Chapter 10

Answer Me, Please – Chapter 10

Allen narrowed his eyes at the erratic answer that had nothing to do with the question.

“What do you mean? Why are you suddenly talking about the wolf leader?”

“Wolf leaders are rarely caught by humans. They are smart and have great senses. However, it is said that if they see their female being caught, they will walk into the trap themselves. Wolves originally only live with one mate for the rest of their lives, and they cherish that mate as if they were their own lives.”

Rosie let out a long sigh. “Actually, the peace proposal was all a trick. My father’s goal from the beginning was to kill the Quat chieftain and take all of the tribe’s land. However, he knew very well that he could not kill the Quat chieftain with his own abilities, so he used the method used to catch the wolf leader instead.”

“Then, did he use the chieftain’s wife as bait to summon him?”

“Yes. He told the Quat chief to come to our own land if he wanted to find his wife. And he, who loved his wife, really came alone.”

Despite their mutual animosity, the old women of the village still whispered about how brave the Quat chieftain was at the time, and about the tragedy his wife suffered.

“Did the chieftain eventually die because of that?”

“Yes. My father killed him. He didn’t even return the body. It was abandoned somewhere in the woods and became food for animals.”

“Then his wife…”

“She went back alive. But maybe it would have been better if they died together then.”

“…why?”

Allen gradually began to have an ominous premonition. Because if the tribe’s method is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, they might try to do what their former chief’s wife had experienced to the princess.

Rosie lowered her gaze. “My father seemed to have liked her for a long time. After he killed the chief of the Quat tribe and seized their land, he intended to take her as his wife. But when he tried to coerce her, she resisted stubbornly and cut my father’s face with the dagger she had.”

Allen remembered the long scar on the face of the chieftain. Maybe it’s the scars from that time.

“My father, angry at the woman who rejected him, treated her not as a hostage but as a slave.”

“That means…”

“Yes. Slaves are not treated as human beings here. We are no different from beasts, especially towards female slaves…”

Rosie couldn’t finish her words and bit her lip. She looked at Allen with sad eyes.

“Allen, I pray that Nazar Quat is not as heartless as my father.”

***

As he said, they were moving all day long. She had to sit on the horse all the time except to get off and get a meal or some other simple task.

Under these circumstances, Rosetta felt pain in her buttock, to the point where she did not feel the pain afterward.

In fact, it was the first time she had ever ridden a horse for so long, except for when her brother or Issel occasionally gave her rides.

However, even if she whined that she was in pain, the expected reaction was obvious, so instead of sitting down during a short break, Rosetta wandered around and swallowed the pain in herself.

She didn’t want to appear weak in front of these people anyway.

Meanwhile, Rosetta watched them carefully. First of all, there are ten people in all, and although they are of various ages and appearances, they all have bodies trained through hard training.

In other words, it means that it is difficult to evade them by force and escape from this place.

Moreover, even though they didn’t seem to care about Rosetta, if Rosetta moved away even a little, a persistent gaze quickly followed. In particular, the red-haired man would glance at Rosetta with an extremely unpleasant look.

Rosetta decided that she had better not do anything conspicuous so as not to arouse suspicion.

“We’re off again.”

It seems it hasn’t been long since they got off and rested, but the order to depart came again.

Rosetta let out a deep sigh. It’s time to torture her butt again.

The moment she approached the horse, holding back her desire to cry, she saw something she hadn’t seen before on the horse’s back.

There’s a soft blanket on the saddle that wasn’t there before. Obviously, it is for Rosetta who isn’t used to riding a horse

“What are you doing not riding?”

“Ah, yes, yes!”

At the man’s urging, Rosetta hurriedly held out her hand. The man lightly picked Rosetta up and put her on the horse. Now, riding a horse with the man has become natural.

As she rode on the horse, Rosetta glanced at the man behind her. She wanted to apologize for what happened this morning, but it was difficult to find the right time.

“Excuse me…”

At her sudden call, the man lowered his gaze and looked at her. The moment her eyes met his, Rosetta made up her mind and took a deep breath.

Yes, let’s apologize quickly. If you have regrets and self-reproach for putting it off any longer, it will be even heavier.

“I’m sorry about earlier. I wouldn’t have said that if I knew it was your mother’s.”

The man stared at Rosetta with his clear blue eyes. When Rosetta was about to get her word out once more, he said, “I said that because I was afraid that you might throw it away or lose it, so don’t worry about it. What’s more, it’s not like the thing I cherish…”

The man didn’t finish his words and closed his mouth in the middle.

Rosetta was a little puzzled when he said that it was his mother’s keepsake but not something he cherished. Nevertheless, she breathed a sigh of relief thinking that it was fortunate anyway.

Then, suddenly, she became curious about the man’s parents.

He said it was a keepsake, so it seemed that his mother had already passed away. So, is his father still alive? However, seeing that he became a chieftain at a young age, it seemed that his father was no longer in this world.

A man named Krell had mentioned it. Did the Basque chief do something? What happened in the past?

As the long shadows fell over the fields, the camp began again.

Something similar to yesterday was repeated. While some went hunting in the woods to find meat to eat, those who remained quickly built tents and started a fire.

Rosetta sat on the tree trunk and looked at the scene rather curiously.

How could they get everything done in such an instant?

Occasionally, Rosetta’s brother would boast after returning from knights training. At the time, she thought it was all nonsense, but looking at it now, it doesn’t seem like it was all a lie.

If the knights were made up of such efficient people, wouldn’t it be possible to really build a bridge and fill up the entire lake in one day?

Then, Rosetta suddenly recalled the taste of the meat she had tasted this morning and swallowed her saliva. It was really soft, tender, and delicious.

What kind of meat was it? I wonder if I can eat it for dinner too.

“Riga, won’t you bring Rigaina a rabbit this time?”

At the sudden words, Rosetta turned her head away. At first glance, a young-looking boy was smiling beside her.

The boy’s appearance was a little different from the other men’s. He has pale gray eyes and hair, suggesting that he is of mixed blood. He appears to be about the same age or younger than her.

But that’s not what matters now.

“Ra- rabbit?”

“Yes, that’s what you ate this morning.”

Rosetta, who had finally learned the identity of the meat she ate this morning, was already stunned. Not knowing that, the boy was smiling broadly.

“Originally, you were going to have a rough breakfast with beef jerky and dry bread, but Riga caught a rabbit for Rigaina.”

For a moment, Rosetta was seized by the urge to vomit everything she ate for breakfast. To her, a rabbit is a lovable and cute creature, and it is not the kind of animal to be eaten by humans. In her garden, some rabbits lived in harmony with cats.

“Ugh…”

Rosetta covered her mouth with her hand, barely holding back her nausea.

The ignorant boy tilted his head. “Rigaina, what’s wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell all of a sudden?”

“Hey, why are you calling me that name from before?”

“Name? Oh, you mean Rigaina? Rigaina is the title of the chieftain’s wife. It’s like calling a chieftain a Riga.”

“So Riga isn’t his name? Then what else is Nazar Quat?”

“Nazar Quat is just a nickname that outsiders call Riga. You don’t even know Riga’s real name until now, do you?”

Rosetta nodded at the boy’s cautious question. That’s only natural since he and she aren’t in a relationship where they can’t leisurely share each other’s names.

More than that, how many alternate titles does that man have? Nazar Quat and Riga… you mean he still has another name?

Suddenly the boy glared at the man with reproachful eyes.

“Riga, please don’t do that. No matter what, you should be more considerate of her and treat her better as your wife. Even today’s schedule is the same. Rigaina must be very uncomfortable with her body, isn’t it too harsh to have her ride a horse all day without resting properly?”

Are you saying I’m not feeling well? Why?

Rosetta tilted her head. That’s right, her butt was numb and tingling.

But it felt like that wasn’t what the boy was saying. The boy’s face turned bright red in an instant.

“Well, so, last night…”

“What happened last night?”

“You’ve lost a lot of blood!”

“Blood?”

Rosetta finally realized the reason and breathed in. So, this boy thinks she’s sick because of the first night ritual.

“No, I—”

Rosetta tried to make excuses with a red-hot face, but the man who was listening to the story opened his mouth first with a low sigh.