A long journey

Roland Rosenstein, a swordmaster in his fifties, head of the Rosenstein family, and villainess Aliana Rosenstein's father. A person whose unidentified illness was thought to have claimed their life twelve years ago.

That's how the original novel went, at least. But here he was, still fit and well. He clenched his hands, with the note in them, onto the rein of the horse.

The people got aside to make a way, listening to the footsteps of the white horse, which was galloping through the crowded street. Roland could feel the breeze hitting his red face.

-We are going on a honeymoon. Don't disturb us, father.

Not even their wedding ceremony had been held, and they were already thinking about their honeymoon. Jaden never thought about it; Aliana had just written that in the note she had delivered to her father.

Roland bit his lips, and his veins became slightly visible. Furious as ever, he headed towards the guard post.

'Jaden Brimstone. How dare you... How dare you stay true to your words?'

He smiled bitterly, remembering the short conversation he had shared with Jaden. Remembering Jaden's words, he gripped his hands even more tightly on the rein.

-I would run somewhere far away with her.

It was Roland who was misunderstanding something now. It wasn't Jaden who was planning everything, but Aliana.

He was about to arrive at the guard post soon enough. Leaning his body a bit further, he adjusted his position, and the horse began galloping even faster.

Soon, the carriage belonging to the Rosenstein family came into his view. He brought the horse to a halt by pulling the rein in his direction. Leaping off the horse, he dashed to the carriage.

"Alia!"

He noticed that no one was inside the carriage. Looking around while trying to look for Aliana, his gaze fell upon a piece of paper inside the carriage.

-That was a joke. We have some business to take care of. I'll leave things here for you to handle. Take care.

The handwriting was the one he was familiar with; Aliana had written that note. Roland let out a sigh of relief upon reading the first line of the note.

He didn't really care about the rest of the note since he was going to handle matters either way. Wrapping his palm into a fist, he crumbled the note with an awkward smile.

"If I catch that b*stard..."

Julianne and Roland had no idea what Aliana was up to this time around. They stood up in her favour during the banquet just because the situation was dire.

Skipping steps and directly going for marriage isn't something that a sane person would do. Aliana wasn't the type to act thoughtlessly either, and she always had a plan prepared.

She never revealed her plans and was just going through with them. And that's what led to the current situation. As Roland was trying to search for the two, a voice fell on his ears.

"Your grace!"

It was the coachman of their carriage. Roland's face brightened up for a while. If the coachman was around, then that meant they were still there too.

Roland moved towards the coachman and shook him vigorously by his shoulders. He kept on asking where the people in question were, but the coachman didn't open his mouth for a while.

"About that... They left a while ago along with some merchants."

Roland had fallen for Aliana's pranks twice already; this was the third. Letting go of the coachman's shoulders, Roland slowly walked back to his horse.

He was wondering if he was the only one getting pranked all the time. Gladly, or sadly, should I say? He wasn't the only one.

BAMMMM

The study table broke apart as the sword hit it hard. The maid in thr office room was sweating from nervousness, witnessing the woman's rage filled face.

"Is this an easy task?"

She mumbled while looking at the note that was lying on the floor, cut into two halves. Her cold voice made the maid finch and grip her hands tightly together.

The note was the one Aliana had asked Jaden to hand over to his sister. She had predicted that Julianne wouldn't be arriving back at the Brimstone residence before they left.

-Make some laws using the new crown prince so that you can become head of the Brimstone family. I'm taking your brother along to take care of something else.

Julianne could just grit her teeth while putting her hand on her forehead. She was aware that Aliana had some hidden agenda behind her actions.

Thanks to all the work they had to handle, Julianne never got to sleep throughout the night. And now even Jaden had gone somewhere with Aliana.

At least Julianne's worries were lessened since Rudia was tagging along with them. There were two notes on her study table, one from Aliana and another from Rudia.

"I can rest easy knowing that."

Julianne sighed as she let her body rest on the sofa nearby. After staying up the whole night, she was tired.

The last thing on her mind was the events that took place during the banquet. Nothing attracted as much attention as the appearance of Dragon King Solas.

A mythological being from the age of dragons had revealed itself.

During the Dragon Age, there were nine dragons that ruled over the world. The strongest and most feared of them was Solas, the Dragon King. That era was way before Dragonaria Kingdom was found.

"It seems like there will be a storm soon."

Julianne mumbled as she covered her eyes with her arms. The entire time, she had only one worry on her mind.

'I wonder what Jaden is doing right now...'

-------------------

"So you people are going to Agustus Kingdom too?"

The man wore a brown-coloured three-piece suit, while the shirt was white. His fat belly made the buttons look as tight as ever. The cap on his head was hiding his hair.

Unlike the four-wheeled carriage nobles used to travel in, he had a two-wheeled cart that looked shabby but was well-maintained.

The destination of this vehicle loaded with goodies and all sorts of items was Agustus Kingdom.

Agustus Kingdom, lying to the west of Dragonaria Kingdom, was the trading centre of the whole continent. There were more than six kingdoms, which together made up the continent known as Cazanix.

"Yes. We have some business there."

Their real destination wasn't Agustus Kingdom; it simply happened to be in the middle of their way to the Elven Forest. Aliana wasn't actually lying, since they had to pass through it to reach the forest in the north of that place.

If someone claimed their destination to be the elven forest, people would've mocked them for it. It wasn't easy to be able to enter that forest.

"You lot sure are fortunate to meet me! You won't have trouble getting an entry there!"

The fat man laughed heartily as he held the reins on the horse lightly. Being a merchant, he had it easy when it came to entering any nation.

Looking at the clothes of the people with him, anyone would assume that they were a party of adventurers on a commission to guard the merchant. Aliana had prepared a set of clothes for them in advance.

Jaden was still wearing his jacket, but thanks to its abilities, it hadn't gotten dirty.

First, he asked Aliana to use the water magic she demonstrated just the other day. Then he had his jacket in the form of a white shirt and black pants.

"We will be counting on you."

Claire adorned herself with a robe, carrying around a wand. Rudia was still in her maid uniform as usual.

As for Aliana, her outfit was quite different. She had wrapped herself in a robe, and underneath it was a black-coloured whole-body suit.

At the sight of three of them acting normal, Jaden sighed and placed his palm on his own face. He wasn't wearing the clothes of his choice, but what Aliana had asked him to.

'Travelling with too many people is troublesome...'

Jaden stared at the wide, ocean blue sky while being lost in his thoughts. He was still thinking about what had happened before they departed Dragonaria.

Aliana had gone to the guard post and talked over something for a while. Then, after returning, she asked everyone else to get changed into specific outfits.

As soon as they got changed, Aliana dragged them and asked an unknown merchant to give them a lift. Everything she did was absurd and reckless, from Jaden's view.

"How much more time till we arrive there?"

They had set out from Dragonaria just a few minutes ago, but Jaden was already restless. He actually wanted to write down everything about his situation so that he could devise a plan.

"It will take a few more days. At night, we will be staying at the inns in the villages that happen to be located on this route."

It took a whole five minutes for Jaden to understand that it wasn't a home-to-supermarket trip. He gulped his own saliva and stared at Aliana.

She hadn't explained anything to him properly yet. Thanks to the story deviating from the original plot, he had no way of predicting what would happen next.

"Mister, is it really that far?"

Claire hadn't travelled to any other place aside from Dragonaria. She was more like a caged bird with limited freedom.

The head of the Belcher family had planned to usurp power by using her as a pawn. Getting her married to the Crown Prince and then misusing her powers was his main goal all along.

'Just why is she with us?'

Jaden had no idea how she ended up tagging them along. He was busy sleeping at the night when she showed up at the Rosenstein residence and asked to meet Aliana.

After having a talk with her, Aliana decided to let Claire join them on their journey. With her skills in alchemy and magic, Claire would definitely be a huge help to them.

"This is the shortest route. So expect us to reach there within twenty days."

Twenty days was a huge amount of time, no matter how they saw it. Jaden and Claire looked at each other's expressionless faces; they were dumbfounded.

Sigh

It seems like they had a lot to learn about that world's geography. Aliana and Rudia sat calmly in their spots, while Claire conversed with the merchant.

"Stop with that 'mister', please. My name is John Smith. I'll be in your care."

Taking off his cap, the merchant introduced himself. His brown hair fluttered because of the breeze. Jaden sighed since there was no helping it.

"You guys look strong."

There was another person inside the cargo cart beside Jaden and everyone else. A young boy who was sitting quietly throughout the whole time.

Jaden could see that he had curiosity dwelling in his eyes. Jaden smiled at him awkwardly and stayed quiet since they were strangers to each other.

Claire had seen Jaden's strength during the banquet, but she had no idea that Aliana had enhanced his strength by using her magic. She looked at Jaden with expectant eyes and opened her mouth.

"Indeed. This big brother here is strong."

Jaden could feel chills run down his spine; they were almost enemies at the banquet. He was having a hard time understanding her change of behaviour since the time Aliana had a talk with her.

Before she had talk with Aliana, Claire was planning to kill her. But now? She had changed into a whole new person.

'Just what did they talk about that time? And what the heck happened between them while I was asleep?'

Jaden had guessed that they had an encounter during the night after he went to sleep. But he had no proper answers.

The only thing he could do at the moment was stare at the long road in front of them.

'Seems like this will be a long journey...'