Chapter 136 Even in the height of summer, snow will not fall on the grasslands...

Even in the height of summer, snowflakes do not fall on the grassland.

Only the distant, sprawling peaks of Eros retain a thin layer of snow, like a veil on a deity's crown.

In the dead of night, all was quiet.

Tonight there are no clouds or rain, only the rustling of grass.

A burly young man wearing a vest was carefully piling up pieces of dried cow and sheep dung.

Her little sister sat next to her mother, and the two of them used a small iron pot to cook a thick soup, tearing dried mutton into strips to dip in.

"Amu, come and eat. It doesn't matter when you do the work." Grandma, who had been dozing in the tent all afternoon, rubbed her eyes and kindly called to her granddaughter to come over.

The family kept the fire burning all night, with a pot of hot water boiling on it in addition to the thick soup.

Amu's sister was standing by the hot water. When she saw Amu coming over, she quickly scooped out a large spoonful with a wooden spoon and swirled it a couple of times with a gourd ladle.

White steam rose in the night, and in just a moment, the hot water turned into lukewarm water, which the older sister poured down from above, landing softly on the younger sister's palm.

Amu rubbed his hands together, then shook them a couple of times before sitting down in a chair and grabbing a piece of jerky.

Da da, da da.

The faint sound was exceptionally clear in the twilight, and the eyes of this small group of herders immediately changed. Amu tensed his muscles, gritted his teeth, and stood up.

It's a horse's hoof!

They were on high alert; herders rarely traveled at this time of day. Were they passing merchants, bandits, or...?

In recent years, there have been fewer and fewer bandits targeting herders.

The wise and divinely inspired Eleanor poured grain, cotton, and countless riches into Hetuya, and fewer and fewer people were forced to become bandits; even those who were forced did so only for the lucrative businessmen.

Amu was afraid of encountering Hetuya cavalry who might take advantage of the chaos to plunder.

They, the Hetuya, are very different from the Norlana. The advantage of the soldiers on the grasslands is that they basically bring their own horses and bows and arrows, and they are all warriors raised by various tribes.

The problem lies here: they all come from different ethnic groups, and once they are separated, no one can stop them from reaching out to the weaker members of other ethnic groups.

Amu's family is small and located on the outer edge of the tribe.

Now everyone is scattered and herding sheep, with each household not very close to the others.

If they were to encounter the fleeing "Royal Court Cavalry," they would face certain death.

Escape was hopeless; Amu stared intently at the dark horizon. The firelight illuminated behind her, obscuring the approaching cavalry.

Da da, da da.

Good news, there were only two people who came.

But the moment he saw the two figures clearly, Amu's heart sank.

Are they... scouts?

Judging from their equipment, they looked very much like the royal guards she had seen from afar.

The two cavalrymen rode their horses with great spirit.

They carried war bows on their backs, longswords at their waists, and pouches and short daggers were tied to the buckles of their leather armor. They looked like capable warriors, and no one would disagree that they were the royal court's direct cavalry.

It's probably not a scout, no, absolutely not.

As the two dismounted and slowly approached the campfire, Amu's swallowing grew louder and louder.

One of them had cascading black hair, a smile on her lips, and her amber eyes gazed at you gently and brightly.

If it weren't for her exceptionally broad shoulders and back, she would truly resemble a goddess of love stepping out of a divine scroll.

The other person had golden-red hair and eyes that shimmered with a fiery light... The golden-red color was probably related to the Hetuya royal family.

The two men's armor was indeed "extraordinary," but even such extraordinary armor and weapons paled in comparison to them, and no one paid them any attention.

Amu's legs went weak, but his mother and sisters were right behind him.

She struggled to keep her body upright and refused to kneel, fearing that if she did, the two "noblemen" would easily sever her neck with their swords.

"Don't be afraid, we are not bad people, just travelers passing by."

At this point, Eleanor chuckled softly, "Well, it's getting late. Could we stay the night?"

Glug.

Amu swallowed hard, stammering, "Y-yes, of course. As long as you don't mind that my tent is too shabby..."

She wanted to refuse these two suspicious guests, but unfortunately she didn't have the courage.

The golden-red-haired Hetuya noblewoman remained silent throughout, never even glancing in his direction, as if Amu were not a living person.

Fortunately, the dark-haired foreigner smiled and handed her a small packet of coins as he walked past her; otherwise, Amu would have really thought they were going to kill her whole family to silence her.

The two distinguished guests did not stay in her family's large tent. The black-haired youth was clearly the leader. She bypassed the main tent and went to another tent that served as a storage room.

The dark-haired youth politely declined the food they offered and lowered the tent curtain.

The family whispered amongst themselves, filled with unease, but ultimately didn't dare to secretly inform their tribesmen in the distance: two people could easily hunt down and kill an entire small tribe with such fully armed noble cavalry; why provoke them?

Amu led the two horses to the pen, stuffed them with hay, tied them up, and then returned to the tent with his family to extinguish the burning fire.

......

"Phew~" Eleanor took off her cloak and shook her hair inside the tent.

"What's wrong? Your Highness, you're not used to the smell of the grasslands, are you?" Andra also unbuttoned his clothes, half-opened and reclining on the wooden box, his face full of teasing.

“A little,” Eleanor admitted with a smile.

The grasslands have a flavor, as do the herdsmen and sheepfolds.

She used to find the smell very unpleasant and subconsciously felt that it was "not hygienic enough".

The great Angel does not need to live in the great tent all the time.

She could lie in a comfortable palace, warm in winter and cool in summer, with many servants working day and night to polish the tiles until they gleamed, and genuinely considering it an honor.

Later... in her subsequent lives, her health did not deteriorate again, and she gradually began to wander the streets and alleys, including the grasslands of Hetuya.

Eleanor took out a dry cloth, dipped it in the hot water offered by the hospitable shepherd, and wiped away her sweat.

Even the smallest change can bring great hope.

After wiping her face, she wiped Andra's face as well, asking softly as she did so, "Are you in a bad mood?"

Andra grunted and didn't hide anything: "Yeah, Aguno died way too suddenly."

It felt light and airy, without any sense of reality.

“That’s true, she is your mother after all. Alright, alright, let’s go to sleep first. Tomorrow, after our walk on Mount Aphrodite, we’ll go to the lakeside to wait for Attila.” Eleanor put her arm around her shoulder and let her lean against her.

"..." Andra subconsciously struggled for a moment, trying to switch places with Eleanor, and hugged her lover like a teddy bear.

They closed their eyes in the darkness, without any fear that the herders would do them any harm.

After all, there were still a few guards standing not far away. As for the main force of cavalry, they split into two groups: one guarded another key road, and the other would meet them at the lakeside.

Andra drifted off to sleep, a hint of doubt in her eyes: Why did Eleanor so want to visit Mount Aphrodite? Was it love? Mount Aphrodite's most famous function was to separate lovers...

Never mind, those things aren't important. They're going to kill Attila in a few days.

And Alisa too, if that guy doesn't listen, we'll take her down too.

[Incorrect.]

"?"

Andra frowned slightly in her sleep.

Here we go again, auditory hallucinations... almost like the time I drowned.

These auditory hallucinations are like dreams; once you wake up, much of them dissipate, leaving only a trace.

She and Eleanor slew a dragon a few months ago, and she developed this bad habit after falling into the water. At its worst, she even drew her sword against Eleanor.

He experienced hallucinations while eliminating pirates, bandits along the way, and reclaiming Belial.

For example, "Eleanor pushed me into the sea," "I led a group of pirates to kill the pirates," "Myrcella didn't marry the princess, she died"... These hallucinations may suddenly appear after a certain event, denying the reality before one's eyes.

Andra was too lazy to reveal these illusions to others; since they were all fake anyway, she decided to overcome them herself.

No, Eleanor was almost killed by Attila.

"......"real?

Even while sleeping with her eyes closed, Andra almost burst out laughing.

Who? Attila almost killed Eleanor? Hahaha.

In her hallucination, Attila was holding a delicate young girl hostage, but Andra knew perfectly well that Attila, who dared to hug Eleanor like that, probably wouldn't last more than three punches.

A knowing smile played on her lips: Yes, it was precisely because the hallucination was so absurd that she was able to easily recognize it as a hallucination and then gradually recover.

Eleanor wouldn't have needed to drown me; she would have jumped in to save me.

I cannot lead a group of pirates; I am the princess of Hetuya.

...Mysera? I don't care.

......

Today, Andra also successfully resisted the onslaught of hallucinations and did not even have the slightest murderous intent.

"Let's go, let's go take a look around Mount Eros first."

Eleanor mounted her horse and bid farewell to the shepherds, continuing her journey with Andra.

Why come here? Perhaps it's to say goodbye to the previous life.

Her Highness gazed uneasily at the distant horizon.

To be honest, she never really believed in her relationship with Andra.

They were deeply in love in their previous life, almost as if they were in the same relationship as in their first life.

But decades later, time and doubt diluted their feelings, and the unbreakable bond turned into a tormenting yoke.

What about this life?

In this life, she is willing to bear all the hardships for Andra, trying her best to reduce her lover's fatigue.

But she will still shatter Andra's true dream. When her lover realizes this, will she still stay for her?

The two were chatting and laughing when they first stepped onto the grassland, and they would stop to talk about even a small flower by the roadside.

Both Eleanor and Andra viewed Hetuya's throne as merely a crown placed on Attila's head, something to be taken at any moment.

But when they arrived near Mount Eros, they both fell silent.

Ta-da, ta-da-da.

All that could be heard was the sound of horses' hooves.

Eleanor dismounted first and took two steps toward Mount Eros.

The sky was clear and the air was fresh, the grass was lush and green, and it felt soft underfoot.

"Hoo..." There was no priest to greet her today. Perhaps it was because of the season, but the scene that came to her mind was not from her previous life.

Rather, it is the original world line.

The sickly Anqi, supported by Manzhu, walked towards the rolling mountains.

And then there's Andra, heartbroken to the point of screaming.

How ironic.

Eleanor smiled bitterly as she took the reins of her horse: in each life she was stronger than the last, yet it was the "weakest" Eleanor who was most able to trap Andra.

Is it because that's cute enough, or because...?

"Eleanor?"

Seeing his lover suddenly become dazed, Andra reached out to pat Eleanor.

"Let's not go up the mountain, let's go home."

“We can’t go up the mountain, let’s go back…” Andra closed her eyes.

“Okay, let’s go back.” Eleanor nodded and took Andra’s wrist.

She encountered no resistance, and the two of them turned and walked toward the horses at the same time.

The young man behind him also opened his eyes, which were a solidified crimson.

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Author's note: Attila: No, I just poisoned you. What did you all release?