Amel glanced down at her legs.

Cervel’s leg was pressed against hers.

She raised her head and looked at him again, then turned her gaze towards the window.

Whenever the carriage shook, their thighs brushed together. The space was cramped, so their legs were intertwined.

After a while, their shoes touched too.

His smart shoe nudged her casual shoe lightly.

She felt a tingling sensation run through the tips of her toes.

Amel discreetly glanced down at their shoes before turning her gaze back towards the window.

But just as she let her guard down, the carriage lurched violently.

The carriage lurched and shook.

Amel hit the back of her head against the swaying wall of the carriage.

“Ah!”

She groaned and rubbed the back of her neck.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Are you all right, too, Your Grace?”

“I’m fine. More importantly, the carriage has stopped.”

Indeed, the carriage had come to a complete stop.

“Lilline, are you all right?”

Lilline had also woken up and was rubbing the back of her head, just like Amel.

“Yes. My lady, what happened? The carriage was shaking so badly.”

“I know.”

Amel peered outside through the gap in the window. There was a commotion outside.

She leaned her head out the window.

Just then, a soldier approached the carriage window.

“What happened?”

“My lady! There’s a problem with the carriage! One of the wheels is stuck in the mud.”

The soldier pointed awkwardly toward the left rear wheel.

“It’ll take some time to get the carriage out. Would you like to get down and wait for a while?”

“Your Grace, will you get down?”

Cervel nodded.

“I’ll get down and wait.”

***

Cervel calmly stepped down from the carriage. He held out his hand as though to help Amel down as well.

When Amel reached for his hand, Cervel suddenly caught her around the waist.

“Ah!”

Amel covered her mouth with her hand, stifling her scream.

Cervel lifted her by the waist and put her down on the ground.

Amel looked up at him, bewildered. He pointed beneath the carriage.

“There’s a puddle.”

“……Oh. Thank you.”

Even after getting down from the carriage, Amel stood there hesitantly, watching the others.

“Why?”

“I was worried that getting off the carriage might only get in their way.”

“As long as you stay away from the carriage.”

“Then should we move to the side?”

The carriage was tilted to one side because the wheel was half-submerged in the mud.

Even so, with several men pushing against it, the carriage slowly began to move.

Then there was a loud crack from the wheel.

“Did you just hear something break?”

The soldiers examined the wheel and clicked their tongues.

“My lady, we’ll have to replace the rear wheel before we continue.”

“The wheel that just got stuck?”

“Yes. There was already a crack in one of the spokes, and the impact just now broke it completely.”

Amel placed a hand on her waist and let out a small sigh.

The damaged spoke had thrown the wheel out of alignment, damaging the axle.

“We have a spare wheel on the carriage. We can replace it.”

“Then, while we’re changing the wheel, let’s rest here for a while.”

Her head was already throbbing from the motion sickness anyway.

Amel stood in the shade for a while, taking shelter from the sunlight.

Lilline took off her hat and approached her. She looked uncertain as she glanced around.

“Why are you looking around like that?”

“The ground seems to have collapsed a little.”

“What?”

“Look over there.”

Lilline pointed above them.

The hillside had been cut away in a series of step-like layers.

Amel tilted her head back and looked up at the cliff.

“Looks like the rain eroded the ground.”

“I think there must have been a landslide here before.”

It had already been a full week since the rain stopped, yet the ground still looked unstable.

At that moment, dirt fell onto Amel’s head.

‘Dirt?’

Amel brushed it off her hair.

‘Where did that come from?’

Fffssshhh—

A strange sound came from the earth.

There was a sloping hill beside the carriage, and sand was slowly sliding down its surface.

It looked almost as though sand were collapsing from a sandcastle.

Amel slowly backed away.

“My lady?”

“Lilline.”

Amel pointed toward the hillside.

Small pieces of rock were falling from above.

“I think we should look up there.”

“What? Why wou—My lady! Move! Get away!”

“My lady, get away!”

“Forget the carriage! Run! It’s a landslide!”

Rumble—

The ground shook beneath them.

A deafening roar came from the earth, and the soil began to pour down like water.

The soldiers shouted, and Amel froze in a daze.

“My lady!”

Then someone yanked Amel backward as though pulling up a radish.

“Ah!”

“Are you not going to pull yourself together?”

Cervel grabbed Amel firmly around the waist. His strong arm wrapped securely around her and Amel blinked slowly.

By the time she came to her senses, she was already in his embrace.

She held onto his arm, looking bewildered.

A torrent of earth came crashing down right in front of them.

It was the very spot where she had been standing moments earlier.

“Miss Amel, Miss Amel?”

Amel’s legs gave out, and she sank onto the bare ground.

“W-what happened?”

“First, stand up properly. It’s dangerous to stay here.”

Cervel, who had been looking down at her, grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to her feet.

Only then did Amel look around.

The soldiers were scrambling about in confusion.

“Check everyone’s status!”

“Your Grace, are you all right?”

“My lady, are you injured anywhere?”

The soldiers moved swiftly and efficiently as they assessed the situation.

The knights of the Grand Ducal House gathered around their master.

It was around then that Amel slowly began to realize that something had gone terribly wrong.

“Lilline? Lilline?”

Only then did Amel look for Lilline.

She was nowhere to be seen.

“Lilline! Lilline? Where are you?!”

“Miss Amel, your maid is over there.”

“What? Where? Ah, Lilline!”

A knight of the Grand Ducal House was standing beside Lilline.

Lilline came to her senses and ran toward Amel.

“My lady!”

Lilline wrapped her arms tightly around Amel.

“Oh my goodness, what happened? Are you hurt?”

“Ah, yes. I’m fine. What about you?”

“Yes. Someone grabbed me by the neck and pulled me away, so I wasn’t swept away.”

A knight of the Grand Ducal House had been right behind her, so he must have helped her.

Amel let out a quiet sigh.

“Thank you, Sir.”

“You’re welcome, my lady.”

“What about Your Grace? Are you all right?”

“Yes.”

Cervel gave a small nod before speaking.

“Fortunately, it doesn’t look like anyone was swept away.”

Cervel calmly summarized the situation.

Amel was still struggling to comprehend what had happened when she finally realised that a landslide had just swept through the area.

Unable to speak, she pressed a hand to her chest and took a deep breath.

‘What on earth……? How did this happen?’

The earth and debris had swept down the slope.

“Oh my……”

Amel looked down toward the bottom of the slope.

The carriage had been swept away by the landslide.

Down below, the carriage lay buried in the debris.

“Check everyone’s status!”

The soldiers continued shouting as Amel stood frozen in place.

***

They moved to a safer location first, since it was too dangerous to remain there.

As they walked, Amel received a report.

“My lady, I have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?”

“Good news first.”

A soldier from House Monterio reported on the situation.

“Fortunately, there were no major casualties.”

“What about the injured?”

“There are some injured, but fortunately, none of them appear to be in critical condition.”

“Then what’s the bad news?”

“We lost the carriages and the horses.”

“Well, there wasn’t anything we could do about that.”

“There aren’t any villages nearby where we could rent a carriage or horses, either.”

“That’s a little sad to hear.”

“For now, we’ll have to travel on foot until we reach a village. Will you be all right?”

Amel calmly followed along on foot.

Her mind felt completely blank.

In truth, she still hadn’t fully grasped what had happened.

‘If I had stayed in the carriage, I would have been swept down the slope with the earth and debris.’

‘And if Cervel hadn’t grabbed me in time, I would have been buried beneath it.’

Amel clutched the hem of her dress as she followed the others.

They hadn’t been able to take anything from the carriage.

The slope was unstable, with the earth continually sliding down, so retrieving their belongings was impossible. Ultimately, they had no choice but to abandon the carriages.

Amel had only just managed to drape a shawl over her dress.

“My lady, are you all right?”