PEDC | Chapter 14

~Chapter 14~

When I went down to the central hall with Sertien, everyone was already waiting.

Including that maid.

When she glanced at me, she flinched and quickly looked away, startled.

I already had a bad feeling about her, so even her small reactions annoyed me.

I thought about telling Latryne what had happened earlier, but since he seemed busy with other tasks, I decided to wait until everything settled down.

As we approached, Latryne’s gaze shifted to Sertien and me.

And at that moment, though it might have been my imagination, I felt like Latryne was staring at me blankly.

“Latryne? Is something wrong?”

As soon as Sertien saw Latryne, he ran over and hugged his legs.

Seeing that, I thought to myself that they must have a good relationship. Then, Latryne suddenly spoke to me.

“Your hair… you’ve let it down.”

“Huh? Oh, yes… I thought it might suit me better. Does it look strange?”

“No… it’s… beautiful.”

For a moment, I was caught off guard by Latryne’s dazed expression and his words.

If anyone else had said that, I probably wouldn’t have been so flustered.

I hadn’t realized that I was so weak when it came to compliments about my appearance.

Even when I saw Phaedris, I hadn’t felt anything, but now, my heart was racing because of Latryne.

It wasn’t for any other reason; Latryne just happened to have a face that perfectly matched my type, which caused me to react instinctively.

Who wouldn’t be flustered if an extremely handsome man of their type looked at them with a soft gaze and called them beautiful?

I wasn’t sure why Latryne suddenly paid attention to my hair being down.

I could only guess that it might have something to do with Erias.

Anyway, since everyone had gathered, we opened the door and stepped outside.

It could have been my imagination, but the rain seemed to be coming down even harder than before.

I wondered if it was even possible to leave in the carriage at this point.

However, I thought that if we didn’t try, we might end up trapped. Latryne seemed to think the same, as he moved forward without hesitation.

I stood by the entrance with the doctor and the maid, and suddenly, I had a thought.

To take the carriage out, someone needed to know how to drive it. But did anyone here know how?

I doubted the doctor or the maid could handle it.

As for me, I knew how to ride a horse but not how to drive a carriage.

Worried, I approached Latryne and asked in a loud voice.

Because of the wind and thunder, I thought he might not hear me if I didn’t raise my voice.

“But who will drive the carriage?”

“I will.”

Surprised, I asked, “You know how to drive a carriage?”

“Yes, I learned a bit before.”

It seemed like he had learned more than just a bit.

After finishing our conversation, Latryne confidently climbed onto the driver’s seat and told us to get in the carriage.

It was surprising and unexpected that Latryne, someone of his status, knew how to drive a carriage. I found it fascinating.

We followed his instructions, and soon, the carriage started moving, though it shook quite a bit.

“…”

“…”

Inside the carriage, it was completely silent.

Sertien, sitting next to me, looked unhappy as he stared at the maid sitting across from us.

It seemed they hadn’t gotten along well before, either.

Given that Latryne’s family had wanted to keep Erias’s existence hidden, and considering the maid’s attitude, I suspected that all the servants in Latryne’s household behaved similarly.

It made me feel even sorrier for Sertien, who had already lost her mother.

I hugged Sertien tightly with one arm while glaring at the maid, who trembled slightly and turned her head away.

The carriage seemed to be moving smoothly, and I thought we might be able to make it out of the mountain.

But just as I was thinking that, the carriage suddenly shook violently.

“Mom! Aah!”

I held Sertien tightly as he clung to me, grabbing the window frame to stop myself from falling.

I saw the doctor and the maid also holding onto their seats to keep from toppling over.

At one point, I slammed my shoulder hard against the wall of the carriage, and because I was already injured, the pain felt unbearable.

“Ah!”

I cried out without meaning to, and just then, the carriage came to a stop.

Wondering why we had stopped, I held my aching shoulder and stood up, stepping outside the carriage.

Everyone else seemed curious about what had happened, too.

I left Sertien with the doctor and went to see Latryne, who was staring ahead with a grim expression.

I followed his gaze, and it wasn’t hard to see why the carriage had stopped.

A landslide must have occurred because trees and piles of dirt had collapsed, completely blocking the road.

As I approached, Latryne said, “It seems we’re too late. It will be difficult to go any further.”

“So, what should we do?”

“It’s too dangerous to keep going, so it would be best to return to the villa for now.”

But returning to the villa would mean being stuck.

Right now, it was just a minor landslide, and we could potentially get past it with some effort. But if we waited any longer, escaping the mountain would only get harder.

Before I knew it, the others had come out of the carriage and were observing the situation as well.

I started looking around the landslide area, wondering if there was any way to get through.

It didn’t seem like the collapse was too severe yet, so I thought we might be able to get past it.

I walked over to a low spot where part of the debris had fallen.

There was a large rock in the corner. I thought that if we could somehow move it, we might be able to clear a path.

I suddenly started pushing the rock, and Latryne asked, “What are you doing?”

“I think if we move this rock and clear some space, we can get through.”

Hearing this, Latryne examined the rock.

“But… it might be difficult to lift a rock that size…”

Instead of answering, I continued pushing the rock.

As I pushed, the rock began to move slightly.

I wasn’t the captain of the knights just for show. I was confident in my strength.

But there was one problem—I was still injured.

While I was able to start pushing the rock, before long, I began to feel sharp pain and noticed that my strength was fading.

My expression grew worse as the pain intensified.

Latryne seemed to sense my condition and came over to help me push the rock. He said as he helped, “If you keep overworking yourself like this, your body won’t hold up.”

As soon as Latryne started pushing with me, the rock felt much lighter. This man was surprisingly strong.

Thanks to Latryne, the rock moved smoothly. Seeing the two highest-ranking people pushing the rock, the doctor and the maid couldn’t just stand by anymore and joined in to help.

With the four of us pushing together, the rock rolled aside, clearing the path in no time.

We had to move quickly before the path collapsed again.

“Let’s hurry through,” I said, and prepared to climb back onto the carriage.

But then, I heard a sound. At first, I thought it was thunder.

But no, it wasn’t thunder. It was more like the sound of something collapsing.

I turned my head to find the source of the sound, and Latryn, who understood what was happening before I did, quickly pushed Serthien aside and shouted, “Everyone, back up!”

Only then did I realize what was happening—another landslide.

The doctor picked up Serthien and hurriedly stepped back, and Latryne quickly moved away from where he had been standing.

I, along with the maid, followed them, running as fast as we could.

I saw the dirt and debris sliding down the mountain. At this rate, I thought we could escape the landslide.

But just at that moment, the ankle I had injured earlier began to hurt again.

I tried to endure the pain as long as I could, but eventually, I couldn’t hold out any longer and fell to the ground.

Even though I had fallen, I had already moved out of the most dangerous area. If the maid in front of me helped, I thought I could avoid the worst.

But what I saw next was the maid’s cold eyes staring down at me, with no intention of helping at all.

“…”

My mind went blank.

Was I going to die like this…?

I could hear the sound of dirt and branches falling over my head.

The maid still didn’t move, and just as I felt the cold touch of the dirt, I heard Sertien scream.

“Mom!”

“Litya!”

Latryne pushed the maid aside and ran toward me.

Just before I was swallowed by the dirt, Latryne wrapped himself around me to protect me.

After that, everything became blurry, and I could barely remember what happened.

All I knew was that Latryne held me as we kept falling down the hill.

---

I woke up feeling like I was being held by someone.

Thinking back, it made sense.

Latryne grabbed me as we fell down the mountain.

My body hurt so much that I couldn’t help but wake up.

After all, I was already injured, and then I kept rolling down the mountain, so of course, it hurt.

It was more than just painful—it was unbearable.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Latryne’s white shirt, slightly visible.

I barely managed to lift my head and look at Latryne’s face.

Latryne’s face was covered in wounds from protecting me during the fall.

It seemed like he had injuries all over.

The rain was still pouring down, and if we stayed like this, we might get hypothermia. So I shook Latryne to wake him up.