The bone-chilling winds of the blizzard slams against Evaline's face as she continued to push through the snow. Though not as resilient as her father, Evaline progressed at a trot along with Rosseweisse who seemed to not also be affected by the savage weather.
"Lady Evaline! What about Lord Ashen?", Rosseweisse asks worriedly.
"Do not worry about my fa-I mean, DAD...Lady Rosseweisse.", Evaline replied without taking her eyes from the front, "Dad said he does not plan to fight whatever it is we sensed to the death and that he'll soon follow after us."
Evaline knows her father. He may be very stubborn or very reckless, a man without a filter for his mouth or a very brusque person; but he is no liar.
If he says he will do something, one can be very sure that he will do it or die trying. He just happens to not tell the whole truth at times.
'But for some reason...I'm starting to grow worried myself...'
And yet, the ominous feeling that something unpleasant is about to happen is starting to gnaw away at Evaline's resolute mind.
'I just hope nothing too bad happens...ah damn it!'
She immediately regretted even thinking about it and wanted to slap herself since she knew - whenever she or her father thinks so, it always ends up becoming a flag that they just can't seem to avoid.
"Lady Rosseweisse! Where are you?!"
Suddenly, the voices of their two other companions echoed out from the somewhere nearby.
'Ugh...again?'
Her feet stopped and she looked behind her only to be greeted by the howling blizzard that swirled all around them.
'...I'm not so adept at discerning things in the middle of blizzards like this...'
She thought in lament as she squinted her eyes to look a little better into the white gloom; looking for any signs of her two other companions.
Could they have gotten lost perhaps? Evaline did not know. If it were up to her, she'd immediately ditch her wayward companions and just continue on with just her and Rosseweisse. However, she also knew that with only her, protecting Rosseweisse against the terrorists or any other hostile force would be next to impossible that is why she understands that she'll need all the manpower she could get and nothing is better than a couple of people trained to fight.
Problem is-
'Where in the bloody hell are they?!'
-she could not find them.
"I believe if we push onwards we will eventually find them.", Rosseweisse suddenly declared with a slight tug of Evaline's hand.
"What do you mean by that, Lady Rosseweisse?"
Evaline looked at the rather calm and collected Saint who just stared back at her with eyes of certainty.
From where did that confidence come from, Evaline wondered in the depths of her mind. Though she may have spent less than a month with Rosseweisse and hardly interacted with the Saint even though they were both in the palace, Evaline knew for a fact that Rosseweisse was the sort of airheaded person that would unknowingly find themselves in the middle of danger dragging anyone unfortunate enough to be near her into the chaos.
If anything, her being sure of someone else's location is very doubtful. Does she even see through this blizzard? Surely she could not. Otherwise, she wouldn't need to wait here and just head towards their two other companions. Yet, taking a second look at the resolute Saint somehow gives Evaline the slight feeling that it might just be true.
'...No point just standing here...', Evaline made a mental shrug, 'Must some kind of Saintly thing. I'm not used to protecting someone alone but at the very least, I'll try my best for now.', she then resolved herself to just push on.
"No matter. Let's go then, Lady Rosseweisse."
*****
"Seriously...what the hell?"
The absurdity of the sight before her was so intense, Evaline slipped back to how she talked before she came to England.
Saint's Guard.
An organization with great renown across the world. Evaline had been told they were very skilled warriors who are meant to protect Saints from any - and she means EVERY - threat imaginable.
"Lady Evaline, should we not help them?"
Evaline made an exasperated shrug at Rosseweisse's question. She could not believe that the people she expected to be dependable-
"HELP US!"
-are now dangling down a ravine hanging on for dear life unto a rope.
'How did they even manage to fall down such a ravine?', Evaline looked at the whitened sky and wondered just how much of a disappointment her companions could ever get. She could finally understand her father's sheer exasperation towards them throughout their travels with them.
"Lady Evaline, please help them.", Rosseweisse pleaded beside her.
Evaline was tempted to refuse but then again she really cannot since they're in the middle of a blizzard and the two dangling down the ravine are obviously about to reach their limits since for some reason they aren't so resilient to the cold. In the first place, do they even need help? Didn't they jump down from somewhere higher than this particular ravine? So it should not even be a problem for them.
But Rosseweisse was imploring Evaline to go help them. A genuine show of concern for her fellow people; however, the feeling of reluctance is somehow holding Evaline back.
'Should I?'
A question she asks herself over and over again in her mind. But there is that security concern of hers...
So there was only one course of action Evaline can take.
"Fine..."
That is to rescue her rather clumsy companions from death.
*****
Shortly after Evaline rescued Maria and Kyrie from falling to their deaths...
"*huff*! Are you even human?! *huff*!"
"You sure are rude for someone who just got rescued from death, Miss Maria. Should I kick you down the ravine again?", Evaline replied to the gasping Saint's Guard in displeasure.
The idea of actually kicking the gasping Guard down the ravine seemed like a very tempting thought. As tempting as a bowl of hot chowder at least.
But lucky for Maria, Evaline was calm enough to remember that she alone cannot protect the Saintess against whoever it was that might be chasing after them.
"Thank you...your Highness, Evaline...", Kyrie who had managed to get to her feet even after being the one subjected to pain the most, huffed as she tried to catch her breath.
"At least you're grateful...", Evaline could not help but let slip her exasperation as she approached Kyrie, "Here. Use this to restore some of your stamina.", and handed the young Guard a small bottle filled with yellow liquid.
"Whatever is that, Lady Evaline?", Rosseweisse curiously asked Evaline.
'Seriously?', Evaline could not help but feel surprised by Rosseweisse's apparent ignorance. Afterall, the object she handed Kyrie was not something rare nor uncommon in the modern era.
"It's a 'rejuvenation potion'. Did you not see my father use one of these when you were together in Lothargien?", Evaline explained to the curious Saint, "It's a potion used to restore a person's stamina."
"Mm...", Rosseweisse shook her head, "I never saw him use such a thing. I did not even see him sleep."
Her tone suggested that she was somehow exasperated by Evaline's father. But since as far as Evaline knew, Saints were not allowed to feel exasperation or even complain about anything so Rosseweisse's tone must have indicated something else.
That said-
"Wait, you never saw Fa - I mean, Dad...sleep?"
-that one bit of Rosseweisse's response piqued Evaline's interest.
"You seem...awfully interested by His Majesty not having been seen asleep.", Kyrie asked after having drunk the stamina potion.
Evaline wanted to answer but then, the blizzard started picking up again and this time, Maria who had been silent was already shivering severely.
"Hmph! We don't have time to dally around in this blizzard. We need to continue onwards lest YOU end up freezing to death.", with a harrumph, she grabbed Rosseweisse's hand and started moving along the edge of the ravine, "Miss Kyrie, please get Miss Maria off her feet and follow after us. We don't have much time."
"Where do you suppose we should head to, Lady Evaline?", Rosseweisse asked.
Evaline tried to recall what her father had planned.
"Assuming we went the right direction after getting out the cave and we did not somehow moved around the ravine and are on the wrong side...", Evaline stopped for a moment and looked across the ravine, "We should head for the other side of that ravine. There are no bridges anywhere across this so we need to skirt around and head for Moscow.", she answered the curious Saint.
She then looked at their two other companions who were struggling to follow after her and the Saint.
'I sure hope nothing bad is gonna happen...ah damn...shouldn't have thought of that...'
With that regretful thought in mind, she reluctantly lead the way across the white gloom of the blizzard.