Finding An Unlikely Bride

The Last Night

I can't believe people are actually reading this, but oh mah gosh thank you guys so much for all this! Ilysm, and I'll try to update this book way more often, but I'll end this note here. On with the story!

Ludwig's P.O.V.

The next day started early, by that I mean we got up before the sun did. It seemed she was set on getting out of Russian/Slavic territory as quickly as possible, and I could understand why.

Our kingdoms have recently had a minor bruise to the relationship between them. To put it simply, the Russians wanted to apply a specific trade system to all it's neighboring kingdoms, including ours. The vote between all the nations that applied to this policy was split 50/50.

The Germanic kingdom was the only nation who hadn't voted yet, and when we did, we sided against it with the American nation. The council had decided that it might be safer to damage out relationship with the Slavs instead of the Americas.

The Slavic nation hasn't been too happy since then, and their governing body is pretty shady. If they knew I was here, something very bad might happen.

On the bright side, at least I'm not riding in a wooden crate anymore. Monika still rode my own horse, while I rode hers. This wasn't surprising, since my hands were tied behind me and, unlike mine, her steed would follow her no matter what.

We rode along for about 5 hours before stopping to eat. We didn't have breakfast at the inn; Monika insisted we leave before dawn, probably to avoid another night in these God-forsaken mountains.

Eventually we did take a break for food. It probably didn't last for more than an hour and a half since she heated up the soup she had been saving over the fire, and caught a couple of small to medium sized fish in a nearby stream for a side dish. She mumbled something about having to do more work since she was only planning to feed herself on this trip, but added the bigger of the two fish to my serving. We ate side by side on the frosted ground, our backs supported by a large tree, and facing the small fire that still managed to emit enough heat to warm us a good amount.

My wrists were still tied in front of me, so I managed to eat, though it was rather awkward and took quite a bit more time than usual, since this was not necessarily what would be considered "finger food." Naturally, Monika finished a lot sooner than I did. After watching me struggle for a few minutes more, the maiden gave a small sigh.

Turning her body to face me, she plucked the spoon from my hand and proceeded to feed me. It was embarrassing for the both of us, but above all else, I think she just wanted to get back on the road as fast as possible and I was holding her up. After that awkward moment passed, she helped me up and merely commanded me to get on the horse, so they could get out of here. I'm still not very used to being bossed around by a woman, but it's not like I have much of a choice at this point. She put out the fire, packed up the rest of the supplies, and we were back on the road again.

The rest of the ride continued in silence as usual, other than a few brief conversations about random topics, such as life at home. This is how it was until the sun began to set and we made it out of the mountain range, when she started sneezing and coughing frequently. I raised a brow. "Bist du krank?" I asked after a while of this. "Nein," was her short and final answer.

("Are you sick?" "No.")

"Are you sure?" I inquired again. "It is rather common for one to get sick once transitioning from an area of different altitude, especially in this season." She didn't answer me or even turn around. We continued riding, her leading my stallion into a nearby village near the American border. After finding a cozy inn with a beet farm growing at the front, she stopped and dismounted.