Chapter 42. Let’s Leave Together

– Oh right! How did the competition go?

– The water beast won.

– Really? You must have been so happy! Did you congratulate them?

– I couldn’t watch the competition directly. I was stuck in Father’s storehouse.

– You went into uncle’s storehouse? He doesn’t like that.

Like Yuelina’s father who was the chief of the Coho tribe, Asarim’s father was also the chief of the Apan tribe.

Asarim’s father, the representative of the Apan tribe, placed great importance on records and history.

However, the history he valued wasn’t about telling what had happened.

It was closer to legends passed down on their island. Asarim’s father didn’t easily show these legends to just anyone.

He believed that the more people who knew the legends, the deeper their wicked hearts would grow.

So only Yuelina’s father, the representative of the Coho tribe, and a few warriors skilled in tactics could enter the storehouse.

– I finally got permission this time.

– How is uncle doing? How is… my father?

– Uncle hasn’t come out much since you left.

Yuelina’s nose stung.

She couldn’t help it when thinking about her father.

When she became the heir of the Coho tribe, her father had been so happy.

She vividly remembered his gentle smile as he said she would lead Luhae Island and Coho village well.

Yuelina sniffled, trying hard to hold back her tears.

– Tell him I’m doing well. That people treat me well. That I’m always staying strong and healthy.

Asarim almost wished Yuelina would just cry openly.

If she cried, saying she missed the village and the island, his heart might have felt a bit better.

– His Highness the Grand Duke always treats me well too.

– ……

– So tell father not to worry about me and take care of himself. Tell him to stay well until the day we meet again.

– You could tell him yourself.

Yuelina gave a bitter smile.

– I need to adjust a bit more. Like Uncle Delkan said, I should stay here for a year.

– ……

– The people in Phaenyx territory are kind to me, but the people of the principality might think of me as a thief.

– A thief?

– It might look like I’m trying to steal the magic stones. They don’t even know where our village is.

Asarim bit his lip.

– Yuna, let’s leave together.

Asarim firmly held Yuelina’s hand with a serious face.

– What do you mean?

– You don’t have to stay here. I found a way.

He said resolutely.

* * *

Ulysse entered Theo’s bedroom after knocking.

Theo, who had been lying in bed, raised his upper body.

Ulysse let out an exclamation while examining Theo’s complexion.

“Your recovery power is amazing.”

His face, which had been pale and bloodless, now had color as if it had never been otherwise.

Even with medicine, it hadn’t been half a day.

The current Theo didn’t look at all like someone who had coughed up blood from internal injuries.

Rather, his blazing eyes were boosting his vitality.

“Report.”

“Ah, yes. Her Highness the Grand Duchess just went up.”

“What?”

A dark shadow fell across Theo’s face.

After parting with Asarim at the training ground, Theo had immediately shattered the stairs leading to the tower where Yuelina stayed.

So the only way for Yuelina to go up to her attic room was through his study.

The study was right through the door from Theo’s bedroom.

Yet Yuelina had gone up without even greeting him.

Besides, what time was it now?

Theo turned his head to look out the window.

Due to the pitch-black night, no scenery was visible outside the window.

Only his own fierce, distorted face was reflected there.

Ulysse wiped away cold sweat seeing Theo’s grim face.

“I-I told her to go up thinking you were asleep.”

“Who’s sleeping?”

“You just said you were tired and would take a nap…”

“What did they do?”

Ulysse took out a small notebook from his inner pocket.

It was a note transcribing what the shadows Theo had set to watch Yuelina and Asarim had said.

Ulysse cleared his throat while adjusting his glasses.

“Ahem, ahem. First, they walked along the narrow path talking about their homeland.”

“……”

“And after walking for a while, they went into the cabin by the river…”

Veins bulged on the back of Theo’s hand.

He grabbed the blanket forcefully while glaring at Ulysse.

“They went where?”

“…The cabin.”

“I sent them for a walk, and they’re walking through a cabin?”

“Pardon?”

“Since when did taking a walk come to mean wandering around an enclosed indoor space?”

“Ah, well, since the wind was cold…”

Ulysse stared at Theo with his mouth open, feeling wronged.

He didn’t understand why he was making excuses to Theo when he wasn’t even the Grand Duchess.

“And those Shadow bastards just watched?”

“W-well, Shadows are meant to monitor without being detected…”

“So they’d just watch even if I died.”

“Y-Your Highness!”

“They just watched the Grand Duchess enter an enclosed space with a man because they’re only supposed to monitor?”

Theo made new plans for early the next morning.

Call the Shadows to the training ground.

Beat them up.

That would be barely enough to fill the day’s schedule.

He got up from his seat with a heavy sigh.

Suddenly his whole body felt like it was boiling and bubbling.

“So, what did they do in the cabin?”

“Well… They seem to have talked…”

“What kind of talk!”

Ulysse sincerely wanted to cry.

“I don’t know! They spoke in their island village language!”

“Damn it.”

Theo recalled Asarim’s face.

He should have planted his fist in that face at the training ground.

Should have made his mouth so swollen he couldn’t speak…

As Theo’s face grew increasingly distorted, Ulysse hurriedly spoke up.

“However, after leaving the cabin, that Asarim seemed to ask Her Highness the Grand Duchess for confirmation several times.”

“Confirmation?”

“Yes. He repeated the same words, and Her Highness kept nodding. They say Asarim looked like he was begging.”

Theo stroked his chin.

What could that rogue minstrel-looking guy have been begging Yuelina for?

Should he have followed them even if it meant his body breaking down?

Theo felt a strange, inexplicable anxiety rising.

* * *

After bathing and changing into her nightgown, Yuelina sat in front of the fireplace.

The warm heat from the magic stones was slowly drawing out the moisture from her wet hair.

“A way…”

Yuelina stared at the water drops falling from her hair.

Asarim had told her about a way to protect the island without magic stones.

– If you drink the water from the ‘River of Memories’, you can become a ‘Snow Person’. You learned about the ‘Snow People’, right?

Yuelina had learned about the ‘Snow People’ during her heir training with her father.

It was one of the legends passed down on Luhae Island.

There’s a legend that if a ‘Snow Person’ drinks from the ‘River of Memories’, they can find their past life memories and recover their lost power.

That power was a special power that could save the people of Luhae Island.

The reason her father told her this legend wasn’t just because Yuelina was the heir.

It was because Yuelina’s appearance was very similar to the ‘Snow People’.

The ‘Snow People’ had white hair and skin that wouldn’t tan even in long exposure to sunlight.

But her father’s tone when telling the legend wasn’t too serious.

It was a light story told in hopes that Yuelina, as the heir to the Coho tribe, would pay attention to her lessons.

Yuelina also understood her father’s intention and treated it as an interesting and fun story.

Legends were just legends, and until she took those lessons, there had been no major crisis on Luhae Island.

Above all, the ‘River of Memories’ that could help find the ‘Snow Person’s’ power didn’t exist on Luhae Island.

The ‘River of Memories’ was said to have blue water that always maintained a warm temperature.

But the rivers on Luhae Island weren’t warm, and their water color was ordinary.

– You know there’s a temple here, right?

– Yes. Because I heard about it from Uncle Delkan.

– Right. The ‘holy water’ in that temple is similar to the ‘River of Memories’.

But Asarim told her something unexpected.

The ‘River of Memories’ that should be on Luhae Island if it existed at all was here, in a place completely unrelated to Luhae Island?

And if it was in a temple, it must be related to the god these people believed in.

– The only way to confirm if the ‘holy water’ is really the ‘River of Memories’ is for you to go to the temple and drink it yourself.

Asarim’s expression was resolute as he talked about the ‘holy water’ in the cabin.