The Villainess Who Was Dumped Got Married into My Family, a Mob Noble from the Frontier, and Turns Out, She's an Amazing Capable Wife? - Chapter 11: The Mysterious Man - From Alicia's Perspective

Chapter 11: The Mysterious Man – From Alicia’s Perspective

I was taken outside and got into a carriage that was prepared for me.

I thought I was going to be shown around the town, but instead, I was taken into the forest nestled within the towering Ydaina mountain range.

“This Ydaina mountain range is beyond human control.”

Ragna explained with his arms wide open, seeing how tired I was from walking. 

Following him through the untrodden animal trails was challenging for me.

I wiped the sweat dripping down my forehead.

Despite dressing for ease of movement, my clothes clung to my skin uncomfortably due to the sweat.

Yet, this discomfort was far more bearable than when I was back in the capital.

“I thought we were going to walk around the town, not in the middle of the mountains… Maybe visit some shops or introduce me to local specialties made from nature…”

I managed to say while catching my breath. 

He responded with a laugh, 

“Hahaha, we don’t have anything like that.”

“Yeah…”

I was puzzled by his smile, finding it slightly irritating. 

“Even if we tried to spruce up the territory, the rough crowd wouldn’t accept it now, and if we appear too appealing to enemies, it would only increase our troubles, right?”

True to his words, the town seen from the carriage window lacked any splendor. 

The town, just like the Brave family’s residence, was extremely plain.

The whole town seemed built to withstand destruction at any moment, a fact that shocked me deeply.

As he mentioned, the sight of residents frequently injured, some missing fingers, arms, or legs, made me realize my own injuries were minor in comparison.

This was a forsaken land.

But even so, people have made their lives here, rooted in this land. 

Children with carefree smiles play and laugh, and adventurers become a bit of a fascination, inspiring their play battles.

For someone like me, who was born and raised in the capital and only knew the beautiful places lined up for nobility when traveling, this place was truly another world. 

“Ah, but betting on who will survive or die is quite popular here, you know?”

“I-is that so…”

“Someone made a profit betting on my father’s death in battle a month ago.”

“…”

That seemed like an incredible gamble to me, but perhaps that’s what people resort to when there’s no other entertainment.

I’ve been told that Ragna’s father and siblings had died in battle last month. 

Yet, he was still smiling and being kind to me. 

“I apologize, that’s not a topic to discuss with a lady.”

“No, it’s okay. If that’s normal here…”

I try to accept it as the way things are. But I don’t think I could smile if my parents were to die, even if I were scorned or abandoned.

“It may be normal here, but I wonder if it’s really good to get too accustomed to this kind of ‘normal’.” 

“What! Just when I was trying to accept this place!”

“Thinking you can just accept it doesn’t mean it’s easy, hahaha.”

“What’s with you…”

I leaned against a nearby tree.

On second thought, trying to accept might be my ego speaking. 

It could be disrespectful to the people living in the Brave territory. 

Maybe it’s better not to use the word “accept” too freely.

“I still haven’t accepted it myself. If I did, I’d be dead.”

Ragna tells me as I take a moment to breathe.

“But, it’s important to understand things deeply.”

“Understand, you say…”

Amid his poor jokes and unexpectedly rude actions, he sometimes murmurs words like these that seem to see right through me. 

He speaks as if he knows about my embarrassments, my irreversible mistakes, things I haven’t shared and prefer not to, laying them out as though he’s aware of them all. 

“Both enemies and allies live on the same earth, so without underestimating or overestimating, get to know both deeply—if you want to survive.”

He added later that understanding deeply could make this hard-to-accept land somewhat better.

His words, though about something entirely different, resonated with my failures, striking deep into my heart. 

“Everyone here has chosen to fight after understanding all this. They’ve made their decisions themselves.” 

“Right… I’ve been looking at the faces of those who live here. It wasn’t like what I heard in the stories…”

“The people of the Brave territory don’t take their decisions lightly after much thought.” 

Then, I wouldn’t be out of place to be laughed at. 

Because I hadn’t made my own decisions…

“Did it get all somber again? It’s okay to laugh about it. We’re in a place where life and death are turned into jokes, right?”

He said with a laugh, scratching his head again. 

Though his gesture made him look his age and somewhat unreliable, the aura he exuded when he spoke those confident words made him appear more mature than any noble at the academy, even more than the prince himself.

“You say to laugh, then say not to. It’s confusing…”

“Doesn’t that mean just living in the moment?”

He’s a truly strange and mismatched man.

After being told “almost there” repeatedly, I was made to climb up a cliff.

I was gasping in an unladylike and clumsy manner, and he unhelpfully commented, “You’re just not used to climbing cliffs,” but it’s not something I wanted to get used to. 

When I was left hanging by his hand, I firmly decided not to trust this man and even resented him a bit.

But then…

“Wow…”

When I saw the view from the top of the cliff we had climbed so desperately, all my trivial complaints vanished.

“This is my favorite place.”

He kept talking afterwards, but I couldn’t hear a word over the vastness of the wasteland.

It made all my worries and everything I had lost seem like mere nonsense that happened within the small confines of the capital.

“It feels so small…”

I muttered unintentionally, and Ragna started mumbling about something unrelated, but I made sure to say that’s not what I meant.

His sulking face was a bit amusing.

It felt slightly satisfying, like getting back at him for bringing me up this dangerous mountain and leaving me hanging off a cliff. 

Faction fights at the academy, a broken engagement—all of it seemed trivial in the face of this awe, but I held back.

The memories of growing up in the duke’s family and my feelings for the prince were undeniably real, and it felt wrong to forget them as if they didn’t matter. 

I’m still full of uncertainties about what was or what will be the right thing to do, but standing next to him, I decided to ask.

“Lord Ragna, I want to ask you something.” 

“You can just call me by my name. No one really uses ‘lord’ with me, so I’m not used to it.”

…As usual, he can’t read the room, or what’s with this guy? 

Deciding to drop the formalities between us, I ask again. 

“Hey, Ragna. After agonizing over a decision and resolving to accept the outcome, what would you do if you still ended up regretting it, hopelessly?”