My Ruin to You - Chapter 216

“I shall go ahead. Please follow slowly.”

Having finished his urgent preparations, the messenger nodded towards the donkey and spurred his horse. The speed was tremendous. Giorno also did his best, rolling his four legs diligently to keep up, but a donkey’s pace was no match for a horse’s. Gradually falling behind, Giorno eventually became completely separated. The screamer mice in the bags clutched the leather or cloth tightly, enduring the speed.

After riding hard for a while, they finally reached the front lines, Casas, a small city on the high ground reclaimed by the Empire. A sentry on the fortress walls spotted the messenger and shouted robustly, “It’s the messenger! Open the gate!” The portcullis-style gate creaked and groaned as it slowly rose. Unable to wait for it to open fully, the messenger crouched low and urged his horse through as soon as a sufficient gap appeared.

The horse carrying the screamer mice and the messenger galloped along the winding, sloping path. Most of the Carnoc had fled, and a desolate silence hung over the city, now occupied only by a handful of mixed-blood individuals and the Duchy’s troops. Darkened windows and collapsed walls melted into the darkness, and only the sound of hooves echoed on the cobblestones.

The unit leader, who had been pacing outside suffering from insomnia, straightened his back upon spotting the messenger.

“Welcome back. What did His Grace say?”

His voice was hoarse from a day of crying. The messenger dismounted and hurriedly stood before the unit leader.

“His Grace is on his way.”

“I suppose so… It must be hard for him to accept until he sees for himself.”

The unit leader roughly wiped his face, which seemed to have aged a decade in a single day. The messenger hesitated. He had something important to report, but on the way, he had found the vanguard and brought them all back. Although one had fallen behind, for the sake of that one’s safety, it was right to deliver the crucial information first.

“But what are those mice in front of you? Oh my, screamer mice.”

The unit leader frowned as if seeing something strange, noticing the cloak strapped across the messenger’s chest and the mice peeking out from it.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Why screamer mice…? Don’t tell me His Grace gave them to you?”

“No. These are the vanguard.”

“…What?”

“It’s a long story, but the vanguard used transformation magic to escape the scene. They all survived.”

“Transformation magic? Among them, a form-shifting affinity…”

There was an incident that came to mind, preventing him from outright refuting it. Hadn’t they said in the camp that the Young Lady turned Mür into a weasel? The unit leader stared wide-eyed at the mice in the pouch, and the messenger calmly explained the situation: the Grand Duke’s fainting, his sharp judgment that saw through the loopholes, his bone-chilling orders, and the encounter with the donkey and the screamer mice on the forest path.

“Th-this… What in the world…”

Upon hearing the full story, the unit leader staggered, holding his forehead. There was certainly shame and embarrassment over their misjudgment, but the relief was far greater. What did shame matter when the future Grand Duchess had returned alive and unharmed? Moreover, all their invaluable subordinates were alive—nothing could bring greater joy. The unit leader’s puffy eyes reddened once more.

“Th-the… I mean, where is the Young Lady?”

As the unit leader rubbed his eyes and looked around, a screamer mouse’s cry came from the horse’s saddle. The unit leader strode over to the horse and asked, “Young Lady?” A mouse squeezed in the narrow gap raised its hand high.

His nose tingling, the unit leader, like the messenger had done, muttered words of thanks repeatedly. Then, he called out the names one by one: Edan, Merrick, Giorno, Armenia, etc. The mice who recognized their names responded by raising their arms or crying out. After confirming the survival of all eleven members excluding Giorno, the unit leader wept, his shoulders shaking. Some of the mice also sniffled along.

After the brief reunion, they were moved to their respective rooms. The messenger, along with another knight, left the fortress to search for Giorno.

Left alone, Roseline mustered the last of her mana to shake off the transformation. After putting on the prepared clothes and lying on the bed, exhaustion washed over her abruptly. Yet, sleep wouldn’t come. She blamed the ongoing commotion outside, but it was a cowardly excuse. The real reason was different.

‘He lost consciousness upon hearing the news from the front.’

The messenger’s words to the unit leader kept clawing at her mind and heart. Valen fainting? The words didn’t suit him at all. Then, she suddenly grew curious. How had he lived after she died in her past life?

No matter how much she thought about it, it seemed unlikely he had eaten and lived well, yet she couldn’t easily picture what Valen, left alone, had been like. After tossing and turning for a while, Roseline threw off the covers and bolted upright. Sleep wasn’t coming anyway, and staying put would only lead to more useless thoughts, so she decided to leave. To go to Valen, who was likely on his way here.

She didn’t know where the impulse came from, but since she had told him she would return before leaving, it felt right that she should be the one to go this time. She had no intention of risking danger, so she planned to go with Merrick or Edan, who were likely also suffering from a sleepless night.

As she tied her hair up high and reached for the doorknob, the door swung open with a sudden, sharp creak.