The End of Your Arrogance - Chapter 40.2

Evelyn sat on a protruding tree root and waited for the others to return. After a while, the companions arrived one by one.

“Pia, did you rest?”

Evelyn felt a pang of injustice when she saw Ilya and Nikolas looking so peaceful, as if they had just taken a stroll.

“Now, how do we get out of here?”

They all looked at Evelyn as if they had made a promise. Unbeknownst to them, she sighed as she looked down at the crimson ring on her finger.

Suddenly, the barrier of trees started to sway. Branches sprouted from all directions and wrapped around their bodies, pulling them into the barrier.

Evelyn, who had prepared herself for scratches all over her body and tightly closed her eyes, quietly opened them when she felt no pain. Her blurry vision gradually became clearer.

“Ah!”

The ruthless trees pushed them out of the barrier.

Evelyn tumbled to the ground. Illya rushed over and helped her up.

“We’re rolling all the way to the Grand Castle.”

Evelyn adjusted her robe and complained. After chuckling for a while, he headed towards where the knights had gathered.

“Pia, are you okay?”

“Don’t ask me, it’s embarrassing.”

As Nikolas approached quickly, Evelyn lowered her head.

“They all landed so gracefully; why am I the only one feeling embarrassed?”

“It’s a truly peculiar forest. It’s an experience you can’t buy even with money.”

“I don’t want to experience that again,” Evelyn said, shaking her head. Nikolas chuckled.

“Your Majesty! Congratulations on your safe return!” Stas approached them, waving his hand. Illya greeted him with a smirk.

“Judging by your good complexion, I guess nothing happened last night.”

Stas raised his eyepatch and spoke.

“I was fully prepared, but nothing happened. I was so bored, I thought I would die.”

“You’re telling me there was no reaction even though our headquarters was raided? These guys are amusing,” Ilya glanced at the two knights standing behind Stas with a chubby expression. They were the twin knights who had remained at the scene since the landslide occurred.

“Leave the two of them at the scene and let’s go.”

Although something might happen later, it didn’t seem like it would happen right now. Illya decided to celebrate last night’s victory and give the weary companions a well-deserved rest.

“Your Majesty, are we just leaving like this? You made a promise!” Ione exclaimed with a disgruntled expression. Ilya smirked.

“We said we were going to eat marshlo. Why would there be chaos just because we’re leaving?”

Navaron, in his excitement, stumbled over his words.

“Wh-what you’re thinking, Your Majesty, is th-that, right?”

“Perhaps.”

Why would the White Bear Knight be so excited about that place? Evelyn became more and more curious about where it could be.

“It must be a famous restaurant in the northern region.”

It seems like it.”

Ilya spoke quickly and approached Evelyn and Nikolas. Wondering what was happening, she looked up at him, and suddenly her body floated. Regaining her senses, she realized she was sitting in front of him.

“Why, why are you doing this?”

“Sometimes you need to take a break from talking. Imagine how heavy it would be if both of you were on me the whole time,” Nikolas looked at Ilya with a perplexed expression. Ignoring Nikolas, Ilya quickly ran forward.

“It feels like a dream—a dream of one night.”

The Black Forest, the ominous herbs that grew by consuming blood, and the man suffering in the gorge… One night, they all felt like dreams.

“Soaaaaar!”

Behind them, the Black Forest wailed as they ran.

****

They arrived at a shabby inn after riding for a while. “A place of surging life and silence,” Evelyn read, reading the name of the inn written on a dilapidated sign that seemed like it could fall off at any moment.

“Silence?” Ilya explained with a smirk. “There’s an abandoned temple nearby. There’s a well there that is said to have received the grace of the gods, and its name is ‘Silence.'”

“There seem to be many fascinating places in the northern region.”

“I only know of Suzdal Castle and Azantis Castle; the world is truly vast.”

Evelyn carefully observed and listened to everything. When she eventually traveled with Libe, she wanted to explain various things to her child.

“Your Majesty!” Seeing an elderly couple running towards them, Ilya dismounted from his horse. After helping Evelyn dismount as well, he quickly approached the couple.

“Oh my, Your Majesty. What brings you to this humble place?”

“It’s been a while since we last met,” Illya said, greeting the couple warmly.

René, who had approached them, whispered to Evelyn.

“They are the parents of Sir Louis, one of His Majesty’s bodyguards.”

“Sir Louis? My escort, Sir Louis?” Evelyn was taken aback and looked at the couple. She noticed that the wife’s brown hair and gentle face resembled Louis a lot.

It seemed that the couple was familiar with the Marshal as well, as they greeted him kindly.

“Oh, my, pull yourself together. You must be busy with matters of state.”

“We came all the way here because we missed the marinated marshlo your wife made. We missed it even in Tartar.”

Ilya’s hearty laugh reached the couple’s ears. When he was with close friends, he was a kind and modest man.

Evelyn stared at the unfamiliar man’s face for a while. If he had married the woman he loved… He would have smiled so brightly. Every time she discovered a new side of the unfamiliar man, Evelyn felt both happy and sad.