[Proverb] A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

This saying means that the beginning of any task is the most important part.

〈Standard Korean Dictionary〉

“……This isn’t right! Why did this appear now!”

Acelia found this situation utterly ridiculous and frustrating. The roulette had never been helpful in her life.

“Kyaaa!”

Just then, a terrified scream pierced through her eardrums.

When Acelia hurriedly looked around, she saw a noble daughter who had fallen and couldn’t move while the gray great bear charged toward her.

Her ankle, visible beneath her skirt, had twisted and turned blue with swelling.

Acelia tapped the arm of the imperial knight beside her.

“Sir! Go help her!”

“What? Me?”

“Are you just going to watch? Are you really a knight?”

You’re just going to watch when someone’s in danger?!

The knight looked back and forth between the fallen noble daughter and Acelia, then shook his head with a stern expression.

“My duty is to protect Your Highness the Princess. I cannot leave your side!”

“What nonsense!”

His excuse-making was an art form. He was clearly scared.

The gray great bear was so threatening that even imperial knights hesitated to charge at it.

“Please save me!”

The noble daughter’s fragile cry shook Acelia’s heart.

‘What if I were in that situation?’

Biting her lip, Acelia snatched the sword the imperial knight was holding.

“Give me that, you jerk.”

“Pardon?”

Planning to use her Sword Master trait if necessary, Acelia started running.

But the sword was heavier than expected, and her legs trembled, slowing her down.

Facing this situation for the first time, Acelia was equally scared.

‘I’ve only seen bears in zoos!’

“Your Highness, you mustn’t! It’s dangerous!”

“Your Highness, come back!”

The imperial knights belatedly ran after her, but they were too late.

Meanwhile, a blue window kept flashing in her field of vision.

‘What is this, so annoying!’

Finally, Acelia had no choice but to check it with a glance.

Ding!

[〈A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step!〉

A single step allows you to leap anywhere.

Possible travel distance: 1m~100m

Cooldown time: 3 seconds]

‘What does this mean?’

Acelia was dumbfounded. She thought it was a useless skill, but the description was surprisingly decent.

‘Whatever. Activate skill!’

With no time to think, Acelia mentally commanded the skill to activate.

The next moment, she stood in front of the noble daughter.

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Face to face with a tear-stained delicate face, Acelia came to her senses.

“Miss, are you alright?! Can you stand up?”

“P-Princess! Behind! Behind you!”

The noble daughter, whom Acelia met for the first time today, pointed and spoke informally to her.

‘I’ll let it slide this time.’

Acelia put her arm under the noble daughter’s armpit and used the skill again.

This was possible because she had just barely met the 3-second cooldown.

They managed to escape the gray great bear’s range.

“Hu-huuung. Your Highness!”

Looking down at the crying noble daughter, Acelia was thinking something else.

‘Wait. If not for the 3-second cooldown, isn’t this basically teleportation?’

Oh ho, if used properly……?

Acelia’s gaze changed instantly.

I take back what I said about the roulette never helping my life.

She left the noble daughter behind and turned around.

The gray great bear, having lost its prey, was roaring.

“Stay here.”

“W-where are you going?”

“I’ll take care of that and come back.”

“What? Your Highness!”

Ignoring the urgent calls behind her, Acelia took one big step and leaped through space.

Ta-da!

‘Cooldown time is 3 seconds……!’

Falling onto the gray great bear’s head, Acelia swung her sword downward. In her slowed vision, she could see the bear’s surprise.

‘Skill, Sword Master trait!’

Swoosh!

The aura gathered at the sword’s tip shot out, severing the gray great bear’s head.

The bear died instantly, and Acelia, covered in warm blood, fell and tumbled onto the grass.

“Ugh!”

“Your Highness!”

“Call the imperial physician, call the imperial physician!”

‘Ouch, did I break a bone?’

The pain in her leg was concerning. While Acelia sweated coldly, unable to move, someone approached.

“Let me take a look.”

‘This voice……?’

Someone wearing a deeply pulled hood quietly approached and examined the injured area. The imperial knights belatedly grew wary of him.

“Who are you?”

“Ah, I’m from the temple. Knights, please step back for a moment~”

Another person in priest’s attire took the knights and stepped away from Acelia.

When he made eye contact with Acelia, he winked and tried to explain something with gestures.

‘What’s going on?’

“Your leg has a fracture.”

“……High Priest Joachim.”

The voice sounded familiar, and sure enough, it was Joachim.

Why is this person who disappeared suddenly here? And in such suspicious attire.

Acelia gritted her teeth to suppress her groans, and Joachim looked down at her with momentarily subdued eyes.

A suffocating silence passed.

By the time Acelia had mentally shouted ‘If you’re not going to heal me, just leave!’ about three times, Joachim extended his hand.

“I’ll need to touch your body briefly.”

“……”

His long fingers touched her leg, and a warm energy spread.

Exhausted, Acelia’s eyelids felt heavy, but she pinched her thigh to stay awake.

She wanted to just pass out right there, but she had something to say to this man.

“I’ve healed you, so rest for a while and don’t overexert yourself.”

“Hey, wait……!”

But as soon as the treatment finished, Joachim left without listening to Acelia.

Acelia cursed behind him, wondering what kind of self-centered person he was.

Joachim’s blue eyes, as he turned away, were frighteningly subdued.

* * *

News of the gray great bear attacking the waiting area spread like wildfire.

This pointed out the imperial family’s complacency in deploying minimal troops at the waiting area, despite the fact that it was filled mostly with women without combat abilities, simply because its location at the forest entrance was considered safe.

However, the appearance of the gray great bear, which typically lived deep in the forest, raised many questions.

And here, some people were having a secret discussion about the incident.

In a quiet space, a monotone voice echoed.

“Duke Seta’s noble daughter is safe.”

“Yes.”

“Without breaking anything or suffering severe injuries that would lead to a coma, without any permanent disability, she walked back to her family on her own two feet.”

“……Yes.”

“She survived while releasing a scent that excited the gray great bear? Ha, do you think this makes any sense?”

“……”

Tok-dok, tok. The sound of fingernails tapping on the chair armrest was eerie. The complexion of the person prostrated before him grew increasingly pale.

“It was a perfect opportunity to eliminate Duke Seta.”

Duke Seta was a representative figure of the Emperor’s faction and an exemplar of loyal subjects.

He was incredibly reliable as an ally but extremely troublesome as an enemy.

Duke Seta, who possessed wealth, power, and honor, had only one weakness: his beloved daughter, Liliana Seta.

The person sitting in the chair had decided to eliminate Duke Seta, who had been interfering with his plans, using this opportunity and Duke Seta’s daughter.

So he tricked the Duke’s daughter into wearing a scent pouch that attracted gray great bears, claiming it repelled insects, and secretly captured and starved a gray great bear for days before releasing it on the day of the hunting competition.

According to the plan, Duke Seta’s daughter should not be alive now. What interfered was……

“The Princess again?”

The seated person muttered with a voice full of doubt.

According to witnesses, the princess moved like lightning to save Duke Seta’s daughter and killed the gray great bear by flying through the air.

But how could the frail Princess, who had never learned any martial arts, be capable of such a feat?

It seemed like someone was deliberately trying to enhance the princess’s reputation. Even by manipulating rumors.

The only one capable of that would probably be…… the Emperor.

‘I must be getting paranoid.’

He snickered at the absurdity of his own thoughts.

Unaware of the person kneeling before him turning blue, he laughed for quite some time.

That’s ridiculous. For what reason?

“Anyway, she’s irritating. Acelia Hedwig.”

Tok, tok, tok. The tapping on the chair armrest accelerated.

“Leave Duke Seta alone for now. Focus on what we’ve been doing.”

“Yes, understood.”

The man who rose disappeared quietly into the darkness.

* * *

‘What is happening……?’

Acelia pondered deeply about why she found herself in this situation.

Ah, because of the hunting competition. This all happened because of that shitty hunting competition.

But she knew well that this was actually escapism. Even so……

“Umm……I think my Dad might have more money than the princess?”

“Ah……yes.”

How did she end up listening to a stranger noble daughter bragging about money?