The sound of thunder, heavy rain, and terrifying rumbling reached the ears of Teresa, who was leaning limply outside the horse carriage that had been destroyed in several parts. Teresa has been conscious since several hours ago. But because of her body condition, she couldn't go anywhere to take Melisa, who was unconscious with a high fever.
They were trapped in the middle of nowhere without a single light to show their location. In the midst of their desperate situation, Teresa could only think about the condition of Melisa, who fell asleep on the train after Teresa gave her first aid.
Even though when she fell, Teresa had tried hard to protect Melisa from being hit, in a situation where the train was rolling at high speed, it was still impossible for Teresa to really prevent Melisa from getting hurt in that situation. Melisa received several injuries from her body being tossed around in the falling carriage, then rolled around for a long time as they finally stopped. Thanks to this, it was difficult for Melisa to stay conscious, especially when coupled with the cold temperature in that place, thanks to the rain that didn't stop falling.
Teresa had taken off her outer clothing and tore the cloth inside the horse carriage to warm up the room temperature inside the horse carriage. Melisa could probably hold on for a few more hours. However, if they don't get help for more than 24 hours, Teresa is afraid that Melisa's condition will worsen and end up threatening the girl's life.
CRACK!
"WHO IS THERE?!"
Ever since they were attacked, Teresa had been in full guard mode, so she never let go of the knife that had fallen with her. Of her four limbs, only her left hand was not too badly injured and could still be moved. Even so, Teresa is confident that she can still take down one or two people who might threaten Melisa's safety.
"Cough!"
Instead of the attacker targeting Melisa or the wild animal, it was Alister who appeared not long after, who was not in good condition either. His left leg sprained when Alister tried to lower himself from the tree that was supporting him previously. Meanwhile, because Alister's wound was caused by a direct hit from a rock, the condition of his right hand looked much more terrible than the condition of Teresa's broken hand and leg.
"You guys... you are really here."
Despite his dire condition, Alister looks happy when he manages to find Melisa's disappeared horse-drawn carriage. Stumbling completely, Alister approached Teresa, who was surprised to see the man's condition. With Alister's condition, Teresa could tell that Alister was not a threat to her or Melisa.
"Dame Teresa, where is Melisa?"
Teresa immediately became alert again when she heard Alister calling her by her true identity. Teresa readied the knife in her hand before she asked Alister, who looked exhausted.
"Who are you?"
Teresa knew that Alister had no evil intentions towards Melisa. Moreover, Alister is someone from the Sigmund Kingdom who seems to really love Melisa. Teresa quite respected the man. Even so, she couldn't just trust someone who could know something that not even the Sigmund Royal family knew.
"...You may not remember. But when the Sigmund Kingdom was still trying to invade the Cyrille Kingdom in the past, I was Melisa's temporary friend when I was in the Cyrille Kingdom."
Teresa's pupils shrank as if she had just remembered something important. Now everything made sense to Teresa. Even Alister's love, Teresa could guess the biggest reason.
"Even though my appearance is currently messy, there is part of the rescue team that came to look for Melisa. Right now, she is in that horse-drawn carriage, right?"
Teresa nodded. After Alister's explanation, Teresa's wariness towards the man disappeared again.
"Are the others coming with you, my Lord?"
Alister smiled wryly before he shook his head reluctantly.
"I got separated because I insisted on looking for you in this extreme weather. But it doesn't matter. As long as you're okay, I'll be back soon to call the others to help you immediately."
"...Are you able to do it?"
Teresa felt doubtful in her eyes. Alister's condition was also worrying and needed medical treatment as soon as possible. Even though the rain dulled her sense of hearing a little, Teresa could still hear that Alister was having difficulty breathing properly. It was a sign that the man also had internal injuries, making it dangerous for him to remain wandering in dangerous areas in that kind of extreme weather.
"I can do it. Melisa will be closer to danger if she continues to be in this place."
Alister's answer sounded so confident that Teresa could feel how much Alister loved Melisa. Teresa smiled slightly. If it was Alister, Teresa felt that she could leave her and Melisa's safety to that man.
"Please be careful, my Lord. We will wait for you in this place."
Alister nodded before he turned around to trudge off in search of the reinforcements sent by Alexius.
***
"Quickly search that area!"
Thanks to an emergency order from Alexius, even if the rain had not completely stopped, the search teams had split up again to continue their search. Each of them moved quickly after hearing that the area where Melisa was looking was affected by a landslide. Some of them even carried shovels, afraid that there might be a special situation where they would need to use them to dig up something buried in the ground.
"Sir, we found Lord Alister!"
After a tense search for approximately one hour, one of the search teams ran hastily to report to the knight assigned to lead the search task. The knight immediately followed the search team in a hurry. He only felt relieved when he actually saw Alister, who was still alive, standing in front of him.
"My Lord!"
"You have to quickly follow me! I have found Princess Melisa and her maid in a valley not far from here!"
"But, but your wounds...."
"Her safety is more important than my life right now!"
When people focused more on the injuries he had suffered, Alister immediately shouted to awaken people's minds. They could only depend on Alister to look for Melisa. Therefore, two people were assigned to help Alister walk and show him where Melisa was.
"We found them!"
Thanks to Alister's direction, the search team finally succeeded in finding Melisa and Teresa and immediately carried out first aid to save their lives. Alister could only breathe a sigh of relief after seeing Melisa being carefully removed from the horse-drawn carriage to be wrapped in a thick blanket. Even though the rain had not completely stopped at that time, their efforts at least succeeded in bringing back a little color to Melisa's pale cheeks.
"Ugh."
"My Lord!"
Maybe because Alister finally felt calm, the pain in his body that had not been felt so much before began to invade him like an electric shock. Alister tried to take a deep breath to calm his body. But this time, his lungs felt like they were being squeezed while his heart was beating with an abnormal rhythm. Alister suddenly felt all kinds of discomfort. And because of that, Alister was no longer able to continue standing even if he had been supporting him firmly all along.
"Cough!"
A warm liquid came out of Alister's mouth as soon as he tried to speak after he fell. Alister saw that what had just come out of his mouth was blood.
"My Lord!"
Alister felt that his vision was slowly blurring due to the pain. In the midst of the heavy rain, Alister could only faintly hear the screams of people panicking about his suddenly worsening condition.
After that, Alister felt that his consciousness was getting blurry before he fell straight into unconsciousness.