The heavy snow of the Devilish Month had fallen, and the Redwater River became the only passable road in the entire Western Region.

Compared to the small sailboat they had previously traveled on, the Lionheart was much more spacious, capable of accommodating a simple kitchen, so that even while traveling, one could eat hot food.

His bedroom was naturally the duke's former private room, located at the stern of the ship, similar to the quarterdeck of a sea vessel, where one could see the constantly flowing river and the occasional floating ice through the windows.

"My Lord, your egg drop soup," the knight delivered the earthenware pot and porcelain bowl to his room.

"Thank you," Pello nodded. "Sit down and have a bowl yourself, warm up."

Ever since His Highness the Prince had sent all the knights of the other four great houses to Border Town and announced that he would not accept their ransom, the first thing those nobles did was to send the knights' families there as well, and the vacated land was either used to recruit new knights or simply devoured by themselves.

Only the Honeysuckle Family had not suffered too much loss in this war, but had instead rapidly grown stronger by acting as the agent for Longsong Stronghold. Now, it firmly surpassed the other four great houses and possessed a relatively complete knightly order. The knight at his side, Seth, was a member of the order, and although not as well-known as Dawn, he could be considered one of the more outstanding young knights.

"Yes," he smiled, removed the lid of the earthenware pot, and poured the soup for Pello, "But... is it really alright for you to do this, my Lord?"

"You mean the witch?"

"Yes, even though the church has been burned down, it wouldn't be difficult to build another one. The church will return to the Western Region one day, and you can simply put all the blame on the Fourth Prince, and they won't be able to say anything. But you saved a witch in front of the people, and even arrested the church's believers..." the knight hesitated, "This is tantamount to openly opposing the church."

"Since it wouldn't be difficult to build another one, why is that place still a ruin?" Pello blew on the fragrant egg drop soup. "The church will not return to the Western Region."

Seth blinked, seemingly not quite believing this conclusion.

After the egg drop soup had cooled slightly, he took a small sip and exhaled a cloud of white air with satisfaction, "As a steward, the most important thing is to understand the true intentions of the one in charge. His Highness is promoting education in the stronghold, using new soldiers trained in Border Town, and staging plays with obvious meanings, clearly wanting to minimize the influence of the church. Since I became the manager of the stronghold because of His Highness, I naturally have to govern the stronghold according to his intentions. If I can't even see this, I'm afraid he will immediately replace me with someone else." Pello shrugged, "Not allowing the church to rebuild is just a simple matter – the stonemasons and carpenters should have received warnings, and even if believers want to build it themselves, the rats will prevent them from starting work."

"But the church—"

"Since His Highness has done this, it means that he is not afraid of the church's retaliation at all, or that he is confident in keeping the church out. If they can still set foot in the Western Region again, it can only mean that His Highness has failed. If he fails, I will no longer be able to sit in the main seat of the stronghold castle. You should understand this."

"You think the Fourth Prince can defeat the church's army?" Seth asked in surprise.

"Who knows," Pello said with a smile, shaking his head. "A year ago, probably no one thought he could withstand Duke Ryan's knights." He got up and picked up the earthenware pot. "I'm going to check on that little girl, she might be hungry too."

…

The girl's name was Baizhi.

Without a doubt, only a vagrant would use such a casual name.

Since boarding the ship, she had stayed in the cabin below deck without saying a word. Even though her fingers were red with cold and she was shivering all over, she didn't make a sound. To be on the safe side, Pello had also put the God's Punishment Lock on her. After all, no matter how much His Highness promoted that witches were no different from ordinary people, he wouldn't completely believe that people with such incredible powers were really the same as ordinary people - even a thoughtless act could cause harm to oneself.

"Why don't you lie down in the blanket?" Pello pointed to the hammock hanging on one side of the cabin—the cabin space was limited, and the sailors usually slept in the suspended hammocks, wrapped in coarse blankets. It wasn't very comfortable, but at least it was warm.

"It will get dirty," she said softly.

"The sailors are not cleaner than you," he found a relatively dry place to sit down. "This journey will take three days. Are you planning to just sit like this all the time? I'm afraid you will die on the road before you even reach Border Town."

"Border Town?" Baizhi was stunned.

"Didn't I tell you? To a place suitable for witches to live." Pello opened the earthenware pot. "Come and drink some hot soup, and then lie down on the hammock."

This time the girl did not refuse. It was obvious that she was really hungry. She picked up the earthenware pot and drank directly from it, not even afraid of burning her tongue.

Pello shook his head. Her body was as thin as a monkey, the dirt on her hair had solidified, and her clothes were probably picked up from somewhere, with several holes in them - judging from her appearance alone, she was no different from the many vagrants in the stronghold.

"Who is the boy who protected you?" he asked. "Your vagrant friend?"

"Sheya, he... often brings us... some food." Baizhi swallowed the soup and stuck out her tongue, speaking unclearly. "As long as I go with you, you... won't catch him, right? He... is not a witch."

"Of course," Pello said expressionlessly. "He is completely unimportant." The phrase "often brings food" surprised him slightly. Such people were rare in the slums. The lack of food often led to mutual snatching - when one can't even survive, how can one have the heart to care about others? And the name Sheya... was quite like a rat's style.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but ask, "The 'us' you mentioned just now—are there any other witches besides you?"

"No," Baizhi shook her head. "Everyone is an orphan from the neighborhood."

This made Pello slightly relieved. "What about the old zealot saying that you used your ability to remove snow? This is the first time I've seen a witch dare to use her ability in front of everyone."

"Sheya suggested it. He said that I could help residents quickly clear the snow from their roofs and exchange it for some food, so that everyone wouldn't be hungry. The theater is constantly showing stories about witches, and now people are no longer afraid of witches. As long as I'm willing to work, he will find those adults to negotiate with."

So that's how it was. Pello couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth. This guy was quite interesting, knowing how to make good use of the resources at hand, but he underestimated the influence of the church too much. "Then did you get any food?"

"Um..." Baizhi lowered her head. "I swept three roofs. One family kicked me out, and the other two gave me half a loaf of bread and a pancake. But at the fourth house..."

She met that hateful old woman. Pello patted her head. "If you're done drinking, get some rest. I'll send someone to notify you when it's dinner time."

Three days later, the Lionheart arrived at the Border Town dock.