"I'm going to make a rope out of clothes."
David glanced down outside the cave and shook his head.
"It's a waste of effort. Even if we took off all our clothes and made a rope, it wouldn't be long enough."
"I will try as long as I can. His Highness the Crown Prince..."
Karina, who had been tearing and tying her own clothes to make a rope, raised her head as if remembering something. Then she stared at David.
"...?"
Karina, with her mouth tightly shut, seemed to have made some very important decisions.
"Why are you doing that?"
David looked at her with an expression that said he didn't understand.
"Hoooo."
Karina took a deep breath, let it out, and opened her mouth with a determined expression.
"Your High, please forgive my rudeness."
David was a little taken aback by Karina's sudden bowing of her head, asking for forgiveness.
"Why are you suddenly being so rude...?"
David asked. After asking, he thought Karina was referring to her action of tearing her skirt in front of him.
"Oh, it's okay. I completely understand, it's a life-or-death situation."
At his words, Karina raised her head and asked seriously.
"Then you won't punish me?"
"You want to be punished for something like this? I will never do that. Don't worry."
Karina smiled brightly as if her heart was a little relieved by David's answer.
"I am truly glad that His Highness the Crown Prince says so."
Karina, whose smile quickly disappeared from her face, strode closer to David.
"Then I can do it without hesitation."
"... Yes?"
David, who didn't understand what she could do, raised a question mark above his head. Karina grabbed his collar without hesitation and shouted.
"Your Highness. Clothes! Please take off your clothes and go!"
"Yes?"
David looked dumbfounded.
"Take off your clothes before you go!"
"Ah..."
David stared blankly at Karina's completely unexpected words.
"You clearly said you wouldn't punish me later? Then, how can you punish me for touching the Crown Prince's body?"
David now understood what she meant.
"Excuse me, Grand Duchess. What I meant just now was...."
"There's no changing your words!"
Karina answered loudly as if she wasn't listening and grabbed David's clothes with all her might.
"Take it off!"
"Wait a minute."
"I told you to take it off!"
Karina rushed to David and tried desperately to take off his outer garment.
However, despite her determination, it was not easy to take off his clothes because of his broad shoulders and thick arms.
"Wait a minute! Grand Duchess!"
A flustered David grabbed Karina's wrists to stop her. But Karina didn't give up and tried to pull her hands away by swinging her arms back and forth.
'Why don't you fall off?'
Karina struggled. David had no choice but to pull her into his arms, trapping her in his arms and preventing her from moving.
"Just calm down for a moment."
Karina's cheek touched his firm chest. Even though it was cold and damp inside the cave, she could feel his deep and soft body scent in his arms. Karina, who tried to escape from David's arms several times, soon relaxed all the strength in her body.
Karina leaned her forehead on his shoulder and spoke.
"Please take it off, Your Highness."
Karina pleaded in a pleading voice.
"Okay, I'll take it off for you."
David said with a defeated look on his face.
"I'll take it off for you, so calm down."
At David's answer, Karina raised her head and met his eyes. Then as if nothing had happened, she confirmed in a bright voice.
"I clearly said I would take it off! I will never go back on my word!"
David chuckled, bewildered by her quick change of attitude.
"You did that on purpose?"
"I'm desperate for anything right now."
David nodded, laughing in disbelief.
"All right."
So David took off his clothes as Karina wanted.
***
"Is it okay now?"
Karina tied up the clothes she had torn with great effort to make a rope.
"Yes, I finished it."
Karina stood at the cave entrance with a proud expression on her face.
"Are you really going to come down?"
David looked at Karina.
"Yes. I should go."
Karina said, looking down at the entrance. Although it was relatively gentler than the other side, it was almost vertical. When she looked down, she saw a deep darkness. Karina's body trembled slightly in fear.
'I have to go anyway.'
She swallowed dryly, suppressing her fear. Not far from the cave entrance, she saw a thick tree branch growing through the rock. It seemed like she could make a rope out of cloth and hang it there like a noose to climb down. Karina put her thoughts into action.
"You shouldn't do that."
No, David intervened just before the move.
"Yes?"
David, who was watching Karina make a noose out of the rope she had tied together with clothes, made a serious point.
"You shouldn't make a noose like that here. You should make it so that when you hang it on a branch and pull on it, it tightens so that when you hang on the rope, you don't fall."
"Oh, I see."
Karina had never done anything like this before and had no idea. As Karina was confused and lost as to how to make a noose, David took the rope from her hands. He made a noose of the shape he needed and started tying it.
"There's a limit to how high you can go down this. What are you going to do in the middle of the cliff?"
In response to David's question, Karina pointed with her finger to a fairly large tree branch in the distance.
"First, I'll go there."
It was firmly anchored to the rock and didn't look like it would break even if a person hung on it.
"Once you get there, you can use the vines as a rope to get down further."
David also checked the area Karina had pointed out. Just as Karina had said, there were long vines entangled here and there on the tree branches.
'Hmm?'
For a moment, David's eyes narrowed. Suddenly, he felt as if the tree vines were swaying.
'What?'
While David looked down, Karina stood at the edge of the entrance to hang the noose on the tree. Karina stretched her body forward to throw the rope. Just then, the wind blew fiercely.
"Ah...!"
The wind caused Karina's center of gravity to shift forward, causing her to stumble.
Karina tried with all her might to regain her balance, but it was no use.
'No!'
She had a feeling that she was about to fall.
"It's dangerous!"
In that brief moment, a flash of splendidly fluttering blond hair and deep blue eyes came into view. With a firm feeling wrapped around her waist, Karina fell down the cliff.
***
Inside a shabby tavern where people were eating and chatting noisily. Selena, who was occupying a small table in a corner that was not easily noticeable, opened her mouth.
"How was it?"
Hasten, who was approaching Selena's question, shook his head from side to side.
"There is no one who knows useful information. When you actually hear stories related to monsters, they are all just guesses."
Hasten sat down on the chair opposite Selena as if it was a waste of time. Selena and Hasten decided to do what they could after Karina was captured by the monster. They decided to trust Jeremiah to rescue Karina. They had heard from Jeremiah that he had immediately formed a search party and went to find Karina himself as soon as he heard the report that she had been captured. So they were going around here and there to gather information without resting while they waited.
Before they started their investigation, Selena had expected that the people of the capital would be shocked and confused by the sudden appearance of the monster. After all, it was ridiculous for a flock of flying monsters to appear in the middle of the capital. However, contrary to her expectations, the people simply dismissed it as a one-time incident. Rather than expressing concern and worry about the appearance of the monster, they were more focused on how well the knights dispatched by the imperial family had driven the monster away.
"The monster that appeared was so big!"
Just then, they heard someone talking passionately about the situation in which the monster had appeared.
"You said that one of them was almost the size of a house?"
A man with a knife wound on his mouth. spread his arms and shouted loudly enough for everyone in the bar to hear. The monster, which was the size of a carriage, had already grown to the size of a house at the man's single word.
"Do you know how much that huge monster ran away in fear when the knights from the imperial palace swung their swords once? I saw it with my own two eyes!"
The man pretended to swing his sword and swaggered. He also shrugged his shoulders as if he were telling a tale of heroic adventures. One of Selena's eyebrows went up. The more she listened to the man's story, the funnier it seemed to her.
'Isn't it even stranger that a flock of flying monsters that appeared in the capital in broad daylight fled Immediately after a single threat from a knight group from the imperial palace?'
It was even strange that the monster that appeared only took the Crown Prince and Karina and disappeared. And the strangest thing was...
"I heard that the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess finally got married? I heard that the palace servants all watched the union."
The thing was that the conversation about the Grand Duke couple was more popular than the talk about the monsters among the people. Selena and Hasten quietly listened to the conversation taking place at the next table.
"The Grand Duke of Colesburg means that His Majesty the Emperor must assist him until the first night. He is no different from a bunch of ignorant mercenaries who know nothing but how to fight."
"Hahahaha! What a waste of Colesberg's name!"
They were so shameless that they would say things that they would be beheaded on the spot for insulting the nobility.
"It is said that the palace attendants sent by His Majesty the Emperor went into the bedroom with them and gave them advice on how to spend their first night together."
"They're been married for so long, and they're only having their wedding night now. I wonder if he's even acting like a proper man."
The content was extremely specific and malicious. Even just one day after the annexation. No, not even a day later, the rumor was spreading at an unbelievable rate.
'It's as if someone deliberately set things up this way.'
Selena had a twinge of doubt.
'Then who planned this and for what purpose?'
Selena's expression darkened. Selena and Hasten, deciding that there was no more information to be gained from here, left the place with unpleasant frowns.
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment