91. The Water of Life of Fallenberg (1)

Faced with the raging fire, her sleepiness vanished instantly.

This wasn’t a dream. Without time to figure out what was happening, she exited the tent, and Boris, who had been sitting against the cave wall warming his hands by the fire, jumped up at her presence.

“Your Highness, you’re awake?”

Coming outside, she saw it wasn’t a fire. They had lit a bonfire near the cave entrance.

Two knights stood beside Boris.

“What’s going on here? Where is His Highness?”

“Just now, monsters appeared and turned the surroundings into a wasteland.”

“Monsters?”

Katya asked in surprise at the word ‘monsters.’

In fact, monster appearances were practically nonexistent in most regions of Hersen.

The same was true for the neighboring Charmente Empire.

The only place where monsters appeared was the Red Forest in the eastern lands of the Empire.

“Yes. It seems that since this area is near the Red Forest, some monsters lucky enough to break through the barrier followed the waterways up here.”

“Is everyone safe? Is anyone hurt?”

“Fortunately, everyone has keen ears while sleeping so no one is seriously injured yet, but they’ve all gone out to hunt the monsters. We remained here to protect Your Highness.”

“Then this fire……”

“Yes. We heard monsters hate fire, so we lit it at the entrance as a defensive line.”

Since they couldn’t light fires outside in the drizzling rain, this was essentially their only safe zone.

“Did you bring all the weapons and other important luggage?”

“Yes, here…… Why do you ask?”

“Is there a crossbow?”

At the Grand Duchess’s words, the knight rummaged through the luggage and handed her a crossbow.

Though guns were perfect for hunting, they were useless now since the rain prevented firing.

Katya examined the crossbow from various angles.

Though its form differed slightly from what she used for hunting in Padovangrad, its structure was simple enough that she could quickly get used to it.

“Your Highness? Why are you suddenly picking that up?”

Boris’s voice cracked with an ominous premonition.

The atmosphere grew tense. This was a warning signal from years of experience accumulated in his mind.

Having gone through thick and thin under an unusual master, he instinctively sensed that the Grand Duchess, who was as peculiar as the Grand Duke, was about to do something.

Boris naturally stepped in front of her to block her path.

“You can’t.”

“What can’t I do?”

“Whatever Your Highness is thinking, it absolutely cannot happen.”

“Not even going out for a brief walk because I feel stuffy?”

Katya offered a half-hearted lie.

“Who goes for a walk carrying weapons with such a fierce expression like Your Highness?”

“I was just itching to go hunting since it’s been so long.”

“If you’re itching, scratch it. If it’s throbbing, try hitting it. I’m simply following His Highness’s orders to protect you!”

Boris, who had stood firm with his hands on his hips and a brave expression, quickly retreated when pushed by Katya’s hands.

His physical strength left much to be desired for someone expected to serve as a guard knight in Pavel’s place.

Though Nikolai would have wanted Pavel to stay here to protect Katya, he wouldn’t have listened to that order.

After all, Pavel was the captain of the guards, with a mission to protect both the Grand Duke and Duchess.

The one in more danger now was Nikolai, who had rushed to fight the monsters.

Knowing Pavel’s joining would end the hunt faster, the Grand Duke ultimately accepted his decision.

“Didn’t His Highness order these knights to protect me? He didn’t tell you specifically to stick right next to these knights, did he?”

“How did you know?”

Boris asked with startled rabbit eyes.

“Boris, you stay here and guard the food, weapons, and other important luggage. You two come with me.”

“Your Highness, but His Highness ordered us to–”

“I’m going hunting, so you can follow His Highness’s orders by protecting me. Follow me and keep providing cover. Can you do that?”

She couldn’t just quietly wait for Nikolai to return safely.

He had said he would choose dozens of scars on his own body over a single scratch on hers.

But the same was true for Katya.

She hated the thought of his life being endangered or him returning injured.

“When a ruler jumps into danger, how can I, as both a subject and a wife, just stand by? I’d rather die together as a couple than become a widow alone. I absolutely hate that idea.”

Unable to break the Grand Duchess’s stubbornness, the knights followed behind her, leaving Boris in the cave as they headed outside.

Not long after entering the forest, Katya discovered Nikolai’s group pursuing the monsters.

It seemed their strategy was to corner them in one place.

She led the knights in the opposite direction from the Grand Duke’s group, preparing for monsters that might break away.

When a cornered monster charged at the knights in rage after reaching a dead end, Nikolai leaped up and stabbed his sword into its eye.

Just as the monster screamed and died from the eye wound, another hidden monster revealed itself behind him as he pulled out his sword.

“Your Highness!”

Hearing his wife’s voice through the rain, Nikolai turned around just as the monster rising to pounce on him was struck by an arrow from somewhere and fell to the ground.

Though Katya had hit her mark with the crossbow, she tumbled down a cliff as the rain-soaked ground collapsed under her while running to get within range to shoot.

“Tia!”

Nikolai, spotting her from afar, called out his wife’s name anxiously as he ran.

Even as she fell, Katya closed her eyes thinking how fortunate it was that she could save him.

***

When Katya, who had fainted, opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a woman with dazzling radiance and skin so pale it lacked any color.

With white hair as if snow had fallen on her head, bloodless lavender lips, and even pink-tinged eyes.

She looked as if all colors except white had been stripped from her body.

Katya felt she had seen such a woman’s face somewhere before.

Ah yes. In the temple murals.

“Are you a goddess? Then is this…… paradise?”

The woman was startled at being called a goddess.

“Seeing as I’ve come to paradise, I must have lived doing many good deeds.”

“I’m sorry, but this isn’t paradise.”

The pure white woman smiled awkwardly as she spoke.

Katya, who had been half-conscious with drooping eyes, suddenly opened them wide in shock at those words.

“Then could this be hell? Even though I was called a villainess, I didn’t actually live that badly, right?”

The woman burst out laughing at her pouting with an aggrieved expression.

“Don’t worry. You haven’t died yet.”

“Yet……”

“I misspoke. Though you have some injuries here and there, fortunately nothing is broken and you’re safe.”

Only then did Katya try moving her arms and legs.

Sticky ointment had been applied over the scabs and bruises on her body.

“Did you save and treat me?”

The woman nodded shyly.

“You were collapsed behind our mountain, so I brought you inside. Were you not with anyone?”

“Behind the mountain means……”

The woman, who had been sitting by the window, stood up as if to show her the view beyond.

Katya shielded her eyes with her arm as she looked that way, dazzled by the light.

Only then did she realize that the halo that had been illuminating the woman was sunlight pouring through the window.

Indeed, there was a mountain right behind the window.

After falling last night, she must have rolled down the steep mountain and ended up here.

‘His Highness will be looking for me…..’

As Katya swayed while trying to get up from the bed, suddenly feeling dizzy, the woman quickly ran over to support her.

“You seem to have anemia. I have herbs good for anemia. I’ll quickly brew some tea leaves, so please at least drink that before leaving.”

“I’m late in thanking you. Thank you so much for saving me.”

“It’s nothing. I just brought you inside and applied some ointment, I didn’t do much.”

But if it weren’t for her, Katya might have lost her life to hypothermia in the rain last night.

Though she knew there were no big cities nearby, the woman strangely seemed to have medical knowledge.

All educational institutions that trained doctors and pharmacists were in cities, and even those didn’t admit women.

At most, female receptionists working at clinics and pharmacies in cities knew basic things they had picked up.

Yet this woman even knew how to make medicine herself.

Just who was she?

This log cabin was small enough that you could see the entire interior at a glance.

The woman seemed to live here alone.

Lost in thought, someone knocked on the cabin door from outside.

“Brunhilde! Next customer!”

Along with a man’s booming voice, a hunched elderly man entered.

“I came for a drink of the water of life…… cough, cough.”

The old man walked in unsteadily, speaking in a dying voice while coughing dryly.

“Please sit here and wait a moment.”

Brunhilde pulled out a dining chair for him to sit, then took out a cup from the cupboard and poured water from a bottle to hand to him.

The old man looked into the cup with hopeful eyes before gulping it down in one breath.

“Hmm…… I came a long way hearing about the water of life, but it doesn’t seem very effective.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What do you have to be sorry for, Miss? From what I heard outside, you’re just the keeper of this River of Life. It’s not like you’re selling the water of life……”

He heaved a deep sigh.

“I sold all my livestock at home to barely scrape together money for that one cup.”

Katya raised an eyebrow at the old man’s words.

Charging that much money for a cup of water?

Plus, ‘water of life’—the name itself reeked of pseudo-religion.