As May approached, it should have been the liveliest season in the Duchy.
Farmers called to their oxen as they plowed the fields; women carried baskets of freshly baked wheat cakes and called for their husbands; barefoot children chased one another across the grass as they tended their herds.
Yet all Roland and his knights saw now was deathly silence.
"Cousin."
Leo Sunyang reined in his horse. The animal pawed uneasily at the ground, snorting repeatedly.
His young face was bloodless, his gaze fixed on a corpse in the roadside ditch.
The man's body was twisted unnaturally, his skin gray-black and beginning to swell.
Worst of all, black clots were slowly oozing from his gaping mouth, coating half his face.
"This is blood-cough disease," Roland said calmly.
The arguments in the family's council chamber before their departure echoed in his ears again.
"Roland, we understand your concern for Diana. She is, after all, a count from a branch of our family. But blood-cough disease is no ordinary illness. This is the Dawn Territory! Who knows whether it's an isolated island or a graveyard now?!"
"Even if the Sunyang bloodline can resist the plague, how can you risk yourself as the family heir? And bring Leo along, no less! The properties of his aura are of great importance to the family!"
"We should trust that the Lord of Everglory's radiance will protect Diana, rather than gamble the family's future on a slim possibility."
Roland had not argued. He had simply gathered his personal guard late that night and brought along his younger cousin Leo, whose knightly aura could resist curses.
He had to come. His knightly principles were part of the reason, but the deeper reason was Weilin Klein.
Even Roland could not fully explain it. He simply had a premonition