Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Blazing Wildfire (Part Seven)
“Cough cough—”
Another round of violent coughing erupted.
“…That’s it, at least, cough cough, I think I am.” His eyelids drooped like they were made of lead. “Little girl. Next time, if you… see people like us… remember, you need to chop off our heads… otherwise, before we burn our own bl**d dry… we won’t stop…”
“…What’s the point of this—”
Before I could finish, I suddenly noticed the flames on Valar had extinguished.
Right after that, his skin visibly shriveled, his hair started fading, his face became incredibly dry and gaunt, and his eyes, once lively, turned cloudy and lifeless, as if he aged decades in an instant.
“C-can I… ask you… for one thing…”
“Nope.”
I immediately shot back.
“N-no… three years ago… I went down to the cliff… alone… to find you… I looked for you… but couldn’t find you…”
Valar, looking like a decrepit old man, whispered hoarsely, leaving me momentarily stunned.
Then, I focused and stared seriously at his face: “Nobody has ever looked for me.”
But he couldn’t hear me anymore.
“So… please…”
“Tell… Ailna… I tried… I love her…”
“Miss Ailna…”
He widened his murky eyes, as if dreaming.
“I saw her… under the moonlight… she was holding a sword… she was so beautiful…”
“She… was so beautiful…”
Hiss—
A snort came from behind.
A silver-haired woman dismounted from her Horned Horse, surveying the chaotic snow-covered scene, particularly the charred remains everywhere, her eyes showing a hint of shock.
“Miss Peilo… are you injured?”
I shook my head.
“And you are?”
“Captain Bella of the Shanter Army’s Second Squad.”
The woman’s expression was indifferent, her beautiful face not giving anything away, then she looked at the man whose head was drooping, riddled with ice wounds.
“This is Valar?”
“Yeah, he’s dead.”
“Am I late?”
“Not really… well…”
Before I could finish, she already guessed what I wanted to say.
“I brought some men ahead; the Duke will arrive shortly.”
“Oh.”
I nodded, acknowledging her, then turned back to the face-down mess on the ground and then to Valar, lingering on his emaciated body for a moment.
Maybe because she felt my reaction was lackluster, Bella began to explain to the Duke on her own.
“Valar snapped the iron chains, killed a few people, and escaped from the cellar. Later, a patrolling hunter found something was wrong at White Gate. I was worried about delays, so I gathered everyone and left first, sending someone to notify Shanter Castle before I departed.”
I flashed her a bright smile.
“I know, let’s go.”
Then, I tossed away the ice short scythe in my hand and turned toward the nearly wrapped-up battlefield behind me.
As Valar’s last words came to mind, I pondered whether he was lying or if he really went down the cliff to find me three years ago… but that didn’t really matter anymore.
Facts are facts; thinking about making amends afterward holds no significance, right?
“He was the Gate of Truth?”
“Yeah.”
“…What a wicked trick.”
Bella hopped back on her Horned Horse, shifting her body back slightly to leave room at the front of the saddle, then she reached out her hand to me.
“Miss, come on up.”
I hesitated for a moment before grabbing her hand and climbing on.
In reality, I wasn’t good at riding, totally lacking in talent. In my past life, I even fell off a horse once, almost getting stomped to d*ath, and since then, I had a phobia. Now, the Horned Horse here is way bigger than any horse from my last life… but showing that fear would be embarrassing.
Just as I felt a tad nervous, I heard Bella say from behind: “Miss, hold on tight.”
The Horned Horse let out a whinny and galloped forward.
“Wah—”
I stumbled, my little hands flailing in panic, finally clutching Bella tightly.
There was no warmth or softness to feel—her leather armor was cold and hard, so much that it made my back ache a bit, and the sudden rising and falling with every gallop of the horse jostled my backside painfully. Seeing me in such a predicament, Bella seemed a bit surprised.
“Miss, can’t ride?”
“A bit…”
“Oh.”
She wasn’t much of a talker; she just acknowledged me and went silent, yet she quietly shifted one hand to grab my waist.
As night deepened.
The Horned Horse raced past the battlefield.
A faint breeze brushed over us, mingling with the stench of bl**d and d*ath.
We dashed past countless hunters wrapping things up and injured City Guards becoming captives—most of them were ones I had frozen and taken down earlier. At that time, I had deliberately lowered the temperature of the Ice Mist, so they didn’t freeze to d*ath… but they still only made up less than twenty percent of the total.
The majority of soldiers had their heads severed, limbs scattered who-knows-where, some were sliced in half, with their insides tangled around their necks… They had spilled their bl**d on this land, ensuring a permanent rest… perhaps never able to rest at all.
Among them, many likely didn’t even know what they were heading out for. Maybe they told their wives and kids: I’ll be out for a few days, will be back soon.
And then they never returned.
My feelings were a swirl of complex emotions.
I wasn’t sympathizing with them; after all, they were still our enemies. Not long ago, they were pointing swords at me. If I were just an ordinary girl, or the Peilo from three years ago, I might have already been dead.
I could stand unscathed on the battlefield not because they were merciful, but because I was strong enough—I understood that reasoning.
I just hated war. Hated those so-called nobles who could sign a d*ath sentence with just a few words.
Maybe I still hadn’t adapted to the rules of this world. The survival of the fittest here was utterly different from the corporate battles of my past life.
d*ath lay so starkly before my eyes, making it impossible to ignore.
The Horned Horse kept galloping forward, and soon more hunters gathered around us. Up ahead, Lafael surrounded by his guards was leading a severely injured, limping man forward.
“Let go, let go of me—”
“I’m the Grand Prince of the Valen Empire! How dare you treat me like this!”
The man struggled, falling to the ground. He might have hit a wound, letting out a painful cry. He then raised his head, beneath his messy black hair hid Edward’s handsome yet soiled face.
Lafael bowed slightly, “Good evening, Your Highness, the Grand Prince.”
The guards and hunters next to him laughed unabashedly.
“Hahaha—”
“Good evening, haha—”
Some even mimicked Lafael’s gesture, bowing to the crumpled Edward propped up on the ground and echoing his greeting, their laughter growing louder.
Edward lowered his head, silent as a grave.
“What’s the matter? Nothing to say?”
“…What’s there to say. Lafael, this time you’ve won. Next time—”
“You think there will be a next time?”
Lafael smirked, narrowing his eyes that shot cold, piercing glances at Edward, who visibly flinched.
“Lafael, what do you want to do…” His eyes widened, his voice trembling slightly, “You want to k*ll me… no, you wouldn’t dare… the church won’t allow you to do that… they won’t let you act like this…”
The Horned Horse let out a whinny as it stopped at the fringes of the crowd; Lafael glanced up at the noise.
“Is it over?”
I nodded.
“Yeah.”
“Perfect timing; I just wrapped up here too.”
