VHRTDM 13

Chapter 13

“Take me to Bahan Cave.”

“……”

Silence fell.

Don’t tell me he’s refusing again.

“Is that not possible?”

Why is it that none of the men around me ever agree to my requests immediately…?

This is seriously depressing!

Bellio looked at me with a grave expression.

“May I ask your reason?”

“It’s for a walk.”

“Then I shall escort you somewhere safer than Bahan Cave.”

“No!”

I didn’t need anywhere else.

“I absolutely want to go to Bahan Cave. It’s safer than most places anyway.”

If the knights were conducting an inspection there, that meant the monsters in the area had already been dealt with.

Bellio still looked unable to understand why I insisted on taking a walk to Bahan Cave.

But honestly, I didn’t care whether he understood or not.

“Let’s hurry and leave!”

I didn’t have time!

“Huff… huff… Is it still far?”

“We still have farther to go.”

Tilting my head back, I stared up at the Northern Wall towering endlessly into the sky.

Ah… forget the money, I just want to go home.

We kept climbing and climbing without even a moment to rest.

And it wasn’t like we could turn back now just because it was hard.

The distance back to the base camp was already farther than the remaining distance to Bahan Cave.

The snow and ice made the ground incredibly slippery.

Just as I was thinking my life had truly become legendary—climbing the Northern Wall in flat shoes—

“Aah!”

Anna twisted her ankle.

“Are you alright?”

After checking Anna’s condition, Bellio shook his head at me.

“I don’t think Miss Anna can continue.”

“No, I can keep going… ah!”

“You’ll only make it worse. Please don’t move.”

Even though she insisted she was fine, her eyes were already glistening with tears from the pain.

There was no way we could keep moving like this.

I had to make a decision.

“Anna, you go back to the base camp.”

“I can still go, my lady!”

“Sir, if we continue up this path, we’ll reach Bahan Cave, correct?”

“That is correct.”

“Then I’ll go ahead first, and you can escort Anna back to the camp and return afterward.”

I couldn’t give up after coming this far.

If I just went a little farther, there was a massive source of future wealth waiting for me—money that could secure a generous divorce settlement.

How could I possibly give that up?

But Bellio and Anna both strongly objected.

“I have a duty to protect you. I absolutely cannot leave you alone, my lady.”

“The monster subjugation in this area is already complete anyway. Just do as I say.”

“That is impossible.”

Bellio was firm.

I knew I was being unreasonable, and honestly, I felt sorry toward him—but I didn’t have the luxury of worrying about others right now.

“I’m not asking you.”

Bellio fell silent for a moment.

It was obvious he was torn between dragging me back to camp by force or obeying my orders.

Soon, he made his decision.

“I will return quickly. Please wait here for a short while, my lady.”

“My pace is so slow that even if you escort Anna back first, you’ll still catch up to me. I’ll keep moving slowly ahead. And Anna.”

Anna stared at me with a miserable expression.

She probably thought she had ruined my outing because she got hurt.

“As soon as you get to camp, get treatment immediately. Understood?”

“My lady……”

“There, there. Hurry along now!”

Bellio carefully carried Anna on his back and descended the mountain.

Even then, he kept glancing behind him repeatedly, clearly worried about me.

Once the two of them disappeared from sight, I resumed my journey.

They definitely said Bahan Cave would appear if I kept heading north, so why can’t I find it?

“Do I need to climb higher?”

I walked and walked.

And by the time I realized something was wrong, I had absolutely no idea where I was anymore.

“……Haah. I’m screwed.”

I was lost.

News that the Duchess had gone missing threw the Northern Wall Knights’ base camp into chaos.

They searched the Northern Wall starting from the point where Bellio had separated from Rishua, but they couldn’t find her.

They needed to find her before nightfall, but it was impossible with only a few people.

Eventually, Bellio returned to the camp to gather additional knights.

‘I should’ve forced her to return to camp with me, no matter what.’

It was all his fault.

He had forgotten the priorities of an escort knight.

“Why is everyone in such an uproar?”

Kahinell had returned from the monster subjugation mission.

He immediately noticed that the camp atmosphere was completely different from earlier that morning.

“What happened?”

“Her Grace has gone missing.”

The platoon leader of the Second Battalion couldn’t hide his despair.

“What?”

For a moment, Kahinell thought he had misheard.

After all, the person who should have been safely at the ducal estate was apparently missing?

“Her Grace came to the Northern Wall. Then she said she was going for a walk to Bahan Cave and—”

“Report properly! What nonsense are you talking about? My wife came to the Northern Wall?!”

When they went out for subjugation missions, the only way to communicate with the base camp was through the communication device.

But it had malfunctioned that morning, and Kahinell had left without any communication network.

That was why he was only hearing about Rishua’s arrival now.

At Kahinell’s roar, everyone lowered their heads.

At that moment, Bellio stepped forward.

“I am Bellio of the Second Battalion. Her Grace requested that I escort her for the day. I will take responsibility and find her myself.”

Kahinell’s chilling gaze landed on Bellio.

“You call yourself my wife’s escort knight, yet you are standing in front of me right now instead of beside her.”

“I apologize.”

“In escort duty, there is no greater sin than failing to protect your master’s safety. Do you understand that?”

“……I do. That is why I will correct this myself. Please grant me authority over the search operation, my lord.”

Kahinell was furious.

He was angry that he was only now learning his wife had come to the Northern Wall, and the first thing he heard upon returning was news of her disappearance.

And Bellio—who claimed to be responsible for escorting her—was standing here before him instead of at her side, saying he would fix everything himself.

Kahinell’s uniform was stained with monster blood.

He had intended to change immediately after returning to camp because he felt filthy, but there was no time for that now.

Without a word, Kahinell turned away.

“Lord!”

Bellio hurriedly called out to him.

Kahinell stopped walking.

He turned his head slightly.

“She’s my wife. So I’ll find her myself.”

The moment I accepted that I was lost, I stopped walking.

Going back to the place where I separated from Bellio would probably be the smartest option, but I felt like I’d only get even more lost trying.

So I entered the first cave I could find.

By now, Bellio had probably realized the situation and started searching for me anyway.

I planned to stay put and wait.

“Hmm, this should be enough, right?”

The Northern Wall was dangerous to begin with, but once night fell, monsters became active, making it even more dangerous.

Since I had no idea when I’d be rescued, I needed at least some kind of weapon to protect myself.

So I hurriedly gathered sharp branches.

“This should work… right?”

I had no idea how dangerous monsters actually were, so I wasn’t sure whether sticks would help at all.

Still, I figured having something was better than nothing.

I piled the branches in one corner of the cave.

Then I grabbed the sturdiest one and kept watch over the cave entrance.

The sun hadn’t fully set yet, but I couldn’t let my guard down in case monsters appeared.

I don’t know how much time passed.

“……!”

I heard something.

The sound of thin ice cracking beneath approaching footsteps.

Was it a monster?

My hands tightened around the branch.

‘Damn, I’m nervous.’

My first opponent being a monster?

Why is my life so ridiculously dramatic?

Just as I wondered whether I should launch a preemptive attack, I heard a human voice instead of the cry of a beast.

“My lady, are you perhaps in here?”

Huh? I know that voice.

“Are you not here?”

I definitely recognized it.

‘Why am I hearing that voice here?’

I slowly stepped toward the cave entrance.

And I saw someone.

Someone I was genuinely happy to see… which only made this encounter even stranger.

“Dear?”

It wasn’t Bellio.

Kahinell had come to find me.

I was so stunned that instead of saying, “Thank you for coming to find me,” or “I’m glad to see you,” the words that came out were:

“Why are you here?”

“That is what I would like to ask.”

Kahinell strode toward me, his face filled with fury.

“The person who should be at the ducal estate—why are you at the Northern Wall, wandering around alone in danger?!”

“Are you angry?”

“How could I not be angry?”

……Ah. So I really did mess up again.

As I stood there awkwardly, Kahinell let out a deep sigh and turned toward the cave entrance.

“Let’s go back first and talk.”

“C-can’t we just talk here?”

Kahinell glared at me.

It’s just… there was this married man hospitalized for a hernia who once said this:

If your spouse ever says, “We’ll talk later,” or “Let’s talk when we get home,” you’re absolutely doomed once you get home.

I could already picture my bleak future—getting completely destroyed by Kahinell’s lecture.

“Stop saying ridiculous things.”

But perhaps heaven was on my side?

…No, should I even call this being on my side?

“If we go back right now, I think we might get buried alive in the snow.”

The previously clear weather had suddenly gone insane, and a fierce blizzard raged around us so violently that it was difficult to even see ahead.