"Rumors of the Grand Duchess's merger spread too quickly."
Selena said to Hasten.
"It's too fast and too detailed. The Grand Duke and his wife's reputation seems to have already hit rock bottom."
"Something seems strange?"
"It's so strange."
Hasten nodded in agreement with Selena's words and added.
"Even though a monster has appeared in the capital, all the talk about it is nonsense."
Hasten sighed in annoyance, saying that it was a headache. Selena also touched her forehead and thought about where to go now.
"I think wherever I go, the situation will be similar to here..."
Her heart was heavy because she couldn't find an answer. The two of them hesitated for a while near the tavern without making a decision. However, since no good idea came to mind, she was about to start walking again, thinking that she should look around a little more. Not far away, she heard an unpleasant giggle. Selena looked back at the sound. Two men were walking out of the tavern where Selena and Hasten had just been, giggling.
"Five gold coins for a few words? That's a lot of money."
The person who said that was the man with the sword mark on his mouth who had been talking nonchalantly about the exploits of the Imperial Knights in the bar earlier.
"If I do this for a few days, I'll soon have enough money to go to an expensive, upscale bar instead of a cheap one like this."
The other was a man with a mustache, one of those inside who was talking about the union of the Grand Duke and his wife as if it were some kind of entertainment. Selena looked at them with a disapproving gaze at their unusual conversation.
"Didn't you say I only had to visit five places a day?"
"I think I've gotten this far today."
"I think so too."
Their conversation confirmed Selena's suspicion that someone was deliberately using people to spread rumors. Then the mustachioed man spoke, stroking the ends of his beard.
"Now all we have to do is tear off that bundle of Croana grass."
"...!"
Selena's eyes grew as big as lanterns when she heard the man's words. For a moment, she thought she had misheard.
'It was definitely Croana just now...'
She looked around, wondering, and saw Hasten also staring at the mustachioed man with a stiff face. He had heard the same thing. As the name suggests, the Croana grass was related to Croana poison. The grass that Selena's husband used to make a new anesthetic while he was alive was Croana. The reason it was called Croana poison was because the name of the grass that was its key ingredient was Croana.
'Yeah. There's no way I misheard that.'
Her heart pounded and her breathing became rapid. Before she could even gather her thoughts, she saw the two men hurriedly walking away. Selena, who was trying to follow them without realizing it, stopped for a moment.
"Ah..."
'Selena, promise me. When you go up to the capital, you won't go and investigate Croana alone and in secret.'
'Don't worry. I promise.'
Before going up to the capital, Selena remembered the promise she had made with Karina.
'I promised...'
But her worries did not last long. Selena's expression turned cold as she thought of her dead husband's face. Selena looked at Hasten with a hardened expression.
"Hasten. I..."
"Let's go together."
Hasten answered before Selena could finish speaking.
"Even if I tell you not to go, you won't listen."
"..."
Selena couldn't deny it. Hasten spoke seriously, though with a bitter expression.
"But promise me that you will follow my orders unconditionally when a dangerous situation arises."
Selena nodded, saying she would do so. So Selena and Hasten quietly followed the two men.
***
"Ugh!"
As the cold wind blew, the bodies of Karina and David, who were hanging on the rope, swayed on the cliff. Just before Karina fell, David stretched out his arm, wrapped his arm around her waist, and held the rope with his other arm. The veins on his neck were visible as he gritted his teeth to support the weight of the two people.
"Grand Duchess."
David opened his mouth with difficulty, his voice low and hoarse.
"Hold on tight to me. I can't hold on with one arm."
David's tendons stood out on his forearms as he held the rope with one arm. Karina quickly put her arms around his shoulders and chest, locking them so that he could use both arms freely. Then David adjusted his posture by holding the rope with both arms and putting his feet on the cliff. Then he quickly looked around. Not far away, he saw the branches entangled with vines that he had seen earlier.
"Grand Duchess, I will get you as close to that branch as I can, so please cross over quickly."
"Yes, I understand!"
David kicked the edge with his foot, using the momentum to get closer to the branch. Karina stretched her arms out as far as she could toward the branch with the vines. David kicked the edge with his foot again to get closer. But soon after, he felt something strange in his hand holding the rope. Feeling cold, David looked up and saw that the knot in the middle of the rope was slowly coming loose.
'This!'
"Grand Duchess! Hurry up! The knot will be untied soon!"
David shouted urgently.
"Huh? Huh...!"
Karina was surprised and confused. It was partly because of the words that the knot was coming undone, but also because of the vines. The moment Karina's fingertips touched the vines, they swayed. At the same time, a long snake head stuck out its tongue at the end of the vines and made a 'pissss' sound.
'Snake!?'
Karina's eyes widened as she looked at the other vines entangled in the branches. Karina's face turned pale. They were all snakes, not tree vines.
"Your Highness! It's a snake!"
At Karina's cry of "Snake," David quickly drew his sword from his waist.
"All of them! They're not tree vines, they're all snakes!"
Karina's voice trembled.
"Yes?"
David was speechless with surprise.
He was thinking of killing one or two by cutting off their heads with my sword. However, if all the vines he saw from above were snakes, it would be better to find another way. However, there was too little time to find another way. The knots were slowly coming loose, so he couldn't go up again.
David quickly turned his head and looked down. As he watched the rocks and dirt rolling down with every step, his eyes caught a different color for a moment.
"Grand Duchess! I'm going to fall. Hold on tight and don't let go."
David pulled Karina back toward him. Karina clung to David again. At the same time, the knot in her clothes undid itself, and their bodies fell back down.
"Ugh...!"
David, who had been waiting, stuck to the wall and slid down, slowed down his fall by stabbing the tip of his sword into the cliff. Then, at some point, he rolled his body toward the cave entrance that appeared at his feet. He didn't forget to throw the sword in the opposite direction of his rolling direction, worried that he might get hurt by it.
Kwung!
The two bodies that had hit the cave floor hard could not overcome the speed and continued to roll inward. Even as they rolled on the cave floor, David did not let go of Karina and held her in his arms until the very end. The two of them stopped only after hitting the cave wall with a loud bang once more.
"Ugh..."
A groan escaped Karina's lips. There was a shock the moment she hit the cave floor and wall, but thanks to David holding her, she wasn't hurt too much.
"Your Highness! Are you alright?"
As soon as Karina came to her senses, she asked impatiently.
"I'm fine. The Grand Duchess, are you not hurt?"
Even as he asked that question, David's hand was wrapped around Karina's head as if protecting her.
"I'm fine."
Karina quickly stood up. David was wearing only a thin shirt on his upper body because she had asked him to take off all his clothes. There was no way he would be okay after rolling around like this. Karina began to examine his body with a serious expression.
"It's really okay."
David smiled slightly and opened his arms slightly to accept Karina's body search. His clothes were a little torn, but he was completely fine, without a single scratch.
"Haa, that's really fortunate."
Karina said with a sigh of relief.
"Didn't you say above that you have an artifact with a protective spell?"
David raised his finger and pointed upwards as if referring to the cave where the two had been earlier. The black gemstone ring on his finger caught her eye.
'Huh? That ring..."
Karina tilted her head. When she was up there, she hadn't been able to see clearly because of the shock of being captured by a monster and the urgency of having to find a way to escape quickly.
'Surely somewhere..."
She felt like she had seen a ring similar to the one David was wearing, but she couldn't remember where. Suddenly, Karina wondered if the ring was an artifact with magical powers that could help her escape from this place.
"I'm sorry. Your Highness the Crown Prince could have escaped right away, but I'm the reason you had to go through all this trouble."
Karina lowered her head as she spoke with a face full of guilt. She had no face-to-face with David.
"Don't say that. I am staying here of my own free will."
David leaned towards Karina and asked.
"Grand Duchess, are you not injured anywhere?"
"I am fine thanks to Your Highness's protection."
Karina took a quick look at her body and then spun around in front of David.
"Right?"
"That's fortunate."
David smiled brightly at Karina. His blond hair swayed with a faint sparkle. His blue eyes and red lips also showed off their beautiful colors and curved gently. Even in this situation, his beauty did not lose its shine.
'You're handsome.'
Karina suddenly had such a thought. While Karina was lost in thought, David got up from his seat and went to the cave entrance. He put the sword that had rolled nearby back into its scabbard and looked outside the cave. He absentmindedly watched the sky outside the cave turn crimson and the sunset, and then opened his mouth.
"I think we'll have to postpone the escape until tomorrow."
"Yes?"
"I see the sun is setting, so I think it's safer to stay here than to go out and wander through the dark forest."
David took a quick look inside the cave and then suggested.
"Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be anything particularly dangerous. Should we just rest here for a while until daybreak?"
"...!"
Karina's eyes sparkled at the word rest. She had barely escaped death just a moment ago and was so out of it. She desperately needed rest now.
"Yes, I like it!"
Karina nodded in response with a strong affirmative.
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