Chapter 38 – To the Nakran Empire (2)

‘I have no intention of giving away my property at all.’

Confirming Alice’s thoughts, he smiled in satisfaction. It seemed that there was no need to worry about leaving money in the Erha Empire because she was so greedy.

Lawrence, who quickly settled the situation, took Alice’s hand.

“Let’s go.”

“Great!”

Despite his sudden words, Alice moved right away. Having already finished all her preparations, she left her room with light steps.

Alice suddenly gave her strength as she walked holding his hand until she went to the front door of the Marquis. As she was about to step out, she hesitated and didn’t want to move, but as if she had decided something on her, she clamped her mouth shut and took a powerful step.

****

“He sent him?”

“Yes, he did, Your Highness.”

“So, he just walked out?”

“That…”

“Won’t you tell me straightly?”

Stella threw the teacup out of her hand. The hot tea was poured onto her maid, but her maid couldn’t even scream. ‘Cause if she does, Stella would throw another one.

Stella’s domineering behavior was not uncommon in the court of the crown prince. Servants and maids who were caught whispering behind her back that she didn’t know proper aristocratic etiquette because she had come from a family of barons were beaten to a pulp.

“His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Crown Prince gave permission.”

“What about Alice Hamilton?”

“Well, she didn’t come…”

Blood dripped from her handmaid’s forehead with a clang. Stella threw the vase beside her. Stella, not paying attention to her broken vase and her bleeding maid, bit her thumbnail.

The room where the Crown Princess was staying was full of clattering sounds, and the lady-in-waiting who was hit by her vase was supported by her other ladies-in-waiting and went out of her room. Stella shouted, not even paying attention to the ladies-in-waiting as they left her room.

“What happened then?”

“That…”

“They say that the Duke of the Nakran Empire is someone who believes in another god, so he can’t even give that person an oracle!”

“It is impossible for people from other empires. Even if he is a man of faith.”

Hearing the God’s voice, Stella gnashed her teeth. She waited for the day Alice entered the imperial palace. She said that if Alice came to the imperial palace, she would receive an oracle from the gods on the spot, but things went wrong because the plan did not go well.

“It was a perfect kill opportunity!”

Stella continued to bite her nails, feeling distressed. She showed up as nothing but an extra and took the attention of her favorite character.

It was her interest that she should have had if it had been her way.

Stella, with her greed for what was her own, could not forgive this. She wanted to somehow inflict her insult on Alice and hurt her irreparably. So, she won’t come out again.

The God, who noticed her anger, encouraged her further.

“She took all the attention you were supposed to have.”

“How could that be? You said I was the main character!”

“Of course, you are the main character in this world. So shouldn’t we get rid of that foreign substance quickly?”

At God’s voice, Stella nodded her head as if it were natural.

“Then make me a saint for now. I have to become a saint to move freely.”

“Good.”

Stella needed a special identity to pursue Alice and go to the Nakran Empire. Because she couldn’t cross the border carelessly with her status as the crown princess.

The God also couldn’t cause trouble in the Nakran Empire, so someone had to follow his orders to the Nakran Empire to kill Alice. God could not forgive Alice for neglecting this world. Wanting to avenge her and take her life, he joined Stella and her hand.

He didn’t know that Alice wouldn’t move but stayed in the house, but even if she went to another empire, Stella would take care of her.

“Become a saint and go to the Nakran Empire and you know what happens after that, right?”

“Of course, I do.”

A faint light passed Stella’s eyes.

****

The carriage Alice and Lawrence where riding was moving towards the Nakran Empire. They were moving quickly to reach the Nakran Empire on schedule.

Alice, frustrated inside the carriage, offered to ride her horse, but Lawrence refused, saying it was dangerous. Alice quietly fidgeted in the wagon, and took her book out of her enchanted pouch.

Hearing the rustle of her bookshelf being turned over, Alice was immediately absorbed in the book. Not feeling his presence in her carriage, Lawrence opened the window of the carriage, and when he saw Alice reading, he quietly closed the window.

Alice’s gaze did not leave the book. A few hours passed and the carriage stopped.

“We’re camping here tonight.”

When she heard the voice of his aide, Plein, Alice stood up with her book by her side, forgetting she was in the carriage, and hit her head in the roof.

“Ouch!”

“What is going on?”

Hearing her voice, Lawrence opened the carriage door. Facing Alice who was rubbing her head, she quietly closed the door again, assuring herself that it was nothing to her.

‘Acckk, why are you opening the door and making a fuss!’

She rubbed her hair for a while, and when the pain subsided, she opened the carriage door and went outside. The bright sky was beautiful. It was full of white lines as if drawn with pure white paint on blue drawing paper.

Even the birds flying in the sky seemed peaceful. As if representing her mood, everything was beautiful. Alice couldn’t take her eyes off the sky for a long time.

“Was the sky that pretty?”

As Lawrence approached Alice, he took a step back when he heard her murmur. After a while, she lifted her eyes from the sky, and Alice looked back at Lawrence.

“What’s going on?”

“No, I’d rather wait until the barracks are set up.”

“Oh, is there anything I can help you with?”

“Nothing.”

As Alice looked around her, Lawrence held out his hand to her.

“I will guide you.”

“Guide?”

“Aren’t you curious about the campsite?”

“Ah yes.”

Alice accepted Lawrence’s escort. There were gazes from the knights watching the two walked slowly, but Alice pretended not to know.

“That’s the knights’ barracks. You’d better not go there. This one….”

She listened to Lawrence’s explanation with his low voice and Alice, who had been listening to him, eagerly nodded her head, stopped her steps at his last words.

“A lake?”

“It’s right to us. The knights decided to take a bath as a group tomorrow morning, so if you want to use it, it would be better to use it in advance tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes.”

Alice’s eyes narrowed. She waved her hand as if trying to guess what Lawrence meant by saying this.

“Well, you’ve been in the carriage all day, so you’re probably not sweating because of the enchantment, but don’t noblewomen bathe every day?”

“Yes, we do.”

Alice had a cleansing magic on her clothes, but she couldn’t put the magic on her body. So, a bath was necessary but no maid was brought along to help her.

She nodded at his words, thinking of Alyssa, who would not feel comfortable asking her male knights to provide her with bath water on the journey back to Nakran. She wryly smiled at Lawrence’s thoughtfulness. It was nice of him to think of her.

“Why are you laughing so much?”

She narrowed her brows in embarrassment, and he laugh even louder on her face. Lawrence’s face grew even redder as his bright laugh echoed through her campground, and Alice got more embarrassed.

That night, Alice went to the lake just as Lawrence had said. It was a lake located not far from the campsite, but she had to go through the bush to get there.

“I’m glad no one is there.”

It seemed that Lawrence had firmly instructed his knights. His aide Plein insinuated that he had deliberately set up his nights’ bath time in the morning to be considerate of her.

It was a secret that Lawrence didn’t know that Alice’s face flushed red after hearing those words, and Plein secretly laughed.

Alice dipped her hand in the lake. She was the Marquis’s daughter, but it was the first time she had traveled for such a long time, so everything was new to her. The deep blue lake glistened in the moonlight.

“Really pretty.”

The lake, sparkling with a mixture of silver and blue, was beautiful enough to mesmerize people. Alice, unable to take her eyes off the lake, dipped her feet into it.

As the cold water touched her feet, her tiredness seemed to melt away. While enjoying the water; it’s cold feeling, she didn’t even notice the passing of time.

Meanwhile, Lawrence feels impatient when Alice, who has left for the lake, does not return after a while. As he continued to ask Plein for news, he annoyedly called out to Lawrence.

“Then why don’t you go there yourself?”

“You want me to go see her while she’s taking a bath””

“Then shall I go because the Duke kept pestering me about Her Royal Highness?”

“That is one thing I want to do.”

Alice’s identity has not yet been confirmed. Her necklace left behind proves that she was the princess, but she needs to go to the Imperial Palace of the Nakran Empire to confirm his skepticism.

Until then, he had to keep it strictly a secret from Alice so that she was safe.