chapter 8
Ariletty first gave a small bow.
“Thank you for feeding me and letting me rest.”
Since you saved Sir Duncan, let's call the debt from my previous life repaid.
“Looking at you, it seems you're quite talented at running away.”
Glenn Hezate strolled alongside Ariletty, matching her pace.
Ariletty steeled her resolve.
No matter what he said to persuade her, she absolutely would not give in.
“How far are you going? Want me to take you there?”
Her ears immediately perked up.
She had actually been worrying about how she was supposed to find her way to the distant White Forest.
But the road leading to the White Forest was unknown to all outsiders.
Only the Sages knew the exact route, and revealing it to others was strictly forbidden. Ariletty herself had only become aware of the path after awakening her Sage abilities.
The sole exception was for those whom the forest itself permitted entry, and ordinary humans certainly didn't qualify.
In the end, it's a road I have to travel alone. I can't keep getting tempted like this.
As Ariletty stubbornly kept her lips sealed, Glenn glanced down at her and made another offer.
“It's cold outside. If you don't want to tell me your destination, I can at least take you nearby. What do you say?”
Now that she looked closely, he was a young man who had only recently shed the last traces of boyhood. His smiling eyes and cheerful grin made him strikingly handsome.
But those imperial princes had pretty faces too.
“I'll just appreciate the thought.”
Ariletty hurried out through the city gate.
Only to be swept by the wind and hurled right back through the entrance.
“Eek!”
“Whoops. See? I told you it's cold out there.”
Glenn expertly caught her out of the air and scolded her playfully.
Ariletty's vision spun after performing an involuntary somersault in midair. Her cheeks stung from being smacked by the gust.
“Uwaaah…”
Don't tell me I can't even leave?
“This happens every day around this season. Snowstorms sweep through two or three times daily. During severe cold spells, nobody can go beyond the walls. I don't know where you're trying to go, but accepting my help would be better for you. Only the locals know when the blizzards will calm down.”
“Th-then just halfway…”
Before Ariletty could finish protesting, Glenn had already started striding away.
The main gate quickly disappeared into the distance.
“Ariletty. You know, I'm pretty good at judging people.”
Did he mean he had a good eye for character?
She had rejected both the greedy First Prince and the vile Second Prince, so he wasn't entirely wrong. However, considering she'd chosen the Third Prince and ended up destroying herself, his judgment wasn't exactly trustworthy.
Glenn slung the bag he had taken from her over his shoulder and spoke brightly.
“I think you're a remarkably important person. Definitely not an ordinary child.”
“That's true…”
“Still, you're only five years old right now. If you're planning a long journey, you need to eat properly first. At the very least, you should grow another three handspans, don't you think?”
Ariletty stared at him in disbelief.
You people barely have enough bread for yourselves, and you're telling me to grow three handspans taller? Why are you giving away everything you have? Are you fools?
No.
The members of House Hezate weren't fools.
They were cunning foxes.
Proof of that was the fact that Ariletty found herself effectively imprisoned in the lord's castle from that very day onward.
“Little miss, how are you feeling today? Your throat doesn't hurt anymore, does it? Hmm?”
“It doesn't hurt today. I can go outside now.”
“Little Sage, I know you're feeling cooped up, but please bear with it a little longer. The doctor said you still shouldn't be running around. Once you're fully recovered, let's go horseback riding again, okay?”
For starters, she had no idea why everyone had suddenly started calling her "Little Sage"!
Tanesa carefully washed Ariletty in warm water, dressed her in fluffy padded clothes, shared food with her, and looked after her attentively.
Among the knights, Duncan visited especially often.
Ariletty latched onto the man she was most familiar with and unleashed every bit of cute charm she could muster.
“Mister, I wanna leave. Please let me out.”
“No can do, Little Sage. It's way too cold outside. Brrr. Ah, so cold.”
“It's not cold. I wanna go home. I have a home too…”
Suddenly, Duncan's eyes grew misty.
Only then did Ariletty realize her mistake.
Ah, right. My family was purged.
To everyone else, Ariletty was an orphan who had lost her parents only weeks or months ago and had been abandoned in the snow.
Everyone knew she had nowhere to return to.
Not only Duncan, but even Tanesa and the knights who had gathered outside the door to peek in all started sniffling together.
There was really no need for that...
They're never going to let me leave.
A bleak premonition settled over her.
Honestly, if she were in their position and saw a five-year-old child trying to cross a frozen wasteland with nothing but a backpack, she'd probably drag them back too.
After wiping at his damp eyes, Duncan lowered his voice conspiratorially.
“You know, Little Sage, we know you saved us.”
“...!”
“I remember everything you said that day.”
“I didn't say anything!”
Cold sweat broke out down her back, but Ariletty stubbornly denied it.
Duncan, whose honest face reminded her of a potato, grinned and pinched her cheek.
“Thank you, Ariletty. I never properly thanked you, did I?”
“Thank me...?”
“If you hadn't been there, we'd all have died at the Church of Gringen. I don't have any family depending on me, so if I died, that would've been the end of it. But Roel has three children. And Tanesa lives with her grandmother.”
“...”
“Thank you for saving us. I'll repay this debt someday.”
Ariletty's insistence that she hadn't done anything was completely ignored.
And strangely, she didn't dislike it at all.
For the first time, someone who had never survived this far in any of her previous lives was alive and healthy, thanking her.
I'm not someone who deserves gratitude. If anything, it's the opposite...
Something around her heart twisted painfully.
Hot. Sharp.
“Take care of us from now on too, Little Sage!”
Uh-oh. This is bad...
This is a problem. My debt keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Ariletty stared seriously at the pane sitting on the table.
I can't keep accumulating obligations like this. But...
Ever since Duncan had thanked her, strange thoughts surfaced whenever she looked at the people here.
The truth was that the others weren't any different from him.
The timing of their tragedies varied, but in both of her previous lives, House Hezate had been annihilated.
By the Imperial Family of Bertel, whom Ariletty had served.
Ultimately, by her own hand.
Then doesn't that mean I'm the only person who can change that future?
Who else knew both the First Prince's faction and the Second Prince's faction as thoroughly as she did?
Ariletty's expression darkened.
But... I don't want to get involved in the succession struggle anymore.
Things had never ended well before, so she hesitated.
Besides, she still wasn't certain these people could be trusted.
Meanwhile, an irresistible aroma drifted up from the pane.
A child's body was terribly inefficient. Following her instincts, Ariletty sniffed eagerly.
It smells so good...
It looked delicious.
A loaf of rye bread had been cut in half horizontally, hollowed out, and filled with rich cream pasta. The scooped-out bread had been neatly sliced and placed on the plate for dipping into the sauce.
“Are you just going to stare at it all day without eating?”
A voice trying to suppress laughter.
Glenn Hezate.
“You're drooling, little one. Hurry up and eat. You'll need your strength if you're planning to run away again.”
Indeed, drool was practically pouring from Ariletty's mouth.
After exhausting herself and spending several days bedridden, simply seeing warm bread and soup now made her mouth water automatically.
But despite how appetizing it looked, the bread wasn't in very good condition.
The same was true of the serving on Glenn's plate.
No matter how you look at it, this isn't high-quality food.
Usually, bread that had become stale and hard after sitting around for days was used as a bowl like this.
Soaking it in sauce softened it enough to eat.
Looks like they thawed out bread they'd frozen.
In other words, this was the best meal they could produce with the limited ingredients available.
They're scraping together the last scraps from an already empty pantry.
Her own situation was pitiful enough, but the state of this territory's finances was even more shocking.
At this rate, they'll either starve to death or freeze to death before the princes ever get around to destroying them.
