Do You Know Anything About King Ronan D. Blackthorn?

The princess was surprised to hear the servant's explanation. However, she realized that this was her chance to gather information.

"Can I ask you something?" asked Arielle.

"Of course!"

"Do you know anything about King Ronan D. Blackthorn?"

The servant's body stiffened for a moment. He seemed hesitant to answer and pulled up to his feet. "Haha, I think it's getting late. I have to change shifts with another employee. Goodbye, Miss."

Ignoring Arielle's call, the man just walked away, leaving Arielle even more desperate for answers.

"Your Highness, ignore that man's words, it is time for you to rest." Tania whispered to her.

Soon the maid escorted Arielle to her bedroom. The bedroom in the inn was quite damp, perhaps due to the effect of the snow falling outside. After Arielle lay down, Tania burned some logs in the fireplace to warm the room.

"Please have a good night, Your Highness." Tania bade her before she closed the door.

"How can I sleep well after that conversation?" Arielle whispered to herself.

As she rested on her bed, Arielle kept wondering about the king of the Northendell kingdom. Why did the servant from earlier look so scared when Arielle mentioned the man's name?

"Is King Ronan a tyrant?"

Arielle had not met the man in person. However, from the ultimatum he gave to the Nieverdell Kingdom, and the frightened look of the innkeeper, Arielle got the impression that Ronan was a scary king.

Her heart thumped wildly in her chest.

What about me then? Why is my luck so bad?

A single tear rolled down the corner of the princess's eye.

"No, I can't cry."

Arielle refrained from sobbing, but thinking of her unlucky fate made Arielle hurt. She never wanted to be born from the womb of a nameless woman who left her with the king.

If she could choose, Arielle would have wanted to be born into a simple family in a suburban village, she would be quite happy to take care of the fields along with her parents and siblings.

For the rest of the night, the princess ended up with several thoughts until thinking of her fate as the King's child out of wedlock made Arielle exhausted and she finally fell asleep.

***

The next day, the sun was up, and the snow had stopped falling. Tania woke Arielle in order for them to continue their journey. After cleaning herself with warm water provided by the inn, Arielle was refreshed.

Before the princess left with her entourage, she tried to find the whereabouts of the servant who accompanied her to chat last night. Arielle wanted to ask one more time about King Ronan D. Blackthorn.

Unfortunately, the male servant wasn't there.

Arielle left with her curiosity.

The carriage was stopped momentarily as it crossed the border. The Northendell Royal Guard checked everything and then allowed Princess Arielle's party to return to the road.

"Was the surveillance in border areas always this tight?" Arielle asked Tania.

"They say Northendell is an isolated kingdom. They closely protect their citizens from outside threats. However, no one has ever known who the external threat was, because all this time the four kingdoms had worked well together. And for hundreds of years, there has been no war."

Arielle nodded. She rolled down her carriage window and was mesmerized by the expanse of snow in front of her. In Arielle's life, she had never seen such a thick pile of snow. The white expanse looked like cotton candy.

As Arielle enjoyed the snow forest, the carriage suddenly stopped. "Huh?"

"Please do not panic, Your Highness. We may have encountered a small obstruction." Tania explained to the princess.

"What if it's something else?"

"Hey, what's wrong?" asked Tania as she lowered the small window that led to the coachman. She only saw a dead man slumped over.

The carriage door opened violently, making Arielle scream. A tall man approached Arielle. However, Tania took out a knife from underneath her dress and slashed at the man's hand.

They were a group of bandits that the innkeeper had warned about this morning.

Several bodyguards were already lying in the snow. They groaned in pain clutching the wound covered in blood and were covered in arrows. Several horses were already fleeing but captured by the bandits.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Arielle shouted as she was dragged out of the carriage.

"Shut up, or I'll kill you right now!" the bandit threatened..

Both Tania and Arielle were silenced and tied to prevent them from moving. Their carriage was destroyed. All the clothes, as well as the little jewelry, was looted.

"What do you say we sell these beautiful women?" one of the bandits said and reached for the princess' face.

Arielle quickly bit the hand of the bandit, who silenced her, hard.

"Aaargh!!!" shouted the bandit.

Without waiting any longer, Arielle kicked the bandit's crotch with her knee and then motioned her maid Tania to run.

At the shout of the comrades, they quickly saw two of their comrades in pain on the ground and it made the other bandits stop their loot. When they saw the two girls running away, the three of them automatically ran after Arielle and Tania.

Luckily for the princess and her maid, they made it into the forest and took advantage of the terrain.

"Come on Tania, move your feet faster!" Arielle asked when Tania started to slow down. She was hoping that they could find a way back to the royal guards at the border or head somewhere safe.

Unfortunately, Tania, lost stamina fast.

"I… can't… huff… take it anymore, Princess…." Tania panted. .

Running in the snow was not easy. What's more, their thick clothes slowed the two of them down even more. Arielle glanced back now and then to make sure they had run far enough from the bandits earlier. But Arielle's relief did not last long, she and Taniaheard the sound of horses approaching.

Tania's eyes widened and she motioned Arielle to move ahead.

"Princess… just leave me. I will try to slow them down."

Arielle shook her head and tried to pull her maidservant. "No Tania… Aaaaaaaargh!"

"Your Highness!" Tania shouted as the princess slipped.

Arielle didn't realize she took a wrong step and was unaware of her surroundings, the princess didn't see the sloping ravine beside her and fell.

Fortunately for her, the thick snow softened her landing, but it still confused her.

Arielle's body was covered in snow. Her head ached badly, and her vision began to blur. Before she lost consciousness, Arielle saw a creature approach her. It was something that made her heart panic as she realized what it was.

[Wolf? Am I going to become the wolf's meal in the North? This is too unfortunate…]

Then everything went dark.