"How long has it been?"
"Today is the seventh day. It seems the war will drag on, so it's better not to go near the capital for a while. If you don't want to get caught up in it."
At those words, Liv tightly closed her lips. She had to get to the capital by any means necessary. But if even the merchant guild wasn't going, there was absolutely no way to find a carriage to the capital.
'I have no choice.'
If that was the case, there was only one way.
"Where can I buy clothes?"
Liv bought clothes to change into at a shop. The skirt that came down to just below her knees to avoid inconvenience while walking was made of a well-ventilated fabric. The clothes from the Kingdom of Ashur that Liv was wearing now were too eye-catching and not suitable for long walks.
Well, if she couldn't take a carriage to the capital, the remaining answer was simple, wasn't it?
"I'll have to walk."
Take a carriage to a city near the capital. Then walk from there to the capital.
Although she would take a carriage to near the capital, moving between cities on foot would be quite arduous. Especially for Liv, who had lived a life without ever really walking properly. But Liv had to do it.
When Liv found a carriage going to a city a bit away from the capital, the driver looked at her with suspicious eyes. He looked Liv up and down and said:
"...I think I'll have to ask you to get off."
"What?"
"Well, you know the rumors going around these days, don't you?"
"Rumors?"
For now, Liv handed him a few gold coins. Then his face changed instantly and he smiled brightly.
"Haha, there's no way a young lady like you could be that person! Get on!"
It was an annoying attitude, but Liv had no choice in her current situation. After getting on the carriage, Liv asked about the rumors.
"So what exactly are these rumors?"
"Don't you know? You know, that one. The rumor that a white witch with strange powers has appeared and will ruin the country."
"A white witch?"
Liv's brow furrowed at those strangely grating words.
"Yes, were there people who didn't know about that rumor?"
"I've been in another country... Can I hear more?"
As Liv urged him, the driver began explaining in a slow drawl.
"Well, it's just as it sounds. According to the rumors, a white witch cursed by God is wandering around this country."
"Where on earth did this rumor come from?"
"I wouldn't know that. It's just a rumor going around."
"Do people believe this rumor?"
"It doesn't hurt to be careful. The country is so tumultuous these days."
At those words, Liv snorted. It was obviously a rumor spread by August targeting her.
Until a few centuries ago, witch hunts were rampant in this land. Innocent women lost their lives in horrible ways. And now August was trying to bring back those witch hunts to this land. Thinking that she didn't know how far he was trying to go with this, Liv bit her lip hard.
When the carriage arrived at a city near the capital a few days later, Liv realized that the rumor had spread more widely than she thought. An older woman approached Liv with a worried face and said:
"Young lady, don't you know the recent rumors? It would be better to cover that hair."
"Ah..."
Although she said it out of concern for Liv, those words made Liv hesitate.
But she couldn't keep shrinking back like this. The path to reclaiming the imperial throne had to be dignified. Liv had learned the dignity of a king in the Kingdom of Ashur.
"It's alright."
Liv decided to walk straight towards where the capital was. It would probably take another week of walking, but now was the time she had to do it. As Liv started walking towards the capital, people began to whisper as they looked at her.
"That hair..."
"Is she really a witch?"
"You know, there's even a rumor that the civil war started because of a witch."
Finally, one of them approached Liv and pointed a finger at her.
"Hey! Get out of our village, you bring bad luck!"
Liv stared at that finger. Perhaps intimidated by Liv's gaze, the man slowly lowered his finger.
'Should I leave them be?'
These people can't do anything to Liv anyway. Then would it be better to ignore them and keep walking, or...
"Well..."
Liv made a decision. She was going to ascend to the highest position in the empire, and in that process, she had no intention of letting anything damage her reputation. Ominous rumors needed to be nipped in the bud.
"Do I look like a witch to you?"
As Liv said that, her pale pink eyes flashed golden. The person in front of Liv stepped back in surprise. At that moment, bell chimes rang out.
People unanimously turned their heads towards where the bells were ringing. In the center of the village, a tall church. The bells were ringing from the tower of that church.
"Is it time for the bells to ring?"
"No, it hasn't been long since the bells rang..."
People felt a sense of dissonance seeing the church bells ring at the same time Liv's eyes shone. People could have denounced Liv as a witch, but the sound coming from the church bell tower stopped their mouths. Just then, someone shouted in a surprised voice:
"Look over there...!"
The clover pattern carved in stone on the church tower was shining with a golden light. It was an undeniable brilliant golden light. Even though sunlight wasn't shining on the clover carving, it shone alone.
When people looked at Liv with bewildered faces, they discovered something even more surprising. A golden clover was shining inside Liv's eyes.
"Ooh...!"
People could no longer brand Liv, who bore the mark of the Holy Church in her body, as a witch. People rushed to kneel before Liv.
"Are you a Saintess?"
Someone asked that. A woman bearing the symbol of the Holy Church's god must be a Saint. He guessed based on his limited knowledge. However, Liv shook her head with a faint smile.
"No, I am..."
Finally, those words came from Liv's mouth.
"Gracia."
* * *
A man who had come to run an errand in a neighboring village discovered a strange sight.
"Excuse me, what is this procession?"
The man asked in a puzzled voice, seeing people lined up walking somewhere. Then someone from inside the line turned their head and answered in a calm voice.
"Oh, we are following Lady Gracia."
"Lady Gracia? Who is that?"
It was definitely a name in his head, but why couldn't he remember? As the man scratched his head, an old man walking with them shouted loudly:
"You ignorant man, don't you know even that? You must have heard the name of Lady Anfang Gracia?"
"Ah!"
Anfang Gracia, the girl loved by the Supreme God, the mother of the first Emperor, the protagonist of all legends about this country. The man nodded, recalling the figure that no one in the Hilysid Empire could not know. The Gracia family that inherited her blood was the former imperial family.
"But what do you mean by Lady Gracia?"
At those words, someone else jumped into the conversation with an excited voice:
"To drive out the tyrant August, the Supreme God has sent us a new Gracia!"
"What?"
The man covered his mouth in surprise at words that wouldn't be strange even if his head was cut off immediately, but everyone in that procession seemed unconcerned.
"A new person to become Emperor has appeared, I tell you?"
"She is loved by the Supreme God."
"What do you mean..."
Standing there with a bewildered face, the man recalled one story he had heard before. It was a story about a 'woman loved by the Supreme God'. Yes, the name of the woman in that story was...
"L-Liv?"
He had heard a rumor that a woman had proven her power in the temple. That person had sacred white hair.
"Yes, Lady Liv Gracia."
"She's walking this path now to become Emperor."
Hearing those words, the man became even more terrified. Even if the rumor that she was loved by the Supreme God was true, how could she kill the tyrant August and become Emperor?
Usually, commoners like him had no interest in the Emperor. If commoners didn't know the Emperor's name, that Emperor qualified to be called a wise ruler. For example, when he was young, it was still the time when Gracia was the imperial family, and back then he lived without being aware of the Emperor's existence at all.
But at some point, he found himself cursing 'the tyrant August', with his name engraved in his head, as the culprit who made life difficult.
August was such a terrifying existence that even commoners like him knew the Emperor's name. To him, August felt like an absolute monarch that no one could dare defeat.
"Bah, if you can't believe it, go to the front and see for yourself!"
The old man shouted loudly once again, so the man scratched his head and walked forward. The procession was longer than he thought, so he had to walk at a fast pace.
Finally, he was able to see a woman with white hair walking at the head of the procession. Unlike the rumors, she looked rather unimpressive. She was just a small young woman. But...
"Huh?"
Wherever she walked, yellow flowers were blooming. Yes, yellow flowers were really blooming from bare ground where there was nothing. Yellow canaries, considered auspicious in the Holy Church, circled around her.
Seeing that sight, he realized that Liv Gracia was truly loved by God. It was a sight he would never see again in his life. A miracle was being realized. And perhaps...
'The love of the Supreme God was something amazing.'
She might really become the new Emperor. Looking at her, it felt like she could even defeat August...
In the end, the man tagged along at the end of the procession, and the procession grew longer and longer.