She ripped her feet out of the mud with a wet pull, wincing as her face twisted in disgust.
"Ahh," she gasped, lowering her head to glare at her ruined shoes.
"This place is so underdeveloped. It's like we're not even in the Empire," Luna muttered, scraping the sole of her boot against a stone.
Iris scoffed, dragging her fingers through her damp hair and flicking droplets away.
"You clearly don't leave the capital often. From what I hear, some regional nobles don't exactly care about roads."
Luna lifted her eyes toward the city ahead. It was so bad they could have taken the main road, but that path was currently occupied by military deployment. Normal carriages were not allowed through.
She could have passed if she raised her grandfather's flag.
But this was a low-key operation.
Which was why they were stuck trudging through a miserable stretch of half-tarred road drowned in potholes and mud.
Iris tilted her face upward as a thin drizzle began to settle into her hair.
