Almost to the tent, Ailwin abruptly halts his steps making Mika who is following beside him also stop."Can I ask you a question?"
"...sure."
"How did you know there is a mastermind behind your kidnapping?..."
"Isn"t it obvious..." Ailwin shook his head, not understanding what Mika was getting at.
"Lord Kendel was too dumb to plan that out...Besides, I have never met Lord Kendel before, someone else had to have told Lord Kendel my ident.i.ty."
"Ah!...so it had to be someone close to you who gave Lord Kendel the information...but it looks like you already know who it is..?"
"I do."
"Will you be okay going back home?" Ailwin thought about his own family who would like to see him dead.
Mika looked up into Ailwin worried face, "Awww...you do care about me!...and here I thought you didn"t because you wouldn"t share your cookies with me."
With her hand to her chest, Mika tilted her head to the side and gave Ailwin a soft smile.
"Enough...I don"t know why a bother when you can aggravate a person to death."
"That"s not possible, I"m sweet to be a peeve." Mika"s statement made Ailwin chuckle. Turning away from her, he continues to walk towards the tents.
"I think my general will have to disagree with you....by the way, what did you do to him?"
Mika was so startled by his question, she almost tripped.
"Huh?... What could I have possibly done to your general?" Mika was sure the Fae dust and the enchantment are fail-proof. Braeden shouldn"t be able to say anything, was Ailwin just being suspicious or did he know something.
"Mikaela, I know you did something to my friend."Ailwin faced Mika and gave her a sharp stare.
"I"m only a thirteen-year-old fledgling, what could I have possibly done to your war seasoned general?"
"Then why is it every time he goes to bring up what happened in Ash City between you two, he can"t speak?"
"Hmm...that does seem like a problem... it seems to me General Gilwenys is a scatterbrain."
"....a scatterbrain?"
"Look, that"s just my opinion, you can always go to a professional and seek help..." Mika said as she opened the tent"s flaps and saw Saavi serving Kaze and Jonas bowls of stew.
"Young miss, you"re back...dinner is ready." Saavi was just handing over a bowl to Kaze when Mika walked in.
"En." Mika took a seat next to Saavi as she dished out a big bowl of stew.
"Careful it"s still pretty hot..."
"En." Eating a spoonful, Mika sighed in delight at the delicious stew.
Ah! As I thought Saavi cooking is the best.
Ailwin, walked into the tent to see this scene of Mika happily eating buzzard stew. He had smelled the food before but looking at Mika"s grinning face as she eats, made his stomach growl.
"May I join you guys?" Saavi looks up to see Ailwin standing at the tent door.
"Oh, of course, you can. There is enough to go around. I just hope it suits your palate."
Receiving a bowl from Saavi, Ailwin move over to where Mika was sitting.
Saavi, Kaze, and Jonas all watched as Ailwin intentionally bypa.s.s all the seating right in front of him, to cross the tent to sit beside Mika.
Kaze raised an eyebrow but kept on eating, Jonas was so stunned, his spoon fell from his hands, and Saavi was fangirling so hard, she had to bite her lips to stop her shrieks from leaving her mouth.
The only one who didn"t regard Ailwin"s action was Mika. So into her food and thoughts, she barely noticed someone was sitting next to her.
Thinking on what to tell her father when they reach the Udava clan, Mika didn"t look at Ailwin until he was betting them goodnight after eating.
"Everyone, get a good night sleep, we will be leaving bright and early tomorrow morning."
"Yes, Prince Ailwin. Goodnight." Kaze, Jonas, and Saavi all stood up to send Ailwin off.
Mika was the only one sitting, if it were for Saavi poking her in the side, she wouldn"t have known what was going on.
"Huh? Oh, bye.."
"En."
Once they were alone again, Saavi grabbed Mika"s hands and pulled her to sit back down.
"What is going on between you and Prince Ailwin!?" Mika looked into Saavi"s excited face and sparkling eyes, confusingly.
"...nothing.."
"How could nothing be going on when he intentionally chose to sit next to you!"
"...so?"
"So...he is definitely interested in you!"
"Based on him sitting next to me...?"Mika knew Saavi likes to gossip and these past few days of not being able to must be driving her to create fantasies of her own.
"Yes!"
"because he picked a seat...?"
"Yes! He sat next to you, these are signs!" Saavi looked at Mika"s dubious face and couldn"t help being disappointed in her lack of interest in males.
Ugh! I knew young miss is inadequate in the knowledge of love, but I didn"t know she is this dense!
Mika laughed when Saavi"s sparkling eyes turn into those of frustration.
"Let"s drop this topic...we have other more important things to discuss."
"Lika what?"
"Like what are we going to tell my father when we see him at the Udava clan."
Kaze and Saavi completely forgot what Lord Tasar told them about Lord Mano arriving before they left.
Counting the days on her finger, Saavi realizes he should already be there by now.
"What should we do? He"ll definitely punish us...." Sitting down on the log, Saavi once bright mood turn sullen.
"Well, first things first, Kaze.... you"re dead..."
As Mika"s group was discussing their doom meeting with Lord Mano, Ailwin was inside his tent listening to Braeden complaints once again.
"Ailwin, let"s just leave them here. We can find their way back on their own!" Braeden couldn"t take the brats anymore.
"Braeden, what is wrong now? Mikaela wasn"t even around, how could she have made you upset now?" Ailwin was sitting on his makes.h.i.+ft bed, reading a book and sipping on some tea when Braeden came in.
"Not her, it"s her maid! She has learned from her master well, she just as cheeky as Miss Mikaela is!"
"Braeden, how could you say such a thing? She even gave you some of their stew..."Ailwin took a sip of his tea, has he continue reading.
"Is that what she said?"
"En...when I was eating dinner with them, she told me how she gave you a bowl, and you just drank the stew then ran off without saying thank you....that"s pretty rude of you by the way...Braeden!"
Ailwin jumped off the bed when he saw Braeden holding the back of his neck with a painful expression on his face.
On his knees, while one of his hands held the back of his neck as he felt his blood pressure rising; Braeden thought of the possibilities of both master and servant being able to bring him to his knees in pain.