“Stop! Kyaaah!”

-Thud!

Latifa, who was running quickly despite her injured leg, eventually tumbled and fell forward.

Surprised by Latifa’s sudden appearance, Hades lowered his raised sword and quickly helped her up as she rolled.

“Ow ow ow…”

“Latifa?”

At Hades’ dazed words, Latifa quickly came to her senses and approached the horse lying tied up. The horse was now panting heavily, seemingly too exhausted to even cry out anymore.

Latifa quickly placed her hand on the horse’s head and gently stroked it. Then, while trying to calm the horse in her mind, she asked:

‘It’s okay now. Who do you want to see? Can you tell me?’

Seeing the gray horse squirming and flashing its white eyes, Hades grabbed Latifa’s shoulder.

“That’s a mad horse. Step aside.”

“It’s not mad. It’s just excited!”

“You think I can’t tell the difference between an excited horse and a mad one?”

Hades spat out the words, sounding a bit offended, but Latifa didn’t hear him. She was focused on concentrating on the horse, trying to summon the silver spirit.

‘Ah… please. If you don’t appear, you’ll die.’

As if her desperate prayer was answered, soon a thin spirit rose from above the gray horse’s head.

[I want to see my sibling. They took my sibling. Find them.]

Tears were welling up in the horse’s eyes.

‘Okay, I’ll find them! Who’s your sibling? What do they look like?’

[Black and white. There’s a white spot on the face. Black fur. I miss them.]

“Black and white? White spot…? Black fur, you say?”

Latifa mumbled softly the words the gray horse was telling her.

‘I’ll find them. So can you stay calm? People are angry because you’ve been destroying things here and there.’

[The humans took my sibling first.]

‘I’m sorry. They probably didn’t know it was your sibling. I’ll definitely find them.’

[Will you bring them back?]

‘Yes. I’ll bring your sibling back.’

Latifa gently stroked the horse’s head. The gray horse whinnied softly, as if responding to her touch. To others, it would look like Latifa had calmed the horse with just a single stroke.

“Who’s that Imperial woman?”

“Isn’t she the woman that General Hades has been bringing around?”

“The mad horse is calming down.”

The soldiers whispered among themselves.

-Neigh.

The gray horse started making very docile neighing sounds, as if it had never been raging wildly just moments ago. Its rough breathing also seemed to have calmed down considerably.

“There, good boy.”

Only after seeing that the horse had calmed down did Latifa slowly stand up and say to Hades:

“You were wrong. It’s not mad. It was just excited.”

“…”

“Untie it.”

Hades silently looked at her, then gestured to the soldiers. It was a signal to untie the lasso.

“Um, is it really okay to untie it?”

“Untie it. It doesn’t seem to have the strength to rampage anymore.”

With Hades’ words, the binding ropes were loosened. The horse snorted a bit angrily at first, but soon slowly got up, moving its legs. Then it started nudging Latifa’s back, as if urging her.

“If it’s not mad, what was it excited about?”

When Hades asked Latifa, she shrugged and answered:

“I don’t know.”

That was a secret she had to keep to herself.

**

“Black fur with white fur. A spot on the face, she said.”

After barely calming down the horse, Latifa went to find the soldier who had been managing the gray horse.

“By any chance, among the horses that were in the same stable as the one that went wild earlier, was there one that was moved?”

The soldier seemed momentarily surprised that Latifa could speak the desert language. Then he firmly shook his head and shooed her away.

“That’s a kind of military secret. I can’t tell you.”

It was an unexpected obstacle.

“Go back!”

The soldier waved his hand somewhat violently and returned to the horse stable.

“Sigh. I guess I’ll have to go around to every military camp one by one…”

She looked helplessly back and forth between her injured leg and the scroll Hades had passed to her.

There was a mountain of work to do. But as they say, you reap what you sow.

‘I shouldn’t have gotten involved.’

She sighed deeply and was about to turn back when someone tapped her shoulder.

“Hm?”

When she turned around, it was the soldier from earlier. He seemed to have come to say something more, seeing that Latifa was still there.

But he had lost his fierce demeanor from before and now looked a bit scared. On closer inspection, there was even cold sweat on his forehead.

“I was just about to leave now.”

“No. That, well. Uh, I’ll tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

He kept glancing to the side instead of looking at her, stumbling over his words. When she reached out her hand to ask if he was okay, as he was trembling like someone who had committed a crime, the soldier stepped back in alarm.

“The, the horse! I’ll tell you about it!”

“Really?!”

“Yes! I mean, ye-yes? That’s right. Here, the list.”

‘I think this person might be the crazy one.’

“I, I mean, I’m trying to be kind, okay? That’s what this is?! I just have a stern face, so I’m often misunderstood!”

Latifa received the list from the soldier who seemed terrified of something, bowed her head slightly, and stepped back a good distance.

‘It’s best not to stay near crazy people.’

But then she sighed again, realizing that she herself was working next to the craziest person of all.

**

It seemed there had been a lot of troop movements among the military units stationed in the border area as they merged with the army she had come with. That must have been why there were so many movements among the horses as well.

At first, she thought she might have to search for all the horses on the list, but that worry soon disappeared. The list was extremely well-organized.

“The desert people are very meticulous.”

The list was laid out in a clear table, with dates, managers in charge, and even detailed characteristics and special notes for each horse that had been requisitioned.

“This must be it.”

-Name: Kun. Breed: Andalusian crossbreed, medium-sized horse. Color: Black and white. Characteristics: Many white spots on the head, docile. Leg injury. Approved for cart duty. 12th Army Stable Manager: Kapur

“So it was injured and taken for cart duty. That’s why its sibling was worried.”

Horses are animals with emotions too, so how anxious must it have been when the family it had always been with disappeared. And then people misunderstood its frantic behavior and almost killed it.

‘Luckily, I found this one so it survived, but if it had been another time, it would have been killed…’

Her heart swelled with the thought that she might have been of some help.

She had thought it was a useless ability, but she never imagined it would be useful like this.

There weren’t many opportunities to see animals in the imperial palace, so there wasn’t much use for the ability itself. Plus, she was always cooped up in either the library or the detached palace.

‘But even if I go to the 12th Army, will I be able to bring Kun back?’

It wouldn’t be right to just take a horse away arbitrarily, and it would be even less appropriate to say she found out about this because of her special ability and ask to take the horse.

But perhaps it was an unnecessary worry.

“You mean this horse?! Ah, not Kan, but Kun? Bring it out quickly!”

“Just wait a moment, please.”

“To the general, please… Ah! No, we are very kind people.”

The rough-looking, fierce desert warriors smiled excessively in front of her and readily handed over the horse.

“Do you know who I am, to give me the horse so easily?”

Feeling something odd, Latifa timidly asked. The soldiers then mumbled, not forgetting to glance somewhere:

“Don’t you work alongside General Hades?”

“That’s right.”

“If it’s someone he’s entrusted with work, it’s fine.”

‘They recognized me because I work with General Hades.’

Come to think of it, how much whispering had she heard and how many looks had she received while helping with work?

She had ridden the same horse, used the same tent, and come out with him. Rumors about her must have already spread widely among these desert soldiers.

Just then, a horse with mixed black and white fur and many spots on its face was led over by someone. Latifa took the reins and smiled at the suspiciously kind soldiers.

“It’ll just be for a moment. I’ll bring Kun right back.”

“But you really do speak the desert language well.”

“How did you calm down that mad horse?”

“How did you catch the general’s eye?”

As they opened up, the soldiers began to subtly ask Latifa questions.

-Thwack! Thwack!

“Ugh!”

Suddenly, the men who had been talking to her cried out and started rubbing the backs of their heads. It seemed they had been hit by stones thrown by someone.

‘Stones suddenly flew in?’

“Are, are you okay?”

“Don’t, don’t touch! We’re fine. Haha! If you’ve got the horse, hurry and go!”

“Get out, hurry and get out!”

“Don’t forget! We are kind!”

Bewildered by the soldiers suddenly pushing her out and chasing her out of the camp, Latifa walked out leading Kun.

“Desert people are very strange. They’re moody, and obsessed with kindness.”

-Neigh.

The horse walking beside her made a content sound. Stroking the horse’s head, she murmured softly:

“Your brother was very worried about you. Let’s go.”

**

[My sibling!]

“Is it really your sibling?”

When she brought Kun, the gray horse neighed loudly in joy. Kun also happily rubbed heads with the gray horse.

-Neigh!

[Yes, that’s right! It is!]

“Your sibling injured its leg, so now it has to work somewhere else.”

[I thought the humans had taken it away and killed it. Because of its injured leg.]

The gray horse happily pushed its head towards Latifa and licked her mercilessly with its long tongue. Above it, a silver spirit shone brightly, conveying its voice.

“I see. Since you couldn’t communicate, you must have been frustrated too.”

[Thank you.]

“Don’t cause trouble again. People think you’re mad and are on guard against you.”

[Okay! I won’t do it again.]

The two horses rushed to Latifa and rubbed their heads against her mercilessly.

The sight of the close siblings warmed her heart. Would she ever be able to create such a family herself? A family that relies on each other, worries for each other, cherishes and embraces each other like that.

It was a distant future she had never thought about while living as a refugee. The fact that she had gained an opportunity to dream of such a future again felt like a dream itself.

‘If I go into exile, I should first buy a house with gold. Get a big house, and find a job. What kind of job should I look for? What can I do?’

It was a future she had never dreamed of even in the imperial palace. In the past, she had vaguely thought her life would be to become someone’s wife in an arranged marriage that came in suddenly like lightning striking beans.

That had been the only future for her, who only had the title of princess in name.

“Sigh. Tomorrow will be another mountain of work.”

Latifa rested her chin on her hand and quietly murmured in front of the fence where the two horses were frolicking.

**

-Hades. You must be having a hard time at the frontier. Don’t worry about me and focus on your work. I’m not sitting here stupidly either, you know. You know Tarek can’t do anything without Iota. I’ll pray for the safe return of Ignis, the Sun of the Grand Bazaar.

Hades received the short telegram and snorted when he saw the postscript.

-P.S.: Irgos says Manut is so worried about you that even his stomach is acting up. Isn’t it about time you stopped causing trouble?

A fond smile spread across Hades’ face at Ruhan’s playful letter.

“Prince Ruhan. You’ve grown a lot.”

Prince Ruhan.

The first prince of the current Sultan, the Basil dynasty. Hades and Ruhan were close friends who had studied under the same teacher since childhood.

But even without that, the friendship between Hades and Ruhan was special, because unlike the majority of desert people who had hot-tempered and passionate personalities, Ruhan had a gentle and quiet nature.

Especially since Ruhan had been a frail prince from childhood, Hades had been more than just a companion to him, providing everything he wanted, liked, and needed, and Ruhan in turn followed Hades like family.

Not only that, Ruhan had one more special point: he had earned the nickname “Mad Dog Hades’ Leash”.

Whenever the arrogant Hades, who had no match in the Grand Bazaar, caused trouble with his eccentric behavior and drew people’s disapproval, only Ruhan could step in and mediate.

People highly praised Ruhan’s kindness and wisdom, as well as his ability to control Hades at will.

“General, it’s almost time for the expedition.”

“From tomorrow, we should start the final inspections. Especially don’t neglect the management of water.”

“Yes. But General, do you know there are strange rumors circulating about that woman?”

Hades asked, pretending not to know even though he did:

“What rumors?”

“It seems that after that Imperial woman calmed down the mad horse, a superstition has arisen that if you see her, you won’t fall off your horse.”

“Just falling off a horse? That’s too trivial, isn’t it?”

“So you did know.”

Hades casually threw out a single remark:

“Because I’m the one who spread that rumor.”