Chapter 172

I never had a direct experience with extremely cold weather. Every winter, in my previous life, I had watched the news with headlines like, 'a cold wave that comes once in a year might hit the country this time!' or 'The cold Siberian high pressure is coming down and it's expected to be freezing this winter'.

Even in my previous life, cold weather was my weakness. As soon as I watched news warning about any sort of cold climate, I would put on the heater at work or the boiler at home.

"Ugh..."

Kaichen had told me to stay in Heulin. He had warned me that the weather was extremely brutal. But I had persuaded him to let me come along. He had asked Baristan to prepare for the journey. I had laughed because I thought he was being too paranoid... until now. I had even unpacked half the things because I felt they weren't needed. Of course, I had made sure Kaichen hadn't noticed but he had. He had swept the things I had unpacked and carried them in his bag.

I thought it would be okay to wear just one padded layer, but it wasn't! I had to wear more than eight layers of padded clothes to withstand the cold. It was even difficult to walk. It felt as though I couldn't breathe under so much weight.

Maybe this is the end of the world...

We moved to the northern border by magic. After that, magic didn't work. We couldn't even take horses. It was impossible to travel on horses because of the heavy snowstorms.

"It's strange. The climate at this time of year doesn't really allow so much snow to accumulate."

Julius, who had calculated the distance to Hoiore, pointed out the suspicious happenings. This might be one of the strange snowstorms that Sheliak and the mercenaries were talking about.

"Are you alright?" Julius asked me cautiously as though he felt sorry for the state I was in. I was trembling like I would drop dead any second.

No, I am not alright! I can't stand it! I wanted to shout and cry and break down. But I was the one who had insisted on coming along. I knew that I was the biggest burden out of the party. Julius and his escort, Sir Chushinik, definitely the weak link in the chain. I knew I was slowing them down so I couldn't cry or complain. I would endure.

But how I wished I had some kind of serious warning about how cold it would be. I hadn't expected it to be this cold! I took a deep breath and smiled but I felt as though my facial muscles were frozen in ice. I must have looked pitiful because Julius took one of his many layers of robe and draped it over me.

"I am f-fine, I am fine," I said. "Your Highness, if you g-give me your robe, y-you will b-be c-cold."

"It's colder to see you trembling, Countess."

"..."

"Besides, I think Kaichen worries too much about you."

He glanced at Kaichen's back, who stood in front of me, trying to block as much cold air as possible from reaching me.

I had promised to be of help, but now I just felt depressed because I was slowing everybody down. I awkwardly put on a mask to protect my face. When we entered the northern border, magic didn't work, just as Kaichen had feared. It wasn't that the magic had disappeared, but something blocked it in this region.

"There is a house there."

The house Kaichen found was empty. Perhaps it belonged to someone who ran away from the snowstorms. Kaichen entered the house. He found some wood and started a fire in the fireplace. Usually, he would have just used magic but here it simply didn't work. I staggered into the house. Out of the fierce wind, I finally felt like I could breathe. I never knew how it felt to be sore until now. It was so difficult even to take one step further, so I just stood there. After Kaichen was sure that the fire would burn properly, he walked to me. He took off my mask. I would have done it myself, but I couldn't even feel my hands.

I let out a shivery breath. Kaichen frowned. He took off the robe that Julius had draped on me and untied my shawl. Under normal circumstances, Kaichen taking off my robe, even though I had many more layers of them, would feel almost intimate. But at that moment, I just wished I wouldn't drop dead with my clothes.