CH 42

Ricardo fell in love with Blanche, so much so, that he didn’t think he could fall in love even more.

Finally, Blanche, who filled all 449 inventory slots with various treasure chests, lifted the last box with one hand.

The last box was light enough for an adult woman to hold with two hands, whether it contained jewels or gold coins.

Blanche broke the lock of the tightly closed box with force. When she opened it, she saw various maps and documents. This last box was not a treasure chest, but a box that contained important documents.

Blanche wrinkled her forehead.

‘Most of these are documents about maps and the military status of the Lantana Kingdom.’

The longer she spent looking through the documents, the brighter the light of understanding appeared on Blanche’s face.

‘Come to think of it, this was before the war between the Ramsay Empire and the Lantana Kingdom broke out.’

As she noted before, monsters would appear alongside dungeons this spring. Because of this, some rulers in the continent took advantage of the chaos brought by the dungeons and wreaked havoc in the outside world.

It was a war between nations. Moreover, the Lupinus Kingdom, Blanche’s homeland, was also involved in this war.

‘Now that I’ve seen this, it seems that the war would have happened even if the dungeons hadn’t appeared.’

What the documents meant was clear.

The gold coins that filled the treasury of Count Juan were the military funds of the alliance between the Ramsay Empire and the Lupinus Kingdom.

‘The King Lupinus is amazing, too. He even used usurers to avoid the eyes of their ally, the Kingdom of Lantana.’

Blanche threw the documents and its box to the floor. She felt an excessively intent gaze.

Unsurprisingly, the owner of the gaze was Ricardo.

As Blanche turned her head, Ricardo, whose eyes twinkled, raised clenched fists.

“You’re awesome, Blanche!”

His cheeks were dyed red and he couldn’t hide his excitement.

“You must be a great wizard!”

She hesitated without realizing it. She felt awkward from receiving his kindness and generous praise.

In particular, it was because his ‘like’ towards her was subtly different from that of Guillermo or Sylvano, making it difficult for Blanche.

‘This punk. You’re not trying to use me by praising me, you just really admire me, don’t you?’

Maybe that’s why.

Blanche immediately became uncomfortable with Ricardo. But it would be absurd to show such a reaction to someone whom she had to be close with in the future.

Blanche avoided his gaze and moved her feet.

“Now that our business is done here. Let’s go.”

“Yes! Oh Blanche, here!”

Suddenly, Ricardo took off the coat he was wearing and held it out to her.

His blue eyes twinkled as if he was looking at the stars. Perhaps, he didn’t want to hide his heart for Blanche.

If not, how would Blanche, who had never received an ounce of love in the past seventeen years, have noticed Ricardo’s heart?

She looked down at Ricardo’s hand which stayed in the air for a moment.

‘This would be difficult.’

But right now, there was something more urgent than breaking his growing feelings.

They had to leave the Count’s castle as soon as possible.

Blanche silently took his coat and hung it over her arms. The coat was too big for Blanche.

At that moment, Blanche felt that although he was young, Ricardo was still a man. Moreover, his clothes even covered Blanche with plenty of warmth.

She struggled with her thoughts.

“Let’s run. We have twenty-three minutes left before the Imperial Knights arrive.”

“Yes!”

More energetic than ever, Ricardo nodded his head. The two of them ran at full speed towards the stable.

The guards of the Count’s castle could not block Blanche this time either. Even as they saw her wearing a robe that was clearly not hers.

After arriving at the stable with Ricardo, Blanche proudly ordered the stable keeper. She had asked that all but two horses be taken to the forest immediately.

The stable keeper brought her a white mare and a black stallion, then moved the rest of the horses according to Blanche’s orders.

Ricardo rode on the white mare and stared at Blanche. She rarely rode horses so she could barely climb the black stallion.

“Blanche?”

With an unusually pale face, Blanche hesitated.

Blanche was not good at riding horses. No, to be more accurate, she couldn’t ride a horse at all.

After she got a limp, she lost the pony she loved so much to Mariette.

Even on the day she challenged Amerigo, she rode a horse with the help of Guillermo.

Again, Blanche felt uneasy as Ricardo, who was on the white horse, looked at her innocently.

The reason was simple. She didn’t want to show her weak side to others.

She was afraid that others would look down on her like they did before she remembered her previous life.

Blanche’s green eyes fluttered shallowly.

“You can go first. I will run after you.”

“You’re going to run? Blanche, can’t you ride a horse?”

“… No way.”

Ricardo looked at her suspiciously. Blanche added what she thought was a plausible answer.

“I just don’t like that black horse.”

“Then let’s switch horses.”

Ricardo immediately started to climb down from his horse.

If Blanche hadn’t stopped him, he would have gotten on the ground in less than ten seconds.

“No.”

Ricardo felt embarrassed and blinked his blue eyes.

“Uhm, Blanche?”

“I don’t want to.”

After letting out a brief groan, he descended from the top of the white horse.

Ricardo looked carefully at her hard expression.

“Well, uhm, Blanche. I have a question for you…”

“Don’t waste your time on useless things. Get back on the horse.”

Ricardo ignored her words.

“Blanche. How did you get here from Digitalis?”

“I told you to get on the horse quickly.”

“I’m not going to sit on the saddle until you answer me properly.”

She wrinkled her forehead and let out a deep sigh, then swept her bangs with her slender hand.

“I bought and cast a teleportation spell.”

“Did you walk?”

Ricardo’s eyes squinted.

Feeling ashamed, Blanche added something that she wished she hadn’t.

“…I also ran.”

Pfft. A laugh burst out of Ricardo’s mouth that he couldn’t stop.

Blanche’s eyes narrowed with dissatisfaction. Ricardo covered his mouth belatedly. She raised one of her eyebrows.

“Why were you laughing?”

Ricardo straightened his expression at her coldness. But Blanche wasn’t scary, she was just cute.

Indeed, Ricardo loved her at every moment.

He smiled softly as if he was happy.

“No. I was just thinking that you ran and came to me so quickly.”

Blanche didn’t respond. Feeling embarrassed by the silence, he rubbed the nape of his neck.

Then, moving his blue eyes to one side, Ricardo suggested in a gentle manner.

“Blanche. Thinking about it, I mean. We’d better ride the horse together.”

“No.”

He soothed Blanche again.

“Look, Blanche. We’ll both freeze to death if we run in this cold weather in these thin clothes. No, you’re strong and you’ll be fine, but it’ll be irritating for you.”

“…”

“Please, Blanche. Just this once. Huh?”

“Don’t pretend to be weak.”

“I’m not pretending to be weak, I am really weak.”

It was true. There was no man in this world who was not weaker than Blanche.

It worked, Blanche’s stiff expression softened a little.

“It can’t be helped then.”

Ricardo’s face brightened.

“Blanche. Do you want to ride the white or the black horse?”

“If you can handle it, I’d like that large black horse.”

Ricardo skillfully grabbed the reins and promised to Blanche.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let you fall.”

“I’ll take care of that, so just ride in front.”

“Oh, I’m riding in the front?”

“Yes.”

After the short reply, Blanche sat in the saddle before waiting for his help. It meant that they shouldn’t waste any more time.

Sure enough, she urged Ricardo.

“Come on, why aren’t you climbing up?”

Ricardo smiled as if there was a breeze of relief in his lungs, then followed her on the horse.

Blanche wrapped her slender, white hands tightly around his waist.

Ricardo’s back stiffened. He felt his whole body burn as if he was on fire.

Blanche complained to Ricardo, who had barely moved the horse.

“Aren’t we going to leave?”

“Oh, right. I have to…”

After squeaking like a rusty clockwork doll, he started the horse.

In an instant, Blanche noticed Ricardo’s red-hot ear. An obvious question ensued.

‘What did I do again?’

Blanche was not even slightly aware that her breath was tickling his ear.

Blanche felt a sigh was forming at the back of her throat. Thanks to this, she was able to stop herself from letting out a deep sigh.

‘With that sensitive personality, he can’t even start properly.’

Blanche hid her displeasure and leaned her forehead on his shoulder.

In an instant, Ricardo’s heart started beating like it was going to explode. Because of this, they weren’t speeding up.

Blanche, feeling exhausted, spoke nervously.

“What are you doing? Come on, why aren’t we running.”

“Ugh, let’s go…”

Ricardo, who wanted to enjoy the excitement a little bit more, increased their speed as fast as he could.

As the black horse sprinted, Ricardo’s body was as hot as a ball of fire.

Blanche knew this better than anyone. There was no way she couldn’t know because her stomach felt warm against his back as if she was hugging a stove.

So the two left the castle of Count Juan. No thoughts of her family were left in Blanche’s mind.

Even though the situation she caused was no different from throwing a huge piece of sh*t at her own blood and flesh.

Sure enough, the next morning.

The castle of Count Juan was overturned.

* * *

Marquis Marquette had to wake up earlier than usual. His chief aide Sauveur shook him from his restful sleep.

“My Lord! My lord, something has happened!”

“Yes. Isn’t it still morning? What happened for you to wake me up at this early hour.”

“Last night, the Count was attacked! By Miss Blanche!”

The Marquis opened his eyes that he was trying to close. But his surprise did not last long.

It was because he easily remembered the events before he had gone to sleep.