Chapter 6

“What’s going on?” Despite not seeing Ilyin in a week, Baron Arlen did not welcome her. To be honest, he seemed quite unhappy about her visit.

Ilyin looked at her father carefully.

It was dismissed as a false rumor that the nobleman who first made eye contact with the Duke of Biflten died. Later, however, the knights under the dead man were also found dead, and the interest and attention about the Duke were suddenly silenced.

Who wanted to die of curiosity? “Never make eye contact,” she affirmed to herself loudly.

Ilyin knew in the back of her mind that it would be difficult for anyone in the Biflten family to kill her off, but at the same time, she wasn’t completely at ease. Ilyin opened the blue cloth on her head. She didn’t know how fast they were going, but she could feel her legs begin to tremble.

“It’s okay.” She comforted herself with the knowledge that her dreams had not yet foretold her death.

*

The landscape outside of the window turned white as the somewhat peculiar-shaped carriage continued to move towards the North. To ride in the blizzard, the horseman was equipped with a separate compartment, and the horse was also covered with protective gear.

Ilyin couldn’t believe it was near the end of summer. Instead of running a carriage to the North, it felt like she was running back in time and turning the calendar to winter. Riding through the white snow, they left tracks behind, each with a rough appearance.

As the temperature in the carriage plummeted, Ilyin couldn’t believe she was able to see her breath in the late summer. She rubbed her hands together and breathed into them, which seemed to warm them up momentarily as the white steam touched them, but quickly got cold again. Exhaling again, Ilyin quickly hid her hands in the blue cloth. It was the only warmth that she could find in the carriage.

Then, out of the blue, there was a loud thud.