CH 45

“No way…The king…” the mercenary mumbled.

Luisen nodded his head.

Carlton released a short sigh. The death of a king was an extremely urgent, important issue–worth risking your life for a visit to the capital.

“If I’m going to be in danger anway, it’s better for us to not drag our feet and act beyond Ruger’s expectations,” Luisen said.

“That’s true, but…”

“Let’s join up with your men and go to the capital together. You’ll be slowed down because of me, but…I’ll make the reward worth your time.”

Carlton thought about it. As Luisen said, if the king was truly in critical condition, then they must set off on the road to the capital in a hurry. Both Carlton and Luisen must arrive before the current king dies.

Moreover, considering the duchy’s history, it was better for the young lord to temporarily join his army, even if he suffered for a few days. The question, though, was whether or not Luisen could endure the hardships of travel until they met up with Carlton’s army.

“It’ll be a tough road. We will be homeless on the road–bedrooms, let alone high-quality ones–will be a dream. There won’t be any attending servants either.”

“It’s fine. It’s enough.” There was no hesitation in Luisen’s reply. He’d been through much worse conditions and hardship than that. After enduring so much to return to this timeline, he couldn’t possibly lose it all just because of a bastard like Ruger.

“Through various instances, many members often get left behind; thus, we’ve predetermined some set locations and rules for reunion. About…three days…from here…” Carlton glanced at Luisen’s thin legs. Only then did Luisen remember that he was almost naked; the young lord grabbed the cape that had fallen on the floor and covered himself. Carlton regretfully averted his gaze.

“It’ll take more than a week; just leaving the mountains will take about a week,” Carlton continued as if he hadn’t seen anything.

“I’ll hold out far better than you expect from me. So please, don’t worry too much–I won’t be too much of a bother to you.”

“…It’s not that I’m bothered. I’d rather feel more at ease to have the duke by my side, since I don’t know what sort of trouble he’ll get caught up in alone.”

“…I can’t exactly…refute that.”

Carlton had appeared to him and saved him at every crisis, so Luisen had nothing to say even if Carlton were to view him as a pain in the neck.

“Then I’ll leave this whole journey to you. Even if you’re frustrated, please don’t throw me away in the middle.”

“That won’t happen. I’ll take you to the capital without a single scratch or a strand of hair out of place.” Carlton was determined.

“….I was just kidding, though,” Luisen awkwardly mumbled. He couldn’t overcome the awkward atmosphere of sitting face to face, in his undergarments with the cold air brushing past his skin.

*******

After the conversation, the two sat apart and waited quietly for the sun to rise. Luisen leaned against the wall of the cave and examined himself. His body was throbbing here and there, and it turned out his skin was riddled with scratches and bumps he’d received from being bitten and dragged along by the direwolf.

Still, there were no major injuries that would need immediate treatment. The direwolf’s vicious teeth could have amputated Luisen’s leg, but given the various scratches, it probably didn’t mean to hurt him from the start.

‘What a silver lining. I can walk like this.’

He had a vigorous and healthy body full of youth–it could definitely endure. No, there was no choice but to endure. Luisen glanced at Carlton; the mercenary was leaning against the opposite wall with his eyes closed.

‘I can’t be a burden.’ Luisen folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes. His head ached with fatigue and stress. The cold that seeped through from the cave walls chilled his bones. In this wintry, dreary mood, Luisen curled up.

He recalled his nomadic days–a time of loneliness, despair, and perpetual chill.

Luisen pressed the center of his brows firmly with his hands. He struggled to never experience those days again, but now he was running away from someone once more.

Did this mean that a person’s fate didn’t change so easily?

‘No. No, no…It’s not like before.’

The duchy was alive and well, and the duchy’s citizens did not resent Luisen. The duchy would expend all of their efforts to rescue him. Carlton, who was his enemy before, was sure to stand by Luisen and protect him. Everything was different–compared to before regression, he was in a good situation. This was the result of all his hard efforts.

‘Since I’ve done well so far, it’s going to be fine.’ Like that, he tried to cheer and console himself, but it wasn’t easy to get rid of negative emotions easily. There were still so many things he didn’t know.

Just why would Ruger try to drag Luisen away in such a complicated method at this time? For what reason? Who did he do this for? Maybe there was another actor behind his downfall–both now and back then. But who? Why? For what?

The future was already frightening enough of a subject; coupled with Ruger’s betrayal and the appearance of an unknown enemy made it worse. The amorphous fear engulfed Luisen’s rationality and kept driving his thoughts into negativity. The achievements he had made in the meantime were forgotten; the cold and pain seemed to be the only thing that existed.

He crouched down and hugged his arms over his legs, but the loneliness didn’t seem to fade away. He had no choice but to silently wait for the time to pass.

It was not long before the sun rose. Luisen and Caarlton exited the cave in their half-dried clothes. Their surroundings looked a hazy blue.

Luisen sighed once again. ‘We truly are deep in the middle of the forest.’

The trees were densely packed everywhere. Wherever direction he looked seemed the same, so it was hard to take the first step. There were no horses to mount nor foodstuffs to eat; if he wanted to moisten his throat, he had to lick the leaves and drink the morning dew.

‘Where do we go?’

The way forward was murky from the very beginning. What path must they take to avoid Ruger? Where must they go to reach their destination?

‘What did the saint say to do at times like these?’ Nothing came to mind when thinking of his teachings. Luisen’s chest felt stuffy; hopeless and bleak, he felt his vision dim.

‘Is this my future?’

Anxiety sneaked up on him. It felt like everything was going to go wrong, and the ground beneath his feet was crumbling away. Stunned, Luisen stood still.

At that moment, Carlton tapped Luisen on the shoulder.

“?”

“What are you doing staring off into the distance? We should set off.” The mercenary took the lead.

Luisen followed suit, still in a daze. “Do you know the way forward?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

Everything looked the same to Luisen. There was nothing that resembled a road, and no matter where he looked it was an endless, thick forest.

“I can estimate where my men will be waiting for me. Since this place is often travelled by the military, I’m familiar with the terrain.”

“But you still don’t know exactly where we are, right?”

“The sun is rising now: that way is east. If you can orient your direction, the rest is simple. You just need to note the direction as you go.” Carlton spoke as if what he did wasn’t particularly impressive. Could Luisen trust that and follow? He was still nervous but trudged along because there was no viable alternative.

The two walked along the hilly path. There was barely enough space for animals to pass through, let alone humans. The bushes were thick, so Luisen had to lean down in order to step forward. Sometimes he cut his hands on blades of greenery, and it wasn’t unusual to hit his legs on protruding branches.

Everytime he was hit, Luisen crouched over to swallow the pain. Each step delivered fresh pain. Their clothes were also an issue: the suit absorbed no sweat, and his shoes slipped easily.

‘I’m exhausted.’

Still, there was no time to rest. After all, resting did not guarantee that the situation would improve, and he didn’t want Carlton to consider him tiresome.

As his legs silently trudged along, various thoughts filled Luisen’s head. ‘Why did Ruger want him to escape to Dubless County? Just because it was close? Or was there another reason? Is Count Dubless behind Ruger?’

Luisen tried to recall Count Dubless–he just seemed like a polite and mannerly aristocrat. Despite the fact that they shared a border through the forest, the two did not interact much. They had a generation gap; the count was the age of Luisen’s father. Since he had little reason to contact Luisen, the distance between them was natural.

The last time he saw the count was when the young lord had arrived at his territory during his midnight escape.

‘What was he like back then……?’

He had waited a long time and barely met the count; but, let alone comfort, Luisen was locked in the drawing room and kicked out after saying what he had to say. At the time, he was outraged at being treated so poorly, but he had forgotten about it later due to other happenings. Luisen couldn’t even remember the contents of their conversation at the time–and seeing how no specific memory stuck out, it must not have been very important.

But Luisen was suspicious of his own memory.

‘Was there really nothing special? Could it be that I can’t remember?’

He couldn’t trust his past self who was so indifferent to the world at large and others.

‘….Useless.’  Luisen felt so pathetic that he became depressed. He inadvertently felt around his chest; there had always been a piece of beef jerky there…but nothing was there now.

It had been lost while they were on the run. A jerky was needed to uplift depressive thoughts, but without that morsel, he felt lost. Luisen was deeply distressed. ‘ I’m hungry. Tired. Hurt.’

With his stomach feeling so empty, he kept thinking about the old days–the memories of the nomadic life and the pain he had felt overlapped into the present.

TL: Hi guys >.< I’m feeling very guilty because I disappeared on this series for a while. It was a combination of classes and the fact that this series I don’t have the raws ripped (vs my other main series which I do have all raws in a text document/folder.) It’s easier to tl from a text document during/in-between classes, vs…ripping raws while dodging student’s eyes >.< Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone swooped in and took the project bc I’m updating so slow haha.

Still, thanks for waiting for this chapter you guys. (And thanks for squid for reminding me.)