The Great Wish - Chapter 10.4

Vol.2 Chapter 10 Part 4 

It felt as if a boulder was attached to her head. Sienna felt herself return to consciousness. 

She slowly opened her eyes. Even when she was lacking sleep, it had never been this difficult to open her eyes. She was lying in the shadows of a tall tree. 

'Where am I? Why am I...' 

Sienna turned around and placed her hand on the ground. She lifted herself up. 

"I think you should lie down for a little while longer." 

She heard an unfamiliar voice. A husky man was standing a few paces away. In Sienna's eyes, the man looked as enormous as a giant. 

Sienna blankly stared at the man's face. He looked familiar. It was the face she had been searching for. 

Martin misinterpreted Sienna's reaction and defended himself. 

"I'm not here to harm you, Princess. But... Don't you remember what happened?" 

Sienna slowly went through her memories. 

This morning, they departed the village where they had spent the night. They followed the guide's instructions and took a shortcut to the pier. 

The guide told them that they'd arrive at the pier by noon and that they'd be able to take the last liner that would arrive in the evening. 

The carriages had been on the road for about two hours. The sun was high up in the sky, and everything was bright. The carriages entered into a canyon near the rock salt mine. They slowed to a halt before picking up speed once again. 

Even though they were moving very slowly, the carriages shook dangerously. The road was full of rocks, and it felt as if someone was shaking the carriage. Suddenly, the carriage jolted. 

"Agh!" 

The driver shouted out. The carriage made a sharp turn and fell on its side. Inside the carriage, Sienna also fell out of her seat. 

She was only shocked, but she wasn't hurt. Suddenly, the carriage was filled with a strange smoke. The thick smoke was the last thing Sienna recalled seeing. 

"There was a carriage accident. And then smoke..." 

"If you breathe in too much of it, it'll make you faint. And then your head will feel heavy like a hangover. It'll clear up after a few hours." 

When the Princess continued to blankly stare at him, Martin felt afraid. 

'Did the knock-out smoke cause any additional problems? I don't it causes these kinds of symptoms...' 

Crying or acting afraid... or maybe trying to find her knights. Martin didn't see Sienna doing any of these things. 

"What's your name?" 

"...Martin." 

"Is that all?" 

Martin hesitated before answering. 

"Martin Kali." 

Kali. 

When the name matched the one in her dreams, Sienna finally relaxed. 

"Are you a knight?" 

"No." 

So he wasn't a knight just yet. It had been pointless for her to search for him in the knights registry. 

Sienna grabbed onto the tree and got up. She realized that they were higher up than their surroundings. Therefore, she could see everything clearly with one look. 

"Where are we?" 

"I'm not sure about the exact location." 

"What about my knights?" 

"They're probably safe." 

One or two might have died, but Martin wasn't sure. He didn't really care about the safety of the knights. Martin had only been ordered to protect the Princess. Levan could take care of himself, so he should be fine. 

"Can you explain what happened?" 

"There was a secret attack. As you correctly remembered, you breathed in the smoke and fainted, Princess. The attackers and your knights began to engage in battle. I took you away before you were swept up in all that commotion." 

"Why did you save me?" 

"..." 

"You're not a knight, and you don't seem to be someone who lives in these parts. And you don't expect me to believe that you were just passing by when you came across the scuffle." 

Martin dug his hand into his hair. He didn't know what to do. He didn't like fumbling around as he tried to think of an excuse. 

While he wasn't so cold-blooded as to stay still when someone was about to die in front of him, he still wasn't friendly enough to know how to console someone. 

If it were any other time, Martin would have merely ignored Sienna until the very end. People who had just escaped a dangerous situation were always chatty, and Martin found it very tiresome to answer all their questions. 

However, things were different this time. He was afraid to do as he wished. It wasn't because she was the Empire's Princess. It was because she was someone who would be marrying his master. 

"I wasn't passing by. I was guarding you, Princess." 

"Since when?" 

"Ever since you got on the ship." 

Martin obediently answered. He didn't want to think too hard about whether answering her questions was the right thing to do. If Sienna had been agitated or interrogating him, he would have been more careful. 

"I didn't see you, though." 

"I was following you from afar." 

"Did my knights know about this?" 

"Probably not." 

"Why are you guarding me?" 

"I received an order to do so." 

A face popped into Sienna's head. 

"...Kuhn?" 

Martin shrugged his shoulders. 

"Kuhn was the one who was supposed to guard me." 

Sienna feigned ignorance and began to search for more information. Martin didn't know what kind of relationship she and Kuhn had. He didn't seem surprised when she mentioned Kuhn. 

"Something came up, and he had to attend to it." 

"So he sent you instead?" 

"Yes." 

"Are you... a family member or a friend of Kuhn's?" 

Martin's eyes widened. His teeth flashed as he laughed. 

"That man is my master." 

Sienna gazed at Martin's face, which was a lot younger than the one in her dreams. She closed her eyes. The smoke wasn't the only thing that was causing this dizziness. 

"Are you alright?" 

Sienna leaned on the tree and nodded. Martin's eyes were full of pride when he mentioned his 'master'. Then the person Martin called his 'master' in the future was... 

'Kuhn...? He's... the Gong King?' 

The Blue King, and the future Gong King. And the man who would become her husband. 

Her heart thumped inside her chest to the point of pain. 

'No. There's no way.' 

It was too far of a leap. A king? It didn't make any sense. Even the ducal families of the Empire weren't called 'kings'. And he wasn't even a citizen of the Empire. 

'I guess Kuhn could have chosen to work for one of the ducal families.' 

Kuhn's master would also become Martin's master. Or maybe Martin changed masters. 

Twenty years was a long time. Anything could happen between then and now. 

"Are we going to stay here? Or are we going to go down and find my knights?" 

"It's not a good idea to go find them. We can't be sure if your knights are still in the canyon, and the roads there will only confuse us." 

"Then what should we do?" 

"Let's head to the pier." 

Martin and Levan had made a promise at the very beginning. If the Princess's party had split into two, they would reconvene at the nearest dock. 

"Didn't you just say that you didn't know where we were?" 

"I might not know where we are right now, but if we find a river, I'll manage." 

"Then let's go." 

"Don't you think you should rest for a little while longer?" 

"I'm fine." 

Martin entered a densely wooded area and came back out with a horse. 

"Do you know how to ride..." 

Before Martin could finish asking his question, Sienna skillfully got on top of the horse. Martin scratched his head in embarrassment. 

"This is the first time I've seen such a large horse." 

"It's a special breed. This rascal can travel through deserts just fine." 

Martin grabbed the reins and began to walk. 

"What time is it?" 

"Sometime past noon." 

"We'll probably miss the evening liner, right?" 

"Yes. We'll probably arrive around dinnertime." 

"Do you have a brother who looks just like you?" 

Martin flinched. Then he let out a soft sigh. 

'That jerk. He's always running around.' 

Martin thought that the Princess might have seen Russ at the marketplace. 

"Yes, he's my younger brother." 

Sienna let out a sigh of relief. He was the same person from her dream. Her head felt stuffy. 

'Kuhn. That man... becomes king.' 

It was too soon to know for sure. For an empire steeped in long history and traditions, the birth of an new power was an extraordinary thing. This was because those in power already would vehemently oppose this change. 

'If the Gong King in my dreams is Kuhn...' 

That meant he would soon appear in the political world of the Empire. 

'Is that even possible?' 

Actually, Sienna was more curious about something else. 

'Will I... really marry him?'