Tamon and Asha were able to lead the deer out of the canyon with the help of Mirah and Lucentia.

During the seven-plus months that Asha was gone, the deer had dwindled far below the numbers she had known.

There were about 70 deer, and now only 50 left.

“Six months ago our oldest, Nici and Mima, died together. They loved each other so much that they wanted to be together in death.”

Mirah, who loved Nichi and Mima, said in a somber voice.

Lucentia added as she hugged her brother’s shoulder.

“Then there were three deer that died of illness. And some died fighting in this canyon. Han, Toure, and Mouchard, who went looking for the cub a few days ago when he was lost, also died.”

“Three deer? When I found that deer cub, there were only two of them……..”

“Yes. The cub said that one of them fell while luring the terrible beasts.”

“Oh, I see.”

Since more than 20 of them died in just a few months, the number was bound to decrease sharply.

Moreover, five of the remaining doe were now pregnant and some had just given birth.

It must have been a harsh adventure for the deer to move at such an acute time of year.

Asha looked around the entrance to the canyon they had just passed through.

Largon’s incense burner was already burned out.

The black jewel smoked for about an hour, then closed its own entrance and reverted back to its square shape.

The beasts who smelled the incense, however, were still dreaming in their cowering, as if they had not yet awakened.

Perhaps it was Tamon’s medicine, or it was because their mouths and noses were tightly sealed, but the knights made it out without a single one of them collapsing.

For some reason, Mirah and Lucentia did not notice the scent of the incense at all.

Thanks to this, they were able to pass through the canyon safely without falling into the hallucination of the incense burner.

Whooooooo…….!

Grrrrrrrrr!

The cry of fallen beasts, seen in passing, echoed terrifyingly in the canyon.

The mutants, who had been cowering on the floor as if in a deep sleep, were crying.

Some sobbed and moaned as if in a sad dream, while others giggled and chuckled, flapping their wings as if in some happy dream.

For some reason, these were the beasts that became monsters without ever getting out of this place.

…… What are those beasts dreaming about?

Glancing back, Asha stared at the canyon occupied by an eerie black fog.

She vowed to try to uncover that monstrous canyon someday.

* * *

“The Empress didn’t send any letters. I thought it was strange from then on.”

“Once or twice I thought it was possible. But when I received a letter requesting a larger quantity of leather than it was originally requested, I thought something was definitely wrong.”

“They asked for more leather?”

The children, suffering from hunger, hurriedly drank the warm soup that Asrell had handed them and brought up the story.

After Hannah and Arsene had brought food to Mirah and Lucentia curiously, they quietly sat down close to them and ate bread together.

Strangely enough, the silver deer had not yet let their guard down, and they had just taken up a position behind Mirah and Lucentia, looking around the area.

As a result, Mirah and Lucentia could not enter the barracks and sat down near the bone fire.

However, seeing Mirah and Lucentia laughing as if to say that this was still good enough, Asha’s heart felt heavy.

”I’m sorry. I know you were anxious because I disappeared without a word……”

“No, we know it’s not the Empress’s fault.”

“It’s all the fault of that evil emperor!”Mirah, who had put some well-cooked meat in his mouth, clenched his fists in frustration.

“We felt strange, so we hid ourselves and came down to the capital.”

“I felt fortunate that the Empress had shown me the capital several times. We walked around carefully, remembering what you showed me.”

“Fortunately, we didn’t have to go far to hear what was going on during that time. Everyone was talking about the Emperor, the Empress, and that woman Natasha.”

Mirah and Lucentia joined the deer herd when they were young.

Naturally, they never received a proper education, and their memories of mingling with people were also limited to their childhood.

Already, everyone who knew Mirah and Lucentia treated the siblings as “beasts.”

It was Asha who taught the siblings letters and numbers.

Of course, she couldn’t teach them difficult words or amazing calculations, but she took the time to teach them basic letters and numbers just in case.

That was very helpful in this escape. Like when they counted the number of deer scattered about and bought what they needed as they passed through small towns.

“We could not believe that the Empress had died ….We had been in a daze for a month, and then one day I suddenly had the feeling that the bad emperor would kill all the deer and us if we didn’t do something about it.”

“That’s why we knew we had to escape…. we came to the canyon looking for a place where we could avoid the emperor’s eyes.”

They were driven to the place closest to death to avoid death.

The silver deer and the siblings were that desperate.

“Now that I think about it, I thought this could be the end of us…….”

Lucentia sniffled and laughed.

“It seemed that this was not the end of us, but the end of waiting.”

It was heartbreaking to see the siblings still smiling with pale faces which were obvious they hadn’t had much to eat.

While Asha was frustrated that she did not have a single thing left to offer, these children were left alone.

These were the children who were sacrificed because of imperial greed, the siblings she promised to protect them herself.

“……I’m sorry.”

The siblings hugged Asha with their heads together.

“Empress, it really is all right. You said so yourself, Empress. Our lives belong to us.”

“Yes. So don’t think of our impending difficulties as yours. You have always done your best.”

When did they grow so much?

Over the past few months, the siblings had grown just as Roselyn had become Aranrosia.

As the siblings had grown, they must have experienced a lot. And they became stronger.

She was also not the Roselyn who was caught in Gillotti and Natasha’s trap.

She was going to be stronger and work harder for a better future.

For no reason at all, Asha’s nose twitched and she laughed.

The siblings laughed as they faced Asha.

* * * *

“I’m going to go over there for a while. Hannah, Arsene. Can you talk to Mia and Tia?”

“Yes!

“Yes.”

Roselyn left to where Tamon and the knights were, leaving only the children by the fire.

In fact, on the surface, the siblings were already close to adults, but they were still unfamiliar because they had not experienced enough people.

While the other knights, especially Tamon, had yet drawn hostile stares when looking at them, Hannah and Arsene seemed a bit different.

In particular, they showed great curiosity about the light color of Hannah’s hair.

Lucentia, who had glanced at Hannah, spoke up first.

“How did you do this?”“Hmm? What?”

“The ends of your hair are pink.”

“Oh, this…..”

Hannah laughed as she fiddled with the ends of her hair.

“This was my original hair color. But one day it gradually turned white. Then it became like this.”

“……changed suddenly?”

The siblings opened their eyes curiously.

“You are peculiar too.”

As the siblings looked at Hannah curiously, Hannah raised her hand and pointed to one of the people coming and going and said,

“Look at that. His hair color is rare too.”

“…….”

“It’s just that we all have our own colors. You two just had it white. It’s not too different or strange.”

“It’s not strange…..?”

“No. We are all the same people anyway. We are all just the same red-blooded people.”

Hannah said so and leaned her head against Lucentia’s arm.

The sudden action of Hannah startled Lucentia, and she froze like ice.

But Hannah did not care and hugged Lucentia and said.

“I miss my sister. My sister is very beautiful, just like you. She is also very kind. Whenever she felt anxious, I hugged her like this. You look anxious too, so I’ll hold you.”

Arsene looked at Hannah in surprise.

To him, Hannah was bright and cheerful. She was not the kind of child who would casually touch someone like this or ask for help.

How could such Hannah suddenly embrace Lucentia, whom she had never met before?

He had been with Hannah for quite a long time, but he couldn’t help but be surprised.

Lucentia, who was frozen, looked at Mirah.

Mirah looked at Hannah and Lucentia in astonishment, and quietly stared at Arsene.

When his eyes met Mira, Arsene was at a loss as to what in the world to do about the situation.

”No way…”

Arsene flinched and looked at Hannah.

From the look on Hannah’s face, Arsene knew what she wanted him to do.

“Oh, um, …….'”

The tips of Arsene’s ears turned red.

Growing up a blacksmith and being treated as an orphan, Arsene couldn’t have been used to being in contact with strangers.

There was no one to hug him when he had a hard time, nor was there anyone he could hug.

It was only awkward because the boy who had grown up that way suddenly began to embrace someone next to him.

“Arsene.”

Hannah quietly called his name and urged him on.

Mirah’s face was becoming more and more expectant.

“Oh, my.”

Arsene, his eyes tightly closed, hugged Mirah with a bright red face.

With his stiff arms, Arsene lightly patted the shoulder of Mirah, who was also bigger than him.

Mirah also hugged Arsene as if he had been waiting for him.

“Well done, Arsene.”

Hannah giggled and praised Arsene.

The group, which was already harmonious, became even warmer.

Asrell watched from afar with amusement as the children embraced each other unexpectedly.