had any useful abilities. The longer you fall like this, the bigger the impact when you hit the ground, right? Terrified, she clung to the Grand Duke’s arms. A sigh was heard and he shouted.
“I guess I’ll have time to vote before I die.”
“What vote?”
“If we die here, it’s Giselle’s fault. Hand.”
The only person who raised his hand was the Grand Duke. The Pope laughed.
“You know you already lost, right?”
“Hazel, you need to be on my side.”
The moment the Grand Duke looked sad, she realized. The falling speed didn’t seem to be that fast. Did the air passing by their skin feel sticky? Furthermore…
“Wait, why can we see each other?”
Only then did she look around and discover that a crystal the size of a child was sticking out from the earthen wall of a pit where tree roots as thick as my body were intertwined. The crystal was shining brightly, as if it were emitting its own light.
“Wow, it’s pretty.”
“…No! It might be sticking out of the ground like that.”
“Ugh! no!”
She screamed and hurled her point down. Bedding from Killen Castle and the campsite suddenly appeared and fell down.
‘Please, it hurts less, it hurts less.’
It was a time when she was kicking the blanket trying to fly up instead of falling down.
“Uh? I can see the floor!” cried the Pope.
When she quickly lifted the blanket covering her eyes and looked down, the pillow and blanket she had dropped were scattered across the floor, which was as green as grass.
“Aaaah!”
She was glad there were no modifications! Please put it on the pillow! It was the moment when she bundled up the blanket, hugged herself, and closed her eyes. Something soft wrapped around her body.
‘Fluffy? Isn’t it hard?’
The body bounced for a moment and then landed again on a soft lump. She grabbed the lump without thinking and it crumbled in her hand. It felt like touching grass or flowers.
‘Is it moss?’
When the movement stopped, she opened her eyes. Before her eyes, a dense field of blue flower buds was spread out. When she opened her hand, blue flower crumbs fell down. She looked up. Everyone was lying down on this green bush with bewildered eyes, looking around.
‘Everyone is safe.’
Relieved, they came down to the bottom of the bush. No, should she say tree? The bush was taller than the Grand Duke, so she managed to get down with help.
“Anyway, this is…”
This bush, with its lush green flowers and green stems, was actually broccoli. Huge broccoli. Broccoli wasn’t the only thing that was huge. Huge crops were growing here and there in this huge cave supported by tree roots like arches.
‘Who is raising them here?’
However, the crops looked untended. Seeing that the plantings were spaced at arbitrary intervals, they seemed to be in the wild. Large crystals were sticking out from the walls and ceiling of the crypt, like a pit. The crops seem to grow under the light of the crystal.
‘Interesting.’
Something resembling a moon butterfly fluttered around the crystal that sparkled with a soft and dreamy light. When she got closer, he blinked, waved his hands, and ran away. It was a fairy. She was amazed as she looked around this place. She fell into a cave and came to a strange world.
“I feel like Alice.”
“Alice?”
The Grand Duke, who was looking closely at the crystal next to her, asked.
“Who is that?”
‘Ah, there is no fairy tale here.’
“I feel like I’m the main character in a children’s book.”
“A storybook protagonist. It suits you.”
The Grand Duke smiled and stroked her head. After confirming that there were no monsters or beasts around, they started thinking about their next problem.
“How do I get out of here?”
The Grand Duke climbed back onto the broccoli and looked up into the distance, muttering as if sighing.
“They will send a rescue team from above, right?” the Pope asked, looking up and looking around at all of them.
“That should be true, but it’s too deep here, and the problem is that the people above don’t know that we’re still alive.”
Everyone’s faces darkened at the Grand Duke’s words. If they mistakenly thought that the Grand Duke and the Pope were dead, chaos would break out.
“I need to quickly tell them that we are alive! I can send the light ones with movement magic. Does anyone have a writing utensil?”
‘Oh no, no one raised their hand.’
She had been thinking about getting her writing materials from Killen Castle or camp, but she didn’t know where they were. She knew where to put it in the Grand Duke’s residence or her cabin, but it was too far away so the movement magic didn’t work.
“Then how about sending your belongings?”
Sir Daniel shook his head at the Pope’s suggestion.
“I don’t know if that alone means we’re alive or dead. It will only convey the meaning that Miss Hazel is alive.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
While he was pondering, the Grand Duke suddenly picked up a broken broccoli stem, took out a dagger, cut off the small stem and flower at the end, and began to carve something into the stem.
‘All alive. Rescue wind.’
“You can send this much weight, right?”
“Sure.”
She closed her eyes and clicked her fingers, imagining an underground passageway with a secret door. The broccoli stem disappeared in a flash.
“I have to say hello to the chestnuts too…”
She used sensory transfer magic every morning and evening to communicate with the two children. They would be worried if she didn’t contact them. Should she also tell them about her situation? She looked at the Grand Duke and he nodded.
“Tell them. They need to know our situation.”
She closed her eyes again and chanted the spell. When she transferred her vision to the portrait necklace she had placed around Luca’s neck, who could feel her magic, the dark before her eyes became bright and Luca’s face appeared. The moment the child opened his mouth, she transferred other senses as well.
-Hazel!
“Luca, where are you?”
The scenery behind Luca was unfamiliar. She didn’t think it’s indoors. Was it a greenhouse?
“What are you doing in the greenhouse?”
The moment she asked, Luca shouted.
-My older sister picked Hazel’s mugwort…
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released oon January, 13.
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