Edited

10.The World of the Bloody Prologue(2)

We don’t have time to waste building a ladder.

He was merciless in war, but he was foolishly always thinking of his friends and the wounded.

The members of the imperial family, who were fighting over the succession, cleverly dug into this point of Deon.

That he was a selfless person who would never give up, taking every corpse with him if he were his ally.

There were many times when he hesitated like that and was put on the defensive or lost a subordinate he cherished.

Everyone knew.

That it would be wise to leave me behind.

If you leave me, you can live, but Deon’s orders won’t come out, so I’m walking slowly. A dark shadow fell over my face.

We’re all going to die at this rate.

The prologue has to end. I can live another two years, but I don’t want to die here.

I dragged my weak legs and grabbed Viter’s collar in the back row.

and whispered to him

“Tell them to go first.”

“Yes?”

It was a puzzled face. He asked as he looked around.

“Why me…”

Well, it seems like you’re the only one here who can be ruthless.

“Young lady.”

He sighed.

“Because the mountain is steep, we may not be able to come before the poison spreads.”

“I know.”

“You know?”

I nodded.

“And yet… Are you sure you’re okay?”

I nodded again.

He frowned.

“You may regret it. Blood is important, but nothing is more important than life to the Duke. If you really think we’ll come to get you…”

“I will take care of that.”

He hesitated to tell me something, but soon he shut his mouth.

“… I see.”

Then he turned his head and shouted at the knights.

“Your Grace, the young lady is right. Time will be delayed like this. Everyone is in danger.”

At Viter’s cry, the Knights looked back at me once more.

Deon, who was cutting off a twig, stopped his hand.

“Young lady, if it’s too hard for you, I’ll carry you.”

Ethan intervened without noticing.

Even amid this calamity, he was so polite and benevolent that it almost brought me to tears.

But he couldn’t carry me on his back. The snow kept piling up, so I was running away, throwing away all the heavy loads. If it were good conditions, I would have asked the Duke to carry me on his back.

“It’s okay””

I took a step back.

And smiled as if it was really okay. I hope this smile will reassure him.

“Do you want to die?”

Deon growled in a low voice.

“You didn’t know how precious life was before. Do you really want to die?”

My stomach rumbled.

My shoulders stiffened, but I smiled again.

“No. I want to live.”

I really wanted to live. But for me to live, you must be alive first.

“I am not talking about making a noble sacrifice. I’m not going to die. Didn’t I tell you? I will live long and strong. So, Your Grace…”

My throat was choking for some reason.

“Please come pick me up. Please.”

A watery voice came out.

I smiled again.

I could feel the corners of my mouth quivering, but I tried to lift the corners of my mouth. Hoping he wouldn’t notice this trembling.
T/N: Am I supposed to feel emotional about this?

“I want you…”

Deon approached with a firm expression.

“I can’t leave you.”

“I’m not leaving you behind. I’m here for a while.”

I tried to be calm, but my voice trembled.

“Go away.”

I pushed him firmly.

“No, I can’t.”

“Your Grace.”

A firm chest touched my hand. I felt the chest go up and down hard.

“You must keep your promise. The ink hasn’t even dried on the contract yet.”

“…”

He stared at me, confused emotions mixed on his face.

Every time he licked his lips, cold air flowed out.

An uncomfortable air flowed. He finally groaned softly.

“… I will definitely come to pick you up so wait.”

He murmured lowly as if talking to himself.

Those words sounded like they were talking to themselves.

“Only three hours. Just wait three hours. I’ll be back soon.”

Although the novel was not interesting, I highly appreciated this point of his.

While he is infinitely cruel, he has a sense of justice that he cannot let go of.

Although I won’t be his person until the end.

I nodded.

It’s fate that I have no choice but to wait for him or run away anyway.

“Move again.”

Deon shouted at the knights who had stopped walking.

The group veered off the beaten track.

Thank God. I don’t know if I can hold out for three hours just like he said.

He looked back several times as he walked with the soldiers.

When the group of knights completely disappeared from sight, I caught my breath and sat down with my back against a nearby tree.

I took out a piece of paper from my pocket.

It was a map stolen from the office.

Since I had to check the crossroads to escape, I was planning to bypass the knights and see them secretly.

Still, I’m glad there’s no one watching me.

I didn’t know that it would be used not for finding a way to escape, but for finding a place to hide.

It was covered in snow all around, so even looking at the map, I couldn’t tell it apart.

I traced the map along the red string tied to the big tree.

“Is this the section…?”

It was rapidly getting dark so that even the large letters on the map could not be seen.

As the sun went down, the mountain got colder.

It was fortunate that I was dressed in layers.

However, the wind came in from the hat that Suren put on.

Suren. Apparently, you were tricked by the merchant.

Why wouldn’t you freeze to death? It’s not warm at all.

I should say thank you, though.

If I go back if I go back.

Woooooooo…

A wolf howl was heard in the distance.

‘There are animals.’

Deon’s words came to mind. Contrary to what I boasted, I did not know how to climb trees.

How would an ordinary Korean grow up and climb a tree?

Should I have been on a telephone pole?

As the sun set over the mountains, the surroundings were enveloped in darkness in an instant.

Snow fell again from the sky. I needed a place to escape the cold.

I spread out the map on a flat rock.

Map symbols were in alphabetical units.

The rock in front of me is marked with an A.

The huge boulder to the right of the crevasse B.

I blinked and adapted to the darkness.

I glanced around. My prediction came true.

Both A and B were huge stones. A sign is a rock, B is a bigger cliff rock, and C is probably if I’m right…

Wouldn’t it be a big rock that can hide my body?

I groped my darkened eyes and found the rock marked on C.

To get to C, I had to climb a narrow mountain road.

Fortunately, it was located not too far away.

I took a deep breath and put my foot on the sloping hill.

One step, one step.

I stepped carefully. My arms trembled.

It was a really weak body. If I go back, I will eat more and train my body first.

When I put my fourth foot up, something caught on the bottom of my shoe.

A different sensation than when stepping on other parts. It was moss.

“What?”

I lost my balance as soon as I said it. In an instant, my feet slipped straight.

I stretched out my arms to keep from rolling down the hill.

With a thud, I fell awkwardly forward.

While struggling, her arm was scratched on the edge of a stone.

The sleeves of her coat were ripped in tatters.

When I rolled up my clothes, I saw that the wounds I had gotten from fighting with the head maid in the dining room had reopened.

The wounds were more vivid as the cold winter wind touched them.

I closed my eyes and bit my lip.

At that time, I was just hungry.

I suddenly felt sad at the thought that I was now cold and left alone in the dark.

But there is no time to shed tears.

I untied the waist strap and tied it to my arm to stop the bleeding. There are no flashlights or candles now. Before the sun went down, I had to take a thorough look around. As I cleared the wound, a cold wind wrapped around my arm. The cold chill tightens the pain of the wound

Climbing up the mountain, I managed to find the rock shown on the map.

It was a small cave.

It was a better harvest than I expected. I can block the snow for now.

‘It’s cold. I need to make a fire.’

Upon entering the cave, extreme cold and hunger swept through.

Blowing on my frozen hands, I picked up a dry twig.

I cut branches that had not accumulated snow and piled up firewood.

I put a branch on a wooden board and rubbed it with my palm. The fire seemed to burn out, but then it went quiet again.

I rubbed it for a few more minutes, but there was only faint smoke rising from the tree. There is only soot on the wooden floor

It must have been because many branches were not dry due to the constant snowfall.

It was just that my stamina was exhausted. I finally gave up and hid my frozen hands under my collar.

My whole body trembled, and my teeth clashed fiercely.

It was really terribly cold.

Far from running away, I would seem to freeze to death in the North.

While staying in the castle, I imagined the end of Leoni in my own way.

Being imprisoned and withering to death, being disposed of according to the schedule in the original work, or starving to death while completely consuming food and drink in the room.

But the verb was nowhere to be found. It was a death I hadn’t even imagined.

The wind in the mountains was so cold that it could not be compared to the dungeon.

I buried my head in my lap and bowed down. I felt like I could endure the cold if I crouched down a little.

Just as I was enduring the drowsiness that came over me little by little, I felt a shadow linger at the entrance to the cave.

The shadow inflated its body as it grew smaller and larger according to the moonlight.

Did reinforcements come already?’

I raised my head.

I always wanted to get away from him, and run away, but in this situation, I felt like I wanted to run to him in one step because I was glad to see him.

I carefully straightened my back. And when my eyes met with the shadow, I felt strange.

a sense of being incompatible with people

From a slightly lower place, it emits a snort that is hotter than a person’s.

‘It’s not reinforcement.’

It’s not the refreshing blue eyes I’ve always met face to face. At the entrance, yellow eyes fluttered.

The black shape that seemed backlit became more and more clear.

The wind blew with a shyaaa sound. The leaves of the pine trees that were blocking the moonlight bent in one direction.

Thanks to that, the moonlight brightly illuminated the entrance to the cave.

A wolf stood at the entrance. I had goosebumps all over my body.

The moment our eyes met, it felt like my breathing stopped.

In front of the cave, a large white wolf was quietly staring at me.

I couldn’t breathe and froze in place. I was terrified.

Wolves run in packs.

The fact that a male wolf came here means that there is a high probability that there is a pack not far away.

Maybe it was wandering around looking for food and ended up in a cave. There might be another group behind you.

I picked up the long twigs I had piled up in front of me. And swung it into the air.

“Go, a…way! Shoo.”

However, contrary to the desperate wind, the wolf shook his head once and came closer.

Was it a provocation?

I was the one who dealt with the Duke that was said to be like a beast.

Indeed, I was helpless in front of a single beast.

The large beast came closer, backed away, and then came back in again. It seemed to mock my frightened appearance.

A wolf’s long shadow stretched across the entrance.

Every time the wolf’s shadow reached my side, I was startled and backed away.

It looked like it would jump into the cave at any moment and swallow me.

Sweat formed on my forehead. I didn’t notice it because I was fighting with the wolf, but my head was burning. The bruises on my arms came belatedly.

Sweat trickling down from the heat quickly froze in the cold, then froze again.

My body got colder.

My whole body was trembling.