06. Madam, lean on me.
“Now, if you would please let me go…”
A while had passed, but Bianca was still in Jillian’s arms.
As the hug grew longer, Bianca’s transparent skin turned bright red up to the nape of her neck.
She vaguely tapped him with her hand that was floating in the air as if to push him away, but Jillian walked forward instead of putting Bianca down.
“J-Jillian!”
Bianca let out a groan as she felt her feet shaking in the air.
She twisted her body, but Jillian easily grabbed her with one hand and hugged her closer.
Without giving her any time to be surprised by the feeling of being embraced, Jillian took off his cloak and wrapped it around Bianca.
“Mmph!”
Jillian, who had wrapped his cloak around Bianca, began to walk again without delay.
Bianca looked like a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and felt like she was going to faint from embarrassment.
There were about a hundred knights lined up behind Jillian.
To be carried around like this in front of so many people…
“Please get it off!”
“Are you embarrassed?”
“Come on, please get it off me.”
Bianca gritted her teeth and shouted softly.
Sak.
Bianca’s hanging feet shook once again with the sound of the accumulated snow being trampled.
Jillian, who had completely ignored her request to get the cloak off, was walking again.
“Jillian!”
Bianca really felt like she was going to cry.
Although she had suffered all sorts of mistreatment while living as a princess, this was the first time she had experienced such humiliation.
Why did this person who was so gentle and perplexingly friendly show such stubbornness…
Huh.
Bianca glanced at around and realised where she was
The North was the land of Baloch.
It was Baloch realm that was completely independent from the imperial family.
Somehow, I thought it was strange that he had been so nice to her, the princess of Termina.
“Aah”
Was that the reason?
I felt a chill in my heart, and in an instant, tears welled up in my eyes.
At that moment, Jillian’s movements that seemed like they would never stop stopped.
“The cold in the north is not something the capital’s clothing can handle. The snow is already up to my knees. You can’t walk in those flimsy shoes.”
“What…….”
“It means it’s not a mean prank to embarrass you, wife.”
Jillian was serious, with not even a trace of his habitual smile remaining on his face.
His demeanor was quite different from when he covered his mouth with a smirk, as it was more intimidating, but it made him even more trustworthy.
The tears that seemed like they were going to overflow at any moment slowly began to dry.
Jillian watched her without blinking.
Eventually, a faint vitality returned to his pale face, and he started walking again.
Sak.1The literal translation was ‘sabak ‘ and it was meant for the sound of stepping on snow, but I found it slightly awkward, do I altered it a little.
Her feet were shaking once again, but Bianca was not as embarrassed as before.
But it was that moment.
The words I had said to him just before going through the magic circle came to my mind like tinnitus and I felt sick to my stomach.
‘If you think of me as your wife…., please think a little more comfortably.’
“……”
Bianca stretched out her hands that were gathered in front of her chest and quietly grabbed his jacket.
My fingertips exposed to the wind were so cold that they stung like a it was pocked by a needle.
However, Bianca stubbornly held on to his jacket.
Jillian just glanced down and didn’t bother to stop Bianca.
If you look closely, it would seem like he was smiling.
Sak.
Sak.
The sound of long steps breaking through the snow was clear.
Since I had to get off the carriage, I wondered if there was another means of transportation, but the place Jillian led me to was another carriage.
“Why……?”
“An ordinary carriage is not suitable for plowing through the snow.”
Jillian seemed to have heard her small voice that sounded like she was talking to herself.
He covered Bianca with a thick fur blanket that was prepared in the carriage.
“Northern carriages originally had fairly wide wheels.”
There diameter, if it was measured using both hands, was well over two spans.
The carriage wheels were that wide?
Although she didn’t say it out loud, Jillian laughed briefly, probably from shock shown on her face.
“When the snow starts pouring, it’s not uncommon to be higher than a person in the Baloch territory.”
“Yes.”
“Because they have to run in such a snowy field without falling in, the wheels were naturally widened.”
Jillian continued his explanation in a kind voice.
“It’s natural here, but pulling a carriage like this in the capital is bound to attract attention, so I usually change carriages at the magic circle.”
Bianca nodded quietly.
It was a wise decision.
Driving across the capital city with such wide wheels would not only attract attention.
It was obvious that the Emperor would find fault with the strange appearance of the carriage somehow.
Forgetting the grace given by those who willingly protected him in the permafrost.
‘Because people naturally tend to have blind faith in the peace in front of them rather than in the danger far away.’
“……ha”
‘Did they completely forget how this peace was created?’
Bianca blinked her eyes quickly as the tinnitus rang in her ears.
She was caught off guard because she hadn’t heard anything in a while.
Bianca held her hands together and put force on her nails.
The tingling sensation penetrating her skin became more vivid, and the senses that had become distant began to return.
“Madam?”
My blurred vision became clearer and my hearing revived.
“Madam?”
“Ah yes?”
Although she was surprised to see Jillian right in front of her, Bianca tried to answer as calmly as possible.
“Suddenly,”
“I felt a little dizzy.”
This kind of thing was familiar.
It was an auditory hallucination that started in my childhood.
When I didn’t know anything, there were rumors that I went crazy because I told a woman what I had seen and heard.
‘Children sometimes lie to get attention.’
When she was around 7 years old, an arrogant comment from the etiquette teacher assigned to Bianca did not lapel her crazy, but she ended up being a liar.
“Dizziness?”
“Yes.”
Bianca answered Jillian’s question calmly and cupped her face.
Once the sound started to be heard, it usually appears four or five times sequentially.
The ‘words’ had nothing to do with what Bianca’s did.
It could be heard whenever and wherever it wanted.
Wherever I heard words, my body would be out of control and I got hurt more than once.
Tinnitus always gave Bianca trouble before, but not as much as today.
Why, why!
Even as her resentment welled up, Bianca instinctively tried to curl up and hold her head.
But then Jillian had pulled me into a hug.
Bianca, surprised by the hand wrapping around her shoulder, reflexively raised her head.
“Madam, lean on me.”
Jillian was holding me tightly.
The golden eyes that met mine felt warm, as if they were sunlight.
Bianca slowly closed her eyes.
I couldn’t tell if this was because my senses were relaxed or if it was real.
There was no sound now.
But Bianca knew it was too early to let down her guard.
She didn’t only have tinnitus.
Sometimes, I would talk to someone, look at something, and feel emotions in a way that was not my own.
It seemed like a fantasy, but at that moment it was complete reality.
The feeling of something touching my fingertips, the scent that passed my nose, and the voice that ringed in my ears.
The five insanely vivid senses broke Bianca down again and again.
So when Bianca heard voices, she remained silent, suspicious of everything around her.
“Shh, it’s okay.”
‘Shh, it’s okay.’
A voice layered over Jillian’s.
The two voices, overlapping as if they were one, were as soft as humming.
Bianca closed her eyes tightly.
Did I hold my head before?
It was hard to tell how much of it was real.
“It was a forced march. It’s natural that it’s difficult for you.”
“……”
“It’s okay. Just take a nap like this.”
When you open your eyes, you will be home.
Jillian’s voice faded and eventually became inaudible.
***
“How on earth did this happen? Wasn’t that different from what you promised?”
“That’s the way it happened.”
The crown prince, Jeremy,2Oh, how I hate every time they appear! looked very apologetic at Izar, who could not hide his displeasure.
“That’s how it happened? You have a habit of making everything sound easy.”
“Lord Izar, this was something that could only be explained in that way.”
How unlucky!
Jeremy bowed his head deeply in apology, but his intentions were a mess.
Izar arrived less than half a day after the beasts of Termina went on a rampage.
Izar, the ruler of Cartan, located beyond the rugged mountains in the east, rarely visited Termina.
But what kind of wind blew!3It is a metaphor to express the mess that happened after Izar came.
It is frustrating.
His molars were grinding in frustration, but it was his responsibility to deal with the angry Izar.
When the Emperor heard that Izar had arrived, he immediately summoned Jeremy.
‘You should meet Izar. It was your idea to send Bianca to Baloch.’
‘But, Your Majesty. This……!’
‘Isn’t it right that you take responsibility for what you did?‘
It certainly was.
But did the Emperor forget?
He, too, had agreed to sending Bianca to Baloch.
If only I had remembered my promise to Izar.
If I knew it would bring me trouble, I wouldn’t have proposed it!
He sent Bianca away in the place of his own life, and now he pretends not to know!
Thinking about it made me furious.
It made me grind my teeth harder, but the owner of this Termina was none other than the Emperor, Eclipse Termina.
The master of everything in the Termina Empire.
Jeremy was not an exception.
He was a crown prince, not an Emperor, and Emperors are not particularly attached to blood ties.
This meant that the Emperor did not care who the next emperor would be, as long as he could do as he pleased, even if he did not inherit his blood.
Until now, he(the crown prince) had been able to solidify his position by taking advantage of Bianca, who had earned the Emperor’s dislike, but he could no longer do that.
Now, it was time for him to focus only on surviving.
“Then would you mind explaining how all of that happened?”
Jeremy slowly raised his head and made eye contact with Izar as he heard him whispering voice.
I understood how he felt.
Last summer, didn’t he personally visit Termina and request the Emperor to send Bianca to Cartan as Empress when she comes of age?
At that time, the gold he received was in ten chests as tall as a person.
A chest of gold was worth so much money that it could easily buy a castle.
There were ten chests like that.
Izar said it was a small gift to an old friend, but it was clearly Bianca’s ransom.
It was a marriage proposal delivered directly by the ruler of a country for a ransom that was beyond generous.
But, wasn’t what happened the same as taking money and not giving Bianca?
It was no wonder Izar was angry.
However, if I just admit it, it will not end with just returning the ten golden chests.
Jeremy swallowed dry saliva and slowly opened his mouth.4Hehehe, that’s right you sow what you plant.
“Your majesty. I’m just sorry I couldn’t kill Bianca sooner.”
