Chapter 90: A Fool’s Love (9)

[90] 13. A Fool’s Love (9)

Love is a disease with a long incubation period.

It grows without you even knowing, and then, one day, it makes its presence known. It shakes your heart and clouds your mind.

The word ‘love’ spreads through your brain like a disease devouring your organs.

And that’s why, love can sometimes be cruel.

Under a starless night sky,

Adolf looked down at Rem.

Rem looked relatively okay. His forehead was swollen from being hit by the scabbard, but there were no new wounds. There was a simple reason for this.

“Why didn’t you resist?”

Rem, who’d been looking at the ground, looked up at the Prince. A bitter smile graced his lips.

“…Because I knew this would happen someday.”

“You knew this would happen?”

“If I really was innocent, I wouldn’t be imprisoned like this.”

His voice was low and sad.

“Feya said that I’m innocent, but… Surely, I must be guilty of something to be treated like this.”

His shoulders trembled slightly as he spoke. Tears seemed to glisten in his eyes, shimmering under the light of the torches.

But Adolf didn’t bother to correct him. Taking the sword that an escort knight had handed to him, he said,

“Any last words?”

“Th-There is one thing that I want to tell…”

Desperation filled his once gloomy voice. Lifting his head, Rem continued,

“That I loved her. Could you please tell her that?”

“To whom?”

Rem hesitated for a moment before answering.

Adolf raised an eyebrow as he heard his answer.

“*That* woman?”

“P-Please, I beg you. It probably won’t mean anything, but still…”

Adolf stared at Rem for a moment, then suddenly chuckled. Looking down at Rem’s bewildered face, he smirked.

“Sheila, that stupid bitch, really did set up an interesting stage. I thought it would be intriguing when I heard about it on the way here, but…”

“What…?”

Waving his hand dismissively, Adolf smiled wryly.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get your chance soon.”

“W-What do you…”

“Look, she’s coming right now.”

The Prince’s gaze turned toward the forest, and so did everyone else.

A silhouette slowly emerged from the darkness between the trees.

Black hair that almost blended into the darkness, a blood-red axe, and eyes as cold as ice.

“Feya…”

Feya, lowering her axe, glared at Adolf.

Adolf smiled faintly and said,

“I had actually imagined Sheila dragging you here… It seems like she’s more useless than I thought.”

“She tried her best.”

Feya smiled ferociously and then slung her axe over her shoulder.

“Of course, she’s probably crying and crawling on the ground right now. I broke her legs and gave her a few axe wounds on her face, for good measure.”

Adolf burst into hearty laughter.

“Don’t laugh, bastard. You’re next.”

But Adolf didn’t stop laughing. Instead, he simply looked at Feya with a curious expression and asked,

“You came to rescue him, didn’t you?”

Feya’s shoulder trembled as Adolf’s sword touched Rem’s neck. Then she gritted her teeth and snarled,

“Take that sword away from him, you son of a bitch.”

“Don’t worry, I have no intention of taking him hostage or doing anything as boring as chopping off his head right in front of you.”

Adolf sheathed his sword. Then, he smiled broadly at Feya.

“Instead, I have a proposition.”

“…Proposition?”

“Cut off this guy’s neck yourself.”

Rem’s face turned blue. In contrast, Feya’s eyes burned bright red.

“If you do, I’ll let you go. I’ll even give you a position in my escort knights. You might be a barbarian, but you’re skilled.”

“You think I’m going to accept such bullshit?”

“Then you’re going to fight me?”

A mocking smile appeared on Adolf’s face.

“In that condition?”

Those words struck a chord with Feya. Even she couldn’t possibly get past all those men without getting hurt.

She could feel blood flowing down her back and arms.

Honestly, even just standing was hard.

“Just wait, you bastard. I’m going to give you two axe wounds on that face of yours.”

But there was no hesitation in Feya’s hand as she raised her axe.

It was a demonstration of a strong will, a kind of arrogance. An unshakeable belief that she would never be broken.

It was something Adolf had witnessed many times. And he also knew what a broken person was capable of.

Adolf, feeling the corners of his lips curl up, looked at his escort knights who had been silent until now.

“Entertain her for a bit.”

***

And so, the battle began.

Black armor and an axe flashed, the clanging of metal tearing through the night air. Groans and shouts were exchanged, and sparks flew towards the sky.

But Adolf didn’t care,

not even as his escort knights were gradually being pushed back.

He just stood there, fiddling with his earring, his eyes fixed on the night sky, as if he were thinking about something.

What pulled his gaze back to the ground was a weak, trembling voice.

“P-Please, just kill me…!”

His red eyes turned to Rem, who was bowing his head on the ground. Rem continued, his voice desperate.

“I-I’ll just die…! Please, just let Feya…”

“Be quiet.”

Adolf stood up, his shoulders shaking with laughter. He stretched out his hand, looking at Feya who had just knocked down one of the escort knights.

Adolf got up from his seat with his shoulders shaking with laughter. Looking at Feya, who had just knocked down one of his knights, he reached out his hand.

“I just had a brilliant idea.”

At that moment, as if by coincidence, the space between Feya and Adolf cleared.

It was the perfect opportunity to reach him.

Instinctively sensing this, Feya’s legs moved.

She raised her axe high and charged towards Adolf.

She didn’t realize that the space hadn’t simply cleared, but had been *cleared*.

She didn’t see that one of the escort knights had moved away to avoid Adolf’s hand.

Feya swung her axe at Adolf.

*Thwack-*

Feya stared at the axe, embedded in a wooden dummy, her eyes filled with bewilderment.

Her target hadn’t been the dummy.

It was supposed to be…

The dummy’s head.

Frowning, Feya spat on the ground. Then she looked at the training dummy, with an axe now stuck in its leg.

“I always end up aiming for the legs whenever I practice… I should be splitting the head, but…”

How did she end up with such a terrible habit?

It was probably because of the daily sparring sessions with her father. After all, his weak left leg was his vulnerable spot.

“… At this rate, I’m going to get some strange nickname because of this. Like ‘Leg Fetishist’ or ‘Leg Collector’…”

“Feya Danderlion!!”

A shout from the edge of the forest catches her attention. She turned to see it was Uncle Sean. He had his usual stern expression on his face. He said, his voice as sharp as a sword,

“The Great Chieftain summons you. Gather your weapons and come immediately.”

“What? But… I haven’t recovered from my injuries…”

“It’s The Great Chieftain’s order.”

Feya’s eyes narrowed. But Sean only repeated, his voice firm,

“The Great Chieftain’s order.”

“Haa… Fine, fine, I’m coming…”

Feya rolled her eyes and sighed. Pulling her axe from the training dummy, she looked up at the mountain that stood before her.

A rocky mountain that seemed to pierce the clouds.

On its side, black holes, like freckles, dotted its surface.

The Great Divide. The home of the Derin.

… And the place where her father was waiting with a club.

“I’m going to get beaten to a pulp again…”

Feya sighed and started walking toward the mountain.

***

The Great Divide is a place that proves how tenacious life can be.

At an altitude of 3,500 meters above sea level, a rocky mountain where not a single tree grows.

With over 700 caves and tunnels, like an ant’s nest, that’s the Great Divide. The home of the Derin.

Naturally, life isn’t easy here.

Monsters from the Rocky Mountains attack relentlessly. Crops can’t grow, so hunger is inevitable. And then there are the cold weather and natural disasters.

It truly is a place worthy of being called ‘remote’… but.

In the end, it’s still a place where people live.

If it was truly uninhabitable, then no one would live here to begin with.

The monsters might be a threat, but they also provide delicious meat. Hunger might be an everyday occurrence, but it’s not to the extent where their bellies stick to their backs. And the cold weather and natural disasters, well, they happened in other places too.

Life in the Great Divide wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t the worst either. People, even here, found happiness.

…Except for The Great Chieftain’s only daughter.

Feya stumbled, walking between the glowing magic stones. Behind her, a trail of red footprints followed.

She barely arrived at her tent.

As soon as she entered, she collapsed onto the bed.

“Fu…cking…”

There wasn’t a single part of her body that didn’t ache.

Her arm, probably fractured, throbbed, and her face was so swollen she could barely see. She couldn’t even count how many new bruises she had.

They were all gifts from her father, Gale Danderlion.

…And it was the same bullshit she’d been enduring for seven years.

[Such weakling are not worthy of being The Great Chieftain!! Get up!! Get up, you fool!! Don’t you want to avenge your mother’s death!!]

“Great Chieftain my ass…”

Feya spat out a curse and forced herself to sit up. It was hell due to her injuries, but she had no choice.

If she ignored those wounds and something went wrong…

Feya shuddered, remembering the hell she went through last time. With trembling hands, she began a simple treatment.

She drank a potion, wrapped her wounds in bandages, put on a splint, stitched up a cut, and then applied ointment.

Thanks to, or maybe because of, having done this over and over again for 7 years since she was 7 years old.…

…The treatment didn’t take long.

If she rested for a few days like this, her body should be back to normal.

…Of course, her father would probably summon her again before her wounds even had a chance to heal.

Feya sighed and leaned her head back against the wall. The coldness flowing to the back of her head felt like her future.

*Just how long will I have to keep living like this? How many more times do I have to go through this before I can finally be free?*

Unsettling thoughts and speculations filled her mind.

But Feya shoved them aside.

Firstly, these kinds of thoughts weren’t helpful.

Secondly, because a welcome guest had come to visit.

A snow-white fox, slipping into her tent.

Feya, forgetting even her pain, smiled broadly.

“Rem!”

“Auu…?”

The fox tilted its head, puzzled. It was an expression that seemed to say, that’s not my name.

Feya, startled, quickly corrected herself.

“Sorry, I meant ‘Invincible’!”

“Auuu!!”

Only then did the fox barked happily and ran towards Feya. Curling up on her lap, it panted happily. Feya, stroking ‘Invincible’s’ back, smiled.

“Where have you been all this time? You were nowhere to be seen when I was looking for you.”

“Auu!”

“You went to see the outsiders who came to visit?”

“Auu! Auu!”

The fox nodded its head vigorously as if to say yes. Feya looked at the fox with shining eyes and asked,

“How were they? Were they imperials again? What do you think they were here for?”

“Auu! Auuuuu! Auuu! Auu! Auu! Aauu! Auu!”

“Sorry, even I can’t translate that.”

Feya leaned back against the wall again. She hugged ‘Invincible’ with a dreamy expression.

“Well, outsiders… They’ve been coming here often lately…”

“Auu!”

“What, you’re worried about that? Of course not. I wish more would come.”

“Auu?”

“Why, you ask? Well, outsiders bring a lot of interesting things. And most of them are friendly too.”

Suddenly, a shadow fell over Feya’s face.

“…And, you never know, maybe they’ll take me out of this place.”

The wounds her father had inflicted were starting to throb. Curling up, she muttered gloomily.

“At least, I wouldn’t have to apply ointment every morning if I left this place.”

Animals are sensitive to emotions. The fox, looking up at her, whimpered. Then, it licked her cheek.

Feya managed to smile and buried her face in the fox’s back.

“Don’t worry, ‘Invincible’. I won’t leave you behind and go alone.”

“Auu!”

“Of course, you say… Aren’t you too shameless?”

Feya burst into laughter, and the fox snorted. Then, slipping out of her arms, it looked at her and barked.

“Auu!”

“What? You’re asking me what I plan to do if I get out?”

“Auu! Auu!”

“Well…”

A troubled look appeared on Feya’s face. The only concrete thought she had was to escape her father’s abuse. She had never thought about what came after.

“If I were to leave the Great Divide…”

Her gaze, which had been wandering in the air, happens to land on one spot. It was a picture book she had received from an outsider at some point.

It was a simple, predictable love story of a man and a woman who’d fallen in love.

But sometimes, we’re drawn to predictability.

Feya chuckled and said,

“For starters, I want to try a romantic love.”