Chapter 36
Berkman and Bianca fell, and this time, Lady Luck had favored Bianca.
The place where she landed was a soft patch of snow that had rolled down from the cliff.
On the other hand, Berkman landed on a slippery, frozen slope.
“Whoaah!”
Berkman, already struggling to regain his balance from falling off the cliff, continued to slide down the hill uncontrollably.
In the meantime, Bianca raised her head from the snow.
“Ugh.”
At the same time, she furrowed her brow at the throbbing pain in her ankle.
Considering the height from which she had fallen, she was lucky it was only this bad.
But it still hurt.
Bianca looked up at the cliff.
It was an overwhelming height to climb back up.
She couldn’t even see Jenica. That much was clear.
‘What should I do?’
Bianca wasn’t exactly a seasoned mountain climber.
The sun was already setting.
Moving around carelessly like this would only increase her chances of getting lost.
Yet, she couldn’t just sit still.
Berkman would be seething at the fact that he was outsmarted by a mere girl!
‘First, I need to hide.’
Dragging her swelling leg, Bianca set off deeper into the woods.
White breaths began to escape her lips.
It was a clear sign that her body temperature was dropping.
Even though she had dressed warmly, she had rolled around in the snow.
Her wet clothes weighed her down and stole her body heat.
At this rate, hypothermia would come first.
She needed to warm up her clothes and body somehow.
What crossed her mind was the Snow White Herb.
That herb, just by holding it, helps maintain body temperature.
Her eyes frantically searched the forest.
She knew well the conditions and growing locations of the Snow White Herb.
First, it needed to be on a snow-covered area exposed to sunlight.
Second, there had to be a century-old tree to provide nutrients.
The size of the old tree made it easy to tell its age.
She began searching for a place to hide while also looking for the Snow White Herb.
And before long, she fortuitously found a gigantic ancient tree.
Bianca gasped.
The combination of pain and the threat of hypothermia was making her eyelids heavy.
She had reached her limit.
‘I have to find it.’
Biting her lip tightly, she finally made it to the majestic tree and let out a sigh of relief.
This was because she spotted the Snow White Herb growing there.
The mushrooms, soaking in the sun’s white light, radiated warmth just by being nearby.
It was pure luck.
Bianca pulled out a small knife from her waist and carefully cut it at the base.
As she embraced it, a warm feeling enveloped her as if she had stepped into sunlight.
“Warm.”
Having resolved her hypothermia, Bianca made her way back to the cave she had located earlier.
It was a cave devoid of animal tracks, so it should be a decent place to hunker down.
On her way to the cave, she quickly gathered some red mountain berries she spotted, then safely entered it.
“Hah, hah.”
She collapsed onto the floor.
Breathless, Bianca examined the state of her shoes.
Her injured ankle was a deep shade of red, swollen.
After removing her shoes, she took off the extra clothes she was wearing and wrapped them around herself like a blanket.
Holding the Snow White Herb, her clothes should dry quickly from its warmth.
Bianca used the snow that had come into the cave to compress her injury and fashioned a splint from thick branches she had brought as emergency supplies.
Thank goodness she had stashed some bandages for emergencies.
Quickly finishing her first aid, Bianca elevated her injured foot above her heart and lay down flat.
This was first aid knowledge she’d read in a book.
But this was just first aid; without proper treatment, she wouldn’t be okay.
‘Beyond this, I don’t know.’
This was all she knew.
She slowly started to feel herself drift off into a heavy sleep.
Her stability was achieved.
To cover her tracks just in case, she even used snow to obscure the footprints at the cave entrance. All that was left was to recover her strength.
‘Kraush…’
Somehow, she felt a longing for Kraush.
As thoughts of him gently petting her head flooded her mind, Bianca quietly slipped into sleep.
＊ ＊ ＊
Time had passed since her accident.
Unfortunately, beneath Hadenhartz Mountain, a significant avalanche struck, causing delays in the search for Bianca.
At that moment, isolated Bianca lived off mountain berries and wild vegetables that appeared even in winter, barely getting by.
Luckily, she stumbled upon a herb good for sprains in the midst and ground it with a stone to factor into her makeshift bandage, but that was all.
It did alleviate the pain a bit, but her ankle showed no signs of recovery.
‘Either it’s fractured or maybe broken.’
Neither option was good.
The real problem was that while she was foraging for mountain berries, she discovered what seemed like Berkman’s footprints.
‘He’s close.’
He was tracking her!
Upon realizing this, Bianca restricted her range of movement even further.
Being spotted by him would be the end of the line.
The best outcome would be if a search party arrived first, but she was skeptical about that prospect too.
Thanks to Berkman, she was hiding, making it hard for the search party to find her.
Moreover, she felt her strength dwindling day by day.
Even with the Snow White Herb, she was still just a thirteen-year-old girl.
Surviving outside in the dead of winter with insufficient nutrients was no easy task.
“…I slept again.”
Feeling drowsy, Bianca rubbed her eyes.
No matter how much she slept on the cold stone floor, her fatigue refused to disappear.
Not good.
If she fell asleep again, it might be the last time she woke up.
Just as that thought occurred to her and she decided she had to move, she heard the sound of rustling outside the cave.
Rustle
Bianca’s face stiffened.
That was the sound of an adult man’s footsteps.
Naturally, those footsteps were far from the search party.
“I found you.”
Just as a low whisper fell, Bianca took off running with all her might.
Immediately, heavy footsteps followed behind her.
Using the paths she had noted beforehand, she dashed through the shortest route.
She purposefully bolted into an area where only the dense trees would hinder a large person’s movement.
However, her injured leg kept slowing her down.
The pain was making her steps clumsy.
Crash!
At that moment, she heard a tree cracking behind her.
“Ugh!”
Bianca turned immediately in response to the sound, but the pain in her ankle held her back.
Thud!
A fallen tree came rolling down and collided with Bianca’s frail body.
Knocked off balance by the log, she tumbled across the snow for quite a distance.
“Ugh…”
A meek moan escaped Bianca’s lips.
Pain radiated throughout her body, causing her fingers to barely move.
Blood from her forehead trickled down, moistening her eyes.
It felt as if she was weeping her last tear, having never shed tears in her life.
“Why do you keep running, little lady?”
Berkman’s low voice reverberated through the air, as he lightly stepped on a nearby tree and leapt down right in front of Bianca.
He then grabbed a handful of her white hair and hoisted her up.
“Ugh…”
“Oh wow, you really don’t change your expression, do you? You’re quite a tough one, aren’t you?”
Bianca, lifted by Berkman, couldn’t even muster a defiant response.
The pain from earlier and the exhaustion from everything made her body feel completely drained.
“Still, you’ve really made me work to find you. Before I use you as a hostage, I think you need to learn a lesson!”
Berkman stood tall with her still in his grip, causing her hair to feel like it was being yanked out.
At the same time, he tore off her hairpin and held it up in front of her.
It looked expensive, so he probably planned on selling it.
As Bianca gazed at the hairpin through heavy, dimming eyes, she felt her eyelids begin to close.
She had done well enough.
She didn’t have the strength to endure any longer.
In that moment, she thought she saw Kraush shining through her closing eyes.
He had changed completely since that day.
Initially, he had seemed like he was on the verge of suicide due to depression.
But that had become his new normal.
He didn’t seem to mind the curse hanging over him at all.
He sometimes wore a regretful expression, but at his core, he viewed himself differently from others.
Maybe that’s why.
For the past year, she had felt more at ease next to Kraush than in Hadenhartz.
While he trained, she would read books beside him.
It was a mundane routine, yet those days had been undeniably joyful.
‘Joyful, huh?’
Who would have thought she would ever feel that way?
Joyfulness was definitely an emotion, wasn’t it?
For the first time, Bianca questioned whether she truly had emotions at all.
One thing she was certain of was that it saddened her to feel like she was devoid of emotions now.
If she had felt emotions, she would have experienced more of the comfort and happiness from those times.
And she would have shared more experiences with Kraush.
At some point, she realized how significant a place he held in her heart.
So, Bianca drew her last breath and spoke.
“Kra…ush…”
Trying to capture the sound of an unreachable voice.
At that very moment,
Thump!
The sound of footsteps breaking through the snow echoed.
“Hmm?”
Just as Berkman reacted late,
Thud!
A boy’s fist slammed into his side with all its might.
“Ugh?!”
Berkman swallowed his voice of pain as he was taken by surprise.
He was only now realizing the second wave of shock radiating through his body, but it was too late.
Thud!
With another strike that sent him wheeling, he let go of Bianca and crumpled to the ground.
In the midst of tripping, Bianca felt a warmth wash over her body.
As she hazily opened her eyes, she found the face she had longed to see the most.
At that instant, a deep sense of relief enveloped Bianca.
“Kraush.”
A voice calling her softly from between his lips.
His call, colored with affection and anger, was almost heartrending.
Hearing that voice, Bianca slowly raised her hand and cupped his cheek.
“I’m okay, Kraush…”
The moment she tenderly touched his cheek, her eyes soon closed again.
A sound escaped her nose, colored in hues of relief.
As soon as she felt a wave of comfort, her overwhelmed consciousness faded into darkness.
Seeing this, Kraush gathered her in his arms and began walking slowly.
He gently leaned her against a tree, and a raven flew down to sit right in front of her.
“Do you think you can win?”
The raven opened its mouth, posing a question.
Their opponent was the Butcher’s Dog.
A fierce figure known for its exceptional skill.
Even though he’d run away from the Empire, he had become stronger since facing the World Eroder.
Honestly, it was fair to say he was clearly stronger than Kraush.
“We, Ebelask, cannot help.”
The Crimson Garden’s bell was not present in Hadenhartz.
The only companion she had here was the raven.
Though it could wield magic, it was only low-level spells.
No matter how much the Crimson Garden boasted, that would not be enough to compete against the enemy.
On the flip side, Ebelask was bound by the non-interference rules between the World Eroder.
If they were to break those unwritten rules, they would have to face the consequences of war against the Butcher’s Dog, the World Eroder’s master.
Of course, Ebelask would not hastily choose that path.
Although Kraush and she had some sort of transactional relationship, there was no reason for her to risk helping him.
Thus, Kraush had to confront Berkman alone.
Fully aware of this fact, Kraush drew his sword from his waist.
The blue in his eyes shone brightly.
“I will win.”
That statement held not a trace of deceit.
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