CH 9.1

“Really?”

She simply nodded her head, not saying anything much.

Archduke Kyar gave her a disgruntled look.

“Really. We can’t see each other for a week. Aren’t you curious about why we couldn’t?”

Did she have to be curious?

Isabella opened her mouth, but she closed it and instead flashed him a reluctant smile.

“What is the reason?”

‘ I will go away to subdue the monsters at the border.”

“Oh.”

When he heard no response, one of his thick dark brows lifted.

Quick-witted words spilled out of her lips.

“Have a safe trip. I’ll be working hard on researching about the antidote.”

“I don’t think you are sincere at all, but it feels good to hear such a greeting.”

His arm stretched out and caressed the silver wisps of her hair.

“I’ll be back.”

She found his touch sweet, but she reminded herself not to be fooled by this kindness.

She promised herself that she would not allow her mind to weaken from the caring gesture.

**

As Archduke Kyar went out to perform his duties for the Empire, Isabella also had a lot of free time for herself.

Once a month, Archduke Kyar would subdue the beasts along with the knights, and it would last for a week.

In the beginning, once every two or three months of visitation would suffice, but later on, the duke was required to go out once a month since the number of magic trees had increased compared to two years ago.

It was said that something went wrong at the boundary, but she didn’t understand what it meant the first time she heard it.

From what she understood, the powerful duke erected enormously thick barriers made of ice around the borders of the entire archipelago, preventing the wild beasts from infiltrating the Empire.

After hearing the story, she became more fearful of how intense Duke Kyar’s abilities were when she found out that the ice barriers he built still stood stronger than ever, even after a month.

The Kyar family, who contributed a lot to the foundation of the Acnis Empire, had reigned for a long time, defending the northern part of the borders ever since the first members had established  their reign.

Their lineage was as powerful as the Emperor.

Without the Kyar family, the safety of the entire empire couldn’t be guaranteed.

Magicians would utterly destroy it.

Kyar Family were the guardians of the Empire.

Duke Kyar was responsible for subduing the beasts, and she was ecstatic with the freedom this had granted her.

There were three people whose roles were to watch over her.

They were loyal knights from the Knights’ Corps, and as soon as Isabella left her room, one would follow her, maintaining a distance of two meters.

‘Still, it was much better than Kyar following me around.’ She mused while carrying a medicine bag.

She thought about going to the cave and collecting more valuable herbs that she had learned while reading the books.

Unfortunately, she only found seven herbs from the five books she had read that could be effective as an antidote.

Out of seven, only two kinds of herbs matched the ones found in the cave.

Thinking that she still had a long way to go, she exhaled a heavy sigh.

“Aren’t you cold?”

Lost in her own thoughts,  she suddenly heard a female voice in her ear as she walked through the forest.

She looked over her shoulder and saw the knights spitting out white puffs of breath in the air around them.

One of them held a thick cape in her hand.

“I’m fine.”

She wasn’t cold at all, even if she only wore a thin cotton dress, and  the knights stared at her in bewilderment.

“Oh, actually, I don’t feel cold if I drink this medicine. Do you want to try it?”

Luches, who she predicted as her first customer, refused to drink it despite her excellent persuasion skills, but it seemed like the new customers No. 2, 3, and 4 waited for her to elaborate.

Smiling brightly, Isabella took the red medicine out of her bag, but their guards went up the instant they saw it.

Did she really sound like a drug dealer to make them act wary around her?

“It’s okay.”

They answered calmly, and Isabella’s shoulders drooped as she adopted a sullen look.

It seemed like her plans of raising funds for her business of selling the red medicine must be abandoned.

They didn’t react to it too well the instant she mentioned it.

Well, it was only natural for them to be suspicious when they knew about  the medicine she concocted for Duke Kyar made him half-mad.

Resigned, Isabella turned around and dragged her feet to her destination.

“Huh?”

From a distance, she witnessed Kyle training his swordsmanship under the large tree where the ‘Gloria’ flowers were found.

That specific location where the ‘Gloria’ flowers grew was the coldest place in the forest.

Kyle’s body, covered only by a thin training suit, shook violently while he stood there with his sword.

She knew it was too cold for the boy who didn’t possess the power of ice like the rest of the Kyar Family.

She almost thought he would give up because of how hard it was to stay there, but Kyle continued to move with his sword.