Chapter 6 - The Son of the Emperor

Chapter 6 – The Son of the Emperor

Boom, boom!

Lightning accompanied the thunder and struck incessantly at earth.

The wheel of their carriage fell into a puddle and made a great splash. The ground was beginning to turn askew and cave in everywhere due to the softening from the rain. Rosha blocked her ears as the roaring thunder continued.

The heavy downpour also persisted, as if the gloomy weather had been waiting for Viola to leave the kingdom. The fog was so dense that the coachman could not even see an inch ahead of him despite it being daytime.

Boom!

This time she felt a tingling sensation as if the lightning had struck the roof of the carriage. Rosha glanced at Viola with tears in her eyes.

“I’m … scared. Are you all right, princess?”

“I’m all right.”

“Amazing. How can you not be afraid of lighting? What’s your secret? “

“Belief.”

“What?”

“I have not sinned enough to be struck by lightning, so the gods won’t punish me like that.”

Rosa nodded. She decided to avert the conversation away from the weather since the lightning frightened her so.

“Are you not curious about the prince? I hear he is a very handsome man.”

“…”

Numerous rumors surrounded the crown prince. They said that in addition to his beautiful appearance, he possessed excellent skills in swordsmanship. There were also rumors that he could cleanly cut an orc’s head off in one swing. These traits would have made him the perfect man, having both bravery and good looks.

“I’m really curious as to how handsome he really is.”

“He’s the son of the emperor. I heard that there had been a terrible bloodbath before his birth when his mother eventually climbed the ranks to become empress.”

“How much of the rumor do you think is true?”

“Well—”

Before the current crown prince, it was undecided who would inherit the title. He did not earn the title by beating numerous princes but gained it by default when his mother was chosen as the empress. Viola had heard that several concubines were killed because of the resulting court politics, but she didn’t care about such intrigue because no matter who became the crown prince, the fate of the princesses being trampled beneath them wouldn’t change …

Viola’s only interest was in failing the training period and being sent home. She gently stroked Ming’s fur lost in thought. Then, suddenly, the carriage came to a halt.

“Princess, there’s been a report of a landslide ahead. I don’t think it’s advised to go this way.” The coachman reported.

“I think we should get out of the rain.” Viola instructed.

“Then I’ll find a place for us to seek shelter for a while.”

It was dangerous to continue riding a carriage through the rain. If the road had been blocked by a landslide, then it was better to find a detour across the river. Viola looked at the map and planned out their next route.

“You managed to acquire a map?” Rosha asked in amazement.

“I am still a princess, so the queen gave me an assortment of jewels to maintain my image. I only used a small portion of that.”

She had to sell off one of the jewels the queen gave her to get the map, which she acquired for a high price at the guild.

“Rosha, I think we should sell all the jewels in case we need more money later.”

“Then what are you going to adorn yourself with?” she asked, puzzled.

“What I need is money, not jewelry. I need a lot of money to buy information, so sell it.” Clearly, Viola had thought far ahead.

“Okay.” Although she didn’t understand her mistress’s intentions, Rosha had trust in her.

The rain still lingered for a while, but after an hour, the weather began to lighten.

Viola felt like she had been sitting on nails after riding the carriage for days. There were no private houses in the border area, so they had to camp and she looked a mess.

“Traveling is hard, isn’t it?” She smiled at Rosha.

“No, I grew up in the countryside, so I can bear with anything. Are you all right though, princess?”

“It doesn’t matter to me. Ah … it would have been faster to ride a horse … but since we can’t do that—”

If they had come by horse instead of a carriage, they would have already arrived. Unfortunately, she had to bring along the dowry which slowed them down. Still, at the very least, they were now crossing the border. Luckily, they only had one mountain range left to cross and then they would be at the empire’s capital city, so that meant they didn’t have to camp anymore.

After a while, the carriage came to a halt, and as soon as it did it became noisy outside. The servants began to build a makeshift barrack under a large tree. Viola also got off the carriage and tried to lend her assistance, but the moment she did the servants freaked out.

“Ah, Princess! We’ll do this.”

“It’s all right.”

This kind of work wasn’t hard for her because she had lived in the rough mountains. She felt it was only natural for her to help because, unlike her who had spent the near entirety of the trip inside the carriage, the servants were soaked.

The servants’ eyes were wide open with astonishment, and someone exhaled a breath in admiration. They couldn’t believe the princess was actively helping them build the barracks. In fact, she built it even more skillfully than the servants, who were dead tired from traveling, causing them to look at each other in shock.

She felt refreshed from moving her body, as it was an opportunity for her to clear her mind. The rain continued to fall in light drizzles, but the heavy downpour had stopped. Viola let out a soft smile as she looked up at the gentle raindrops falling on her face.

Rosha, shocked, quickly ran and led Viola into the barracks.

♛

She could hear grasshoppers chirping when the rain stopped. It was a bit stuffy, so she decided to venture outside the barracks. Viola could hear the sound of rushing water from a river nearby. Unknowingly, she had made her way to the source and sat atop a small rock before washing her hands. The coolness of the water made her feel better. Ming came up to her and rubbed her face against her affectionately as she stroked her fur.

Viola looked ahead. She just glanced at it casually, but the way the river was lit by moonlight was breathtaking. She then caught sight of a silhouette of something that should not have been in the water.

“… A person?”

There was a sole man floating on the water. No, he was floating and being swept around by the current like a corpse, and at that moment the impulse to save him rose up within her. She didn’t care about her dress getting wet and jumped into the water. Viola, who grew up in the forest and could swim well, crossed the river with ease. She made her way through the current.

Soon, she was able to grab hold of the man’s body, he then suddenly spasmed. She was caught by his hand before she could take hers off of him in astonishment.

Her wrists were so hot at his touch that it was as if her skin was being singed. His body temperature was remarkably high, which was odd for somone who had been floating around in cold water. The moonlight then gradually illuminated their faces. Her heart started pounding.

“Ah—”

Was this a person or a god?