Chapter 353

Even the strongest person eventually runs out of stamina. Especially if they move inefficiently, their stamina depletes rapidly.

Diana was using every ounce of strength she had, but she was just like a delicate flower in a greenhouse. Besides, she was a magician.

It’s common knowledge that a magician’s stamina isn’t exactly robust. If they were going to exercise, they’d rather read another book.

“Haah… haah… haah…”

Diana was panting heavily, slowly realizing her stamina was running out.

But paradoxically, the very act of panting meant she still had some stamina left.

When a person truly runs out of energy, their reaction is usually one thing.

“Cough! Ueek! Ugh!”

Breathing difficulty accompanied by gagging. Dignity and all that goes out the window; that reaction is completely normal.

Diana, too, had no choice but to stop in her tracks due to sudden breathing difficulties.

After a moment, she managed to calm her breathing a bit, but the struggle remained.

Especially since her whole body felt heavy, drenched in sweat.

“Huu… Huu…”

Diana, wiping tears and mucus in a manner unbefitting a princess, was sobbing uncontrollably. She didn’t care if her makeup was ruined.

Only her survival instinct remained. She fought desperately to escape from Sivar.

‘I miss mom. Mom…’

Her mother, who had already returned to nature. Yet a child always yearns for their mother’s embrace.

Moreover, the fact that she referred to her as ‘mom’ instead of some grand title like ‘Mother’ signified her fragile mental state.

Cornered to her limits, she felt like she would cling to even a straw for help. The absence of anyone around intensified her emotions.

“Sniff… Huu…”

Now there were almost no tears left to shed. Diana moved on through her sobs.

The sound of her sobbing made the already eerie atmosphere even more somber, but Diana was oblivious to it.

Her mental state had shattered, and she wandered aimlessly. There wasn’t even enough light to distinguish objects.

‘Please, anyone… help…’

Could someone have heard her desperate plea? Or was it just a wild wish?

– *Poof!*

Suddenly, a hand shot up from the ground.

– *Craaack!*

It grabbed Diana’s delicate ankle.

“Ughhh!!”

Diana let out a shrill scream. Her voice was already worn out from fatigue, but her cries still held strength.

She was horrified at the undead-like hand that popped out of the ground, flailing in a panic to escape.

* *Swoosh*

Finally, the owner of the hand began to emerge slowly from the ground. Diana was too consumed with her struggle to even notice.

She scratched desperately at the dirt, forgetting about her perfectly manicured nails. It was a truly pitiful sight.

It was a fight for survival. One wild person completely wrecked a member of royalty.

“Excuse me.”

“Help me! Help me! Anyone, please!”

“Excuse me. Calm down.”

But the owner of the hand holding Diana’s ankle was utterly unfazed. Instead, they urged her to calm down.

In the end, all the energy from struggling was expended, and Diana’s face fell to the ground as she clutched her head.

Her body trembled, a clear sign of being terrified. To this, the ‘undead’, nope, the student, asked.

“Are you okay?”

“Sniff… Ugh…”

“Sorry, I thought you were an assistant.”

“Huh?…”

The woman’s voice pierced Diana’s ears. Turning her head with a trembling expression, she was met with blue hair, clearly visible even in the dark forest.

There was also a hint of goofy confidence about her. It was a familiar face.

“I’m sorry! I thought you were an assistant!”

“Ehh…?”

The person with a slightly awkward apology was Reina, the first student to confront Sivar.

Diana stared at her in daze, unable to comprehend why she was underground.

The absurd proficiency in a foreign language hardly even registered on her radar. She had no energy to care.

*-Shooosh…*

“Huh? What’s that smell…?”

“Um… um…”

Above all, she needed to pay attention elsewhere. Reina halted mid-sentence, taken aback.

Despite the pitch-black dark, she could still clearly see Diana’s expression.

Tension eased, only to be replaced by a face flushed with embarrassment, tears glistening at the corners of her eyes.

“…Ugh.”

“Mom…?”

“Wahhhhhh!”

“Don’t cry. Don’t cry.”

Diana’s loud wailing echoed throughout the forest.

*****

While other students fell into Sivar’s prank, Reina was completely unfazed.

In fact, she could focus even more on the practical session. Her quick situational awareness allowed her to grasp Sivar’s intent right away.

‘It’s because they’re too busy camping around to notice.’

The problem lay with the twin siblings and the students following them. Sivar was simply fulfilling the task at hand.

The perfect timing and conditions came together to create a terrifying display.

From Reina’s perspective, it was more like ‘here we go’ and she could concentrate on the practical exercise even more.

“Let’s wash up here. Do you have clothes?”

“Um… I’ll just dry them with magic.”

“Got it.”

Hiding underground was also a strategy to evade the instructors tracking them.

There was no need to fight at all. The ultimate goal of this exercise was tag.

As long as they didn’t get caught by the tagger, it would be over. Reina understood that and thus hid underground.

“Uh… Princess Frozen.”

“Yes?”

“About this incident…”

“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything.”

“…”

Diana, feeling embarrassed, buried her head down and said nothing. The expression of shame was a bonus.

After a slight ‘incident’, they arrived at a lake. The forest designated as the practice zone actually has a lake.

It was a drinking-water accessible lake, quite popular among students. Plus, it was pretty expansive.

“…”

“…”

After wrapping up the unexpected incident and drying their clothes cleanly with drying magic, a heavy silence settled over them.

Diana had created an irreversible embarrassing history, and Reina had inadvertently become a witness.

At least it was a relief it was another girl; had Reina been a boy, Diana might’ve considered biting her tongue and ending it all.

It was a colossal incident that could shatter a princess’s image beyond repair. Just thinking about it made her want to cry.

“Have you calmed down?”

“…Yes.”

“What happened?”

The grammar was still atrocious. Diana shot a skeptical look at Reina.

Just a moment ago, she was underground, covered in dirt from head to toe. Yet she only washed her face and called it a day.

This was behavior only possible if one was used to such situations. Unlike the male student earlier, she appeared calm and unperturbed.

“… A lot happened.”

“Please explain.”

“So, um…”

Perhaps it was because she had a reliable person beside her, unlike that male student. Diana explained the situation in a calmer voice than before.

Reina could hardly speak, but she had no trouble understanding Diana’s story.

The more she listened, the more Reina’s expression grew peculiar. It sounded like there was a murderer on their tail.

When she finally heard at the end that Diana had met Kara, Reina couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Hah! Is that for real?”

“This isn’t something to laugh about! That wild person…!”

“Don’t worry, it’s a prank.”

It’s definitely a prank. Reina firmly believed that.

At the very least, the Sivar she knew wasn’t the type to harm others carelessly.

It was a bit odd that he’d hurt the Crown Prince, Karas, but all would be clarified the following day.

“What prank?! I saw everything with my own two eyes! Everything that murderer did!”

“Yeah, I know.”

“If you really don’t believe me…!”

“You’re alive, aren’t you?”

Putting everything aside, the fact that she was alive was enough. Reina made that very clear.

Diana took a moment to process her words before exhaling heavily, looking utterly indignant.

‘So it was a prank for sure.’

It was undoubtedly a prank. Otherwise, there was no way Diana would still be standing.

Sivar was incredibly strong. There was no way he would ever have to wander around if he couldn’t even handle one Diana.

Moreover, Diana mentioned he had a location tracker, hadn’t she?

The professors surely wouldn’t overlook such behavior, and the fact that the practical was still being conducted suggested they were all turning a blind eye.

‘It doesn’t make sense for the Imperial royalty to be crammed together and be sleeping on the job.’

If that’s the case, it would far exceed mere negligence. It would lead to losing one’s head.

I wonder what Diana’s reaction will be when everything gets clarified. I’m rather curious about it.

‘That said…’

Reina glanced around. Since there was a location tracker, someone would likely be following them soon.

There was no change in the need to escape. They had to hold on until the morning sun came up.

‘That will do.’

Then something caught Reina’s eye, a small raft. Just one little raft.

If they floated on it in the lake, could they manage to hold out? The lake was quite deep.

‘I never said I was a good swimmer…’

They must have put that raft there for such an occasion. Reina set the raft afloat on the lake.

Diana felt puzzled by Reina’s incomprehensible behavior, but once the raft was on the water, it clicked for her.

“Get on.”

“Now? In this situation?”

“Let’s run.”

Reina said to the incredulous Diana. Just the phrase ‘Let’s run’ softened Diana’s expression.

‘At this rate, I might not be able to talk her into anything.’

Reina wasn’t oblivious; her passionate personality didn’t mean she was oblivious. She immediately grasped Diana’s distrust.

If she acted in line with the situation, surely she’d get her to comply. Her situational awareness was exceptionally sharp.

Diana looked back and forth between the raft and Reina, voicing her doubts.

“Will this really be okay? Just one raft?”

“Then don’t get on.”

“Ah, I didn’t say I wouldn’t get on! It’s just a suspicion! A suspicion!”

So simple. Reina chuckled inwardly.

The elegance of a princess and all that faded away, revealing her as just an ordinary woman.

Had she shown this side of herself normally, things might not have turned out so disarrayed. A little disappointing, but it was someone else’s business.

“Can you row?”

“Yes.”

“But where’s the oar…?”

“This.”

Reina proudly displayed her battle axe, set to use instead of an oar. The bewildered expression on Diana’s face was self-explanatory.

Though the area was large enough to navigate the raft, the weight was different. Diana’s reaction was perfectly normal.

But Reina was stronger than a typical male student. This would be a piece of cake for her.

– *Swish. Swish.*

Using the battle axe in place of an oar, they began gliding towards the center of the lake.

The moon was veiled by clouds, giving off a chilled atmosphere, but that barely mattered.

As long as they could hold out here, that was what counted. Once they reached the center of the lake, Reina put the battle axe away.

“Okay, let’s take a break.”

“Is it safe?”

“For now.”

“…”

Diana still had a look of distrust in her eyes. However, Reina was unfazed.

As time passed, the sounds of insects filled the air.

“…”

“…”

There were no exchanges between the two. Just a heavy silence.

Neither had much to discuss, and Diana was inherently not one to open up first.

Normally, Reina would be the first to break the ice, but she began avoiding the topic due to her lack of proficiency in the common language.

“…Um.”

“Huh?”

“Excuse me, but… you don’t speak the common language well, do you?”

“Yeah. Not at all.”

“It’s not a language issue, is it?”

“What, this pee-pants princess? Spilling all the rumors?”

Perhaps feeling a little riled up, Reina shot out that little snippet of history. But that wasn’t in the common language; it was in the language of Frozen.

Naturally, Diana had no chance of understanding that. Reina wore a relieved expression at that realization.

“In that case…”

Just as Diana was about to speak.

-Splash!

They both heard something fall into the lake. It wasn’t a small sound, so both could hear it clearly.

Before long, ripples began to form from the right. Something definitely had entered the lake.

“What was that? What just fell…?”

“Um…?”

Reina took hold of her battle axe instead of responding. She turned her attention to where the ripples originated.

In the dark, it was tough to make out any figures, especially under the water.

But every creature has a presence. Reina sensed something enormous was approaching.

“There! There! Over there!”

“I see it too.”

Soon, both could see clearly. A large black shadow.

The shadow circled around the raft and then disappeared below. At that moment, Reina lost sight of the shadow.

‘What is it? Definitely not a fish…’

Before Reina could finish her thought.

-Fshooosh!

Something massive suddenly surged up from the lake. Just as Diana was looking in that direction.

And Diana saw it. Those ominously glowing red eyes, even in the dark of night.

“Kyyaaaaaaaah!!”

One woman screamed, almost fainting.

“Ouch!!”

-Thwack!

One was so startled that her fist came flying out automatically.

The punch seemed to land squarely on the chin of the person who had just leapt out, sending Sivar back into the lake once more.

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