Chapter 14
“Just having warm soup and pancakes for a meal makes me feel full, young master. Usually, I can’t even manage three meals a day… and the two I do eat are just dry crackers.”
There probably weren’t many customers who took the time to prepare and enjoy breakfast so leisurely. Every moment the coachman spent on this was something that had to be paid for. So most coachmen would grab a quick bite and get back to driving the carriage.
After finishing our filling breakfast, I helped Karzan clean up the campfire and luggage from the night before. Once the coachman returned from washing up and re-hitched the horses to the carriage, we departed again.
Because breakfast delayed our departure, we would arrive in Resources only after nightfall.
In autumn, the northern highways were crowded with travelers and merchants. So once again, we had to leave the main road and take the forest path. It was technically a longer route, but since we could keep moving without stopping, it was much faster.
The carriage still had half a day’s journey ahead, and during the ride, Karzan was once again reading in the carriage. As for me—I was staring blankly outside.
More precisely, I was recalling the past.
The Karzan from yesterday was so different from the one I knew, I couldn’t help but compare him to the person he used to be.
In my past life, even when I fell, he never approached—he’d just watch from afar. No—he didn’t just keep his distance; he moved even farther away.
Even when I was pricked by the rose thorns he had dropped, or when I fell into the fountain because of him, he always abandoned me and disappeared as if fleeing.
He was someone who avoided me even when we met by chance, someone who was careful not to even brush hands with me at events we were both forced to attend.
On days I sent a letter saying I’d visit, he would place a snake at the door to block my entry and scare me away.
But now he seemed too different from that person. Nothing had changed outwardly, so what exactly was different?
“What are you staring at? Just because I’m reading doesn’t mean I can’t feel your gaze. If you’ve got something to say, say it. Don’t just stare.”
He glared with furrowed brows after I had looked at him briefly, and that expression was definitely the Karzan Reynos I remembered.
Of course. That’s the real Karzan Reynos.
“Excuse—”
I almost instinctively said “Excuse me,” but the moment I stopped myself, Karzan’s eyes gleamed as he locked eyes with me.
“I said excuse me. I didn’t mean to keep staring.”
I mumbled an excuse and turned my head toward the window. The forest path was beautifully colored with autumn leaves.
“Try to get some sleep on the way. If we don’t find a room when we get there, we might have to sleep outside again.”
If I could sleep, I would have already.
“A bit further in, the road will get smoother. This path used to be used for transporting military supplies, so it’s well-maintained.”
Really? I didn’t know much about military history, so he was probably right. He was the type who memorized the entire history of the empire since childhood.
As he said, perhaps because the road was smoother or because I was tired, drowsiness crept up after we had a simple lunch in the carriage.
I didn’t want to sleep… I wanted to fight it… but I ended up falling asleep.
As I nodded off, I saw Karzan resting against one wall of the carriage, his head and shoulder leaning back.
With arms folded so calmly, he looked more like he was simply resting with his eyes closed than sleeping.
With his refined and elegant posture, he looked exactly like the crown prince I had known.
Perhaps because he had fallen asleep, I, too, drifted off before I realized it—and when I awoke again, we had passed through the forest, and Karzan was already awake.
We had another dry biscuit for dinner and only reached Resources long after that. Resources was a small to medium-sized city known for agriculture and mining. We entered the city center to find an inn, but every room was already occupied, and it was hard to find a place to stay.
“In the fall, the city’s full of merchants and travelers, so this late, it’s near impossible to find a room. Might as well look for a spot to sleep outside.”
People weren’t very friendly, and we were really on the verge of having to sleep outdoors. The coachman had a place to sleep in the stables where coachmen stayed, but Karzan and I had nowhere to go.
We couldn’t sleep outside, especially not with our young bodies and without the carriage, so we asked around and eventually found a monastery on the outskirts of the city. We planned to stay there for the night.
The outskirts were quite different from what I’d seen in travel books. Even though it was night, the dim glow of torches revealed filthy streets.
The city center had been bright and glamorous even at night, but the outskirts were full of slums, and the dark streets were eerily silent.
“What are you doing right now?”
“Huh…?”
“Why are you holding my arm?”
Oh no. I had unconsciously linked arms with Karzan. Not only had I dared to touch a royal without permission—I had even held his arm.
I must’ve grown too comfortable with him lately, judging by the fact that I had grabbed his arm without realizing it.
I quickly pulled away in shock. Karzan’s dumbfounded expression under the moonlight wouldn’t fade from my mind.
In any case, I had touched a royal without permission—it was practically a treasonous act. But even so, wasn’t he glaring a bit too harshly for something that was clearly an accident?
I tried to apologize.
“Don’t cling to me.”
And just like that, the will to apologize vanished.
“I must’ve been a little scared and grabbed you without realizing it. Sorry.”
I responded with a slightly cold tone and folded my hands tightly to avoid even brushing against him as I walked. Honestly, how could I not be scared walking through this eerie street? The only light came from a few scattered torches, and the crumbling, peeling walls of the houses added to the creepy atmosphere.
“I think we’re here…”
After passing through the alley, we saw the silhouette of the monastery standing on a hill with the moon behind it. Even that looked creepy, making it hard to step inside. On top of that, we hadn’t seen a single person since entering this area.
I even wondered if we’d been chasing a mirage the whole way here.
I almost reached for Karzan’s arm again out of fear, but this time I took the lead and tried to stride confidently toward the building.
Then, it was him who grabbed my arm.
He had just told me not to cling to him, and now who was clinging to whom?
“What’s wrong?”
I looked at him irritably, like I was getting revenge for earlier, but his expression was sharp—different. Like he’d seen something.
“Something feels off.”
“It’s been creepy this whole time. Dark, eerie…”
“No, that’s not what I mean.”
“Then what? What feels off?”
“There’s no light coming from the monastery.”
He was right. Not a single light shone from within the monastery. I had thought the moon behind it just made it seem darker, but if anything, it should’ve made the lights inside stand out more. But there was nothing.
It felt like the monastery itself was staring down at us in pitch black, and a chill ran down my spine. The only person I could rely on now was Karzan. I instinctively grabbed the arm that had grabbed my clothes.
As soon as I realized what I’d done, I tried to let go—but this time, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he held my hand tightly and said with a stern face,
“Wait here for a bit. I’ll go check inside.”
“No, don’t.”
He paused and turned back to look at me.
“With how easily you get scared, how did you even decide to run away from home? Just hang on for a bit.”
“W-Wait. Isn’t it dangerous to go into a place where all the lights are off? We don’t even have a torch or lantern or anything.”
All the outdoor sleeping equipment was with the coachman in the carriage. The only thing we had now was the travel bag Karzan was carrying. I didn’t have a single thing.
“I have to check what’s going on in there—why the lights are all out.”
Hey, Your Highness. Where do you think you’re going?
I didn’t say that aloud. Instead, I held tightly onto his arm and shook my head.
He was supposed to have already been caught by the search party and taken back to the palace. It was only because of me that he hadn’t. If something happened to him because I altered his fate, it would be entirely my fault.
Especially since he had been destined to be assassinated by someone—my anxiety only grew.
