Rosie's Games

Chapter 171: Come Back Alive

The short trip made Rosalind realize a lot of things. First, surviving in an unknown environment was very hard, second, talking was definitely easier than doing and third, being confident was not enough. One needed skills to back it up. Finally, one could not just build a skill overnight.

Skills needed practice and perseverance, patience and motivation. The Duke repeatedly asked her to use her Blessing to enhance her vision and since she was not used to it, her head immediately started hurting. She realized that while she might be powerful compared to a normal human, she was still useless in front of a warrior.

The light Blessing was meant to support the warriors. They really had no real life-saving skills. If she wanted to survive out there then she needed to learn how to protect herself.

Rosalind eyed her red, swollen hands. Pulling the string of the bow was hard, perhaps it was even harder than just pointing the arrow to a target.

"Isn't it better to eat something that you personally caught?"

She did not even bother to look up. She knew that the Duke was probably smirking at her.

"Here," he handed her some barbecued meat from a demonic bird that he claimed she killed when it was actually him who let the string go. It was he who killed the bird, not her.

However, she absorbed its darkness, making its meat edible.

"Thank you." It looked delicious so she immediately took a bite, only to realize that it was too hot. She heard a low giggle behind her. Irritated, she pretended not to react to the hot food and continued eating. While doing this, she used her own Blessings to heal her tongue. She knew she would look pathetic and even childish but she really felt like he was mocking her.

She knew her skills were poor yet, she was going to practice and would not stop until she improved.

"We really should do this more," he said as he sat next to her. He then gave a slice of small meat to Miu was who sitting next to Rosalind. "Wasn't it nice to learn how weak you are?"

"You—"

Again, he laughed, he was clearly mocking her.

Did he take her fishing to humble her?

She glared at him.

If this was his purpose, then it worked.

After missing a lot of shots, Rosalind caught a bird with the Duke's help.

While she could enhance her body and make herself stronger, in a real fight, it would be hard for her to beat her enemies. She needed a way to do it, a strategy. At least that was what he told her. Since she was not that good with close combat, he suggested that she focused on using a bow and arrow instead.

In the end, she agreed.

Still, she could not help but feel down. She had already lived a rather long life in her past! She died old- older than the Duke's current age. However, she never really learned a skill that would be helpful to her outside of the castles.

She hated herself for being too stupid, too naive, and too trusting. She had the power, the ability to use the light and dark but she never once thought of using it.

However, he would never stop teaching her how to use a dagger. After all, she already had a hidden dagger in her body. She could use that to her advantage.

"Your Grace…. they are coming." josei

Denys said.

"Shall I take the Miss to the carriage?"

"No need," the Duke responded as he got up and lend her a hand so she could stand up.

"What is it?" she asked as she stood behind him.

"We are waiting for a few people."

She looked at the vast snow in front of them. They were currently next to a large tree and in front of them was a large, flat plane of snow, where the lake was located. She could… see nothing in the vast whiteness. She quickly used her light Blessing and enhanced her vision. This time, she noticed a carriage not that far from them.

"Count Caldarera, from Lonyth, is working for us," Lucas said. "I received a letter just a few minutes ago that they had problems on the way here. Some unknown people ambushed them and he was injured. It was a cursed weapon."

"You intend to make me heal him in this place?" In the middle of the snow? In the middle of nowhere?

"You cannot heal him in a place like this?" he countered.

Rosalind looked at the carriage and that was when she realized something.

Horses were chasing after them.

Her face darkened. What was this man thinking?

"This was not planned," the Duke said as if he could hear her mind. "I was planning to enjoy lunch with you while talking about our upcoming wedding, but this person had to disturb us. Say… what do you suppose I should do to people like them?"

Rosalind sighed. To be honest, she wanted to have a good lunch after all that 'training' with the Duke. Now, these people had to come and spoil everything. But what caught her attention was when he mentioned the wedding.

She was not exactly asking for any information about their wedding. After all, they would only do it as a formality. There was no need to spend an extravagant amount of gold that they could instead use to buy more food.

She recalled her past life's wedding. At that time, she wasn't exactly given a decent one because she was considered an 'embarrassment.'

Despite the fact that she was an official wife, she had to use the side doors and was not even given a good ceremony. Jeames assured her that he would give her one once she got pregnant with their child— something that never happened in the past.

She thought she would easily get pregnant, but she was wrong. Oh, how wrong.

Since then, she stopped thinking about an extravagant wedding and always thought it was such a waste of money.

"I don't want an extravagant one," she blurted out. Then she quickly realized how embarrassing her words were. Almost immediately, she lowered her head. "Let's talk about it when… when we're done."

She then walked away from him.

"And oh…" she turned to give him one last look. "Go wild," she said. "They will not be able to see us."

"Oh?" he lifted an eyebrow.

She ignored him. Instead, she held her hand towards the carriage and concentrated. Using her light Blessing, she created an illusion to hide them from their enemies.

Denys on the other hand got on his horse and met the approaching carriage before he escorted them to Rosalind.

The Duke then lead her towards the carriage. Before she could go inside, he held her wrist.

"Do not overwork yourself," he said.

She nodded before a confident smile bloomed on her face.

"Come back alive," she murmured lowly. She knew he would hear her so there was no need to say such embarrassing things in front of a dying person.

A look of surprise flashed on his face before he nodded. "I will."

With that, Rosalind walked inside the carriage. The smell of blood was thick inside the once luxurious ride. She immediately saw the older man not far away from her.

"Are you here to help my father?" asked a young man that looked like a teenager.

Rosalind frowned. This Count was supposed to meet with the Duke, why was he bringing his child with him?

"Yes. Now move away." Rosalind looked at the older man with a pale complexion and spotted the arrow in his leg. His lips had started turning purple and large beads of sweat could be seen on his forehead.

A cursed arrow? She could already feel the sinister aura coming from it. To her surprise, in addition to the dark curse, the arrow seemed to be poisoned as well. It seemed that whoever did this wanted to make sure that the Count die.

"That arrow…. must be poisoned. My father stopped talking a few hours ago. I thought— I thought—"

"It is poisoned," Rosalind blandly said. "And the man might die."

"What?" the young man that still looked like a teenager frowned. She noticed that he too had a bandaged arm. "What are you—"

"Now move away and let me do what I am good at."

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