“Princess Carolina.”

Bern discovered her. The man about to mount the white horse turned around.

“Ah!”

It wasn’t Patrick.

The man with bluish silver hair had an incomparably sturdy build and cold eyes compared to Patrick. Wearing all white clothes, six or seven white birds clung to and flew around his shoulders and head.

Perhaps because of the letter just sent by Prince Patrick.

There was a mysteriously similar atmosphere to Patrick.

Carolina realized she had thought of Patrick before worrying about the whereabouts of the Empress, and felt ashamed. Bern held the reins and approached Carolina, bowing his head.

“Did you meet Lady Julia well? Why are you walking?”

“Sir. I have something to say. Ah, you know the Empress’s whereabouts.”

Carolina had seen Claudine of the palace getting into the carriage and guessed that the Empress had been found and that she was injured.

“Is the Empress hurt?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Who is that person?”

“It’s Bark, the leader of the Heun clan hunters. He’s escorting Her Majesty the Empress.”

“Heun clan hunters…! Why them? Sir, are you going to escort Her Majesty the Empress now?”

Carolina asked if the Empress, who had lost her memory after being hit by a poisoned arrow shot by Heun clan hunters, was involved with them again.

“He saved Her Majesty the Empress. Hear the details from Her Majesty the Empress Dowager.”

Bern bowed to Carolina and mounted his horse. The carriage and the horses carrying the knights departed simultaneously. The white birds scattered like clouds pushed by the wind. Only sunlight-drenched gravel and silence remained in the place they had left.

Carolina stroked her empty neck and went to the Empress Dowager’s quarters.

*

When Bark and Bern’s party passed Kaoshan and entered the foothills of the Roche Mountains, darkness began to spread across the sky that had been tinged red.

Unlike Kaoshan, which was half ice walls, Roche was a deep mountain with dense, thick, and straight coniferous forests. The thick tree trunks were covered with moss, and cold fog settled heavily under the deep greenery.

It wasn’t far from Kaoshan, but the road was treacherous. Especially when passing through steep paths where no carriage road had been paved, the imperial coachman was tense.

The captain of the guards and the knights of the royal guard had to cut down hanging vines and overgrown weeds in front of the carriage and check the position of the wheels.

After passing through the aspen forest, about ten single-story wooden houses were gathered in a circle at the bottom of the valley.

The captain of the guards had come once before to confirm the corpse of the Heun clan hunter who had betrayed and shot the poisoned arrow.

Bern, who was making the journey for the first time, was stunned by the sight that greeted him just as he was getting tired of the treacherous mountain terrain and deep forest.

People living in this deep mountain.

White smoke rose from chimneys standing here and there, as if fires were being lit.

‘Your Majesty the Empress.’

Bern swallowed the tears welling up. Lean had messed up Bern’s front hair as he left for Tane.

“Bern, don’t have a sword fight with Her Majesty the Empress. His Majesty the Emperor is already planning something. Just stay close to her side.”

He had to stay close. The Emperor had ordered him to guard even during sleep, entering as far as the reception room.

What was there to be embarrassed about a lady’s underwear shop? Would he have just sat on the terrace across, watching like a fire, making his breathing rough?

It was the second time. Losing the Empress right in front of him. Even now, Bern felt dizzy when he recalled the moment she was hit by the poisoned arrow in the red forest. The intense pain of the poisoned arrow touching his leg was still vivid.

The captain of the guards and the aide acknowledged that Bark, the leader of the Heun clan hunters, was different, but Bern was still displeased.

He had heard from the captain of the guards about the deaths of two hunter traitors who betrayed Bark’s orders, blinded by gold, and about the blood oath.

However, Bern still found it difficult to accept the Heun clan as imperial citizens like himself. It was because Harchen had accepted the Heun clan as imperial citizens after his ascension to the throne that they were allowed to enter the palace.

Moreover, when told to dispose of the white birds flying around his head at the entrance of the main palace, the so-called leader didn’t even answer and just glared with icy blue eyes before calmly entering the palace.

The Empress Dowager treated the Heun clan, who were no different from barbarians, as Heun clan rather than imperial citizens, as in the past.

The Empress Dowager, Diana, ordered screens to be lowered in the reception room at the mention of the Heun clan hunter leader.

Bern stood in the middle of the screen, watching the situation on both sides.

Bark’s subordinate reported the situation, and when the Empress Dowager questioned the captain of the guards about it, Bark’s subordinate answered as well.

Bark just stared at the white bird perched on the back of his hand with an expressionless face.

“So in the end, the Empress, who was the Empress and Princess of the Tane Imperial Family, fought in Kaoshan, and the Heun clan hunters cleaned up after it?”

“Three assassins using daggers were hired by the Tane Empress’s side to attempt assassination, but Her Majesty the Empress defended with a sword.”

“Really, why did she go there with a sword when her mind isn’t even sound, unless she was determined?”

“…”

Bark frowned at the Empress Dowager’s rough expression and blatant speech.

“The Empress and her maid fainted from excessive bleeding due to deep lacerations and ruptured blood vessels, but they’ve regained consciousness now.”

“There’s no damage to organs or muscles, but due to the severe bleeding and intense pain…”

“That’s enough, stop.”

As if there was nothing more she wanted to know, Diana cut off the Heun clan hunter’s words.

The Empress Dowager commanded the aide and the captain of the guards in a sharp voice.

“Keep this confidential from Emperor Harchen until the day of return to the palace. Call the head chamberlain and head maid and have them keep silent.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We will do so.”

“Have the palace doctor and the captain of the guards go to Roche to check on the Empress’s condition. If she can be moved, transfer her to the palace at an appropriate time.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Shall we bring the maids from the White Palace?”

“Are there no maids there? I told you to keep them silent, where are you dragging them?”

“Yes, we will do as you say.”

Diana stood up, snapping open her folding fan. She didn’t ask any questions or offer words of praise to the Heun clan hunter leader on the other side of the screen.

The maid opened the door leading from the reception room to the inner reception room on both sides.

As the Empress Dowager was about to pass through the door, a white bird that had passed through the side of the screen flew right up to Diana’s face.

It was a movement as fast as white paper fluttering in the winter wind. The bird’s feathers brushed against the lace of the folding fan she held in her hand as it flew by.

“Aah, what is this!”

The Empress Dowager screamed, throwing away her dignity. But in the blink of an eye, the bird flew back to perch above Bark’s head. Diana turned sharply towards Bark.

She had thought he would be a barbarian, but for a moment, the Empress Dowager stared as if mesmerized at him, wrapped in a mysterious white light as if cut out from mythology, before silently entering the reception room.

When the Emperor was away from the palace, important matters were supposed to be decided in a round table meeting with the Empress, the aide, and the ministers of foreign and domestic affairs.

However, with even the Empress absent now, the Empress Dowager sneered at aide Philip’s suggestion to hold a round table meeting.

She disliked the term “round table meeting” from the start. The first agenda item of the round table meeting proposed by Harchen during his crown prince days was to thoroughly investigate the corruption of Diana’s family, the House of Orteo.

Bern watched with a heavy heart as aide Philip stood for a long time at Conrad’s breeding grounds with a grave expression before returning.

*

From a distance, they had looked like similarly sized wooden houses, but as they approached, it became clear that they were connected as one structure centered around a large house in the middle.

As the carriage and horses entered the circular yard with no palisade or fence, people suddenly poured out from somewhere.

Bark handed the reins of his white horse to a young boy and turned to look at Kay standing beside him.

“The Empress?”

“She’s chatting with her maid after dinner.”

Bark instructed to guide the palace doctor, Bern, and the captain of the guards to the Empress, and to guide the knights and people from the palace to their lodgings.

Bern and his party entered the warm bedroom where a fireplace had been lit. The Empress’s blue eyes widened as she turned her head from the window at the sound.

“Bern, Bern!”

“…Your Majesty.”

“That’s right. Seeing Bern puts my mind at ease.”

Bern went to the Empress’s bedside and knelt, bowing his head. He should have asked about her condition, but his throat was choked up and he couldn’t speak.

Palace doctor Claudine carefully examined the wounds while listening to the explanation of the Heun clan healer.

“Your Majesty, it’s Claudine. How much pain you must have been in. But the initial treatment was done well.”

“Claudine, go check the next room. Eva has been moaning since this afternoon.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Don’t worry and drink this tea and get some rest.”

Claudine’s assistant helped Patricia sit up, and Claudine fed her the lukewarm tea.

“Bern, you should go out now too.”

“I will stay here.”

Bern was still kneeling.

“I’m uncomfortable.”

“Then, I’ll be in the hallway outside the bedroom.”

Bern left.

Now, she was certainly alive. Patricia finally relaxed. She drifted off to sleep listening to the sound of Claudine asking Eva questions in the next room and Eva’s soft voice in response.

*

The next day, Patricia woke up early. She woke up early because the white birds that had flown in through the open window kept gently touching her hair.

“Who is it?”

A figure that looked like a maid was standing beside Patricia, looking down at her.

“I want to drink some lemon water.”

“Hmph.”

Patricia slowly turned her neck. She looked at the person pouring water in front of the side table. White clothes, a form-fitting blouse, a large and sturdy build. A white bird perched on his shoulder.

Ah. It was Bark, the leader of the Heun clan hunters.

But why was he here early in the morning?

He sat down at the head of the bed holding a glass of water. He supported Patricia’s lower back with his right hand and slowly raised her upper body.

Patricia reached out with her left hand, which had relatively few bruises, to take the glass. But Bark chuckled and put the glass to her lips.

“I’m uncomfortable. I’ll drink it myself.”

Patricia pulled her head back and reached out her hand.

“As you wish.”

He handed her the glass. Patricia tried to take it, but she couldn’t put strength in her hand and almost dropped the glass.

“Do you think you’re made of steel?”

Bark enveloped Patricia’s left hand with his large hand and tilted the glass to her mouth. Patricia reluctantly drank the water. After drinking her fill, she glared at him.

“But why are you here?”

“Seems like you don’t need anything else now, you’re so cold.”

“Mind your manners.”

“Can you be sure about what’s to come?”

“Ah, right. Did you take care of my sword?”

“Riklisha, is that the sword’s name?”

“I don’t know. I lost my memory thanks to the Heun clan hunters.”

“I threw it to the blacksmith to clean off the blood and ashes and sharpen the dulled blade.”

“Bring it to me.”

“With those hands?”

“I need to keep it by my bedside to feel at ease. I may not remember, but I’m sure it was given to me by someone important.”

“I’m jealous, Patrick Calian Evas.”

“You know Patrick?”

Patricia unconsciously raised her head slightly, then screamed “Ack!” as the wound on her back tore open with pain, and lay back down.

“You really have lost your memory.”