Morning in an Embrace
Current time in the North.
"Angelina!! Have you seen the elves?! The elves on the second floor, have you seen them?!"
Angelina opened the door while yawning. She looked at Anna, who was panicking, and asked in a confused tone, "What"s the matter? Have the elves gone missing?"
"Yes!! They were already gone by the time I went. Also, they took the sword Veirya gave them!! They"re definitely running away!! They ran away!!" Anna was at a total loss. She was literally on the verge of tears: "What do we do, what do we do, Angelina?! If Sir comes back and finds them missing, he will definitely be angry!! What do we do?! I failed to keep an eye on them…"
"There"s nothing to panic about, Anna; you"re mistaken." Angenlina scrubbed her hair and nonchalantly explained, "Veirya and her man won"t be angry with you. Veirya doesn"t like the Elven Queen to begin with because the Queen seduced her man, while he"s never considered them his a.s.sets, so he won"t think that they ran away. He"ll just think that they didn"t want to stay here and, therefore, left. It"s fine."
"But… but why did they run away…? We were very nice to them… We… we never mistreated them. Plus, plus, they promised to teach Leah… The Elven Queen also loves Sir… Why did they run away…?"
Angelina shook her head: "Who knows? We humans can"t comprehend what goes on between elves. It"s oftentimes impossible to comprehend what elves do if we apply our human logic. That forest holds a different meaning to them than it does for us. Ignore them; they"ll definitely come back. The elves exiled them, so they won"t accept the three. Without a horse, they can"t leave from this town. They probably didn"t take much food. They"ll starve to death walking there without anyone doing anything."
"Do we… need to search for them?"
Angelina wore an indifferent expression and looked away: "No. They probably plan to go and do something during Veirya and her man"s absence. We don"t need to search for them. If they want to go back and die, let them go die. If they plan to come back, we have no reason to search for them. Please bring breakfast in. I want to sleep some more today. There"s no one else at home, so I want to laze around a bit."
"Sure." Anna didn"t look too a.s.sured, but nodded, nonetheless. There was nothing that she could do, after all.
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Current time at the Elven Forest…
"Your Majesty, be careful."
Ciara helped the Elven Queen to carefully step over the tree stump. The Elven Queen had her eyes covered. She used the tree trunk as support while Ciara also helped her. She nostalgically touched the tree trunk and softly said, "We… came back in the end… we"re back… It really… does make me so nostalgic that I want to cry."
"Uhm."
The diplomat wasn"t too happy, however. She"d turn around and look behind her every now and then. She quietly opined, "Your Majesty… we came here without notifying them. Furthermore, I do not think that it is good to leave while Lord Veirya and Sir Travor are absent… Moreover, I already promised Leah to…"
"Stop. Someone is coming."
After Ciara put the Queen at a tree trunk, she aggressively drew her sword and coldly watched her surroundings. The diplomat fearfully hugged the Queen. The elves lived up to their reputation. They were able to detect even the subtlest movement of the gra.s.s from a breeze. Two elves appeared next to Ciara and aimed their long swords at her. One of them stuttered, "Y-You are Madam Ciara? Which means, Her Majesty…"
"Yes, Her Majesty is also here."
Ciara let out a breath of relief upon seeing the two elves. The two appeared to respect the Elven Queen. Although the Queen had been exiled, not all elves supported the exile. Some believed the Queen was betrayed.
The two elves sheathed their blades; they went up to the Queen and went down on one knee to salute her: "Your Majesty."
The Elven Queen chuckled. She reached out to touch their heads. That was a customary action that was performed when the Elven Queen met with others. She shook her head in response: "I am no longer the Queen. You need not mind the formalities."
Before the two could respond, an arrow pierced a leaf by the side and pierced the two of them in one go, spraying their hot blood out in an instant. The Queen had no idea what happened, but Ciara leapt over to cover her. The leaves rustled. Ciara aggressively swung her sword, clashing with the blade that came down from overhead.
Lucilia dexterously kicked the tree trunk to spring away. Tone frigid, she brayed, "You dare come back?! You"re sc.u.m that"s been exiled. How dare you come back to insult our forest!!"
"You came quite fast; you just qualify as a lapdog." Ciara coldly snorted. She poised her sword for combat and coldly added, "Spare the drivel; if it"s a fight you want, bring it on. This was Her Majesty"s order. I will protect Her Majesty no matter what."
"You"re now Travor"s a.s.set, so I don"t plan to kill you. He might get angry if I hurt you." Though she said that, Lucilia didn"t put her sword away. She vigilantly monitored the three: "Out of respect for Travor, I"ll spare you. Now, get lost. If you dare to take one more step forward, I"ll kill all three of you."
"Lucilia, we have no plans of returning to the elven lands," The Elven Queen suddenly said then faced in Lucilia"s direction. "We know that, if we wanted to contact you, then we had to return to the forest to meet you. We have news to pa.s.s on to you. Humanity, I met humanity"s Queen. They harbour ill-will toward elves; they will attack elves. We merely came to pa.s.s on that information to you. We"ll be heading back."
"Yeah?"
Lucilia looked at the Elven Queen then Ciara. The Queen was absolutely sincere, but Ciara had her sword poised, so it wasn"t exactly safe for Lucilia.
The Elven Queen seemed to realise the fact: "Ciara, lower your sword. Lower it."
Ciara furiously looked at Lucia, but she obeyed the Queen"s command and sheathed her sword. Lucilia wouldn"t attack an unarmed enemy. Once Ciara sheathed her sword, Lucilia also put her own away as per etiquette dictated.
"I know that I can"t return home, but I can"t watch someone destroy my home." The Elven Queen struggled to her feet and suggested, "Ciara, let"s head back."
Ciara looked reluctant to leave. Alas, there was nothing that she could do. Ciara didn"t have much of a chance of defeating Lucia. Further, when they left, the Queen said they weren"t trying to return home but merely delivering the news. They just needed to deliver the news that humanity wanted to attack the elves. The Elven Queen knew Queen Sisi would absolutely attack the elves. She didn"t want to see her homeland destroyed despite not being able to return home.
Lucilia didn"t comment. The Elven Queen headed back with Ciara"s support. They left again as when they were exiled from their homeland. This time, however, the Elven Queen didn"t turn back to look at her homeland once. Perhaps the Elven Queen no longer missed the forest.
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Current time inside the inn at the city…
There was only one bed in the room. It was definitely because the owner believed that we were husband and wife that he arranged the one bed. I wasn"t that emotional. For instance, when Veirya woke up the next day and discovered a man next to her, on the floor or sofa, she wouldn"t be too touched. Actually, she"d carry me to the bed. That was why I furtively lied next to her. The bed was big enough to fit the two of us. I, however, was still nervous. I took up just a small corner. In fact, I didn"t dare to take the blanket, so I just shivered in my corner.
When I woke up, I found myself in Veirya"s tight embrace. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were plastered to my face. I"d go so far as to say that my face was basically buried in them as Leah did with my head every night. The issue was that she was Veirya!!
My brain instantly went blank when I discovered where I was. I was so nervous that I couldn"t utter a word. Veirya pressed her weight on me. The tip of my nose was right next to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. I basically took in her mesmerising scent with every breath. The pink tip moved around right at the tip of my nose…
I didn"t dare to utter a word or even breathe hard, as I was afraid I"d wake her. I couldn"t look up to check if she was awake or not, but she didn"t let go. Admittedly, I didn"t want to leave, either. I had no idea how long I stayed there for… In any case, I think it was around noon when nature"s call became unbearable. I had to give Veirya a pat on her arm. I was surprised when she instantly released me. She looked at me with her expressionless look and remarked, "You wake. Very late."
"Aren"t you in the same boat?"
"I woke up. Long ago."
"Why didn"t you wake me, then?!"
"Because. I thought you were sleeping."
"…"
"We were thinking the exact same thing, then…" I realised.