“It seems he has woken up, but as per your orders, he has not been allowed to come out.”

“Understood.”

“…….”

The guard licked his lips as if he had something to say, but merely bowed his head without speaking.

Hades, noticing this, coldly spoke to him.

“In this situation, we must accept a certain level of sacrifice.”

No one knew what decision Hades would make now that they were without an essential supply of water for crossing the desert.

But supplies were limited, and there were many people.

Whichever choice Hades made, someone would have to pay the price.

The guard solemnly spoke to Hades.

“I have no regrets about serving under the Flame of Flames, Ignite.”

“……Thank you. May the guardian deity bless you.”

“May the guardian deity bless you too, General.”

After seeing the faithful soldier, even in the face of death, Hades entered the command tent with an even darker expression. However, Latifa, who should have been obediently sitting there, was nowhere to be seen.

“……?”

Hades hastily approached and shook the leather blanket on her bed. Naturally, nothing was there.

“……Did she escape?!”

The small amount of food that should have remained was also gone.

“Damn it!”

He spat out a curse and rushed outside to look for her. Escaping was her freedom, but now was really not a good time.

Faced with the situation of having no water, the soldiers were extremely anxious and highly excited.

He didn’t know how violently they might react if they saw an imperial woman wandering around alone in such a situation.

As Hades was about to draw his sword and leave the tent, the wall behind the tent rustled, and a small face popped out.

“Puha!”
“You!”

“Ah, General Hades!”

Upon discovering Latifa Glaesia, who was about to sneak into the tent crawling on all fours, he quickly grabbed her and pulled her up.

Latifa’s face was a mess with dirt, but her eyes were shining brightly and coldly.

Hades growled at her as if to warn her, gritting his teeth.

“Are you out of your mind?!”

“Just, wait a moment. Listen to my story.”

“You were told by the guard that it’s dangerous outside now!”

Frightened by Hades’s voice and his black pupils shining more sharply than his loud voice, Latifa took a step back from him.

‘It’s similar to that time. When I took Brenda away…!’

His gaze, which gave off a wild, beastlike feeling, had a faint hint of dangerous madness seeping through.

Latifa quickly tried to calm him down. She had a premonition that something terrible would happen if she didn’t stop the madness rising in his eyes right now.

“Aack! I’m really sorry for sneaking out! Wait a moment. I had something to check, so I just went out for a while.”

“Nothing is more important than life! This is not the empire, it’s the desert, come to your senses! This is not a picnic!”

“I had something I had to check!”

“How dare you defy my order and roam around as you please?! Damn it! What were you thinking…!”

“I’m not your soldier, and I’m not here of my own will. So I don’t have to follow your orders!”

“You impudent…!”

“Just listen to me for a moment!”

“No. You listen to me! How dare you, a woman of doom, who…!”

‘Who I went out for!’

She was furious because of Hades, who was ranting and raving, calling her a woman of doom and not even listening to her story, even though she had brought back the news that could save many people from danger.

Eventually, she raised her voice and grabbed one of Hades’s wrists.

“Are you really going to kill half of your soldiers?! Calm down. Stop ranting like a mad dog!”

“……!”

At the words “mad dog” from Latifa’s mouth, he instantly closed his mouth.

“I know what’s going on right now! I’m not as stupid as you think! The soldiers are restless because of the water shortage, aren’t they!”

Latifa breathed heavily as she looked straight at Hades. Her stamina had weakened so much that even shouting like this made her breath come quickly.

“Hoo. Water can be obtained again, so please… calm down.”

She began to feel dizzy, unable to breathe properly. Her legs started to give way, and Latifa swayed slightly, clutching her forehead.

Only then did Hades stop screaming and quickly grabbed her waist tightly.

She began to feel more dizzy from his hot body temperature and the smell of sand dust, and her heart raced.

“……You can get water? Where?”

At his now subdued voice, Latifa raised her head and checked Hades’s face. The energy of madness that had been deep in his black eyes was slowly clearing away.

‘Now we can communicate a bit.’

Latifa, slightly relieved, calmed her racing heart and spoke calmly.

“Yes. It’s going to rain soon.”

“You’re insane.”

From Hades came a quick reply without a moment’s hesitation.

“No. It’s really going to rain. It’s going to rain heavily for several days!”

“You’ve gone mad from the heat and cold of the desert.”

“Why don’t you believe what people say?!”

“You have to make sense for me to believe you. This is the middle of the desert, without even an oasis.”
Latifa was at a loss for words. She had planned to return to the barracks and slowly think about how to tell him about the coming rain, but her mind was in turmoil after running into him so suddenly.

There was absolutely no basis for convincing him.

Just one thing.

The only way was to tell him about the ability she had, as it was.

But to tell him she could talk to animals? It was bound to sound like an utterly absurd excuse to Hades.

‘I’ll be treated like a real madman if I say this. I might even be killed as a witch, just like Mom said.’

But she had no choice.

If she didn’t convince him now, many people could be sacrificed. That included her halfsister Aris, whom she had seen only a few times, and herself as well.

Whether she was killed as a witch now or died later in the desert, she might as well grasp at straws.

“Someone told me actually. I……. General Hades. I have a special ability…….”

“A special ability?”

His dark, piercing eyes were directed at Latifa.

Was it an illusion that one corner of his mouth seemed to twitch?

“I…….”

“Yes. You?”

Latifa finally let out a long sigh and lowered her head.

“I can’t say. You’ll think it’s something that doesn’t make sense at all. But please don’t think I’m crazy. It’s really going to rain. This is reliable information.”

At her words, he let out a soft snort. Hades slowly approached behind Latifa.

“Then shall I tell you one of my secrets that no one knows? If you hear my secret, you might be able to tell me yours.”

“You, your secret……?”

His low voice resonated in her ears.

“Like you, everyone in the Grand Bazaar believes I’m a mad dog, but that’s my secret. I’m not mad at all.”

Hades’s finger brushed back Latifa’s silver hair that had fallen behind her ear.