Chapter 245

They should’ve been used as bait first.

Maybe then they would’ve learned their lesson after being attacked by the very corpses they were so determined to protect.

Those nobles had guarded the graves with their lives, yet the moment trouble broke out, they were the first to flee their own territories. No wonder the citizens cursed them.

In any case, the whole world was in an uproar over everything that had happened.

A red moon.

As Ceres listened to the conversations around her, one thing in particular caught her attention: the red moon that had been appearing every night for the past few days, and the dead that rose whenever it did.

Could it be that b*stard again?

The red moon naturally reminded her of the recent incident involving the Holy Spring.

The ritual that had tainted the Holy Spring, the one that had claimed multiple lives as sacrifices, was also performed beneath a red moon.

Veilks has to be involved in this.

It was a reasonable suspicion, and the most obvious conclusion.

He really does keep himself busy.

There was no end to the trouble he caused. Ceres already decided that Veilks was behind this as well, and she scoffed in annoyance.

I wonder if the three of them are all right.

When the incident broke out, all three dukes had returned to their respective territories.

Since all three regions had far more Black Forest occurrences than anywhere else, naturally, they were also dealing with far more of the strange creatures that had awakened this time.

“Tsk.”

Ceres clicked her tongue as she gazed out the window.

In the distance, hazy smoke rose here and there, just as it had every day.

The smoke from burning the dead... Even the hearts of those watching seemed to grow clouded by it.

***

“Are you sure the principality is okay?”

“You know as well as I do. The Black Forest occurrences there aren’t as frequent as people think.”

While the three dukes had hurried back to their territories, Kainel remained in the capital to stay by Ceres’s side.

“Is it really okay for a Grand Duke to be this irresponsible?”

“Exactly. Shouldn’t a proper ruler be protecting his own territory at a time like this?”

“Come on. The Grand Duke will surely head back soon as well.”

The three dukes were none too pleased to see Kainel still lingering in the capital and staying by Ceres’s side, while they had all rushed back to their own territories.

True to their reputation as members of the ‘anti-Kainel’ faction, they openly badmouthed Kainel among themselves, despite him standing right there...

“Ceres, I heard your favorite dessert shop opened another branch. Want to go there with me tomorrow?”

“......”

“......”

“......“

...What an insufferable j*rk.

Kainel didn’t even pretend to hear them. Instead, he deliberately stayed glued to Ceres’s side and started making plans to spend the next day with her, leaving all three dukes fuming.

“We just have more monsters in our territory.”

Persia may have more monsters than anywhere else, but Black Forests actually occur far less often there than people outside the principality realize.

“Besides, you know how we deal with the dead there.”

Persia was a land of perpetual winter. Even buried bodies took a long time to decompose in the frozen ground. In a place crawling with monsters, corpses that didn’t rot would only become food for them.

That was why burning the dead had long been the custom in Persia.

Naturally, Persia was the only region untouched by the recent incident of corpses rising from their graves. There simply weren’t any bodies buried in the ground to rise in the first place.

“Even if any did, our people aren’t exactly easy targets.”

The people of Persia had spent their entire lives fighting monsters, so they were exceptionally skilled in combat. There was even a joking saying that a child in Persia could easily take down a monster.

“The Ice Tree Forest is the real problem.”

“Is it still like that?”

“I hear it’s getting worse.”

Something had been seriously wrong with the monsters living in the Ice Tree Forest lately. The forest was usually quiet as long as no one entered it, but these days, the sounds of monsters fighting could be heard almost every day.

“It seems like something has disrupted their hierarchy.”

No one knew whether the monsters were fighting over their positions or if something else was going on. Whatever the reason, their sudden change in behavior had everyone on edge.

“Shouldn’t you go in and find out what’s happening?”

“We can’t right now.”

With the monsters running wild, anyone who entered the Ice Tree Forest to investigate would be lucky to make it out alive.

“We’ve been keeping people out for now, but...”

There was no telling how well that would hold. There had always been people reckless enough to risk their lives for the precious mana stones found in ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) the Ice Tree Forest. No amount of warnings would be enough to stop all of them.

“By the way... the greenhouse has changed a lot.”

Ceres followed Kainel’s gaze and chuckled.

“Airien’s really gotten into growing crops lately.”

People loved what she grew and couldn’t stop praising it, so the garden inside the greenhouse kept getting bigger.

“She also grew this.”

Ceres pointed at the red tomato sitting in front of Kainel.

“...You want me to eat it?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t like tomatoes.”

“Then eat it.”

“I don’t like toma—”

“Airien grew a ton of bell peppers this time as well.”

“......”

Kainel’s hand, which had been slowly pushing the tomato toward Ceres, stopped dead. If he refused, Ceres looked ready to march straight to the garden and bring back a whole pile of bell peppers.

Tomatoes or bell peppers?

Ceres shook her head as she watched Kainel reluctantly put the tomato in his mouth, his brow furrowed.

He’s not a child.

His picky eating hadn’t changed one bit. Unless she forced him to eat like this, he would barely touch vegetables, especially the bell peppers he hated most.

[Buu...]

Just then, Sooty, who was sitting at their feet, whimpered softly.

“Why does he look so miserable?”

Kainel tilted his head at Sooty’s unusually droopy appearance. The little guy was usually either squealing or throwing a tantrum, but today, he was quiet.

“Maybe because Whitey isn’t here.”

“Whitey? That wolf pup?”

“Yeah.”

“Where did he go?”

“I don’t know.”

He hadn’t been around since this morning. Ceres had clearly seen him sleeping under the bed just last night.

“He was gone when I woke up.”

Maybe he had gone out to gather herbs again. Lately, he had been bringing back rare medicinal herbs on his own, even without being asked.

Still, he’s never been this late before.

It was almost dinnertime already. He usually came back within an hour at the latest.

[Buu!]

Sooty started fussing, apparently annoyed that he couldn’t cling to Whitey’s tail.

“Maybe he went back to his own home because you two kept hanging onto his tail instead of letting him rest?”

[B-Buu?]

[Pii...]

Ceres’s words seemed to hit home. Both Sooty and Airien looked dejected. Ceres handed them some treats and turned her gaze toward the greenhouse door.

Did he really go home?

...She’d be a little sad if he had.

A quiet sigh escaped Ceres as she thought of the little white wolf who was always looking up at her with bright, sparkling eyes, constantly asking for her affection.

“Did you already put him inside the boundary?”

“Boundary?”

Kainel’s voice drifted over as he continued his battle with the tomato.

“That white lump.”

“......”

Ceres understood what he meant and smiled faintly. Her gaze shifted toward the window again.

She was waiting for Whitey to return to her boundary.

***

“Are you sure this is okay?”

“It’s not like this is our first time here.”

“But I heard the monsters around here have been acting strange lately.”

“We’re not going any farther than the entrance. We’ll be fine.”

While speaking quietly among themselves, the group of five stepped into the Ice Tree Forest.