Remesis winced as she tried to touch her own stomach.

After all the injuries she had sustained, the girl could barely stand. She barely remembered how she got back to the tavern. In any case, none of the villagers pursued them. Asil walked silently a little behind her.

Her usually impassive eyes flickered a couple of times: when Remesis collapsed in the middle of the road because she had no strength to go on. But at the moment when Asil hesitated, whether to approach or not, the girl got up herself and they continued on their way.

Returning, Remesis was afraid to look at her own reflection in the bathroom. She looked simply terrible. Although the hostess hadn't hit her directly in the face, it was still swollen. On the skin near her mouth, a streak of dried blood was visible. Her hair was in disarray.

But worst of all, of course, was her stomach...

Remesis was, to put it mildly, stunned. In two lifetimes, she had never experienced such a brutal beating. And it happened where she least expected it. Life truly was unpredictable sometimes.

The girl groaned. Even breathing was very difficult for her. She tried not to think about what had happened and simply tended to her wounds.

Remesis lifted the hem of her dress and paled at the sight of her own stomach. The bruise on her skin was blue. No, even darker... The bruise covered almost her entire abdomen. At the slightest touch, it became terribly painful. Despite this, the girl clenched her teeth, preparing to apply ointment to the wound.

She put the most effective remedy she had brought on her finger and carefully applied it to her bruised stomach. Snake venom ointment. An expensive medicine that wasn't easy to obtain. Remesis was disappointed that she would now have to use up most of it so soon.

But what else could she do? She clearly wouldn't be able to continue the journey with such pain.

From applying the ointment, cold spread through her entire body, but the girl only endured. When the treatment was finished, she screwed the vial back on and lowered the hem. Snake venom was indeed a very effective remedy. Even such a terrible bruise should improve by the next day.

Remesis returned to the room.

Asil sat quietly on the windowsill. She stared at Remesis with an indescribable expression when she entered. Remesis looked at her and even slightly lifted the corners of her lips in a smile she could barely muster. She announced:

"Tomorrow... Tomorrow we leave. We'll need to get up early to pack our things." 

"…"

Despite Remesis being injured, one thing was perfectly clear — they could no longer stay in this village. More precisely, the girl didn't want to linger here a single minute more. Only because it was already late did she agree to wait out one night here.

Asil looked at her silently. As always, it was hard to guess what she was thinking.

Remesis lay down in bed and put out the light. She hoped she could fall asleep, but in the middle of the night she suddenly burst into tears.

"Waaaah..."

It seemed the sobs she had been diligently suppressing all this time finally broke free. To avoid waking Asil, Remesis covered her mouth with her hands, but it didn't help.

She cried and couldn't stop.

Remesis had sworn she would never allow herself to show weakness again. Just as in her past life she could only weep and complain, she was sure that in this life she wouldn't shed a single tear.

Seila also said that Remesis wasn't like an ordinary child. If another child fell and cried, the girl would only coldly look at her bruise and move on. That's how she had been for all eight years.

But now...

No matter how hard she tried to stop — the tears wouldn't cease.

Remesis hated herself for this.

"I promised... Promised I wouldn't be such a weakling anymore!"

Remesis cried like an ordinary little girl. Soon she heard a rustle in the darkness. Well, it was to be expected that her hysterics would wake Asil. It would be surprising if she hadn't heard it from the next bed.

The princess's amber eyes glowed in the darkness. And her expression seemed puzzled.

"Wh-what... What are you d-doing?"

The girl briefly stopped wiping her tear-stained eyes and stared at her with no less surprise.

"What do you mean, what am I doing?"

"Aah... Umm... You have water running down your face," she muttered.

Remesis was taken aback. Had she never seen people cry? And had she never cried herself? Well, judging by her reaction, that seemed to be the case.

"I... I'm crying," the girl answered, at a loss.

"…?"

"J-just don't pay attention. It'll pass soon..."

Remesis spoke incoherently through her hysterics.

"...it'll pass soon."

The last phrase sounded uncertain. The girl's voice faded under her own sobs. Although she tried to calm herself, her body didn't obey at all. She continued to sob against her own will.

"Waaaah..."

"…"

For a while, silence reigned in the room, broken only by Remesis's crying. And then... The girl was astonished when she suddenly found something heavy on her lap. Asil's silver hair was like a reflection of moonlight in the darkness.

The princess had unexpectedly laid her head on her lap.

Remesis was confused.

"Y-Your Highness... Wh-what are you doing?"

Asil didn't answer and didn't move. Visually, this scene resembled a dog — coming to comfort its owner when they're sad. As a rule, they act similarly in such moments.

Remesis was so surprised that she even forgot she had been crying.

Usually, when someone is sad, people around them say comforting words or at least pat them on the shoulder. But not this...

Asil simply came over silently and laid her head down. Apparently, this was the only thing she could think of in such a situation. But it still looked very funny.

Especially when the girl involuntarily compared her behavior to an animal's...

Remesis could no longer hold back her laughter and laughed. Laughter and tears mingled on her face, and she probably looked terribly ridiculous now. Her face was even more swollen and resembled a tomato.

Be that as it may, the main goal was achieved. Remesis finally stopped crying. So Asil's "method" had worked.

When the girl calmed down a bit, she found the strength to speak:

"Thank you. Really, thank you."

The head lying on her lap trembled slightly.

Only now did Remesis realize she had forgotten to thank the princess for saving her. They had known each other for such a short time. Asil could have easily abandoned her and left on her own. But she... She came back after all.

Asil froze in response to her words, and even her breathing became imperceptible. She must have heard that word for the first time in her life.

"Thank you."

"…"

Remesis said it one last time.

"Thank you very much."

Asil silently opened her mouth.

***

Remesis and Asil left Araken village at dawn. As they walked through the streets, the locals hid in their houses. Obviously, in their eyes, the children were nothing more than monsters. However, after what the princess had done in the square, this was not surprising.

The mere glance the girl cast at a house was enough to make its inhabitants freeze in terror. Despite this, the princess walked next to her little wife quite calmly. Nevertheless, the strong bloodlust in her was obvious.

Asil wanted to tear each of these people to pieces. This would probably have happened if Remesis hadn't told them to hurry. She wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. Moreover, exacting revenge on these people would still be pointless.

Remesis's stomach still hurt, but not as badly. The snake venom ointment had really helped. At least she could continue on her way without bending over in pain at every step.

They didn't leave the village empty-handed. Despite Remesis's hesitation, Asil unashamedly took everything valuable from the tavern. Especially food.

When Remesis saw the hostess's children left orphaned, her heart clenched a little. Although their mother had treated her like that, these children were not to blame for anything. In any case, what was done could not be undone.

While Asil was "ransacking" the tavern, darting back and forth, Remesis decided to leave something for the children. They were poorly dressed and looked hungry. But the boy and girl recoiled from her in fear, their faces twisted with terror and hatred.

"Don't come near, monster!!!"

A ten-year-old boy shielded his three-year-old sister. He hated them for what had happened to their mother. Remesis understood his emotions perfectly. She was about to leave them and go peacefully when the boy suddenly grabbed a knife lying on the table and desperately rushed at her.

"Aaaaaa!"

Remesis didn't even have time to react. Everything happened too fast.

Despite Asil being on a different floor, she heard the noise. The boy's knife stopped just a centimeter from her chest. When Remesis opened her eyes, she saw only a corpse in front of her. The child lay with his throat slit, bleeding out.

"......."

Remesis didn't even know what to say. She was in shock.

At that moment, Asil was trembling with rage, her amber eyes filled with bloodlust. Before the princess could do anything else, Remesis hastily led her away from the tavern. In the end, the three-year-old girl was left completely alone.

It was an unbearably pathetic sight.

"I didn't want this..." Remesis couldn't find the courage to mutter these words.

She didn't even dare turn around and look towards that child. The horror frozen in her eyes was not hard to imagine.

Remesis herself had experienced similar things many times.

The North... A very cruel place.

Undoubtedly, for this reason, the girl had so desperately tried to escape from here.

Having left the village, they wandered for another week or so. Unlike Araken, the next settlement was quite far from here. It was a rather difficult journey.

Initially, Remesis had planned to hire a carter in the village to help them move. However, she certainly hadn't expected something like this to happen. After the bloody carnage Asil had caused — people were afraid to even approach them. Obviously, they couldn't count on any help either.

As before, they spent the night in caves or other similar shelters, and in the morning continued on their way.

The supplies taken from the village certainly helped them. When the girls left the dangerous border territory where most barbarian communities were located, Remesis got the long-awaited opportunity to make fire.

Stopping in another cave, the girl gathered all the dry branches and lit a fire with a flint. Asil watched it, fascinated.

A sound of surprise escaped her lips.

Despite seeing fire for the first time, the princess wasn't at all frightened, as Remesis had expected. On the contrary, the girl moved closer and even wanted to touch the flames with her hands...

Remesis stopped her.

"Your Highness, you can't touch fire. You might burn yourself."

Asil looked at her, puzzled. But she obeyed and stepped back a few paces. Remesis struck the flint a few more times. Asil's mouth opened again at the sight of the blazing flame. Remesis watched her reaction with a smirk.

At the same time, she was in slight bewilderment. "Sometimes I really don't understand her... Sometimes she behaves completely differently, and sometimes like now." Remesis clearly remembered the expression and tone with which Asil had said those words to her yesterday. Then she had become like a different person. Now next to Remesis was again that little animal for whom fire was the most amazing thing in the world.

"...Do you want this?"

Remesis held out the flint to Asil, and she took it with some excitement. Compared to the recent past, she no longer shied away when Remesis approached her even a step. Although the dark corner was still her favorite place.

The princess turned the flint in her hands and examined it with undisguised interest.

That night, Remesis regretted giving her the flint. She couldn't sleep all night because of the clatter.

After some time, they arrived at another northern village. Remesis paid for two rooms in the house of an elderly woman who agreed to shelter them. Unlike the previous stop, this landlady showed not the slightest interest in their identities.

Seeing a handful of copper coins, the old woman was absolutely indifferent to who they were and where they came from. For the girl, this was a great relief.

They planned to stay here for a few days. At first, Asil treated this woman with great distrust. After what had happened — every Northerner now represented a threat in her eyes.

Nevertheless, Remesis managed to convince her that this old woman truly didn't need to be feared.

Moreover, she shared some useful information with them.

"Oh, is that so. So you're heading to the capital?"

Over breakfast the next morning, Remesis let slip about their plans.

In response to her question, the girl nodded. Fortunately, the elderly woman turned out to be quite perceptive and didn't ask what purpose they needed it for. Remesis didn't even have to make up an excuse.

"It's far from here to the capital," she creaked thoughtfully in her aged voice. "If you travel on foot, it'll take no less than a month. Is there really no one to take you there?"

"No, we're alone here..."

"Oh! In that case, you're in luck. My brother works as a carter."

"Huh?"

"Only fifty shillings one way. What do you say?"

The girl was speechless for a moment.

She suddenly understood why the enterprising old woman had taken an interest in their trip. Remesis smirked inwardly. Actually, she didn't mind.

"That will suit us fine. In that case, when can we leave?"

The old woman's face brightened.

"My brother returns to the village tomorrow. So you'll be able to leave almost immediately!"

"Good," the girl's expression also became brighter, "we agree!"

She turned to Asil, who was calmly devouring a meat pie. The princess frowned.

Remesis was ready to pay fifty shillings, or even a hundred, just to stop wandering the North. Living in caves and daily trudging through snowdrifts had already tired her considerably.

The princess, however, did not share her joy. The thought of having to go to a big city was received negatively by her. Living in a cave wasn't so bad. At least there were no bad people there who could harm her.

Although Asil accepted this, strong disapproval was evident on her face.