Chapter 4-6:
Trek Village
THE CARRIAGE SLOWLY CLATTERED OVER THE mountain pass. I rarely left the royal capital, and the majestic mountains and forests surrounding us were rare sights for me. Unfortunately, I grew tired of the view in less than an hour. The scenery refused to change no matter how far the carriage clattered on, and they were just trees and mountains. There were minute shifts, but the sight was more or less the same.
I’m bored, I thought. Isabel sat in front of me, but she was the serious type and didn’t engage in small talk much. It was difficult to speak with her unless I had to.
In my past life, I would not have been satisfied by this. I would’ve said, “Say something interesting. Let me have some fun.”
I would’ve forced my servants to entertain me, but Isabel had a habit of overthinking my words. In fact, when we’d been headed for Lake Elfen to defeat the serpent, I’d requested her to speak.
“Say something funny,” I told her.
Isabel remained solemn as she told me the different ways to effectively harm someone or how to swiftly grasp a person’s weakness. The details weren’t funny at all. It seemed she wrongly assumed that I yearned for such conversations. While this sort of knowledge might be useful in the future, I wasn’t keen on such ominous discussions to pass the time.
In any case, it was difficult to have a conversation with her.
Beside Isabel sat Alice, her nose stuck in a book. Alice would speak of all sorts of topics if I asked her, but well…it sort of felt like I was speaking with my secretary. She would just continually feed me information, and it wasn’t very fun for me. She had gathered much knowledge from books and could speak on a variety of topics, but she was always expressionless and spoke in a monotone. Any interesting topic she had was ruined by her stony demeanor, so her communication skills were very poor. She was, however, perfect if I wanted to be lulled to sleep.
Emma, who was supposed to sit beside me, wasn’t there. She was running alongside the carriage. When I looked out the window, she waved at me.
“I want to race against those horses!” Emma had cried just before we left.
Thus, we departed with her rushing beside the carriage. I was certain that she would immediately grow tired, but four hours had already passed, and she didn’t seem exhausted at all.
What kind of person can run alongside horses, anyway?
I had prepared such a lavish vehicle, but it had lost its purpose. When I waved back, she beamed. I found that a little adorable.
My women squires couldn’t entertain me with interesting stories, and the men were a carriage behind us. I felt like they were more capable of holding a decent conversation, but society wouldn’t look upon me kindly if I spent long hours in an enclosed space with a guy.
My entire trip ended up being incredibly boring.