The river surged violently past, swollen with rainwater.

It was hard to believe that it had almost dried up not long ago. The thunderous rush of the current was so terrifying that the pounding rain seemed insignificant in comparison.

Fortunately, the water had not yet risen high enough to threaten the embankment.

“Standing on the path at the top of the embankment, Richel watched people rushing through the rain below.”

She and Clompo had gone from village to village gathering residents and sandbags, and this was proving an enormous help.

At that moment, Hans’s voice rang out across the storm.

Shouting at the top of his lungs, he ran frantically between the private soldiers and the villagers, directing everyone amid the chaos.

“Stack them unevenly! Make the gaps overlap each other! That’ll make it sturdier—!”

People stood in lines at regular intervals and passed the sandbags from hand to hand.

They laid the sandbags one by one over the section of the embankment that had collapsed.

Soil becomes dangerously unstable when it is saturated with rainwater.

Therefore, covering and reinforcing the embankment with sandbags was the most urgent priority.

“Careful with the bags filled with stones! If they tear open—d*mn it, slower! Slower! Don’t just grab the ends, support the sides too!”

“Someone get over here and tie this ripped bag back up! Bring some rope already!”

The rain was falling so heavily that it sounded as though everyone was shouting over each other.

The whole scene was reminiscent of the chaos of a real flood.

Everyone had a rope tied around their waist.

Richel was no exception.

This was a precaution in case the embankment collapsed or someone was swept away by the raging river.

As long as they remained connected by rope, there was a chance to pull someone back if they were suddenly dragged away by the current.

This method was irritating and cumbersome.

If people failed to pay attention to each other’s movements, the ropes would easily tangle and disrupt the work.

Even fastening everyone together took a significant amount of time.

And yet Richel had stubbornly insisted on doing things this way.

Because of that, several lives had been saved during the last flood.

Now, no one complained about the inconvenience anymore.

‘The real problem is the embankment…’

Richel wiped the rain streaming down her face with one hand and muttered quietly to herself.

According to the villagers, the section that had collapsed was the side bordering the wheat fields, rather than the side facing the river.

It should usually have been the river-facing side that gave way first.

The river-facing side of the embankment was constantly damp, making its foundation far more vulnerable.

In comparison, the opposite side rarely collapsed.

“Then what caused this? Was part of the expansion work carried out carelessly?”

The top of the embankment also served as a road for people travelling back and forth.

Over the past three years, the embankment and the road had been continuously widened until they were wide enough for wagons and cargo carts to pass through comfortably.

If flaws in the construction had weakened the foundation, the consequences could be severe.

The road itself could collapse under the weight of heavily laden wagons and carts.

The damaged section of the embankment had already caved in halfway across the road.

‘But if the construction itself was the problem, the other sections should have collapsed too… So what exactly caused this?’

Despite the heavy rain, the road beneath her feet remained solid.

Only a section roughly three or four meters wide had collapsed, as though the embankment beneath it had simply given way.

If they survived the night without disaster, she had a feeling that it would take her a long time to uncover the cause.

As Richel sighed, her breath rose white into the freezing air.

Nearby, Hans was inspecting the area around the collapsed embankment.

When the ground was weak, pressing down on it with a hand caused it to sink like a waterlogged sponge.

There was always the possibility that other sections had weakened as well.

If they focused only on one side and another part of the embankment burst open elsewhere, there would be no time to respond.

“Hans!”

Hans lifted his head when he heard Richel’s voice.

She was standing on top of the embankment, surveying the chaos unfolding below.

For the people working below, that sight alone was reassuring.

This was partly because the Countess had come out to endure the hardship alongside them, and partly because if she was standing there calmly, then surely the situation had not yet become truly catastrophic.

After all, standing on the opposite side of an embankment that could collapse at any moment was dangerous enough.

‘She’s wonderful in every other regard… but she really does treat her own body far too recklessly.’

Keeping this in mind, Hans handed his current task over to another soldier.

As he climbed up onto the embankment, the sound of the river crashing below grew louder.

If someone were to be swept away by the current, their body would probably be impossible to recover.

“What is it, my lady?”

“Take a few soldiers and send them to the village with carts.”

“To the village?”

“I told every household to heat stones inside large iron barrels. By now they should be hot enough to use. Even in the rain, if they cover them with cloth while transporting them, the heat should last quite a while.”

All the village houses were brightly lit.

Even through the heavy rain, their lights could be seen glowing faintly, like blurred clusters in the darkness.

Here and there, people were doing whatever they could in their own homes.

Richel continued speaking.

“When you head to the village, take anyone who looks exhausted or in poor condition with you. They’ll have water boiling and waiting there.”

If their rain-soaked bodies were exposed to the cold for too long, they would stiffen and freeze easily.

There was still a huge amount of work to be done, and the rain showed no signs of stopping.

Without periodically warming themselves with hot water and resting, they would not be able to endure until the end.

“Get them to warm up and rest there for a while. Then, when the next cart heads out to gather more stones, swap over. What happened with trying to light a fire inside the temporary shelter?”

“It’s proving difficult, my lady. Too much rainwater has collected inside. We tried laying down stones and wood before starting the fire, but it’s too cold and damp…”

Richel turned her gaze toward the shelter.

No firelight leaked from the tent, only thick smoke billowed upward.

“We need at least some sort of place where people can warm themselves… Ah, once the iron barrels arrive, how about laying some of them on the ground and placing wood over them to start the fire?”

“You mean the same iron barrels used to heat the stones?”

“Yes, those. The barrels are tall enough to keep the rainwater off the ground, and the remaining heat from the stones should make things less damp.”

“That would certainly work better than trying to build a platform out of soaked stones. I’ll have it done immediately.”

Through the pouring rain, the sounds of people struggling and shouting echoed from every direction.

The river, swollen in an instant, churned violently like the waters beneath a waterfall.

Richel let out a quiet sigh.

“Everyone’s working so hard. I just wish the rain would ease up a little…”

“It should lessen eventually. Once the shelter is organized, you should rest as well, my lady. The weather is far too cold.”

At that, Richel lifted one boot slightly off the ground.

“The raincoat and boots Hans gave me turned out to be extremely useful.”

The rough-looking boots did not let a single drop of water seep through, and no matter how much she walked around, her feet remained dry.

It was still a winter night in the rain, so her feet were cold regardless, but it was a chill she could endure.

“I’ll head down now. If I start feeling too cold, I’ll go rest in the shelter as well.”

Hans lowered his head before climbing down the embankment.

Several soldiers followed his lead, dragging heavily laden carts through the heavy rain.

Richel observed everything carefully from the top of the embankment.

The relentless rain left her cheeks numb with cold, but she could still endure it for now.

Below, people were carrying rain-soaked sandbags from one end of the embankment to the other, water dripping from them with every step.

Another bolt of lightning tore across the sky.

A heartbeat later, thunder roared again.

Thirty iron barrels filled with hot stones had been placed beneath the temporary shelters. The soldiers stacked firewood over them and lit fires on top.

The flames caught, but the smoke was awful.

The firewood had absorbed far too much rainwater.

Despite coughing repeatedly, people crowded into the shelters and faced away from the smoke as they tried to warm themselves.

Not a single person complained.

Compared to the freezing rain outside, which felt sharp enough to pierce their bones, the shelters were almost bearable.

Richel herself coughed as she tried to thaw her frozen body.

While warming herself beside the fire, she carefully observed the faces of everyone moving in and out.

At least their feet weren’t getting soaked thanks to the boots.

But their hands and bodies were another matter entirely.

After repeatedly hauling rain-soaked sandbags through the storm, they were completely drenched and felt almost frozen solid.

The exhaustion on their faces deepened little by little.

Nevertheless, they could not afford to let anyone rest for long.

The work had to be finished before the river swelled any further.

As Richel stepped out from the shelter, she looked up at the sky.

The pitch-black heavens continued to pour down rain without mercy.

***

The sandbags had now almost reached the halfway point of the embankment.

Richel climbed back onto the embankment once more.

The rain seemed slightly lighter than before and, for the first time, she felt a faint glimmer of hope.

The sky was still pitch black and the rain deafening, but at least the thunder and lightning had finally stopped.

Even so, the situation remained chaotic.

Hans continued to move frantically around the site, shouting orders, while the soldiers and villagers carried sandbags without pause.

However, the pace of the work had slowed significantly compared to earlier.

Everyone was exhausted.

Some people, their hands and feet turning blue from the cold, had already retreated to the village by the time they finished.

Severe frostbite often resulted in amputations of fingers or toes.

At this point, all they could do was take care of themselves.

This caused the work to slow down even more.

Richel repeatedly lifted her eyes towards the sky, desperately wishing for the rain to stop.

“W-What is that?! Hey!!”

Suddenly, a commotion broke out on one side of the crowd. Someone shouted in alarm, and another person pushed their way through, shoving past the workers.

Richel turned her head towards the disturbance.

In the midst of the soaked and mud-covered crowd, one man stood out sharply in his clean clothes as he looked around frantically.

Even in the darkness, his blonde hair was unmistakable: Edwin Isle.

For a moment, Richel doubted her own eyes.

He was the last person who should have been there.

He should have been asleep at the estate.

Then his voice rang out loudly through the storm.

“Richel? Richel! What are you doing up there right now?!”

Edwin stared up at her.

She was standing on top of the embankment, silhouetted against the black night sky, surrounded by heavy rain and bitterly cold air.

Suddenly, he remembered the words the butler had told him before he rushed there.

“Since the embankment has collapsed before, there’s a high chance it could give way completely if the river swells any further. My lady is trying to prevent that from happening…”

The embankment could rupture at any moment.

Richel was standing directly on top of it.

Edwin’s hands began to tremble violently.

He felt as though Richel was about to die right before his eyes. It was as though the pitch-black sky itself was preparing to swallow her up.

In that moment, Edwin could hear the echo of distant funeral bells ringing in his ears. The same ones that had tolled at Richel’s funeral.

“No… ngh, hic… Richel, no…”

Edwin panicked and stumbled forward.

He had to get up there and bring her down right away.

After looking around frantically for a moment, he ran towards the pile of sandbags.

Climbing over the bags and up the embankment was the fastest way to reach her.