The duke's borrowed carriage hit a rut, jolting Konrad from his thoughts.
Not like Lily's cinnamon scent wasn't distracting enough. She used him as a pillow now, while her older brother sat on the driver's bench. Welf only knew one speed—breakneck.
Aset's woodlands raced past in a green blur, the carriage almost flying with the three of them.
"You're thinking too loud," Lily mumbled, eyes closed. "It's giving me a headache."
Konrad scoffed at her fiery hair splayed across his leg.
"Wouldn't have to, if you weren't playing games. What did Gabrielle want with Stella?"
She sighed, a dramatic, put-upon sound.
"Dunno—I've nothing to do with her." She cracked one eye open. "Problem solved either way."
"It's not solved—it's moved," he said, voice flat.
"Works for meow." Lily flicked a finger at his nose. "Why'd you care? We're alone in this comfy cabin, and you're thinking about not one, but two girls that aren't me."
When she put it that way—no, focus.
"Are you two conspiring or something?"
"Pfft—me and Gabby?!" Lily snorted. "Please, hell would have to freeze over first."
She thrashed on his lap, squeezing his thigh, almost making Konrad jump.
"Ah—but you knew each other." He grabbed her to stop distracting him, determined to get to the end of this. "She'd warn me to keep my distance—"
"Oh? Do you regret not listening?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm and something more.
She wasn't even in his skimpy everyday outfit, which Konrad could only describe as a tribal bikini. She had a dark cloak on—a rare show of modesty, was it for his father's benefit?
Because yes, they were about to meet him in Blood Moon's territory.
He shook his head—both to answer and to get back on track.
"I met you first, and someone also warned me about her," he explained, skipping the part about Lu. "But how'd she show up at the exact moment I broke Stella's bracelet?"
"How 'bout Vargas?" She shrugged. "He also came at the perfect time. Are you scheming, too?"
"Me with the Captain?" Konrad laughed, though that was a fair question. And Vargas was in fact quite a schemer. He needed a different approach. "So you're not keeping secrets from me?"
Lily's grin no longer reached her eyes.
"No? Of course not," she said, voice pitching up. "Why would I?"
She committed the worst attempt at whistling in the history of all mankind.
Not suspicious at all. He let out a loud sigh, pinching the saddle of his nose.
"Look, you got your shiny rock, and Gabby got her new toy," she noted. "One, with a taste for torture and murder—you wouldn't miss her, would you? Everyone's happy."
She shifted, rolling onto her back to look at him better. A mischievous grin played on her lips.
"Why would I lie to you, Konny boy? The only game I'm interested in is right here." Her hand trailed up his chest, her fingers tracing the line of his jaw. "Do you think Welf would notice if—"
She pulled herself up, her face inches from his.
Her intention was clear—a blatant diversion that Konrad would've looked forward to.
"He's right outside," he choked out, his sanity hanging on a loose thread.
"So?" she whispered. "I told him we're a couple meow—and he likes your guts."
"You're his little sister," he noted, but didn't pull away. "I'd rather he didn't spill those guts."
Lily burst into a laugh, her bright voice filling the cabin.
"You're no fun," she sniffed, flopping back onto the seat with a huff—but her reaction said otherwise. "He's out, enjoying the speed. What are the odds that he'd—"
The carriage hatch slid open.
Welf's face appeared, furrowing his eyebrows even before looking at them.
Konrad's reflex was to scoot away, even if they didn't do anything—yet.
"You sure sending Father Alastair with the merchant was a good idea?" the redhead asked, sounding agitated. "That priest's luck is even worse than yours."
"Ah, uh, he'll be fine," he scrambled to answer—nothing suspicious here.
Welf raised an eyebrow, giving them both a curious look.
"I mean," Konrad said, "we cleared that dungeon. No monsters should be around, and most bandits are tribesmen. They wouldn't attack the Black Rivers, and the priest is with them."
"Sure, but what about your twin?" the blacksmith pressed. "He didn't seem fond of the Church."
That was a nice way of putting it—Konrad worried about leaving Eyna in his care, too.
"Alastair is bringing food to the tribes with my name on it," he noted. "If they were starving, they'd have to accept. And anything to challenge his authority should work in my favor."
He was all business again, catching Lily's smirk from the corner of his eye.
"What about the executioner?" the redhead asked. "You think that's the last we saw of her?"
"No," Konrad and Lily said at the same time—with a very different tone.
He crossed his arms, giving her a look. She got busy, fascinated by a loose thread on her cloak.
"Ask your sister," Konrad offered. "She knows something, but won't tell me. Gabrielle also promised protection for Zoltan without explanation—something's afoot."
"She's like that," Welf nodded. "You'd think she's full of shit—then she does something crazy."
That summed up the essence of this chunibyo beauty well.
"Rude," she scoffed. "You brute face forward and close the hatch so I can have my sexy time uninterrupted. And you—why didn't you ask Gabby, instead of bothering me?"
Before Konrad could answer, the blacksmith burst into a laugh.
"As if my watching would stop you," he said, pointing at the window. "But we're almost there."
To prove his words, he slowed the carriage down.
The terrain changed, the woods giving way to rocky hills.
Konrad's pulse picked up—not from Lily's promise, but from the prospect of meeting her father. From what he had heard, he was a legendary blacksmith—and he needed a new sword.
Oh, and to secure an important ally.
The carriage rolled to a stop, and Welf jumped down, his boots crunching on gravel.
"It seems they've been expecting us," he claimed, but Konrad didn't see a single soul.
He pushed the door open, Lily a step behind him.
"We're in the middle of nowhere," he noted, confused.
But then the sun glinted on the tip of a spear. Or a dozen—a hundred? At the blacksmith's wave, a small group of tribesmen revealed themselves.
A primitive camouflage made them almost invisible up to that point.
They looked like Welf and Lily—pale skin, hair in shades of fire and rust.
He had a hunch about how they've gotten the Blood Moon name now.
An older man emerged with Welf's broad shoulders and Lily's fiery hair, now streaked with grey. Sharp blue eyes locked onto Konrad, but something pulled his gaze past them.
At another group in rough wolf pelts, wearing the feared war paints of the mountain clans.
Their leader needed no such identifiers—Konrad felt like he was looking at a mirror.
Except for the different outfit, a scepter, and eyes blazing with pure hatred.
"So he thought about securing an alliance, too," Welf muttered, nodding at Nimrod.