Chapter : 129
“So this is what it feels like to walk on water.”
I muttered as I looked down at the greenish water swaying beneath my feet.
Under the transparent barrier, I could see something as big as a catfish swimming around lazily.
Yes.
We were walking on water.
And not only that—our position was already nearing the center of the lake.
“If we fall in here, do we become fish food?”
The moment I asked, Olya’s face turned pale.
“Don’t say such unlucky things. Barrier magic isn’t something that flimsy—”
He cut himself off mid-sentence after seeing a pitch-black creature open its mouth and swallow a smaller fish whole. He flinched and added,
“…Or maybe it is?”
Right. I see.
At some point, Olya had grabbed my sleeve tightly.
“Ugh… what kind of godforsaken hardship is this, all because of you, huh?”
“What else could we do? Isabel might be in there.”
“Exactly! That’s what I’m saying!”
Olya raised his voice without realizing it, then suddenly turned around.
Putting on an artificial smile, he used ventriloquism to speak toward the knights who believed him to be the Prophet of Winter.
“Who knows what that woman might do to us? That damn woman probably fled from the emperor with murderous intent boiling over. Do you think she’d just let us be if we met her?”
He pointed the tip of his staff at the cabin door.
“You think she’ll welcome us with ‘Come on in’? We’ll be lucky if she doesn’t stab us the moment we open that door.”
“If it’s just a blade, that’s fine.”
I confidently raised Hrunting.
“That, I can handle.”
“…That’s exactly the problem.”
Olya grimaced at the sight of me.
“You trust way too easily. Ever since you got that wolf’s power or whatever, it’s gotten worse.”
“Yeah. You need to trust me. Why do you think Amin Wilhelm only allowed you and me to enter this cabin?”
I turned and looked toward Amin Wilhelm.
“…Because he trusts me.”
“…You two really are a strange couple.”
“In what way?”
I asked, and Olya shrugged.
“In the sense that neither of you hesitate to walk straight into danger? And on top of that, you actually encourage each other to do it.”
A faint smile appeared on my face.
Yes. Olya was right.
Even when I did something dangerous, he supported me—and I, too, was fully prepared to push him into danger if needed.
“You’re smiling? I’m nervous out of my mind right now.”
“There’s nothing to worry about.”
I turned back to him.
“…That side isn’t necessarily safer than where we are.”
“What does that even—”
Just as confusion spread across Olya’s face, I stepped onto one of the posts supporting the cabin.
The solid sensation under my foot sent a strange wave of relief through me.
Without hesitation, I walked toward the cabin door.
Seeing that, Olya’s face twisted.
“W-wait.”
“Why?”
“I’ll open the door.”
His expression turned grim.
“And why is that?”
“I’m shorter. If we get attacked and I duck, you’ll be the one who gets hit, right? Huh?”
“……”
That… wasn’t serious, was it?
Thinking that, I obediently stepped back.
Olya stared at the door, took a deep breath, and extended his staff toward the doorknob.
He murmured what sounded like a short incantation.
A sound like a small explosion rang out from the doorknob, and the door cracked open slightly.
But only slightly—far too little for us to squeeze through.
Seeing Olya hesitate, I simply kicked the door.
The old door didn’t swing open—it toppled over and crashed to the floor.
Dust billowed up, clouding my vision.
‘…An attack?’
I tightened my grip on Hrunting—
When Olya, coughing and covering his mouth with his robe sleeve, frowned deeply.
“…Isabel?”
With his words, warm air flowed out from inside the cabin.
‘Was there a fire?’
There was no smoke outside, so where was this warmth coming from?
As I wondered, I saw Olya rush urgently toward a woman lying on the floor.
‘Didn’t you say we’d be attacked?’
The woman was collapsed beside mysterious stones emitting blue flames.
Just as I debated whether to grab the back of Olya’s robe—
“Isabel, you—”
A sharp, tingling sensation shot through the back of my head.
I spun around instantly.
Using the flat of Hrunting, I slammed the attacker down and pinned them against the wall.
A groan leaked out from between clenched teeth.
“Ugh…!”
Our eyes met beneath the deeply pulled hood.
Thud.
Something fell close by.
It was clearly the sound of a large rod-like object slipping from the attacker’s hand—
But for a moment, I mistook it for the sound of something falling from my heart.
Something was dropping inside my chest.
I thought it had fallen endlessly—then it fell again.
My vision swam.
“…So it’s you. The blacksmith.”
A familiar yet unfamiliar face stood before me.
Jet-black skin, striking eyes.
“Diana.”
It was Diana.
* * *
Amin Wilhelm tossed a pebble into the lake.
Thrown at just the right angle, it skipped across the surface—once, twice, again.
“Eight times.”
Amin smiled proudly as he looked at Sir Hans.
Hans’s expression stiffened slightly.
His lord’s wife had gone into that bizarre cabin, yet he showed no sign of tension at all.
Was the rumor true—that Lord Wilhelm despised his politically married wife from the Isla family, rather than cherishing her?
Hans sometimes couldn’t understand the minds of titled nobles.
His own lord, the Lord of Brahe, was no exception.
[Keep Lord Wilhelm and his wife occupied at Nox Lake. I’ll deal with the castle personnel in the meantime.]
[Yes…?]
[If you can sink them to the bottom of the lake, even better.]
Why had his lord betrayed his former ally, Lord Wilhelm?
Hans knew that recently, his lord had been secretly exchanging letters with the emperor he claimed to despise.
He also knew that his lord had begun coveting the newly mined gold veins Amin Wilhelm had uncovered.
And he knew that his lord had fallen for the emperor’s cunning lie—that Wilhelm was monopolizing wealth that “should belong to all of the North.”
Even so, Hans could not understand him.
[Then I’ll be able to personally take Amin Wilhelm’s head.]
That belief—that it was even possible—was what Hans truly couldn’t comprehend.
Even now, as Amin casually skipped stones and exposed his back, Hans felt an indescribable pressure from him.
Amin wasn’t even touching his sword, just gazing at the water’s edge—utterly careless.
It looked as though he could be struck down easily.
And yet, Hans couldn’t bring himself to act.
He knew what kind of swordsman Amin had been on the battlefield.
Though he hadn’t seen it himself, he’d heard countless testimonies from survivors.
They said—
Amin Wilhelm had become one with his sword.
Hans had no courage to see that sight for himself.
Perhaps, when the night fog still obscured Amin’s vision, he might have managed to place a hand on his sword hilt.
But the moment the fog lifted as if it had never been there, his courage vanished with it.
Hans sensed the knights around him watching.
All of them were stiff with hesitation.
That was when the princess approached Amin in a leisurely voice.
“Raven. Oh raven, Amin.”
The princess’s eyes were strange.
As her gaze narrowed like a crow’s, Hans frowned.
‘Something’s wrong.’
The Prophet of Winter.
The Grand Duchess who casually walked on water.
Lord Wilhelm, relaxed in this situation.
Even the princess herself.
“Raven?”
Amin echoed softly, stroking the princess’s hair.
“Yes. That is inside the cabin.”
“That, you say? Now I’m curious, Yul—”
Smiling gently, Amin drew Yul into a light embrace and whispered something into her ear.
Hans frowned at the sight.
When Amin released her, Yul nodded repeatedly—then suddenly covered her ears.
A song flowed from her lips.
“La-la-la, one leaf—”
Her clear voice echoed along the lakeside.
Just as Hans was about to ask Amin what he had said—
The scabbard at Amin Wilhelm’s side moved.
Moved.
That was all it felt like—
Yet the next moment, Hans collapsed to the ground, searing pain exploding in his lower body.
He found himself kneeling before Amin Wilhelm, staring up at him in shock.
Amin curved his thin lips into a smile.
“Sir Hans. Do you know what your mistake was?”
At that moment, sounds of knights moving erupted behind him.
Hans thought they were his own men—
Until he heard his adjutant scream.
He turned around in panic.
Wilhelm’s knights had completely surrounded them.
“…H-how…?”
“Thinking you could draw your sword and defeat me, Sir Hans.”
In an instant, Hans’s jaw twisted violently.
He was slammed face-down onto the ground, Amin Wilhelm’s hand pressing firmly against the back of his head.
“That you believed I would give you that chance…”
A voice filled with astonishing mercy—
Followed by utterly merciless force.
