The next day.
Lucia Von Astellia opened her eyes.
The air inside the cave was cold, and the campfire had faded away, leaving only gray ash.
She hadn't slept properly all night. It was impossible to sleep.
Because there was a monster right next to her.
When an unidentified Black Knight is sitting blocking the cave entrance, who in the world could sleep soundly?
That wouldn't be bravery; it would be a lack of survival instinct.
The Black Knight hadn't moved once throughout the night.
Whether he was sleeping, awake, or if the concept of sleep simply didn't exist for him in the first place.
There was no way for Lucia to know, and honestly, she didn't want to know.
'It would have been better if he at least snored.'
If he had, she could have at least felt a sense of relief thinking, 'Ah, that thing is a living creature that breathes.'
Only the red glint flickering in the eye slits proved that he was not an inanimate object.
Scary. It was scary. It was so scary she felt like she would go crazy.
'Endure it.'
She repeated inwardly.
'Endure it, Lucia. You can do it. You endured 10 years in the Imperial Palace. While being pointed at for having barbarian blood, enduring the Empress's cold glares, swallowing the contempt of your half-siblings… Compared to those 10 years, this is──'
'Actually, this is incomparably scarier!?'
Another Lucia inside her protested.
The humiliating words from last night replayed automatically in her mind.
'Become mine.' 'I'll make you a dog.' 'Pay with your body.'
Ah, I don't even want to think about it.
Crying, begging, clinging, and even barking "Woof!"...!
'This memory is sealed! Permanently sealed! I will ban access to it by Imperial Law!'
Like that, Lucia rolled around all night in discord with herself.
Thanks to that, let alone sleep, she couldn't even close her eyelids properly.
As a result, dark circles hung beneath the beauty called the Treasure of the Empire.
The Empire's 1st Imperial Princess. Treasure of the Empire. The flower coveted by the continent.
Have such modifiers ever felt as hollow as they do in this moment?
The current her was merely a shabby fugitive who hadn't eaten or slept properly for days.
'It's a relief there are no mirrors.'
If she saw her own face right now, she would probably burst into tears immediately.
Of course, she cried her eyes out last night too, but that is that and this is this.
Because human tear ducts have infinite refills.
Clank.
The monster moved.
The metallic sound of black armor plates interlocking.
At that sound, Lucia's shoulders flinched upwards.
"Awake?"
A low voice coming from beyond the helmet.
"Y-Yes...!"
Lucia answered reflexively.
Politely. As politely as possible.
Relaxing the tension in her neck, bowing her head slightly, adopting a posture of submission.
A skill learned while being tormented by the Empress. To think she would use the art of living she polished while being ignored by her half-siblings in a place like this.
"We depart."
A short and concise notification.
"Yes… coming!"
Lucia stood up answering as politely as possible.
Her joints creaked from curling up all night.
But she cannot show weakness.
That man is a predator. The moment she shows weakness, she will be eaten.
'I have to endure.'
Lucia put strength into her trembling legs and followed the Black Knight out of the cave.
The snowfield was white.
Terribly white.
The landscape, which seemed to have swallowed all the colors of the world, was more terrifying than beautiful.
A bleakness where one could not distinguish where the path was and where the cliff was.
"Huuuuk…."
It's cold.
The biting wind that cut through flesh dug between her collar and scraped her bones.
The cold of the North was on a different dimension from that of the Central or Southern regions.
If the winter in the Central region was 'Ah, it's a bit chilly,'
The winter in the North was 'I will kill you.'
Lucia tried to maintain her body temperature with basic mana manipulation, but the chill mercilessly stole her warmth as if mocking such feeble resistance.
The breath she exhaled froze instantly, forming like icicles on her eyelashes.
Of course, Lucia inherited the blood of the North.
Because her mother was from the North.
The bloodline that was pointed at as barbarian blood.
Thanks to that, she was relatively strong against the cold.
Relatively.
The word 'relatively' was important.
If the purebloods of the Northern Grand Duke's family had a cold resistance of 100, Lucia had about 50 at best.
Since half of her was Central Imperial blood.
And the cold of this snowfield right now had an attack power of approximately 200.
'...I'm going to die like this!'
On the other hand, the man walking ahead looked as if he was out for a stroll.
Crunch. Crunch.
The Black Knight took the lead, breaking through the snow. The black armor stood out heterogeneously on the snowfield.
Chatter chatter chatter.
Lucia's teeth chattered wildly. Even trying to circulate mana, the sensation in her fingertips and toes was gradually disappearing.
"Huuuuuu..."
Pause.
Suddenly, the Black Knight walking ahead stopped in his tracks.
Lucia reflexively shrank back.
'What is it? Did I do something wrong?'
Was I walking too slow? Was the sound of my teeth chattering annoying? Or was my breathing too loud?
"Weak. It gets in the way."
The Black Knight slowly turned his body. Red light flashed from within the eye slits of his helmet.
Ah, I'm dead.
Imperial Princess Lucia Von Astellia, aged 19, cause of death: 'killed for trembling annoyingly.'
'Too miserable!'
Lucia's heart pounded wildly.
'Please. Please spare me. If you tell me to bark, I'll bark. If you tell me to roll, I'll roll!'
"I'm sorr… Uek?!"
Thud.
Something heavy and warm fell onto Lucia's head.
Her vision darkened.
A heavy bundle of cloth.
...Is it an attack?
No.
It was the Black Knight's cloak.
"T-Thank you...?"
Lucia blankly wrapped the Black Knight's cloak around her body.
'Huh?'
The chill that wrapped around her whole body disappeared as if snow melting.
'Did he perhaps worry about me...?'
"Naturally. I have to manage what is mine."
"...Yes?"
A chill swept down Lucia's spine.
Making the warmth of the cloak meaningless, her heart froze coldly.
'Manage? What? Don't tell me…'
Lucia's brain spun at light speed.
Saving her from the wolves. Two bowls of stew last night. One night in the cave…
Lucia looked down at the cloak with a pale face.
'...The debt is increasing?'
The total amount for 'Pay with your body' is snowballing!
The Black Knight had already turned his body and was breaking through the snow again.
As if it was nothing. Without showing a hint of condescension.
'That is scarier.'
How is that different from a loan shark smiling and saying, 'Pay the interest slowly later'?
Lucia clutched the cloak tightly.
'Should I take it off?'
She seriously considered it for a moment.
But the moment she took off the cloak, she felt like she would freeze to death, and returning an item already received might offend him.
'...I've incurred the debt anyway. What difference does incurring a little more make?'
With a feeling of desperation, Lucia pulled the cloak up to the tip of her nose.
Lucia walked maintaining a distance of exactly five steps from him.
Too close is scary, and too far might mean getting abandoned.
The optimal distance she came up with in her own way.
Lucia followed the Black Knight, ruminating on the reality she didn't want to admit.
The Empire was usurped.
By her half-brother, the 2nd Prince.
Her father was confined, and the Crown Prince, who was 1st in line for the throne, had his head cut off and hung on the castle walls.
And Lucia, the Princess, is a fugitive branded as a traitor.
No army, no knights, no money, not even a change of clothes.
All she has is the hollow name of 'Princess' and one miserable body.
Even so.
'I must live.'
What is important is to survive.
To survive, and take revenge. To survive, and reclaim the Empire.
'For that, I will use anything.'
Lucia glared at the back of the Black Knight walking ahead.
It was then.
Stop.
The Black Knight walking ahead halted his steps.
'What is it this time?'
Lucia's brain immediately went into alert mode.
Was my receiving posture disrespectful? Was the intonation of 'Thank you' annoying? Or did he get cold himself after giving me the cloak?
She simulated about seventeen worst-case scenarios.
However.
Grrrrr…
What was mixed in the sound of the wind was not the Black Knight's threat.
The low growl of a beast.
"H-Hiek…!?"
Lucia unwittingly stepped backward.
From over the snow hill, a gray shadow revealed itself.
And two, three, four…
'...Ten? Twenty?'
She gave up counting.
They were wolves.
But they were lifeforms fundamentally wrong to be called 'wolves.'
Twice the size of normal wolves. The saliva dripping from their mouths made a chi-ik sound melting the snow as soon as it touched the ground, and their eyes were glistening yellow.
Snowfield Wolves. Variants contaminated by demonic energy at that.
At a rough estimate, there looked to be twenty of them.
Even one such demonic beast requires a knight to handle.
But now?
Only a princess without a single weapon, and one crazy knight standing blankly.
'Ah, this is the end.'
The Empire's 1st Imperial Princess Lucia, aged 19, epitaph: 'Wolf Food.'
'Wait, I bark quite well now! Maybe they'll think I'm one of their kind and spare me?'
Probably not.
"K-Knight-nim! W-We must run…!"
Lucia shouted urgently.
However, the Black Knight did not move.
He was just looking down at the approaching wolf pack as if looking at annoying flies.
'What are you doing! Draw your sword quickly! Is that colossal greatsword on your back a decoration? Or what, are you frozen in fear!?'
Growl-!
The alpha wolf kicked off the ground and pounced.
Teeth and claws rushing in, raising a white blizzard.
"Kyaaaak!"
Lucia screamed and squeezed her eyes shut.
'I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead!'
Kwajik! (Crunch!)
A dull and terrible bursting sound hit her eardrums.
Yelp!
A scream was heard.
It wasn't the Black Knight's scream. It was the death throe of a beast.
Lucia opened her eyes slightly.
And she saw.
Red fresh blood scattering in the air.
The Black Knight was still standing in that spot.
If there was anything different, it was that something was held in his right hand.
It was the head of the alpha wolf that had pounced first.
To be precise, what used to be a head.
He had grabbed the wolf's skull with one hand and crushed it just like that.
Thud, plop.
When he let go, a lump of meat that no longer retained its shape fell onto the snow.
Kuaaaaaang─!
The remaining wolves didn't stop at their companion's death. Rather, smelling the blood, they became more berserk and pounced from all directions.
Left, right, back, above.
Numerous teeth and claws. A persistent siege attack.
But for the Black Knight, the word 'siege' didn't seem to apply.
The second wolf jumped aiming for his neck.
The Black Knight extended his gauntlet without even looking.
Puck-
The wolf exploded in mid-air just like that.
Blood and flesh spattered everywhere.
The third wolf tried to bite his leg.
Puck!
His steel boot kicked the wolf's flank.
The sound of all ribs shattering was heard. The wolf's body flew away and crashed into two wolves following behind.
The fourth and fifth wolves pounced simultaneously.
The Black Knight spread his arms and grabbed the two by their heads.
And as if clapping.
Kwang!
He smashed the two heads together.
Heads exploded identically like twins, dyeing the snowfield red.
A one-sided, dry, and boringly overwhelming massacre continued.
The Black Knight erased lives with overwhelming violence.
Just like that, the wolf pack reaching twenty was reduced to half in no time.
Grrr…
The remaining wolves hesitated.
The Black Knight took one step, slowly, towards them.
Thud.
Yelp! Whimper!
The remaining wolves screamed, tucked their tails, and fled. Without looking back, pushing each other, they ran desperately.
Silence that came in an instant.
The middle of the snowfield where only the wind whistled.
The Black Knight shook off the blood and brain matter on his gauntlets.
Then, as if nothing had happened, he slowly turned his body and looked at Lucia.
The red glint visible through the helmet's slits flashed.
'What is that…'
Lucia stared at that spectacle, her spirit lost.
The quality of fear she felt until just now had changed.
If the fear when seeing the wolf pack was 'fear of death.'
The fear she felt now was 'awe of martial power.'
Lucia's lips trembled.
'A monster. Completely, thoroughly, without a doubt, a monster!'
"Ah…"
She barely managed to stand, her legs almost giving way.
The Black Knight approached.
The smell of blood wafted over strongly.
He looked down at Lucia and opened his mouth.
"Don't be scared needlessly."
A cold and indifferent voice.
"I-I'm sorr…"
She apologized reflexively.
'Don't be scared. Because it's annoying.' 'Be quiet before I tear you apart like those wolves.'
Lucia's brain immediately paraphrased the sentence like this.
If she didn't want her head to explode in those hands, she had no choice but to lay low.
"Let's go."
The Black Knight turned his back again and started walking.
Stepping on the path of blood lined with corpses.
Lucia clutched the cloak with trembling hands and walked following his footsteps.
Stepping on wolf blood. Avoiding wolf flesh.
'That crazy bastard.'
Lucia poured out curses inwardly.
'Pervert. Sadist. Scum of humanity. Psychopath.'
A man who looked like all the vices specified in the Imperial Code were clumped together and molded into a human shape.
However.
'...Strong.'
She didn't want to admit it, but she had to.
That is strong.
Absurdly strong.
Ridiculously strong.
Right now, Lucia had no options.
To survive in this snowfield, and to lose the Empire's pursuers, the Black Knight's power, that violence, was needed.
'Right. Just until Frostgard.'
The Northern Grand Duke's family. The territory of the Grombalt family.
Her mother's family.
Once they arrive at Frostgard, the situation will be reversed.
Her maternal uncle, the Grand Duke of the North, is the North's strongest warrior. And the Northern Army is the Empire's most elite force.
Even if that Black Knight is strong, he won't be able to take on the entire Northern Army.
'...Right?'
She became anxious for a moment.
The scene she just saw flashed through her mind.
'...He won't be able to. Probably.'
He won't be able to.
'Right. Once we arrive at the castle, I'll just toss him some gold coins and chase him away. If he clings, Uncle will take care of him. Let's endure just until then.'
The calculation was made.
Pretend to be servile, pretend to be obedient, pretend to have submitted.
Let's act like that.
If it was acting, she was quite confident.
Doesn't she have the art of living that endured 19 years in the den of foxes and vipers called the Imperial Palace?
Just until then.
Let's swallow all humiliation just until then.
"L-Let's go together, Knight-nim…!"
Lucia chased after the Black Knight with quick steps.
Now maintaining a distance of four steps.
It was a bizarre scene of prey following the predator.
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