Everything he had been planning was moving quickly forward with Lydia’s appearance.

Though a few minor things gave him headaches, looking at the bigger picture, Lydia was definitely helping Arsen.

That’s why his head grew more complicated.

Should he trust Lydia? If so, how far should he trust her?

Should he even believe her nonsense?

* * *

They escaped safely.

Whether luck was on their side, they didn’t encounter any demonic beasts while passing through the forest.

After leisurely leaving the labor camp, they rode shared horses straight to the plaza.

With one more person, they were short on horses, so Lydia had no choice but to borrow Arsen’s horse.

“Are you uncomfortable?”

Arsen finally asked Lydia, who kept fidgeting and lifting her butt in his arms.

“No. Actually, my butt hurts from riding horses too long.”

“Please don’t say such things.”

When Arsen responded seriously, Lydia snorted and said,

“What’s wrong with butts? It’s just a body part. I didn’t ask you to apply medicine to my butt or anything, aren’t you treating me too much like a pervert?”

“If you had, I would have made you get off the horse.”

Arsen made it clear he couldn’t ride the same horse as a pervert.

Lydia, guilty only of speaking honestly, could only pout while nestled in his arms.

“Lady Lydia.”

“That title is wrong, Sir.”

Arsen regretted it as soon as he said it.

“You don’t seem very priestess-like, so the priestess title doesn’t come naturally.”

“You have quite a talent for casually insulting people.”

Lydia knew she didn’t suit being a priestess.

But hearing it said to her face was different.

Ah, since it was said from behind, was it not to her face?

Every time Arsen spoke, the low vibrations transmitted through her back that was pressed against his chest.

Though his voice was low and cool, it became sweet when it brushed her ear.

Perhaps that’s why his cutting words didn’t make her want to pinch him spitefully.

Well, even if she had felt spiteful, nothing would be more foolish than pinching the arm of the person holding the horse’s reins.

The old Lydia would have thrown a fit anywhere, even on horseback, when she got upset.

But suddenly she had a thought.

The thought that even if Lydia made a fuss about getting off here, Arsen wouldn’t let her fall.

That’s how stable his horsemanship was.

She had ridden on Richard’s horse before.

Though Richard was also skilled at riding, Lydia remained tense throughout the ride.

Because there were moments when she felt unsteady and tilted precariously even while riding well.

Still, she had always asked Richard to let her ride, saying she liked it.

She wondered what would have happened if she had fallen off then.

Maybe if she had hit her head badly in the fall, she would have come to her senses.

“My lady, no, Priestess Lydia.”

“Just call me Lydia.”

Lydia’s contemplation vanished with Arsen’s title mistake.

“Lydia.”

Arsen murmured Lydia’s name softly.

Though it wasn’t the first time hearing it, Lydia found her own name strangely unfamiliar.

“I need to hear the answer I didn’t get earlier.”

“Which answer?”

“When you mentioned the mine in the frontier territory, did you really mean that silver mine?”

Lydia nodded.

“That’s not profitable.”

“A silver mine wouldn’t be. But Sir, do you know there’s only a hair’s difference between a silver mine and a mana stone mine?”

Though she had never visited the frontier of the marquisate, she had heard about the silver mine there several times.

She had seen maps marking the mine and sketches of the mine.

The previous Marquis Evansi, that is, Lydia’s grandfather, had abandoned development after determining the mine was unprofitable.

“Silver mines and mana stone mines have similar soil conditions and ground formations. Moreover, I heard silver can sometimes be found near the ground even in mana stone mines.”

She had learned all this from Robert.

Robert was a mining expert who had been in debt from gambling and worked as a slave.

How he ended up in Count Brastelma’s hands was unknown, but Robert was the one who discovered that mine in the count’s territory.

“Looking at all the related reports, sketches, and map locations, that thing on your land, Sir, might be a mana stone mine.”

If it was a mana stone mine, they could make an enormous amount of money.

Money meant power and authority, so Lydia took the risk of bringing Robert, not wanting to miss even the slightest hope.

“What do you get out of this? For mere revenge, what you’re planning seems quite substantial.”

“My revenge isn’t small, Sir. It’s thin and long. And this isn’t just for you. If it’s a mana stone mine, give me a large share too.”

What would she do with that money? Arsen wondered.

That small head of Lydia’s that kept thinking endlessly.

“What will you do with that money?”

“I’ll go to the Monbella Kingdom in the south.”

Again, it was an unexpected answer.

So she didn’t need the money for revenge but for travel?

“Why do you want to go there?”

“There’s a large island between the Monbella Kingdom and the Empire where it’s warm all year round. They say there is winter, but it’s very short. I hate the cold, Sir.”

She despised winter.

Once her planned revenge was complete, Lydia would abandon both the castle and her name, vanishing like smoke.

Then she would go to that island of eternal spring and spend the rest of her life there.

“From what you’re saying, it sounds like you hate the Empire more than winter.”

“Hmm, that’s true too.”

Leaving the Empire and living as a nobody. It was a good plan.

How wonderful it would be if one could live like that.

But in this world, there were people who could live that way and those who couldn’t. Of course, Arsen was the latter.

Lydia’s hair that peeked out from her robe fluttered in the wind.

Watching something like pink thread dancing in the breeze made him feel like a false wind was blowing in his heart too.

“It’s a good plan, Lydia.”

For the first time, Arsen praised Lydia’s plan.

Whatever else, winter didn’t suit Lydia at all.

* * *

The group entered the inn at the outskirts of the plaza that Mallan had prepared.

Though it didn’t look like it was operating, there was an innkeeper.

“Do you work with Mallan?”

“Yes. I heard from the Master.”

The innkeeper approached Arsen with a limp and showed proper respect.

“It’s late, but shall I prepare a meal?”

It seemed there hadn’t been orders to prepare meals originally, but seeing four people who clearly looked hungry, the innkeeper appeared concerned.

“That would be appreciated.”

Arsen didn’t decline.

While the innkeeper went to the kitchen, they gathered at a table in the inn’s first-floor dining room.

Randel went out saying he would look around. Kedrick sat at a different table from where Lydia, Arsen, and the others were seated.

Though it seemed they might embrace and cry with joy upon meeting, an unexpectedly awkward silence fell instead.

Lydia, Arsen, Nella, and Byron were each differently struck speechless by the flood of old memories.

Nella was the first to break the silence. She grabbed Arsen’s hand with her roughened hands.

“Our young master, I knew you were alive.”

Tears welled up in her eyes.

“On such a happy day, why am I crying like a fool.”

Nella said, trying to make her voice sound bright.

“Are you not hurt anywhere?”

“That’s what I should be asking, Nanny.”

Arsen couldn’t speak smoothly as his throat choked up.

He had searched for them for over ten years. Even if they were dead, he wanted to find their bodies.

Even though he wouldn’t have been able to bury them in Bayern ducal territory anyway.

But seeing them alive and well like this, an indescribable emotion welled up hotly.

“How is the Madam?”

“……Mother has passed away.”

Ah, a low sigh settled heavily. Nella couldn’t hold back and finally let her tears fall.

Poor Madam, she muttered, making even Lydia’s eyes sting.

“How have you been living, young master? Have you…… have you mastered all your letters?”

“How old do you think I am to ask such an obvious question, Teacher?”

Byron’s joke lifted the previously dampened mood.

But soon, when the story of how they survived by changing their family name came up, Nella and Byron burst into tears.

“I didn’t know both Teacher and Nanny would be in that labor camp.”

“We were so surprised when we met too.”

Byron was excommunicated from the priesthood and became a slave, given to Count Brastelma.

Nella had escaped well and lived hiding her identity, but was tricked by promises of employment.

“When I arrived, there was the priest, right there!”

Still, they laughed as they said they managed this far because they had each other.

After the reunited members of the ducal household roughly finished sharing their untold stories, attention turned to Lydia next.

Lydia, who had been sniffling unconsciously while listening to their stories, swallowed hard when all eyes turned to her.

Arsen tried to offer his handkerchief, but it was already with Nella.

The quick-witted Kedrick promptly offered his handkerchief to Lydia.

“Are you a priestess?”

Byron recognized Lydia’s priest robes and showed delight.

“She’s a priestess, but not that kind of priestess, Teacher.”

Arsen quickly corrected seeing the expectation in Byron’s eyes.

Byron looked at Lydia with eyes that couldn’t understand what ‘that kind of priestess’ meant.

“Um.”

But before Lydia could answer, Maria’s careful yet unable-to-contain-her-curiosity voice cut in.

“I want to ask something. I…… have no connection to the Bayern ducal family, so why did you save me?”

She was grateful. But Maria simply couldn’t move past that question.

“Yes, I want to ask that too.”

Robert, who had been quietly listening, chimed in.

He had followed them shamelessly out of at least wanting to bury his bones outside that labor camp, but he couldn’t understand why they had brought him.

“Did you bring me just to silence me? Is this meal coming from the kitchen my last supper?”