Seeing the busy people around her, Yezi didn't expect she would have a day to be close to a mundane town again.
After entering the territory of Border Town, the low brick and mud bungalows, like long-sealed memories, appeared before her one after another. Even though she hadn't been in the Impassable Mountain Range for even half a year, she felt that the scene before her was as unfamiliar as another world.
The Month of the Demonic Moons had just passed. After surviving the winter of food and clothing shortages, the townspeople should have had a terrible complexion and body. Yezi remembered the Mutual Aid Society once passing through the slums of Silverlight City in the winter – everywhere were the corpses of those who had starved and frozen to death, and those who were still alive were like walking corpses, with numb expressions and slow movements.
But here, the people she saw were mostly full of vitality. Some were drying fish at the door of their houses, some were climbing on the roofs to repair damaged tiles, and more were middle-aged men carrying hoes and hammers, talking and laughing as they headed north of the town. Whenever she encountered this situation, Yezi would pull down the brim of her hat and avoid them as much as possible.
The location of the castle was very conspicuous, right on a high hillside in the southwest corner of the town. There were no plants around that could be used, and it would be very difficult to sneak in silently. Hiding in a tree trunk to avoid enemies was okay, but making the tree climb up to send her in would make too much noise.
She wasn't a witch who was good at concealing her figure. After thinking it over and over again, Yezi felt that it would be better to walk into the castle openly than to hide.
If Nightingale hadn't lied to her, there wouldn't be any problem even if she walked in through the front door.
If Nightingale had deceived her, deceived the sisters of the Mutual Aid Society, she was also confident that she could escape from the pursuit of the two guards in front of the door.
Of course, the worst case scenario was that Nightingale had completely betrayed everyone, relying on hunting witches to serve the prince, then she would most likely die here. As the most top-notch combat-type witch, few people could escape Nightingale's pursuit, even Hakala wasn't sure of victory.
Yezi had already made the worst plan. If she couldn't go back alive, Juan would take over the position of mentor and lead the sisters to continue on – as for where the destination was, and where their home was, no one knew the answer.
She slowly walked up the hillside, approaching the castle gate. The guards quickly noticed her, put their hands on the hilts of their swords, and shouted loudly, "This is the prince's palace, not a place for you to come, step back!" He paused, and then added, "If you have important matters to report, go straight to the left along this road, to the City Hall. There will be someone to receive you there."
Yezi took a deep breath and took off her hood. As expected, she saw the two of them showing surprised expressions at the same time. Before they could recover, she said directly, "I am a witch."
The moment she said these words, she was almost ready for the guards to draw their swords. But the two guards just looked at each other, without the undisguised hatred that ordinary people showed when they heard the word witch. One of them even asked with interest, "Witch, what's the matter?"
This kind of reaction made Yezi's heart beat suddenly speed up. She suppressed the almost overwhelming excitement and said in as calm a tone as possible, "I want to see Nightingale. Or Anna and Nanawa are also fine."
In Nightingale's story, witches were regular visitors to the castle, and His Royal Highness the Prince did not imprison their freedom, and the guards guarding the castle, at the instruction of the Fourth Prince, turned a blind eye to them entering and leaving this place... If Nightingale was telling the truth, the guards couldn't possibly not have heard of their names.
The guard who asked the question patted his partner on the shoulder, "You watch her here, I'll go inform His Highness."
Yezi watched him walk through the gate and quickly disappear into the garden.
What would be waiting for her, a welcome from her sisters, or an encirclement by the guards, or a sharp blade from the shadows?
She found herself in a strange contradiction. She clearly wanted to believe Nightingale, but the closer she got to the answer, the more afraid she was of disappointment. Could it be that Nightingale had changed her name here and didn't call herself that at all? Could Anna and Nanawa be something she made up? Or...
Time had never been so slow as it was at this moment! Every heartbeat seemed to span a century. In the long time, she quietly waited for her destiny.
She didn't know how long
it had been, or maybe it was just a moment, she heard Nightingale's voice – in a daze, she thought she had heard it wrong.
A familiar figure appeared from behind the door and pounced on her, arriving almost at the same time as the voice. Then, she was embraced by a warm body.
"Yezi, welcome home!"
*******************
"These are my spare clothes, you can wear them first," Nightingale was rummaging through the closet, "and a coat, shoes... um, a bathrobe and a bath towel too."
"What are you rushing for," Wendy shook her head with a smile, "Wait until His Highness wakes up later, he will naturally arrange things for her."
Looking at Nightingale who was busy up and down, Yezi's eyes became hot again. She sniffed, bit her lip, and wiped away the tears that were swirling around. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth, tears would burst out uncontrollably.
So Nightingale really didn't lie to herself, the prince who was willing to treat witches kindly really existed.
"Why don't you take a hot bath first? You must be exhausted from rushing from the camp," Nightingale put the bath towel and clothes next to Yezi, "His Highness is taking a nap, he will definitely be happy to see you when he wakes up. By the way, did you find Holy Mountain? How are the other sisters doing?"
As soon as this sentence was asked, Yezi's vision suddenly became blurred. She could no longer hold back, hugged Nightingale, and released all the pain that had been suppressed in her heart these days.
Yezi gradually calmed down after crying until Nightingale's chest was completely wet.
Then she recounted the things that the sisters had encountered from beginning to end after the three of them left the Mutual Aid Society. When she talked about the many sisters who had died in the wilderness, she felt Nightingale's hand holding her own clench involuntarily.
After Yezi finished speaking, Wendy's expression became unusually heavy, "I didn't expect Hakala to bring the Mutual Aid Society to a dead end. Forty-two sisters are only seven left... I also have an unshirkable responsibility. If I could have stood firmly on Nightingale's side at that time..."
"This is not your fault," Nightingale said sadly, "No one can predict the future, the key is what to do next." She looked at Yezi, "You said there are six sisters who survived, where are they?"
"They are all waiting for my news at the entrance of the canyon. We agreed that if I can't go back, Juan will lead them away from this place, or go to the extreme southern corner, maybe to the other side of the strait..."
"Then we have to bring them back quickly," Nightingale said immediately, "I'll leave right away, Wendy, I'll leave Yezi in your care."
"Wait, what if they don't believe you? Yezi has to go too, and call Lightning, she should be practicing flying in the west of the town at the moment. Take a few more horses, it can let the sisters walk less." Wendy carefully instructed.
"But His Royal Highness the Prince... isn't he still sleeping?" Yezi was stunned, "Don't you need to ask him?"
"Don't worry," Nightingale comforted softly, "If His Highness knows about this, I'm afraid he will be too happy."