Chapter 24
Waiting for Mare to wake up, Michelle decided to try cultivating for the first time. She sat cross-legged and closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind, but for someone like her, with lots of thoughts and plans, it was hardly possible for her to clear her mind, so she just tried to calm her thoughts and sort them out in her head, having a theory that if her thoughts were calm enough, she would be able to cultivate.
She didn't know how much time it took her, but when she finally sorted out her thoughts, she felt movement next to her, so she opened her eyes, only to see Mare waking up. And to her surprise, the sky was already darkening. The time she thought was mere few minutes ended up being more than half a day. But she didn't mind it, as she was a step closer to being able to cultivate and even her mind was clearer.
"Mare, how are you feeling?" Michelle asked, looking at the awakening Mare.
Mare rubbed the back of her neck where the assassin leader hit her and sat up. "Fine. That much wouldn't hurt me."
Michelle nodded a bit. "That's good. Let's go then. We should get home before dark, so they aren't too worried about us." She stood up as she spoke and glanced at the carriage. Without a coachman, the carriage was basically useless for them, but Michelle remembered that the original owner knew how to ride a horse. "Mare, can you ride a horse?" she asked as she walked towards the horses by the carriage.
Mare shook her head. "No, I can't!"
"Well, that's fine!" Michelle shrugged a bit as she cut the ropes tying the horses to the carriage. Then, she mounted one. "Since you can't ride a horse, transform into a small snake, and I'll put you in my sleeve!" she told Mare and Mare did as she was told.
Seeing how cute Mare was as a small snake, Michelle smiled a bit before putting her in her sleeve and nudging the horse to go. She rode the horse through the forest, racing with the setting sun to get to the Archduchy before it was completely dark. She wasn't worried about herself, but if it got too dark, the horse wouldn't see on the road and might get hurt, and thus she would need to walk back home and that was annoying.
After getting into the Archduchy, Michelle left Mare in her room, changed clothes and went to meet Archduke Grace. "Father, I'm back!" she knocked on the door to his office.