The Lady's Butler: I Reincarnated To Serve The Villainess-Chapter 12: The Final Test {3}: The Cave

Three days, that’s how long it took Adrian and Noctis to reach the edge of the forest, he now knew as the Frozen Forest.

He only knew the name because of the amount of Beasts in it. According to the manhwa, it was the most dangerous forest in the North.

Of course the author only mentioned it because the two protagonists encountered an opportunity here.

And it was because of said opportunity that Adrian took a detour and extended his travel time from one to three days.

Was it worth it?

Oh, definitely.

He extended his tired hand towards one of the trees, and his hand sunk into it. When he withdrew it there was something resting in his palm.

It seemed very similar to a lotus, save for the fact that its petals were crystal clear and there was some sort of mist coming from it.

Even through his gloves Adrian could feel the intense chill radiating from the lotus.

"The Frost Sovereign Lotus," he murmured quietly as he watched light pass through the petals.

It was a tool that would come in handy for the saintess and the Prince in the future, unfortunately for the two, he had gotten his hands on it first.

And this was only one of many opportunities he’d snatch from them.

Though gaining it had been a pain, especially given that he had to deal with its ’guardian’ first, which left him with almost zero mana, and although he might not look it, a couple of broken bones.

It was the perfect gift for his lady’s spirit.

The beast cores might’ve sufficed, but his Renelle only deserved the best and this Frost Sovereign Lotus was the best the Frozen Forest could afford.

***

[A Day Earlier]

Adrian kept on the trail left behind by Sebastian until he noticed something else.

Well, he had noticed it earlier, but hadn’t paid it any mind since it was neither an obstacle nor something important enough to require his attention.

Or so he thought.

«How curious,» Noctis murmured.

"What is?" Adrian asked as he continued walking forward.

The cat did not answer immediately, instead, Adrian’s very own shadow stopped moving before pointing in a certain direction.

«There is a concentration of mana here.»

Adrian frowned faintly.

Mana in the environment wasn’t unusual. In fact, areas rich in mana were quite common in beast territories.

But Noctis sounded... intrigued.

«Not ordinary mana,» the spirit clarified, «It is cold.»

Adrian finally stopped as he recalled an important detail from the manhwa. Noctis’ line was the exact same as the Prince’s spirit during one of the arcs in a frozen forest.

Coincidence?

Probably, but he wouldn’t leave that up to chance.

Sebastian’s mana wouldn’t disappear anytime soon, so he had enough time to take a short detour.

Allowing his glasses to focus on the cluster of ice cold mana in the distance, he started walking towards that direction.

It took a few hours of walking before the mana finally led them towards a certain place.

A cave’s entrance.

At this point, Adrian was sure that this was the exact location in the manhwa, because the moment he stepped at the entrance, a heavy pressure immediately fell on his shoulders.

What was the tale again?

Right.

Centuries ago, it was once believed that the North was a land as warm and fertile as the other three regions and the capital itself.

That was, until an ice dragon stumbled upon it.

No one knew where the creature had come from. Some records claimed it descended from the far northern seas, while others insisted it had emerged from the mountains beyond the world’s edge.

What everyone agreed on, however, was the devastation it left behind.

Wherever the dragon flew, blizzards followed.

Rivers were frozen solid within minutes, forests became fields of brittle crystal, and entire settlements vanished due to storms that raged for weeks.

Within a single year, nearly half the northern territories had been turned into a frozen wasteland.

Eventually, someone rose to face it.

The first patriarch of the Ardent family.

A man whose name had long since faded into history, or the author was too lazy to come up with one for him, though his title remained carved into countless records.

According to the tale, the patriarch battled the dragon in a clash that shook the entire region.

The battle lasted days before the dragon was finally mortally wounded.

Unable to continue the fight, the beast fled northward, disappearing into the wilderness.

The dragon had retreated and the Ardent family patriarch had come out victorious, or at least that’s how the story ended.

But the truth was, the dragon hadn’t escaped.

It had died, right here.

Deep within this cave before him. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

In the manhwa, the prince and the saintess had stumbled upon this cave by coincidence while fleeing from a group of beasts. Inside, they discovered the [Frost Sovereign Lotus], guarded by a powerful ice beast.

The prince had nearly died in that battle and the saintess had exhausted herself healing him.

It was a dramatic scene meant to highlight their growing bond.

But it was also one that bored Adrian out of his mind. All he wanted to do was see his Renelle, not the growing romance between these two hypocrites.

Fortunately, he had no other choice but to read through the entire novel, curious to see why readers thought Noelle was better than his Renelle.

"Let’s head in," He said as he continued forward with Noctis still on his head.

The cat had been quiet for a while now, but only because it was comfortably asleep and couldn’t be bothered with such weak pressure.

Adrian walked for a short while, the deeper he went, the colder it became, so much that his breath had become visible.

Still, there was no change in his expression as he kept walking.

The cave also got wider the further he went, until he walked into a large opening, one wide enough to look like some hall.

On the walls were blue glowing rocks that lit up the entire place, and in the center was exactly what he had been expecting,

The Frozen Lake.