At The End Of The Hidden Greenery

Chapter 1

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The pouring rain soaked the ground.

Every time the wheels of the carriage squeaked every time they passed over the muddy road. The rain poured down throughout the entire journey, as if it wanted to take away all the vitality of the earth.

“We’ll be there soon. Akarna, is everything all right?”

At the coachman’s words, the dark-haired woman in the carriage raised her head as she heard the question directed at her. She watched the raindrops hitting the window dazedly and nodded a few beats later.

“We’ll be there soon, so please hang in there.”

He soon left the woman alone. The woman overheard the men’s conversations intermittently between the noises of the horses’ hooves, the carriage’s wheels and the mud’s splashes.

“The Akarna doesn’t look too good, do you think she’s alright?”

“Isn’t this the first time she’s going to the outskirts? She might be anxious.”

“Rather than that…”

The voice slightly died down.

“She must be upset that His Highness the Crown Prince got engaged.”

Strength entered her hand, which was neatly placed on her lap.

Engaged.

It was a word she did not wish to hear for a while.

Against the opposition of the temple and the imperial family, the man whom she had loved for five years was now engaged to another woman.

He was not an ordinary man. Rather, he was the crown prince of the empire, so he was not going to have an ordinary marriage either.

So it was natural for him to marry a woman from a good noble household.

And that woman was the eldest daughter of the most honorable margrave of the empire.

She hailed from a venerable household that was allies with the imperial family for hundreds of years, protecting the empire from the beasts that threatened the borders. In addition to the geographical location, there had not been a chance to form a solid alliance with their fief yet, but they seemed to have made a connection this time.

The master of the empire and the noble household that protects it.

The crown prince who has achieved brilliant feats even during his earlier years, and then the beautiful young lady who grew up like a princess and was loved by her noble family.

It was sufficient enough for people to come together and create a romantic story with them as the main characters.

But the woman here, sitting inside the carriage, was different.

The Akarna of the temple was a person held in high regard, but that didn’t mean that the temple was going to back her in everything she did.

Although the temple did treat her according to their responsibility over her, this was only when she would faithfully perform her ‘duty as the Akarna’. And, that duty was far from any noble task.

To leave and go to the outskirts with only such a few escorts.

To purify the earth as it was is being eroded by black miasma and save those who suffered from it.

This was the duty that the temple had to do for mankind, and it was also the duty of the Akarna to obey the will of the gods.

But the woman never wanted this job. It was only because she fell in love with the crown prince, and so for the sake of the empire that he would rule over, she forced herself to accept the pain. And she had no doubt that this love would one day bear fruit.