Chapter 3
Before you read: (R) = Reinhardt, ((M) = Mercenary
* * *
2. Wilhelm
The Crown Prince’s right leg was still recuperating with the help of doctors and wizards every day.
The Crown Prince ended the situation by depriving her of all the property and authority of the Linke family.
People thought that the Crown Prince still had affection for her.
So, thinking that, they praised Mikhail.
‘That damn bastard, I should’ve slit his throat.’
Listening to the dangling sound by her waist, Reinhardt mused.
There was only one reason why the Crown Prince kept her alive.
〈How long will that crazy girl who’s spent her whole life up in the capital survive on the street? Two or three days?〉
It was a comment uttered by her fellow inmate as she looked at her covered in dirt and inside the prison.
So, he’d had his own revenge.
What would happen if she, the esteemed daughter of the Great Duke who had been respected since birth, was under the Crown Prince’s mercy? The man who took away all her family and property?
Unlike her previous life, in which she had “remaining business,” Reinhardt had nothing left anymore.
The adopted son, who was registered in the Linke family instead of his married daughter, Reinhardt, fled after Reinhardt’s revenge took place in this life.
It may be because he wants to turn his back on the Linke family.
She doesn’t know where he went, but when she saw the lack of cooperation around him, it was likely that he ran away with some jewelry and was buried in a valley somewhere.
The property of the Linke family was allocated to the Crown Prince as consolation money.
Thus, all that remained in Reinhart Linke’s hands was a jewel box inherited from her mother and a sword from her father.
‘He’s a clever jerk, but he’s wrong.’
Reinhardt smirked.
Perhaps if she was the same Reinhardt as before, she would have really thrown herself into the sewers because of the deprivation.
However, this life’s Reinhardt was different.
Reinhardt asked Johanna to buy her jewelry box off her.
Johanna is a daughter from a good family and, since she had been Reinhardt’s closest maid, she was well aware of the value of her jewels. So Johanna paid her well for the jewels.
Among the jewelry inherited from her mother, only a worthless pearl and her father’s sword remained in Reinhardt’s hands.
She bought a horse and some clothes with the money she had received from selling the jewelry.
It would take two months to get to Luden even if she ran as fast as she could.
It would only take three days if she used the crystal, but it cost a huge amount of money for a non-imperial member to use it.
She was obviously not in any position to use one, and even if she had the money, she would not be allowed to be accompanied by anyone because of what she’d done against the royal family.
Thus, Reinhardt set out on a long journey to Luden.
A mercenary that Johanna had hired accompanied her.
Contrary to the words of the Crown Prince, and those who thought she would only survive two-three days, it had already been a month since she left the capital and Reinhardt was still alive.
There were two more mountains to cross before they would arrive in Luden, and she and the mercenary escort were struggling because of bad weather.
This was because the northeastern part of the empire would soon enter winter.
While they were harvesting summer barley in the center of the empire, the northeast was preparing for the winter by picking corn. It was because winter came so fast for them.
Even now, the weather was getting colder and it felt like late autumn.
The mercenary grumbled while looking at the cloudy sky.
(M) “Well, it’s going to snow. How about we take a rest under the mountain today?”
(R) “But if it snows all night long, the road to Luden will be even more difficult, don’t you think?”
I feel like I’m in my early 40s.
The middle-aged mercenary, who used to say that he had no one to follow in Allegues, became more annoyed as the journey grew longer.
Even now, he was openly sighing while frowning.
(M) “When it snows, there’s a way.”
(R) “What’s the way? Let’s hear it.”
(M) “If you buy a sled and I don’t know…”
(R) “Have you tried sledding before?”
Where would she get the money to buy a sled? And who would pull it anyway?
Reinhardt’s mount was a pony, and not one of the big ones. They were not trained to pull a cart.
The tactless and lazy mercenary often treated her as an immature noblewoman trying to get busy in Luden.
Even though she told him that she was in a miserable situation, she didn’t know that such a mercenary would ignore her.
Until now, she didn’t want to bump into him, so she asked him if he could do that. However, with only about 15 days left before the end of the journey, she was annoyed by the way he kept on flirting, so she said a few words to him. Eventually, he ended up getting tired of going up the mountain with her.
(M) “I can’t go with you anymore.”
(R) “……Didn’t you get paid by Johanna?”
(M) “I’ve done more than two-thirds of the contract, so it’s valid. You’re too picky, I can’t do this anymore.”
Reinhardt looked at the mercenary who was full of energy.
(R) “If you had talked to me about it in town, I would have gotten more people.”
(M) “Oh there’s one other thing: I need you to pay me for my trip back.”
(R) “……Aha?”
He didn’t know he had to climb all the way up to the mountain to get to that freezing castle.
Reinhardt stared at the mercenary.
The northeast had a small population. The road to Luden was of course the same. In such an isolated mountain, mercenaries would declare the end of the contract and try to rob their clients at the same time.
(R) “……I’ll do it.”
Reinhardt had no choice but to throw him the pouch. All the travel expenses left were inside it.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have the power to fight the mercenary, who had obviously done this a lot. It was better to give away travel expenses than to lose one’s life in a place like this.
She can just dig up grass roots in the mountain to eat and continue heading to Luden.
‘Cause I’m used to starving anyway.’
She didn’t know if it would help that she couldn’t even eat properly because her intestines were damaged.
The mercenary approached and picked up the purse, and took the horse’s reins from her hand.
(R) “Damn it. This is a big loss.”
But I couldn’t lose my life over money and words.
Reinhardt sighed and stepped back.
However, the mercenary’s greed did not stop there.
(M) “Give me that sword too.”
This is…..
He meant her father’s sword.
Reinhardt was hesitant and shouted at the mercenary.
(R) “This is the Linke family sword. You’ll be the same as one of us if you’re carrying it around. You’ll lose your neck at once.”
(M) “Before my neck is gone, my noble ex-Princess’s throat will be gone first.”
Threats were useless.
The mercenary clearly knew that she used to be a princess and how the Linke family was destroyed. He might also know that there was no one left to avenge her.
He offered his hand and touched her.
(M) “Give it to me.”
Anger flared up in Reinhardt’s throat, but she tried to swallow the anger.
She couldn’t die here.
The mercenary could kill her and take the sword if this scuffle continued.
Reinhardt thought of her father.
If it were Hu Linke, he’d ask her to give him the sword. Hu Linke was different from a common knight, he lived in honor and died in honor.
He had always called her his apple pie.
After seeing Reinhardt’s golden eyes and curly blonde hair, he said that she looked like a honeyed apple pie. He gave his lovely apple pie to his son-in-law for the generations of the family and for that apple pie, he left it in his son-in-law’s place even though he was already a retired old man in Sarawak.
It wouldn’t be acceptable for that lovely apple pie to give up its life in such a place just to protect a sword.
‘I can’t waste the life father gave me again.’
Reinhardt had thought about it constantly in prison. She must have died of a cold in her last life. She also concluded that this life must have been given back by her father for having been unfortunate.
She couldn’t give up her precious life in vain, she thought.
At the beginning of this life, she thought it was only a dream, so she took her clumsy revenge.
But now that she found out that this was not a dream, Reinhardt really intended to kill Mikhail this time.
And to do that, she has to live first.
Reinhardt slowly loosened her belt. She took off the sword sheath tied to her belt and threw it on the floor. The mercenary took a couple of steps and pulled out the sword, he seemed satisfied as he looked at it.
Looking at the sword in his grimy hands, my stomach ached.
(R) “If you’re done, just give me the map. I have to find the way there by myself.”
(M) “Map, kid, that’s it. I’ll give you what I want to.”
The mercenary approached with a smirk.
The map was also quite expensive, even though it was said to be pretty bad.
It was good enough for Reinhardt, but she thought that mercenary might not give it to her because she had paid a lot of money to buy the proper map.
The mercenary approached her little by little and then grabbed Reinhardt’s right hand.
As she held her belt, she was startled.
(R) “What are you doing?”
(M) “Do you know how much that map cost?”
(R) “I bought it with my own money…”
(M) “But now it’s in my hands, so pay for it.”
The mercenary grinned.
Reinhardt frowned.
(R) “But you have all the money…”
As soon as she started speaking, Reinhardt realized what he was talking about.
At the same time, a disgusting energy came up to her throat.
(M) “If you don’t have money, there’s another way. For girls that is.”
(R) “You crazy…”
For so long, no man had approached her, so she forgot about it. Plus in her previous life, she was the lord of the great estate of Helka.
He couldn’t have behaved this way without realizing it.
Reinhardt tried to shake off his hand, but his strong hold on her didn’t let her.
Her left hand was free so she pulled up her unfastened pants that had lowered down.
(R) “I don’t need a map. Get lost.”
(M) “Oh, really? You’re doing this for free then?”
Feeling insulted, Reinhardt eventually couldn’t stand it and spat on the man’s face.
The mercenary didn’t register what had happened for a second, but in the next moment, his face turned red.
(R) “Hey!”
She was slapped on the cheek by a heavy hand.
Oh, she let a sound escape.
She hadn’t even screamed when she was kicked by knights before she went to prison.
She now knows how disgraceful and painful it is to be subjected to such an unexpected situation.
(M) “I tried to taste you because you were like a princess, stop whining like that!”
He really was a dog. And to him, she was like a meaty side dish. He wanted to taste her.
Instead of saying anything, she kicked the mercenary in the stomach.
The mercenary grabbed her by the hair again and shook her.
Ackkk
Nevertheless, she tried to scratch the mercenary with her fingertips.
Even if she died here, she felt like she had to poke her eyes until they burst before becoming a dead body.
It was then that…
Thud.
She heard a dull sound.
In the next moment Reinhardt’s right hand, which was holding onto his head, lost strength.
Reinhardt fell to the floor.