The best part of traveling through the night was the cold and the silence that came with it.
The chill made progress easier, especially since they didn't stop during the day.
If they kept this pace, resting once every three days or so, they could cut nearly a month off the first leg of their journey. A prospect that surely pleased both sides.
But it was the silence of the outside world at night that felt truly rare.
No carts rattling down the roads, no chatter, no shouting, no signs of life at all, just stillness.
And for Blanc, that stillness was a comfort. Better the absence of sound than being forced to hear conversations he was not a part of, since Velakia and her two protectors acted suspiciously by keeping to themselves.
Especially since they did not seem to care for his advice on how to act in the Empire.
For Blanc, it was easier to maintain the silence in such a place. In that emptiness, the road felt lighter beneath his feet.
In that emptiness, the distance between him and those he loved did not seem so large.
In that emptiness, the days that took them to leave the Domain of Blood Maroux rushed past.
It was now the sixth day of their journey, in the early hours of the morning, when Blanc woke up in his bed he previously shared with his wives. Just a few hours ago, they managed to pass into the next Domain, choosing to rest just outside the walked roads.
A good moment for all of them to rest, replenish their energy, before starting anew.
Especially for Blanc, as the Domain they just entered was the Domain ruled by Lord Hiiam of Blood Elna, to whom Elion wanted to marry Lune in the past, right before the Iron Line came.
From what Lucien knew and all the info Bezel Domini provided them, Blood Elna was not an enemy, not that of the Empire at least.
But Blanc could not help but hate him for it and see his Blood as an enemy of his own, regardless of who was supposed to marry Lune, be it the Patriarch or his heir; in Blanc's eyes, it was wrong either way in his eyes to wish to marry such a young girl.
But now, rested and with his hatred replenished, he got up from the bed, put on the layer of clothes he had removed before going to sleep, and went outside.
"Good morning," he said to Lendros, the only one outside, as he stared into the fire.
"Atante," Lendros nodded while looking at him, before turning back towards the flame.
In these six days that the four of them had traveled together, Blanc picked up on the basic things they said to each other.
'Atante,' from what Blanc could guess, was a way of saying 'Morning' casually.
The two ladies, Velakia and Tahreni, were to Blanc's left, sleeping in a makeshift tent. Regardless of the cities they passed through, Velakia seemed to refuse to buy a proper tent, saying that they were more comfortable.
But Blanc, in all his wisdom, had already figured out it was just a prideful way of saying that she didn't have any gold on her.
It was hard for Blanc to see her as a proper Princess, part of a Royal Family, when, despite her beauty and pretty eyes, she snored like a drunkard, slept like a vagabond, and wore rugged clothes. The only thing that matched a high status in the world was her ego, her way of speaking, and the superiority she wore like a bra. For whenever she felt in the right, in the few conversations they had, she would push her chest so far up ahead that it might have been possible to use it to get to Blood Seraph faster.
Another thing that annoyed Blanc to no end was that they refused any show of kindness he so gracefully offered them.
After washing his face and teeth, Blanc grabbed his bowl, filled it with oats, berries, butter, and water, and made a quick porridge, one able to fill his stomach for at least a day.
Today too, he took a second bowl from his backpack, filled it with porridge, and offered it to Lendros, who, when laying eyes upon the food, began shaking his head with renewed vigor, his eyes so wide, he once again looked scared of the food.
"Why?" Blanc asked, sighing, "It's not poisoned, look."
He took a bite of his own bowl, then one from the bowl he prepared for Lendros, but the man still refused.
"Topun," Lendros kept repeating, while pushing the bowl away again, and again.
"Topun my ass," Blanc muttered, taking the bowl back to him, "Eat air then."
Another failure to create even a resemblance of trust between them. Blanc was not even sure the three of them had even eaten these last six days, only remembering them eating at Lucien's dinners.
What was the difference?
Unable to find an answer, Blanc stopped caring since he had to try eating both bowls of food in order not to waste anything.
Once he was done eating, Velakia and Tahreni woke up and joined Lendros in staring into the fire while Blanc summoned the bad back into the marble and packed the tent up.
"I am ready," he said to the three.
"Back on the road then," Velakia nodded, getting to her feet, followed closely behind by Lendros and Tahreni, who started putting out the fire before leaving.
After another day lacking any conversations, by the time the roads cleared of life and the sun finished setting, Blanc, Velakia, Tahreni, and Lendros got face to face with a walk downhill into the darkness that seemed to go for hundreds, if not even a thousand feet below their current altitude.
The road seemed properly taken care of, or at least walked every day.
If Blanc had not focused his vision properly, he would not have been able to see the valley below through the increasing darkness.
But the flickers of light from the torches moving around in the valley made it obvious that this place was filled with life… And the screams of women.