Castle

That rock stood on a promontory, giving Alicia a clear view of the path she had taken.

In the sunset, the valley's magnificent scenery stretched beneath her feet: fields, stone walls, hedgerows, winding rivers, and manor houses gleaming gold amid the trees, all the way to the distant green mountains.

The town lay below her. She could look down on its main street and even make out the market square.

"We barely went anywhere at all." Alicia dejectedly spoke to her cane. "Wouldn't it have been nice if your owner had been the Sorcerer?"

Just now, she had genuinely thought that old man might have been the Sorcerer, or some other miraculous being. After all, how could there be such a coincidence in this world? Just when she needed a cane, someone had given her one.

Besides, shepherds in myths usually were not ordinary people. Jesus had called himself a shepherd, and that man had looked rather like him—naturally curly, shoulder-length graying hair, and a long beard.

Wasn't that how mythological stories always went?

Someone with magical powers disguised themselves as a weak person in trouble to test whether others would offer help, then rewarded them in the end.

But clearly, that had only been her fantasy. He had merely been an ordinary person, and all she had received was a cane.

Because she was close to the snowfields, the temperature had dropped quickly after sunset. Chill seeped from the stone in waves, and cold wind struck her face, making her instinctively pull her clothes tighter around herself.

But the freezing wind rushed at her from every direction, leaving her nowhere to hide. She began to regret it. She might as well have stayed in the royal palace.

An exorcism ritual was still better than freezing to death out here.

And if they really believed she was the real Alicia, perhaps they would send an army to find the Sorcerer here. She would not need to come herself at all.

But that was only a possibility. She had already left the royal palace. If she went back now, no one would be even less likely to believe that an old woman from elsewhere was the Princess.

"I hope that cabin has a comfortable chair and a stove with a fire going." Alicia muttered.

At that moment, her desire for those two things was overwhelming. Her mind also involuntarily conjured endless darkness, and wolves or something else lurking within it.

But she could not go back anymore. By the time she got down the mountain, it would already be midnight. She might as well keep going. Perhaps the shepherd's cabin was just ahead.

Alicia sighed and shakily stood up. Her entire body ached. As a pampered Princess, nothing could have been worse than this.

"No wonder so many emperors sought immortality. Getting old can be this painful?"

She panted as she struggled onward up the mountain.

Night fell quickly, and Broom Heather Highlands turned blue-gray beneath the increasingly biting wind.

Alicia heard her own breathing and the creaking of her legs. Only after a while did she realize that the rustling sound had not come from her.

She felt the earth trembling, as though something enormous was approaching.

She looked up in confusion. A colossal thing was slowly coming toward her—something with an extremely bizarre shape, its noise sweeping across the wilderness at her.

It was undoubtedly the ugliest thing she had ever seen, a jumble of miscellaneous trash pieced together as if it might collapse at any moment. Its enormous smiling face was terrifying.

Alicia stood frozen as the castle soon passed over her head, black smoke billowing from above it.

She was not particularly afraid. The strongest thought in her mind was that such thick black smoke meant there was a very warm stove inside.

"Looks like we found it, mate." Alicia said to the cane in her hand. "That Sorcerer probably won't be interested in the soul of an old woman like me."

She threw caution to the wind, waved her cane, and tremblingly shouted at the castle.

"Stop!"

To her delight, the castle actually stopped several dozen meters away. She hobbled toward it with surprisingly brisk steps.

Up close, the castle was even uglier. It was far too huge and misshapen, and the night was so dark that she could not see it clearly.

Even so, it did not frighten her away. Her mind was filled with stoves and comfortable chairs. She quickly found the entrance at the rear of the castle.

However, her hand could not reach it. An invisible wall blocked her from outside. She poked at it with her cane, but she simply could not get in.

She grew anxious.

"Please open the door," she called. "I have something important to tell the Sorcerer inside!"

But the door remained unmoved. Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and the castle started moving again. The door creaked.

"Don't do this! Open the door!"

She staggered after it, barely managing to plant one foot on the steps before the door. Then she jumped again.

The castle accelerated along the rugged mountain path. The doorframe swayed and creaked. Alicia was not surprised in the slightest that the castle leaned to one side. It was a miracle it had not fallen apart on the spot.

This time, the door miraculously opened. She looked beyond it. The room appeared empty, and she did not know whether its owner was home.

Many things that might have been related to a Sorcerer hung from the beams, such as onions strung together with thread and strange roots.

There were also leather-bound books that obviously had something to do with magic, along with old bottles. What attracted her most, though, was the fireplace on the left.

A tiny flame burned in the hearth. Compared to the thick smoke pouring out outside, it was pitifully small, as though it might go out at any moment.

The bright fire glowed red, orange flames dancing over the logs. Best of all, there was a cushioned chair beside it.

Alicia's eyes immediately lit up. Without caring whether there was any danger inside, she rushed over and sat in the chair, leaning comfortably against its back.

The warm fire drove away her chill and eased her pain, while the chair supported her back. If anyone wanted to throw her out now, they would have to kill her first.

The door closed by itself. Once Alicia came to her senses, she suddenly realized that although the castle was moving, she could not feel even the slightest vibration or swaying inside. Not a sound from outside reached the room either.

Was this magic? Alicia wondered.

There was a basket of firewood beside her. She stretched out her creaking arms and added several logs. The flames did their job well, and the whole room soon brightened. It was not large, and she quickly noticed a staircase along one side.

Would the Sorcerer be upstairs?

But she had no desire to leave this comfortable chair. She placed her knobby feet near the hearth and rested her head against the chair back. It made her even more comfortable, allowing her to watch the flames before her and think about what to do next.

Only the face she imagined in the fire distracted her somewhat.

"Your mouth is really scary, mate, but your eyes are adorable." Alicia muttered. She could imagine those eyes watching her.

She stared into the flames and continued talking to herself.

"The Sorcerer should be upstairs, right? Will he lift the curse?

After the curse is broken, will he eat my heart?"

"I don't think he will," the flames said.

The flames had spoken!

Alicia rubbed her eyes. She suddenly realized that the face in the fire before her did not seem to be something she had imagined.