11 Departure

It had been several weeks since Calluna arrived in Killia, and she still had yet to leave the castle. Due to her injuries and her 'memory loss', the physicians and Eleanore all encouraged her to stay within the Royal Walls.

That was only in place, however, until her party's departure for the country's tour.

Having chosen Guinevere to be her handmaid throughout the journey, Calluna and the auburn-haired lady-in-waiting worked together to pack their things and prepare for the trip. Originally, the crown prince was advised to bring a new outfit for each day – and it was needless to say that she wasn't very fond of that idea. As someone that preferred a powerful aesthetic over a beautiful one, she saw no reason to go through all of the extra effort involved in bringing so many clothes.

Calluna was quick to realize that the world she fell into was completely different from the one she came from, but it hadn't completely sunk in until the day they were meant to leave. When she was escorted out of the beautiful stone gates and met with the sight of a horse-drawn carriage, it hit her all at once.

In her previous life she had only ever used her own cars, or when she was younger she even used the subway to get from place to place. Not once had Calluna ever been somewhere agrarian enough that there were horses. It was her very first time witnessing the creatures in person.

The crown prince felt her muscles tense from her shoulders downward as she and Guinevere came to face the carriage and its horses. There were two of the large beasts, both sleek and black with white stripes down their noses. Calluna's hands trembled unconsciously when her eyes met the large brown ones staring directly into her.

「What are you so scared of?」

A soft masculine voice invaded her mind, and she swore that she felt her soul leave her body at the sudden intrusion. The prince nearly fell backward in her surprise but managed to take in a breath and soothe herself before she actually managed to cause a scene.

'Who's there?' Calluna asked inwardly, hoping that the communication with the mysterious voice went both ways.

「Miss, you're looking at us.」A new feminine voice replied.

She gasped aloud, one of her hands flying to cover her own lips as she did. 'I- I can talk to horses?!'

「You're a nature empath, are you not? You're born that way… you can talk to any animal. How could you be this surprised?」The boy horse asked with a sarcastic whinny.

「Don't tease her, Mura.」The girl scolded.「Though that is strange, I could have sworn we've taken you places before.」

The horse named Mura snorted indignantly.「She ignored us back then, Momo.」

Calluna bit her lip and walked forward to face the horses timidly. 'I-... I don't have any memories from before my recent accident. I have no idea what I was like before.'

「Lost memories?」Momo asked, gazing at Calluna with a gentle look in her eye.

'Yes! It's a bit difficult to explain...'

"Crown Prince?" Guinevere's call brought Calluna back to the present. "Are you alright? You've been staring at the horses a little strangely for the last several minutes… is there something wrong with them?"

'Momo, Mura, I will talk to you more later.' The equine beasts breathed their agreements, and fell silent once more.

"No," she replied confidently, "I just hadn't seen a horse since I woke from my coma. It was a little bit of a surprise is all."

Guinevere gave her an understanding look and nodded respectfully, ending their talk there. Their conversations were never long, but Calluna couldn't complain. She actually preferred the quiet most of the time, which was another reason that she had decided to bring Guin along instead of one of the others. A few servants packed the prince's luggage into the back of the carriage before they were motioned inside.

She hopped in and held out a hand in offer for her maid; they both made themselves at home and sat in comfortable silence as they awaited the arrival of the second most important individual attending this tour – the Military Captain himself.

Vincenzo was known for his tardiness when it came to menial tasks and celebrations or meetings, but he was hardly ever late for things of such urgency. It was necessary that they left early in the morning in order to reach the first city on time. Things were on a rather tight schedule.

"Don't worry everyone! I am here at last," the man's voice pierced the quiet after half an hour of Calluna anxiously sitting in wait. He popped his head into the window and flashed a wide grin, then mounted a horse of his own to follow alongside the cart.

After a few last minute preparations for the journey, the party of seven set out. The sound of hooves rhythmically pounding the rain-softened earth was somewhat therapeutic, and the comfortable silence within the carriage made it easy for Calluna to think to herself as they rode along the outskirts of the Capital of Killia, Felbole.

Felbole was a very impressive place. It boasted a population over 100,000 and divine infrastructure that Calluna read was unrivaled by even the largest cities in neighboring countries. Most of the buildings were made from smooth marble, and the streets painstakingly paved with high quality stone.

Upon delving deep into Felbole's history books, Calluna longed to explore the city and see what it was like. As a city woman even as Romy, the inner workings of society and things of the like always intrigued her. It was super disappointing that she couldn't even adventure through the place that she lived until after the tour, but it really couldn't be helped.

The route they were taking out of the city was only along the outer wall, meaning she hardly got to see anything of interest at all. It was a big let down, and the lack of interesting sights caused her thoughts to wander back to the problems at hand. She heaved a deep sigh, and though Guinevere looked at her to ensure she was alright, didn't press for answers.

It was weighing heavily on the prince's conscience that so much was riding on her performance during the coming weeks. In order to ease the turmoil beginning to boil in her stomach, she went over the notes that she had taken about the first city they would be visiting first: Stanint.

From what little she could glean from history books and past tax records, Stanint was, in every way, mediocre. It was overall entirely middle class, and the inhabitants went about their daily lives without much worry. Though there were obviously some poorer and some richer, it didn't appear to Calluna that anything was particularly out of order.

She assumed that it was doing well because of its Baron, Baron Shen. He was a noble without any rumors surrounding him: one that taxed fairly and worked with the other wealthy families to ensure that Stanint existed comfortably within Killia. Calluna always admired people like that, and hoped that he would give his approval to her upcoming sovereignty. She didn't want to get her hopes up, however, so tried to stop her thought processes there.

She leaned her head on the side of the rocking carriage, eyes closed as the prince drifted even deeper into her thoughts. Her wounds were mostly healed, but they were still uncomfortable and the recovery process made her extremely fatigued – so before Calluna even recognized how tired she was, consciousness was slipping through her fingers and the world was turning to black.

'He's a logical man, so I must also approach him with logic if I wish to persuade him. Just how will I do that?'

Was her final thought as she fell into a restless sleep, plagued by dreams of both the past and the future that seemed to be approaching quicker than anticipated.

'Evidently I am what's called a "nature empath"? That's what the horses told me, anyway. I honestly have no idea what it means, and since we are currently on the road I haven't even bothered to ask. I doubt anyone on the tour with me would know. Perhaps Vincenzo would have some information to share, but at the same time I'm unsure if he would even tell me. He seems to think that my 'memory loss' is entertaining, and I'm worried he'd just laugh!

Ugh, that guy. He's nice enough, but he definitely gets on my nerves sometimes.

I considered asking Mura and Momo about nature empaths since they're the ones who brought its existence to my attention, but I ended up feeling self-conscious and scrapping that idea.

Apparently the previous tenant of this body was even rude to animals, could you believe that? I would feel bad asking beings that have bad feelings regarding me for information or favors. I really can't understand how this little brat managed to make basically everyone dislike her existence.

Thinking about it is giving me a headache.'

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