"There are so many places like that, I’m not sure which one you mean."

Coco’s cheeks turned red. She really couldn’t be honest, huh. She looked like she was dying to brag. Luman seemed to notice too. But he swallowed the laugh like a pro. What the hell, he’s insanely good at hiding his expressions? Then he should hold back a little around me too. Tch.

"The one with Lacus."

'Lacus? What’s that?'

When I clearly didn’t get it, Luman looked at me.

"Hm. Lacus refers to a beautiful lake. One of those views people call breathtaking."

"W-who asked you?!"

"I just enjoy showing off."

Luman said that and gave me an annoyingly smug smile....

Ahh, I know too! I know he was only saying it like that so I wouldn’t feel embarrassed! But that just made it more embarrassing.... Hating myself for snapping for no reason, I just fidgeted with my bowl.

"Whatever."

Lady Coco shrugged like no explanation should’ve been necessary.

"And that villa happens to be nearby, doesn’t it?"

"That’s less a villa and more a castle. Sure, it’s close in theory... but unless you’re one of the family mages or using the designated route, it’s hard to get there."

Coco’s face crumpled into a deep frown.

"...Everyone would’ve gone to the capital for the funeral news, so there probably wouldn’t be anyone there anyway. And if they were trying to save me... wouldn’t they have sent someone already?"

Coco smiled cynically.

"I see."

"I understand. Assassins are scary."

Luman only nodded. He didn’t seem especially affected by what she said. I guess he’d just been curious about this “Lacus.”

I didn’t totally follow what they were saying, but... basically Coco was being chased, and there was a castle around here that belonged to Duke Gannion, right?

But because of Duke Gannion’s death, there’d be no one at the castle... and if they were coming to rescue her, they would’ve sent people already?

Just trying to understand what she meant made my head throb.

Actually, it wasn’t my head....

My chest felt tight.

"Hngh!"

"...?"

"Pff."

Damn it! I finally opened my mouth to speak and my voice cracked!

The back of my neck felt hot. But if I cleared my throat now, it’d just be even more embarrassing, so I forced myself to keep going.

"...Still! Since it’s close, wouldn’t it be better to go there?"

"Didn’t you hear what I just said? It wouldn’t matter even if we did. We don’t know how many people would be there." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Far from getting help, we might just drag the people attacking us there and get innocent blood spilled too, Coco added irritably.

Oh. I see. Then just explain it, why are you snapping at me!?

But instead of fighting back, I put all my energy into thinking about something else.

This absolutely was not me trying to avoid the soup in my hand because I didn’t want to eat it.

"Doesn’t that castle have, like... artifacts or something?"

"...!"

The way I said artifacts sounded a little awkward and wrong.

How the hell was I supposed to know what that was! I just vaguely remembered Coco mentioning something like it, so I threw it out there. But Coco’s expression changed. She looked surprised, then her eyes darkened as she glanced at Dell.

"Haha. It seems Ren doesn’t know."

Dell cut in with that gentle voice of his.

"What doesn’t Ren know?"

Luman asked instead of me.

"That artifacts may be useful, but they still have stability issues. Surely the Heroes know that."

"Ah."

What the hell! You’re just agreeing that fast?

"With this many people, it would be hard to go. It’s close, yes, but only compared to the capital. The roads are rough, so there’s the risk of accidents, and... I don’t know the terrain over there very well, which would leave us even more vulnerable to attack. And besides... it would be hard to ask the Heroes to go with us."

"True. The lady’s castle with Lacus is in a different direction from the capital. We’d have to go out of our way a bit."

Luman kindly explained it for my benefit, since I clearly wasn’t following.

"Then can’t we just steal the artifacts and come back?"

"Steal, Ren?"

Luman started chuckling.

At my muttered comment, Dell looked genuinely startled.

"That is one option, I suppose! But I don’t have that particular skill...."

Dell looked at Luman. When I followed his gaze and looked too, Luman brushed back the hair by his temple.

"If you look at me like that, I guess I have no choice but to explain."

"The Hero’s younger brother doesn’t know this?"

'What the hell!? What don’t I know now!'

I felt irritation surge up all over again! When my brows shot up, Luman calmed me down and said he’d tell me.

"Heroes aren’t allowed to use their abilities for anything outside their mission."

"...How is that some huge secret?"

I pouted for no reason. Come to think of it, I vaguely remembered him saying something like that back when we left the village.

"It’s a dangerous secret."

Luman scratched his cheek.

"Then shouldn’t you not be telling me?!"

I shot back at Luman under my breath.

"Is it okay to tell that guy?"

"He already knew. Looking at the way Heroes have moved all this time, anyone who pays attention probably knows by now. It’s not exactly rare information."

Luman snorted.

What was so funny!? I didn’t like Dell either. Why the hell did he know all this personal stuff about us?!

"Ren."

"Hm?"

I’d been glaring at Luman when Brother called me. His voice was pretty stern.

Brother had been totally left out of the conversation, but now that I looked, maybe he’d been watching me the whole time! His eyes were fixed hard on my soup bowl!

I had picked it up, and I had been putting it off because I didn’t want to eat it....

Did he catch me?

Then I just had to eat it, right! Just eat it!

"......"

Fine...!

I squeezed my eyes shut and shoved a spoonful of soup into my mouth. Dell was watching me too, like he was curious how I’d judge the food.

Mm.... Mm? Mm...!

My eyes slowly widened.

What the hell? This tastes completely different from before?! It’s way, way better? And it doesn’t sit badly either!

When my eyes went round, Dell broke into a bright smile.

"Is it good?"

His easy eyes curved into a warm, gentle smile.

Isn’t he way too soft for a bodyguard?! Then again, maybe because Lady Coco herself was weird, the guard she had with her was weird too!

"I guess the seasoning worked today. Eat plenty."

"Just not too much. Don’t give yourself indigestion."

Luman chimed in from the side.

I ended up eating three whole bowls of the soup Dell gave me!

"Then shall we get moving again?"

As Dell got up and started tidying the area, Luman gave him a friendly smile.

"You’re surprisingly attentive."

"I’m serving the lady."

We climbed back into the carriage.

"Ren!"

"What?!"

"Don’t fight with the lady. The road is steep. If you start shoving each other around, it’ll be dangerous."

"...I’m not going to fight!"

I muttered irritably and slammed the door shut.

"Pfft."

"Don’t laugh at mbe."

When I glared at her and said that, Coco just shrugged.

The carriage kept racing down the slope without pause.

None of us said it out loud, but it was obvious this stretch was dangerous.

The road was narrow, with a cliff right beside it, so it felt like the perfect place for enemies hiding up in the trees somewhere to launch an ambush. And for some reason, Coco looked tense too. With irritation and anxiety mixed in her eyes, she kept fiddling with her hair like she was trying to pull strands out.

"Hey. Coco."

"...What."

"We’ll be down soon. The town’s close too."

"Are you trying to comfort me right now?"

"Whatever. Forget it, then."

Way to make it awkward.

Using the trick Coco had shown me, I pulled one of the strings on the tightly tied bundle to undo it, then tried to look busy doing something else while I chewed on the tea leaves. Ugh, bitter. What if the reason I’d been getting motion sick was actually because of these herbs?? The second I ate them, my stomach started churning all over again.

What the hell is wrong with me. Is it just carsickness? Should I just stop eating altogether?

Ah. If I ask them to stop because I want to throw up, that’d be a pain for everyone.... I can hold it, right? Hold it! I can hold it! You got this!

I was fidgeting around all by myself when I looked at Coco, and she was staring at me again.

No smile, no irritation—just watching me quietly.

"Why are you looking at me like that??"

Those purple eyes trembled like she wanted to say ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) something.

That was when it happened.

Clunk.

The carriage wheel seemed to catch on something, and the whole carriage jolted hard back and forth before stopping.

Hiiiiiing!

I heard the horses scraping their hooves as they came to a sudden halt.

"Ren."

Coco called my name quietly.

"What is it?"

"It looks like the wheel caught on a protruding rock."

"So we probably need to lift it and move it, right?"

Outside, I heard them discussing what to do with the stopped carriage.

"What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?"

"...Run."

"...? What are you talking about?? Run?"

"My lady. You’ll need to get down."

The door opened. The dark night poured in and, for a second, my vision went black.

No. It wasn’t the darkness pouring in—

my vision itself was flickering. Coco grabbed my arm.

"It’s dark."

She said it coolly before I could even thank her, then let go of my arm. Thanks to that, the others didn’t look at me.

"We need to move the carriage, so stay back. Watch your footing."

When I climbed down from the carriage, the wind whipped at us mercilessly. I was watching Lady Coco’s purple hair lash in the air when I looked down into the black drop below and jerked hard.

Wow. One wrong step and you’d fall straight down.

I was glancing nervously at the cliff when Dell shouted, and Coco and I both moved farther away from the carriage.

Saying they’d have to lift it, Luman and Brother split up to the front and back. Brother seemed to be muttering something, but I couldn’t hear it. Why did Brother look kind of out of it? Dell took hold of the reins and pulled the horses farther from the carriage.

Snort. Snort-snort.

Were they nervous? The horses kept snorting like they wanted to get the hell out of here.

I was watching the troubled smile on Dell’s face as he held the reins when Coco came right up beside me.

"Ren. You remember what I just said, right?"

The body that had gone stiff in surprise loosened at Coco’s words.