Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Bianca's Older Sister
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Rattle-rattle-
In the echoing interior of the carriage, Krash was fiddling with his healed arm.
It seemed like there wouldn't be any more issues now.
He'd even managed to scrounge up a decent sword, so combat shouldn't be a problem either.
'That brute with nothing but brute strength.'
Krash muttered a curse at Mary as he lifted his head.
There, up ahead, he could see the coachman called Number 15 driving the horses.
Krash was currently riding in a carriage.
Not just any carriage, but one made entirely of bone.
"Zzz... Zzz..."
Right beside him, Evelask was snoring away in her sleep.
This carriage belonged to none other than her.
Krash grabbed the head of the woman who kept leaning toward him in her sleep and pushed it away before looking outside.
Ever since becoming a fugitive from the empire.
Evelask had no real options left except fleeing to another kingdom.
After much agonizing, the path she'd chosen was to follow Krash.
He'd smacked her on the forehead when she'd whined that he had to take responsibility for getting her out, and now he clicked his tongue.
Traveling by carriage was convenient enough, but he had no desire to keep Evelask by his side.
'What a hassle, this one.'
He knew her personality all too well—she'd get all smug if he gave her even an inch. Just as he was pondering where to ditch her,
the raven that had been asleep on his knee suddenly snapped its head up.
When Crimson Garden possessed another creature, the raven would often fall asleep like this.
It seemed Crimson Garden had returned.
"Hey."
"I'm here."
As Krash responded, Crimson Garden turned its head.
It wore an unpleasant expression in the form of the raven.
"Something's come up."
"Something?"
"It's about your fiancée."
Doubt flickered in Krash's eyes.
His fiancée could only mean Bianca.
"...Tell me the details."
"That Slaughter Hound snuck into the Hardenharts."
Krash's body went rigid.
Slaughter Hound Bergman, the madman who had unleashed massacres in the empire before fleeing.
He'd known Bergman had hidden in Staron, but hearing "Hardenharts" made Krash shoot to his feet.
"Bianca."
"That's the problem. She went into the mountains where the Slaughter Hound is hiding and vanished."
"Evelask!"
"H-Huh? Ack?!"
Krash yanked at Evelask's clothes beside him, forcibly waking her.
She'd been drooling in her sleep and jerked her head up in confusion. Krash shouted at her.
"Turn this carriage toward the Hardenharts right now!"
It had been a long time since his return from the past that he'd raised his voice like this.
The day Bianca returned to the Hardenharts to find the snow lamb hotshroom at Krash's request.
As she herself knew well, she received far from a warm welcome.
This treatment was all too familiar.
She was the cursed daughter.
The most worthless daughter in the Hardenharts household.
The servants and maids whispering behind her back was her daily routine.
Being the youngest daughter of the Hardenharts was more poison than pride for her.
'It's been a while.'
It was a situation she'd never felt while staying at Valheim's Green Pine Pavilion.
Now that she was feeling it again, Bianca realized just how comfortably she'd lived there.
The maid Eli and butler Aliod there never gossiped about her.
They didn't care about her curse or anything else and served her with utmost care.
'Of course.'
Krash had received even worse treatment than she had.
In Valheim, his talent, which was less than worthless compared to his curse, had dragged him to rock bottom.
Bianca looked up and gazed out the window.
Who would've thought she'd feel more at ease in the Green Pine Pavilion than her own home?
The world was full of surprises.
'I want to go back soon.'
For some reason, she missed Krash.
Clop-clop-
At that moment, footsteps approached from ahead.
They were familiar to her.
They belonged to the person in the family who hated her the most.
A woman three years her senior, now sixteen.
Jenica Hardenharts.
She was none other than Bianca's older sister.
The moment she saw Bianca, Jenica furrowed her snowy-white brows.
It was the reaction of someone who'd seen something unpleasant.
"Why did you come back?"
Her venomous words rang out at the same time.
Seeing that, Bianca finally understood why she'd felt more at ease with Krash.
'Krash and I are the same.'
It was a sense of kinship.
The way his siblings treated him was identical to her own treatment.
To Jenica, Bianca was the child born from her mother's death in childbirth.
Yet, due to her curse, she felt no sorrow. No matter how much hatred and rage Jenica harbored, Bianca just stared back with that infuriating blank expression.
So Jenica hated her.
This emotionless girl, barely seeming human, even planted the thought that she might be the curse her mother had birthed.
And now, that girl had returned.
Naturally, Jenica wouldn't let it slide.
"Oh, right. You got dumped by that halfwit from Valheim, didn't you? Well, who would accept a creepy kid like you?"
Jenica spat her usual venom.
Bianca, who had never responded to such barbs before, finally turned to look at her.
"He's not a halfwit."
Her words were completely unexpected.
"What?"
"Lord Krash is not a halfwit. And I'll be going back soon."
Jenica stared at her like she was spouting nonsense.
But Bianca remained as blankly expressionless as ever.
That fact only fueled Jenica's anger more.
"Fine, then go right now! There's no place for you here!"
"I can't yet."
Bianca shook her head at Jenica's shout.
"I'll go once I find the snow lamb hotshroom."
"Snow lamb hotshroom? Why would you need that?"
Jenica gave her a baffled look.
The mushroom, used to draw heat into the body, was a natural ingredient for a spirit medicine that filled the body with warmth for a full month after just one bite.
Why would she be looking for something like that?
After a moment's thought, Jenica realized something.
"...It's for that halfwit, isn't it?"
For some reason, Bianca was helping Valheim's youngest.
She didn't know what he planned to use the snow lamb hotshroom for, but everything Bianca did rubbed her the wrong way.
"Hah, fine. Go look for it diligently then."
With that, she snorted and turned away sharply.
Bianca, devoid of emotions, couldn't quite grasp the malicious smirk on her lips.
And so, Bianca searched high and low for the snow lamb hotshroom Krash had requested.
But no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't buy any.
The reasons were simple.
First, the snow lamb hotshroom was so rare that few had ever harvested it.
Second, it was Jenica's interference.
Unlike Bianca, Jenica would lead the Hardenharts alongside their eldest brother.
Her influence in the Hardenharts was second to none.
So she'd instructed all the trading houses not to sell any snow lamb hotshrooms to Bianca.
It was a truly vicious act.
"I'm sorry, Lady Bianca. We have no stock of snow lamb hotshrooms left."
Even at the final trading house, Bianca blinked after coming up empty-handed.
The two attendants who'd followed her exchanged awkward glances.
They knew exactly what Jenica had done.
After all, Jenica had personally assigned them to report back on everything Bianca did.
"Nothing here either, huh."
Bianca felt just as awkward.
She'd promised to bring the snow lamb hotshroom to Krash, but now she'd have to return empty-handed.
Back at the mansion, she sank into thought.
'It feels like big sister Jenica blocked it.'
Telling her about the snow lamb hotshroom had been a mistake.
She'd thought mentioning it would make Jenica urge her to leave faster, but apparently, her hatred ran deeper than that.
'In that case.'
Bianca began rifling through the Hardenharts' books.
She pulled out a few and researched the snow lamb hotshroom, then nodded.
The Hardenharts was the oldest family in the north.
As such, their records detailed the mushroom's distribution areas precisely.
The trading houses might have withheld the locations to maintain value and prices.
'I can find it quicker than I thought.'
With that in mind, Bianca quickly packed clothes and supplies.
If no one would help, she'd do it herself.
It was the judgment of a naive child.
No matter how mature she seemed due to her muted emotions, she was only thirteen.
Her thinking was far too simplistic.
'I'll find it quick and come back.'
With that fearless resolve, she set off into the mountains alone.
Jenica, upon hearing of her actions, looked utterly baffled.
"Is she an idiot? She doesn't think the Hardenharts mountains are a joke, does she?"
She was dumbfounded.
Born in the Hardenharts, she was naturally familiar with the mountains and snow.
But they weren't easy enough for a thirteen-year-old to wander freely.
Especially the deep areas where snow lamb hotshrooms grew.
It wasn't a place she could reach alone.
She was surely going to get lost.
"Haa."
Jenica let out a long sigh.
She had no idea why this bookworm, who'd only ever cared about reading, was trying so hard.
But hated or not, if Bianca got lost and died, Jenica would be in a bind too.
She was Valheim's fiancée.
If she died and soured relations with Valheim, it would be a disaster.
"Tch. I'll go fetch her. Assign a few knights to me."
"Yes, understood."
In the end, she rose to retrieve Bianca.
All while thinking what an annoying little sister she was.
The Rokal Mountains of the Hardenharts range.
Bianca was making her way across the snow-covered slopes.
'Not bad.'
She nodded as she glanced at her shoes.
They were artifacts that let her traverse snow easily, making the trek comfortable.
Bianca tightened her bag and ventured deeper into the mountains.
She aimed to find the snow lamb hotshroom before nightfall.
"Hey!"
Suddenly, a sharp shout rang out.
Bianca turned to see Jenica standing there with two knights.
She looked exhausted from the chase and let out a long sigh.
Bianca's short legs had moved faster than expected.
Jenica panted roughly, wiping sweat from her brow despite the winter chill.
"Are you stupid? You couldn't buy a snow lamb hotshroom, so you came into the mountains yourself to find one?"
She snapped irritably at Bianca.
But Bianca was the one who found it ridiculous.
"You wouldn't let them sell it to me."
She'd come this deep because Jenica had blocked all sales of the snow lamb hotshroom.
It was rare enough already.
With her interference, nowhere in the Hardenharts had any left.
So she'd come to find it herself—why get mad about that now?
"Hah, you think I came to get you because I like you? If Valheim's fiancée gets lost and dies, it severs ties between Valheim and Hardenharts!"
Only then did Bianca understand.
In a way, she was an important figure in the Hardenharts.
The proof of the alliance between families.
She hadn't considered that far.
"Come on. I'll give you what you want and send you back quick."
Hearing that, Bianca turned around.
She had no intention of risking danger if she could get the snow lamb hotshroom.
But she had one question.
"Big sister Jenica, why did you come yourself?"
"What?"
Jenica looked stunned.
Her ragged breathing and disheveled clothes from the climb showed she'd rushed here.
Searching for Bianca could've been left to search parties of mountain-savvy knights.
There was no reason for her to climb personally.
"It's for the family, that's why I came for you."
"You don't usually care that much about family matters. You could've just sent a search party."
Even as the second child in the Hardenharts, she wasn't the heir.
With the family favoring males, the eldest son handled the worries.
Bianca wouldn't have found it odd if her eldest brother had come.
But it was Jenica, the second child.
For someone who hated her so much to come personally still seemed strange.
Being emotionless, Bianca had zeroed in on that inconsistency.
Jenica's lips quivered as she'd hit the mark precisely.
Then her face twisted in anger.
"Mind your own business. That's my feelings."
Yet despite her expression, something deep inside Jenica stung sharply.