Chapter 40
Due to the sudden change of events at the border, the grand banquet that had been prepared was temporarily canceled. Of course, the hero who had come from afar would not be neglected. A large table full of delicious food was still sent to the west tower, and even a bard came with a large group of maids, strumming his lute and singing loudly as Melissa ate.
The only two regrets were probably that His Majesty the King could not personally pour a glass of wine for the hero, and the grand ball led by the King and Queen after the banquet was also canceled—Clovis II was busy discussing countermeasures with the ministers of the Privy Council.
“Has Nelly ever seen the demon army?” Melissa ate the stew in her bowl with great satisfaction, wiped the corners of her mouth with a napkin, her posture extremely delicate, on par with the ladies of the Red Keep.
The system stipulated that the guide, as a spirit, could not tell the hero any information about previous adventures. Nelly hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. “I’ve only heard about it.”
She wasn’t exactly lying. The hero’s path and the war between the two major factions never overlapped. She had indeed never seen the true appearance of the demon army, and at most had witnessed the suffering of ordinary people being tormented by monsters. Karsus had once told Nelly that those monsters that ravaged the continent had nothing to do with him. He was the only demon on the continent, and his original fate was just to wait for death alone.
If that was the case, then the existence of the so-called “demon army” seemed to lack a sense of reality.
On the other hand, Nelly couldn’t be sure if what he said was true. She knew all too well the consequences of letting the Demon King run wild. Whether he was truly innocent in that apocalyptic scene… would only remain an unsolved mystery.
Melissa raised her cup and took a sip of wine, flicked her long, silver hair, and suddenly said softly, “But I have.”
Nelly was taken aback.
The silver-haired girl lowered her gaze and focused on the fine wine in the silver cup. The deep red of the wine seemed to be reflected in her violet eyes, and the flickering candlelight ignited two pools of rich, heavy color in the purple. The light seemed to be about to burst into flame. Her voice was very, very low, almost drowned out by the bard’s singing.
“Actually, I’ve only seen the scene after a demon army attack. But just that… is chilling.” As Melissa spoke, she actually trembled slightly, as if she had really felt the chill that had crept up her spine at that moment again. The cold feeling gripped her heart, causing her blood to lose the warmth it should have had after a full meal.
Melissa didn’t speak for a moment, and Nelly also fell into silence. Only the soft flow of the song could be heard in the room.
The bard was singing a popular ballad in the northern lands. An elderly viscount had married a young and beautiful noblewoman. He could not give his wife a complete love, but he was afraid every day that his wife would be taken away, so he locked her in a high tower, with only his old sister to accompany her. The viscountess could not go to the temple to pray, and she was depressed and haggard, only praying that someone would save her. Finally one day, an eagle flew in through the window of the high tower. The snow-white eagle transformed into a human, and a handsome and noble knight proposed to the young but haggard noblewoman, willing to become her only, secret, and loyal lover…
It was a moving story, but Melissa clearly had no interest in listening any further. She waved her hand politely, took a few silver coins from her pocket and tossed them to the bard, and drank the rest of the wine in her cup.
Nelly waited for everyone else to leave before she asked cautiously, “Melissa, what’s wrong?”
She twitched the corner of her mouth. “I just remembered something scary, that’s all.” As she spoke, she stretched as usual, pretending to be sleepy. “Ah, I’m sleepy after eating. Time to sleep, time to sleep!”
Ever since entering the Red Keep, Melissa’s behavior had been quite abnormal. She was not a good actress, and her acting of being calm when she was in a bad mood was clumsy. Even though she had seen through the hero’s abnormality at a glance, Nelly couldn’t rashly probe into her past. She could only gently extinguish the candle and let the night calm Melissa’s turbulent emotions.
※
The next morning, Pepin personally came to the west tower.
“The situation has changed suddenly. I am truly sorry for neglecting the Lord Hero.” The Lord Chamberlain bowed slightly, and Melissa quickly moved aside, saying,
“Not at all. I will have to ask for the Lord Chamberlain’s guidance on the future arrangements.”
Pepin no longer exchanged pleasantries. He nodded slightly, and a flicker of an unreadable emotion passed through his deep eyes. “If it is convenient, I would like to ask the Lord Hero to set off as soon as possible. Someone will be there to meet you on the Misty Coast.” He paused, and a rare, unpleasant sense of stagnation appeared in his tone. “In addition, there is another important matter I would like to entrust to you.”
“Please escort Her Highness Rosalia to the Misty Coast.”
Melissa’s eyes widened at his words. “Her Highness?”
“Yes,” Pepin gave a smile full of confidence, and for a moment, it was so smooth it was almost fake. It was as if this small reception room in the west tower was a microcosm of a huge arena, and he was used to being at ease in this game, but now he was in a rare, difficult situation and had to do his best to disguise his discomposure.
“We have received news that an unknown person is coveting Her Highness and wants to take advantage of the change in the country’s affairs. Therefore, His Majesty has decided to let Her Highness go to the Misty Tower for temporary refuge.”
“The Misty Tower?” Nelly asked unconsciously.
Pepin glanced at her, and Nelly was actually startled by the brief exchange of gazes.
In just a moment, Pepin had returned to his normal state and nodded calmly. “The Misty Tower is indeed sealed by a fairy’s spell right now, so Her Highness will wait for the Lord Hero to liberate the Misty Tower before she can take up temporary residence inside. After all, the Misty Tower is the strongest fortress on the Misty Coast, and even on the western part of the continent.”
Since the Lord Chamberlain had said so, although Melissa was also clearly full of confusion, she still nodded. “I understand. Please rest assured, Your Excellency and His Majesty. I will definitely protect Her Highness. The time of departure will be arranged by the Lord Chamberlain.”
Hearing this, Pepin smiled faintly and clapped his hands. “Then there’s no time to lose. Her Highness is also ready. Why don’t we set off now?”
Nelly almost rolled her eyes at him on the spot. This “we’ve already happily decided regardless of whether you agree or not” attitude was really speechless. She turned to the side and opened the system interface. The quest log now had an additional “(Hidden) Escort the Princess.”
Could it be that Melissa actually has a special lucky constitution, and that’s why hidden quests have been popping up one after another since the beginning of the journey?
On the other side, Melissa had agreed without hesitation. “No problem.”
“By the way, to avoid attracting attention, Her Highness will be traveling alone and in disguise this time,” Pepin added.
Melissa clearly felt the pressure from this, but she straightened her back and raised her chin slightly. “Her Highness’s safety is on me.”
The words were full, but reality was skinny. When Rosalia, dressed in a simple cotton and linen dress and a large cloak, appeared before them, Melissa was still clearly a little nervous.
Rosalia was completely normal. She nodded to Melissa and Nelly and smiled, pressing her lips together. “My name is Rosa. I will be in your care for the next few days.”
The three of them took an ordinary passenger boat directly from a small gate on the back side of the Red Keep, went upstream, and left Mez in just half a day, the journey uneventful. After leaving the city and confirming that they were not being followed, the three of them switched to horses, took the main road along the Frisia River, and headed west toward the Misty Coast.
Rosalia’s riding skills were surprisingly good, but she was always very quiet, pulling her hood down tightly, not talking much or looking around, and showing none of the curiosity that a princess who had grown up in a fortress should have.
Nelly couldn’t help but observe her carefully. Rosalia’s occasionally raised face, her gaze sweeping over the flowers along the way, all carried the same melancholy as on the terrace that day. Even though the delicate and vibrant flower branches were close at hand, the way Rosalia looked down at the branches still had a sense of distance, as if she were looking down from a high platform.
It was as if she had already accepted some fact and had decided that she did not belong here, so pained that she was numb, and had given up struggling and exploring.
At first, Melissa tried to talk to this famous Rose Princess, but the conversation often fell into the same pattern. Rosalia would answer Melissa’s words seriously, but her words were so concise and elegant that there was no room to continue. So Melissa could only ask again, get an answer, until the conversation could no longer continue.
After a few failed attempts, Melissa tactfully stopped talking. Even if she couldn’t put it into words, Melissa could feel Rosalia’s abnormality. It was as if Her Highness’s thoughts were suspended in some unseen, distant world, and all her senses and emotions were left there, so what remained in this beautiful shell was only a mysterious silence and melancholy.
Merovingia was the heartland of the Merloh dynasty, and the main road was relatively safe. They traveled west for several days without incident, and the small monsters they encountered were easily defeated by Melissa. After a short stop at another major fortress, Mazier’s Keep, the three of them set off again. From here, the road gradually went deeper into the mountains and valleys of Wildia. The further west they went, the more chaotic the branches on the side of the road became. It was clear that because there were few travelers to disturb them, the branches stretched out without any scruples.
And it was on the first night they camped in the forest that something strange happened.
It was a moonless night, and the stars, flickering among the swaying leaves, seemed dim and timid. The spring wind in the wild still carried a lingering chill, and it whistled through the forest, playing a duet with the owls.
Nelly always felt that someone was watching in the dark. This was a keen intuition she had developed from her past experiences.
The people by the fire were blinded by the safe light and couldn’t see the movements in the dark, but they relied on the warmth of the fire to drive away the wild beasts, so they could only feel anxious and uneasy because of their intuition. She tossed and turned a few times but couldn’t fall asleep. She quietly sat up, wrapped in a thick blanket and leaning against a tree stump, rubbed her eyes, and looked up to see a thick cloud slowly filling the gaps between the branches, temporarily shrouding the surrounding scenery in a gray-white shadow.
At that moment, a black shadow suddenly appeared in the shadows of the trees and silently approached Rosalia.