I’m in the Arms of the Cursed Grand Duke - Chapter 61

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 61

In some ways, it could have been dismissed as nothing significant.

However, Clemente’s intuition kept sounding alarms.

Anxiety continued to rise, and goosebumps spread across her entire body.

“Ruby, by any chance—”

“Ahaha, Fireplace, stop, it’s hot!”

“Kyaha! Don’t stop! Do it more!”

The children’s laughter and urging made it impossible to think further.

Seeing Ruby’s face unchanged, she must have misheard.

Clemente thought so and pressed her lips once to each child’s head before pulling away.

It was time to return.

“See you again, kids. Ruby, you’ll come to the castle tomorrow too, right?”

“Yes. See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Bye, Fireplace!”

“Fireplace…”

The children waved with eyes dripping with regret. Clemente also suppressed her reluctance and turned around.

That’s when it happened.

Grooooong—!

She heard it again.

This time it was clearer. A subtle vibration was felt beneath her feet.

Kiyaaaang— Gurururung!

The roars of Northern Region monsters were heard simultaneously from all directions.

It was strange.

Hadn’t this happened recently when she visited Icetas too?

According to Zephyrus, he had never heard such sounds before.

But why—

“Mom. Over there.”

Then Lu grabbed Ruby’s hand and pointed toward the mountain.

The highest mountain among those surrounding the village. The white snow that had been covering its peak.

The perpetual snow that had endured countless years was creating white snow clouds.

“Why is the snow…”

It literally looked like snow was scattering. However, there was much more snow clumping together and falling than the dust-like scattered snow.

The snow pile even began growing larger as it came down the mountain. Large enough to easily swallow up a village at the mountain’s base.

The children’s eyes sparkled with curiosity, but Ruby and Clemente’s faces, who anticipated what would happen, turned pale.

“Ruby, this, could it be? Um, is it right?”

“Yes! An avalanche, I think it’s an avalanche!”

Without deciding who would go first, Ruby picked up Lora and Clemente picked up Lu.

“Wh-what should we do?”

Ruby’s eyes shook back and forth. Her hands holding Lora tightened. Soon her face hardened with determination.

“We need to evacuate.”

“Where to? Is there somewhere to go up?”

There are similar disasters in the desert. Water that suddenly rushes in.

As soon as you hear the sound of water, you must climb to higher ground.

Unfortunately, the place where the avalanche occurred was the highest and largest mountain, facing the village most directly.

Ruby tried to recall the nearby geography, but only one place came to mind.

“The Duchy Castle! That’s the highest elevation! It’s also opposite from the mountain. I don’t think it’ll get swept up in the avalanche!”

And it seemed to be out of the avalanche’s path too.

“Then we need to take everyone to the Duchy Castle.”

“Yes. Let’s hurry.”

“No, Ruby, you go to the Duchy Castle with the kids. It’s close, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean—”

“There’s no time to argue. The Innkeeper needs to know that an avalanche has occurred too.”

That was also true.

Ruby nodded.

Holding Lora and Lu’s hands in both of hers, she ran toward the castle.

Clemente watched that retreating figure briefly, then ran toward the village.

As soon as she reached the village entrance, she shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Evacuate! Evacuate! It’s an avalanche!”

Several people who had already felt something strange spotted the avalanche and turned pale.

“Run! You’ll be safe if you go to the Duchy Castle!”

“Father!”

A man just entering middle age carried his widowed father on his back while gathering his young child.

He moved urgently and shouted together with Clemente.

“A snow pile is rolling down! Avalanche! Snow storm!”

“An avalanche has occurred! Everyone evacuate!”

The deeper into the village they went, the more Clemente’s voice mixed with other people’s voices. Multiple voices swept through every corner of the village, creating echoes.

“It’s an avalanche!”

“We have to escape!”

“Go to the Duchy Castle!”

“Duchy Castle! Move!”

“Wait, the l-luggage!”

“What luggage! Just grab your family and run!”

Grrrr—

It sounded like the cry of an enormously huge monster. Or an unknown life form rising from deep within.

As goosebumps rose all over Clemente’s body.

Everyone’s gaze turned toward the mountain.

Though it still seemed to be stopped, vibrations like a beating heart enveloped them.

The moment they saw, heard, and felt it.

The village instantly became pandemonium.

“Aah! Run away!”

“Kyaaak!”

“Go to the castle!”

Clemente shouted as she went deeper into the village. People ran in the opposite direction.

Avoiding the people running in terror, Clemente looked up at the mountain. White waves were growing larger and approaching.

The sound like beating a small drum had now changed into a sharp sound that seemed capable of tearing the sky.

In the blink of an eye, the snow pile seemed to fly several meters.

Clemente briefly turned back to take in the sight of the fleeing people.

‘Too late.’

The speed difference was absolute.

This, this won’t work.

There was absolutely no way to avoid that white disaster.

Sand is the same way.

You can’t escape an approaching sandstorm unless you hide behind rocks large and heavy enough to withstand the storm and wait for it to pass.

Then there was only one method.

To face it head-on.

Clemente stopped walking while watching those who were fleeing.

The person who shared baked bread with her.

That lady shared candy and that man gave her a glass mirror.

The child now crying as if his throat would give out used to cling to her and beg her to play.

How happy she had been when playing together among the children.

She hadn’t been in the Northern Region for long, but there were more memories to cherish than in the desert where she had lived her entire life.

People who lived in the coldest place but were warmer than anyone she had ever met.

‘If I can save them, then saving them is the right thing to do.’

Whoooosh—!

Cold wind swept past her like a blade.

And at the same speed as the wind, snow was rolling down.

It meant there wasn’t much time left before the snow would strike.

There was no more time to hesitate.

Even if, thinking negatively, all the villagers would push her away and fear her.

‘It’s okay. I like these people.’

Clemente took one more look at the people and ran in the opposite direction.

With one step, everyone’s safety.

With two steps, her own safety.

And finally, the hope that at least one person would remain who could live like this.

Clemente pulled the safety pin she had locked away in her heart.

Whoosh!

As if it had been waiting, the heat inside Clemente’s body burst forth.

At the same time, the white wave that had been rushing forward also burst apart!

**

Among the people fleeing as if their souls had left them, there were also those who observed the situation.

Reder, the owner of the leather shop.

He had experienced an avalanche exactly once in his life.

He had gone to the mountain to subjugate monsters when an avalanche occurred due to the commotion of battle.

It really happened in an instant.

If there hadn’t been a large rock nearby, or if his judgment had been even slightly delayed, he would have been swept away and buried in the snow.

Even an avalanche that started from a small peak was so threatening.

How could one avoid snow that started from the highest point and gradually grew in size?

How could one survive?

His mind couldn’t come up with an answer.

But what was this scene?

Reder stopped with his mouth agape.

Fluttering crimson hair. The surroundings burning.

No.

‘It’s burning… everything.’

The massive avalanche that had already devoured the entire edge of the village was stopped, unable to cross a certain line.

It kept rushing in, but everything melted away without a trace.

Trees swept up in the snow, monsters, even the debris of buildings.

They burned to ash, and even that ash melted away.

A massive disaster that made one’s knees weak just by looking at it was blocked by one person.

From beginning to end.

It melted away as if its very existence had disappeared.

And what remained was…

Fire. Fire. And more fire.

“Huh, what? Clemente should be over there, shouldn’t she?”

The mother of the child who often played with Clemente whenever she came to the village stamped her feet anxiously.

Whoooosh—

The half-destroyed village where the avalanche had disappeared.

A fire demon was devouring it.

At the center of that fire demon…

“What should we do? That’s okay, right?”

Clemente was there.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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