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Chapter 6
“Are you really okay with just leaving her like that?”
Though he was currently dressed as a coachman, Redek Ribodoucan, the young master of a viscount family and usually Avalkin’s aide, asked casually.
“Am I supposed to convince you now?”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
Redek glanced back at the carriage where Avalkin sat, then looked forward again with a sigh.
“Ugh. I’m not getting involved. If old Ingrid finds out you spent 10,000 gold and came back without a bride—without even explaining where the money went—she’ll faint.”
“…It was an unavoidable situation.”
“Is that so?”
Redek glanced behind again.
Since there was only one road and no carriages coming the other way, he could afford the bold move.
“If it were me, I’d have tied her up and brought her to Yeshken, no questions asked.”
“What’s the point of dragging along someone who wants to die?”
“She might feel that way now. But honestly, how many people who say they want to die actually go through with it?”
Avalkin fell silent—he hadn’t really thought about it that way.
Sensing he was getting through, Redek raised his voice slightly to press his point.
“While we’re on the topic, couldn’t you have tried thinking from her perspective? She was a high-ranking noble, and now suddenly she’s a slave. Of course she’s overwhelmed. In my experience, what someone like that needs is a hot stew and a beer to warm up their insides. That’s when they start thinking, ‘Okay… now what?’”
“Then I don’t understand why a guy who knows that so well only ever served jerky so tough it could break teeth.”
“Well, that’s… hehe.”
It was clearly because he couldn’t be bothered.
Avalkin figured it was his own fault for not establishing discipline in his subordinates earlier, and shook his head slightly.
‘Should I go back and bring Bellaxina back?’
He couldn’t say the thought didn’t tempt him.
Bellaxina was the only thing that had gone right for Avalkin during this whole social season.
And after being slapped by Madam Castiglione, it wasn’t like he had any better options left.
If she insisted on dying, there was nothing he could do—but if there was even a chance she had changed her mind…
“Should I turn the carriage around?”
“No. That would be a hassle.”
Avalkin got out of the carriage and tossed a leather satchel from the saddlebag to Redek. Redek caught it easily and hopped down from the coachman’s seat to assist him.
“If you do see her again, do yourself a favor and don’t talk. Your mouth is your biggest problem.”
“….”
It was rude and overstepping—but not wrong.
****
Meanwhile, in Blackwood.
Bellaxina was panting inside a cave she’d crawled into after running from the woodsman—who had shown his true colors in an instant.
“Miss, how much for a night?”
The kind of question you’d only ask a prostitute—
That’s how the woodsman started, and from there, his true nature showed quickly.
First, he grabbed Bellaxina’s wrist. Then, he yanked at her skirt.
She screamed at the top of her lungs, but no one was around to hear. The woodsman just sneered, like he already knew it was useless.
No.
Bellaxina’s mind went blank as she instinctively tried to run. But with her injured leg, she couldn’t get far.
No!
She crawled and stumbled across the frozen muddy ground. Her clothes tore, and blood seeped through her wounds.
The woodsman followed leisurely, as if enjoying a game of hide-and-seek. The only one panicking was Bellaxina.
Rustle.
“……!”
She heard a sound in the bushes near the cave.
Her heart pounded wildly.
“Miss! Why don’t you just come out, huh? How far do you think you’ll get with that leg?”
He’d clearly lost her trail and was now calling out loudly, trying to coax her into revealing herself. It was only a matter of time before he found the cave.
Damn it.
She should never have accepted that stew.
Even if she was going to die, not like this.
Regret overwhelmed her, and tears welled in her eyes. She bit down hard on her lower lip.
“How dare he… does he even know who I am…?”
Hands shaking, Bellaxina blindly reached around inside the cave until her fingers touched a thick branch—probably a broken tree root sticking in from the hill above. Not that it mattered what it was.
I’ll kill him.
With that thought, her trembling stopped.
She crouched deeper in the cave, peering through the bushes to keep an eye on the woodsman.
“I’m not saying a bowl of stew covers the price, alright?” he called, still trying to justify himself. “Let’s see…”
He pulled out a pouch and began rummaging through it.
He was counting coins—to see how much he thought she was worth.
“One, two, three, four…”
While the woodsman was distracted, Bellaxina quietly crept up behind him, holding the tree branch tightly in her raised hands, making as little noise as possible.
“Twenty gold! How about that? You’re a pretty girl, so I’ll be generous—”
Thud!
With a dull sound, the man collapsed to the ground.
Bellaxina dropped the branch with a clunk and stood there, panting heavily, then swallowed hard.
Did I kill him?
She crouched down and held her fingers under the woodsman’s nose.
A warm breath escaped.
Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.
She had meant to protect herself—but not really to kill.
“Hmph. Serves you right,” she muttered, exaggerating her tone to sound spiteful. “Filthy woodsman, thinking he could touch me?”
Even though no one was watching, Bellaxina knew she looked ridiculous—pretending to be strong like this.
But if she didn’t at least act that way, she wasn’t sure she could keep herself together.
That’s when her eyes landed on the pouch of gold coins the woodsman had dropped.
Inside were 24 gold coins.
Not a fortune, but not a small amount either.
“I need money… to replace my torn clothes, maybe get a room at an inn.”
If she used it wisely, she might even be able to see a doctor.
Someone might ask, what does a person planning to die need a doctor for? But still…
“This will be my compensation for emotional damages. That’s how I see it.”
Maybe it was the warm stew, but Bellaxina’s mind had cleared.
She was calm now—calm enough to look at her situation with reason instead of despair.
****
“Looks like she didn’t need any help.”
A faint smile touched Avalkin’s lips as he watched Bellaxina walk away, limping but triumphant after taking down a man twice her size.
He had noticed her courage back at the slave market. She really had guts.
If she’d been born a man, Avalkin thought, people would be calling her a war hero by now.
But suddenly, his expression shifted.
“Hm.”
He saw the woodsman, who had been lying still, twitch.
If he wakes up now, that’s trouble.
Earlier, Bellaxina had caught him off guard, but a real fight would be a different story.
With such a clear size difference, it was highly unlikely she could win a second time.
“I guess it’s my turn now.”
Avalkin muttered under his breath. He casually unbuttoned his jacket, pulled back the front flap, and reached for the dagger hidden inside.
Right at the moment the woodsman started to sit up—
Whish—!
“Guh!”
The dagger flew like a flash of light and landed squarely between the man’s eyebrows—silent, clean, and deadly.
The man, halfway risen, collapsed back instantly.
“I’ll have to tell Redek to clean up the body.”
As for the reason for execution…
Avalkin’s sharp eyes scanned the area, landing on the woodsman’s stew pot—and the skinned rabbit inside.
“Unlicensed hunting. That’ll do.”
It sounded far more respectable than attempted rape of a noblewoman.
Avalkin figured that was a verdict that worked well for everyone.
Still watching quietly, he turned his attention back to Bellaxina.
“She took the money. Maybe she wants to live after all…”
To be sure, Avalkin decided to follow her—for just a little while longer.
Consciously repeating to herself that if Bellaxina truly chose death, he would let her go—
That night…
Bellaxina walked, rested, walked again, then finally collapsed under a large tree. When she took off her shoes, the porcelain-like heels were cracked all over and about to break apart.
“I won’t be able to wear these tomorrow.”
If she had known it’d come to this, she thought bitterly, she should’ve taken the woodsman’s shoes after all.
Even in this pitiful state, her sense of reality still clung to that of a noble lady.
“At this rate, I’m going to die in this black forest.”
Suddenly, Avalkin’s words came back to her:
“It’s also a place where yetis tainted by dark magic live. A deer with a broken leg wouldn’t survive a week.”
A week.
That might be all the time she had left.
Maybe, if she was lucky and didn’t run into any yetis, she could live a bit longer… but—
ROAAAAR!
Luck was not on Bellaxina’s side.
“A yeti!”
Chills ran down her spine.
Massive beasts, twice the size of a grown man, covered in white frost-covered fur—ape-like monsters known as yetis.
Several of them were charging down from the distant snowy mountains, roaring like a storm.
Thick ironwood trees snapped like twigs under their limbs and fell like waves crashing through the forest. The sight alone crushed all remaining hope.
“Can I escape…?”
No.
She already knew the answer.
Yetis ran three or four times faster than an ordinary human—and Bellaxina had a wounded leg.
They’d reach her in under a minute.
“Am I really going to die like this?”
Her chest felt heavy, as if weighed down by solid iron.
Death came racing toward her with terrifying force.
Feeling its approach—white and monstrous—Bellaxina began to cry.
This kind of death… was nothing like she’d imagined.
To be torn apart, her bones crushed and flesh ripped by a beast—it wasn’t honorable.
It wasn’t even human. It was brutal and humiliating.
No. This isn’t how it should be.
“I don’t want to die…!”
And in that moment—
A radiant wave of light, glowing in countless colors, burst from behind her and lit up the night sky.
The brilliant, almost divine light bathed the world in shimmering color—and then something unbelievable happened.
The yetis, just seconds from tearing her apart, suddenly panicked.
As if a mighty king had arrived from the heavens, they turned tail and fled in terror.
Bellaxina, completely stunned, turned slowly to look behind her—toward the source of the light.
There it stood—
Fur as white as fresh snow. A shimmering mane that sparkled in every color depending on the angle of the light.
And a glass-like, spiral-shaped horn.
“A… unicorn?”
The most beautiful creature in the world stood before her.
