94. The Water of Life of Fallenberg (4)
‘You’re all dead now, thanks to my husband.’
In fact, Katya had just spotted Nikolai and his party searching the mountains in the distance through the window of Brunhilde’s house.
Despite the knights’ attempts to stop him, Nikolai had searched the mountains all night looking for her.
She knew they would visit this crowded place first when they came down from the mountains.
Katya had deliberately thrown herself into enemy territory to create a bigger incident.
She had calculated the time they would descend and stalled accordingly.
Though Nikolai didn’t know about this plan.
‘I’m sorry, Your Highness.’
He must have been so surprised.
Coming to the riverside where people had gathered to ask for directions, only to witness his wife struggling in the water after being forcibly thrown in.
Nikolai jumped into the river without hesitation and charged at the men with terrifying momentum.
He threw them all like bags with his bare hands in an instant and tightly embraced Katya.
“Tia……”
The moment she fell into her husband’s broad embrace, Katya’s tears burst forth.
Though she had acted composed, she had actually been scared things might go wrong.
But such extreme measures were necessary to root out this absurd corruption.
Attempting to harm the Grand Duchess was a serious crime.
And above all, she had missed Nikolai.
“Mmph—.”
Nikolai removed the cloth that had been stuffed in her mouth.
“Are you alright, Tia?”
No, he didn’t need to ask.
The moment he saw the tears in his wife’s eyes, Nikolai felt his blood rushing backwards through his body.
He had never been so angry about anything in his life.
Of course, he had been furious that day at Duke Smirnov’s mansion when Ivan had forcibly grabbed Katya’s wrist and insulted her.
He wanted to throw Ivan out the window and kill him right there.
But this was different.
These insane people had dared to try to drown her.
Just as Nikolai’s eyes went wild with rage at those who had threatened his wife’s life, he turned around while holding Katya.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
An outraged Boris shouted in a booming voice.
“How dare you attempt to harm Her Highness the Grand Duchess? Have you lost your minds?”
The loyal aide stammered in excitement at this absurd situation.
At the words ‘Grand Duchess,’ people looked at each other wondering if they had heard wrong.
Pavel stepped forward, holding back the enraged Boris with one hand, and drew his sword to place it against the head priest’s neck.
“Kneel.”
“Wh-what……”
“Show proper respect to His Highness the Grand Duke and Her Highness the Grand Duchess.”
The false priest’s jaw began to tremble as he saw the Grand Ducal crest shining on the sword handle.
With a pale face, he slowly turned his head toward the river.
Nikolai was walking out of the river while holding Katya.
His hair began to shine silver as it reflected the sunlight.
The dye had all washed out after being in the rain for a long time yesterday, past its dyeing period.
The priest immediately fell to his knees as he realized that man was the Grand Duke.
Following him, all the people around the Andera River knelt and prostrated themselves before Nikolai and Katya as they came ashore.
Even the people in this remote region knew well of the Grand Duke’s notoriety.
The legendary tyrant known as the ‘Bloody Grand Duke’ who would kill anyone who crossed him was now before them.
“You dare…… attempt to harm my wife?”
Nikolai’s voice was originally baritone but had become even lower after spending the night searching the mountains calling Katya’s name.
This inspired even greater fear in those who heard it.
“We-we deserve death, Your Highness! We-we didn’t recognize Her Highness the Grand Duchess……”
“This is all because of that witch!”
“Y-yes! We mistook Her Highness the Grand Duchess while trying to punish that witch—”
At the priests’ excuses, Nikolai sighed deeply and brushed back his wet bangs with his hand.
He felt that even beheading these people one by one wouldn’t be enough to satisfy his anger.
But they could feel him trying hard to suppress his rage, worried it might frighten Katya.
“Punish a witch? How?”
“Traditionally, there are several ways to identify witches, and what we were about to do is called the water trial. We tie up the whole body and throw them in this river—if they float, they’re a witch……”
“Ha……”
Nikolai was too dumbfounded to speak.
As reported, the people of Fallenberg had been conducting witch hunts.
They had been carrying out their own form of religious trials.
But the religion of Hersen did not permit this.
The problem arose because they had shown maximum respect for the unique culture of these immigrants who had come from the neighboring Charmente Empire, which shared the same roots.
While previous Grand Dukes may have turned a blind eye to this, Nikolai had no intention of doing so.
“Then should we tie me up and throw me in the river too?”
“Wh-what?”
“If I float, that means I’m a mage too. Will you kill me then?”
“Wh-what are you saying! How could we dare to…… Your Highness! That’s absurd!”
“Oh? You seemed to think you were above the law. I thought you weren’t afraid of anything.”
His words cut deep.
The priests trembled and wept, begging forgiveness as they realized what Nikolai meant.
These people who had treated others’ lives as worthless were now desperately begging on their hands and knees to be spared.
Katya frowned in disgust at their pathetic attempts to save their lives by groveling.
Even Brunhilde, who had emerged from the water with the knights’ help, almost laughed mockingly.
“Spare you? You were harming my precious subjects at will, so why should I show you mercy?”
“We were wrong! If you forgive us just this once, we’ll never do this again!”
“This? What exactly?”
“Th-that……”
The priests who had been so talkative suddenly fell silent.
They thought if they could just get through this moment, they could bribe local officials to escape punishment at trial.
But admitting their crimes in front of all these people would not only destroy their honor and dignity as priests but could also be used against them at trial.
Nikolai’s anger rose even further as he could practically hear them scheming.
“Shall I tell you instead? Witch hunts are forbidden by Hersen’s law. Moreover, you’ve misinterpreted doctrine to commit murder, something even the Hersen church forbids—this is illegal and deserves punishment.”
“……”
“If you like the Charmente Empire’s ways so much, why not live there? How dare you commit such barbaric acts in my country?”
“……”
“A life for a life. That’s Hersen’s law. You chose to live in Hersen, so shouldn’t you follow our laws? Well, if you want to return to Charmente now, go ahead. But you’ll be punished first. If you prefer to go as corpses, I’ll help arrange burial plots in the Empire.”
“Your Highness……”
When Nikolai silently nodded his head, knights gathered to bind the false priests and villagers involved and took them away.
They would report them to an impartial regional judge with no connections to these people.
He intended to make all the nobles who had colluded with the false priests pay for their crimes as well.
The money these people had collected in advance was returned to all the tourists.
The tourists praised the Grand Duke’s fair judgment.
“I-I didn’t recognize Your Highness the Grand Duchess. Please forgive me.”
As soon as the incident was settled and people dispersed, Brunhilde knelt before Katya and spoke.
Katya caught her and made her stand up.
“How could you know when I didn’t say anything? Actually, since we haven’t officially had the royal wedding yet, not many people know.”
“Still……”
“You’ve been through a lot. Sorry for making things bigger and putting you through such an ordeal.”
“Not at all, Your Highness. Actually, earlier I…… felt quite satisfied.”
Katya couldn’t help but laugh when she made such comments with such a gentle face.
“Shall we have a meal before we leave?”
“What?”
“I want to recruit you. As my royal physician and lady’s maid.”
“R-royal physician?”
“Yes. Your medical skills are quite impressive. Having a female physician would be convenient in many ways.”
“That’s absurd! How could someone like me dare to be Your Highness’s physician!”
Brunhilde waved both hands, showing her reluctance.
“Besides, when it’s not even certain whether I’m a witch or not, how could I enter the palace?”
“I told you it’s holy power. And there’s no law saying mages can’t serve.”
“But I’m worried my appearance might cause trouble for Your Highness. Everyone says I’m cursed, a bad omen……”
“You’re not cursed. It’s albinism.”
Katya had read about albinism in Arsetian medical books.
Brunhilde wasn’t cursed or anything, she was simply born that way.
“Being different isn’t wrong. Being unique doesn’t mean being abnormal. Think of it this way. You’re just a bit more special than others.”
Katya was the first person to ever tell her she was special.
With tears welling up in her eyes, she could only nod repeatedly with an emotional expression.
Thanks to Katya’s efforts, the Fallenberg incident was resolved earlier than expected.
This marked the end of Nikolai’s secret journey to the south.
When they return to the capital, Katya will truly become the Grand Duchess of Hersen.
Their final enemies awaited Katya and Nikolai at the palace.
Katya knew.
All of this had been to gain momentum to face them.
