Greeted by the bright morning sun, Rosemarie opened her eyes.
Grating pain coursed through various spots on her body as she tried to move, but she managed to crawl away from the base of the yew tree she had slept against.
“I wonder if it ended up warding off evil...?”
She had done nothing but walk in hopes of getting out of the forest since last night, but it didn’t take long before her body, lacking in regular exercise, was bellowing in agony.
Remembering the yew tree planted at the entrance of the greenhouse she received from Claudio, she huddled up to a yew tree that she spotted and rested. It ended up relieving a lot of her fatigue.
Apparently, so long as no people were around, she was bold enough to sleep outdoors.
A few hours’ rest was enough to take a considerable load off her shoulders. She hadn’t put much consideration into her own stamina due to the panic of it all, but she should have been a little bit more careful.
(All that aside, this looks nasty...)
Red blood oozed from both of her wrists as they were exposed to the bright sun overhead. Thanks to her continuously moving her hands as she walked in order to remove the ropes binding her arms together, the ropes loosened and she freed herself. And while she knew there was nothing she could do about the pain in her wrists, it wasn’t until she was able to see in the daylight that she realized just how bad it looked.
After removing her hair ribbon and bandaging up her right hand, she had a look around. From what she could immediately see, there was nothing but evergreen trees and tall weeds. The wheel tracks that she had followed last night were nowhere to even be seen.
Hopelessness seeped into her heart for a second before she fixed her attitude and rose to her feet. She broke off a twig from the evil-warding yew tree and tucked it into the lace adorning the front of her dress in place of a good-luck charm.
“I wonder if the inquiry has started...” Claudio had said he was prepared so that even if there was an inquiry, he would be fine. Although her concerns remained, she believed that he would come out on top.
The real issue here was herself.
It would have been great if she could bust out of the forest based solely on drive alone, but there was no way things would go so smoothly.
“Well, I was told that the last time I was lost here, I climbed the tallest tree in the Forbidden Forest...”
She tried looking up and, sure enough, she was able to spot a tree considerably taller than the trees in the area from where she stood. The thought process of her childhood was starting to fall into place. She most likely thought that if she climbed that tree, she would be able to see the castle. The fact that she’d hatched up the same idea even now was, at least to her, a testament to how dumb she was.
“It’s pretty incredible how little progress I’ve made,” she said with a wry smile, walking forward.
She wasn’t very far from where she wanted to go. But, more importantly, the hem of her dress was getting caught and making it hard for her to walk. The idea popped into her head to rip it and make it shorter, but whether she herself was too weak or the cloth of the dress was stronger than it looked, she wasn’t able to make a tear in it.
(It would be great if I could use Prince Claudio’s mana as well... That way, I could get straight home even if I were dumped off somewhere.)
Upon finally reaching the side of the massive tree, a thought struck her that hadn’t crossed her mind this entire time, partly due to exhaustion. Rosemarie perked her head up, as if taken aback herself.
“It’s not like I can’t use it... right?” There was nothing saying she couldn’t use it even though she didn’t know how to use it. She stared at both her palms, squeezed into them tight, and—succumbed to embarrassment before giving up.
Rosemarie shook her head and tried to switch over to planning how she would scale the tree that stood before her, but that was when she saw something white poking out from behind the giant tree.
“What...? Is that... an animal tail?”
This entire time, she hadn’t even heard a bird chirping, much less caught sight of a wild animal. The forest was draped in such bizarre silence that it was almost as if all life had died off, giving it a slightly unsettling vibe.
That was the sole reason why her heart pounded upon glimpsing at the beast-like something-or-other she had never seen before. However, at the same time, fear reared its ugly head.
(Is it really just a normal animal?)
This was the Forbidden Forest, inviolable grounds. The very place where the remains of the sacred beast were buried. There was a reason why those without mana would end up getting lost inside.
Her heart thumped and thumped. Rosemarie didn’t know if she was being afflicted by fear or anxiety, but the bit of curiosity mixed in was prodding her on, so she tiptoed over and slowly peeked behind the tree.
“Huh...?”
There was nothing there. She had seen the white tail there up until a second ago, but the moment she looked on the other side of the tree, there was nothing. Even after scanning the area, she couldn’t find anything—just shadows cast by the leaves swaying in the breeze.
“Maybe I was just seeing things, then?” She wasn’t willing to accept that, regardless, so she touched the part of the tree trunk where the animal would have been.
—It only took an instant.
Her body became buried in the trunk.
All light had faded and her vision was covered in darkness, just like the time she was stuffed into the barrel. Almost as though she was stuck in a quagmire, she was unable to keep her body from slowly sinking in, and soon it became hard to breathe.
Was this the reason why all those people went missing?
(If I keep sinking, I’m going to die!)
She flailed her hand around like a woman possessed, hoping there was something to grab a hold of—until she found herself spat out somewhere different with a plop.
“—Yow.”
“—Huh? Volland princess.” A familiar yet deadpan voice rushed into her ears. That form of address could had only belonged to one person. Rosemarie lifted her head, stunned. Her eyes widened in disbelief.
“Mage Edel...?!”
The gloomy hooded sorcerer cocked their head in confusion as they sat in their chair.
“Why are you here, Mage Edel?”
“Should be asking you that. Volland princess, how did you get in here?”