Chapter 34

𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖙𝖔: 𝕿𝖍𝖆𝖙'𝖘 𝖂𝖍𝖊𝖓 𝖇𝖞 𝕿𝖆𝖞𝖑𝖔𝖗 𝕾𝖜𝖎𝖋𝖙

***

"The Vesron is a small ring-shaped mushroom, it has purple dust and it's only found in the paradise place, the emblem of the Crevon, a place where the princess of the Asserians usually come..."

"Don't tell me that this place is a once royalty-owned place?"

"Yes, since it wasn't a dangerous place to begin with"

"Why isn't this a dangerous place?"

"Because of the people's protective rituals, that's why..." When he said those words, he grabbed my hands and led me back to where we were.

"It will take us two days to head to that place, that's why we must be full of energy before going to that place..."

And what Crane said was true because right now, as I was within the tent that he had created, he was on the outside, tending to the bonfire that he created. He was sitting on the other side with a whole blanket on his body.

Was the reason for him being outside even if it was already night because the place seemed to be safe?

He said it before but even then, just to be certain that I didn't want to lose someone again, I stood and came to him. I didn't care if he didn't want to because I could make a bunch of excuses.

Until then, I grabbed his arms and forced him to stand up, then I dragged him towards the tent. He seemed confused but at the same time, he sighed and halted me before pushing him within.

"I needed to guard the surroundings, Lady Festin"

"But you said it first, it's a safe place, right?"

"Yes, enough to be safe but that doesn't mean that there weren't animals lurking around for prey"

I widened my eyes.

"Still can you sleep beside me?" I saw him widen his eyes before chuckling as if he was offered something.

I waited for him to calm down but it seemed that he only wiped his tears away before finally looking at me in the eyes.

"Milady, are you forgetting something?"

"What does that mean Crane?"

Then he leaned in forward enough for my eyes to look at his red thin lips.

"That I'm still a man and you're still a lady. So don't make this complicated since I couldn't even bring myself to do something you don't like..." By the end of his words, I indeed feel the heat from my face.

It was enough to shut me inside my tent and force me to cover my whole body while I go and shut my eyes. Even if after a few more seconds that passed, I could still feel this heat in my cheeks that I knew would stay longer than this time.

It didn't even take me a few seconds to finally have my deepest slumber. At that moment, I dreamed of a place and a person, who would never think of me and would never feel the same way I do.

In that dream, he does the opposite of what he did to me in the past, in the middle of a meadow, he carried me laughing with a full heart as if he couldn't let me go.

But at the end of the day, dreams were just dreams, and they would never be reality.

Waking up from that dream, I found myself bathed in the golden silk of sunlight and a refreshing food that I had never smelled before.

I thought this would be my temporary freedom, but it gave me more than that, it gave me a sense of living far away from a noble routine, where I used to wake up from a comfortable bed, eat, and have tea at our household's table and home classes before I turned fifteen years old.

Now, it seemed that everything was different, but I have to adapt because I've been here already.

"What's your cooking?" I asked. I saw him turn to look at me and I just made a face with my eyebrows.

"It's fried fish, you want some-----" then he chuckled.

"I nearly forgot that you're a noble," he said while shaking his head. Then he looked at me from head to toe and he shook his head.

"Well, I can try, besides, it's not like I don't want to eat, it's better to eat what your friends cook, right?" I said and that's when I saw him smile as he shifted his attention from me to the other side. His hair hid his face, but I knew that his ears and neck were all red.

"Are you okay? Don't you feel ill? Before everything, did you have a good night's sleep last night?"

I stepped closer to him while asking those questions and just like the first time that Henry did those to me, I touched his forehead while I looked into his eyes, I could see his eyes widened but the redness in his face never left.

That's when I put my forehead to his to feel his temperature and eventually, he wasn't feeling ill, like he's normal and yet, why was his face red?

I wanted to ask some more but he already grabbed a hold from my hand. Though he held it gently, I could feel that his stare wasn't right.

Not when I could see his eyes wavering.

"J-Just----" he said but instead of finishing, he immediately backed away as if he had been burned just by touching me.

"Crane, are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I-I guess I-I just needed s-some fresh a-air, be right back," he said while the back of his hand went to his lips enough to run away from me.

Shaking my head, I walked around and looked at the things he did. He managed to cut some wood and used the others for the bonfire last night and some now for cooking. I could see how neat his works were.

From the way that he prepared the food, he even made a wooden plate covered with banana leaves within then. I was even wondering how he did that.

I guess he had a lot of experience when growing up. I couldn't even compare him to anyone anymore after finding this side of him.

I arranged some of the things, and I even looked at his coats as well as his clothes left to the other side on top of a log wood but there, I was just fascinated by how he managed to arrange his own things even the way he held his book.

Thinking about the book, my eyes couldn't seem to avoid how I looked at it, first, it made me run to it just before I could even get into the carriage with Claudius and now my hands started to reach it and I was this inch close when I felt Crane wrapped his hands to mine and pulled me closer to him instead.

I felt this warmth enveloping me, I could even smell his woodland scent that was so refreshing, as if familiar enough. I knew I had smelled that but I'm not quite sure where.

"We should be preparing now, but first things first we should eat. After that, you should take a bath and I will lend you my clothes..." his voice sounded deep and somewhat dark. When I looked at him, he wasn't looking at me but his gaze was narrowed on the book that I was about to touch earlier.

"Lady Festin, before we go, I should warn you," the voice he had earlier never changed but I knew what he meant when he said those words.

"That book is dangerous, don't let it corrupt you, okay?" When he said those, his attention shifted to me and his serious eyes blinked only to smile at me.

"So now, even though I am not a professional chef, would you still taste the food that this young man made?" he changed the subject and I just chuckled.

"Okay, as long as my friend said and cooked it," he chuckled at my words.

It didn't take us long enough to prepare and when I looked at my clothes, it's loosened up a bit but Crane, is a fitted man so it must mean that he had the same figure as my friends.

What a funny coincidence happening in my mind again.

Shaking my thoughts off, I moved to where he was leading me since he would slash some bushes with his sword and even some branches of a tree that entangled my hair.

I wanted to apologize to him for being such a burden but no matter how I wanted to speak my words couldn't come out of my mouth, and before I knew it, my nose touched his back.

I guess, too much daydreaming can lead me to some consequences.

He then wrapped me around his arms but he never pulled me into a hug, he put me beside him. My eyebrows creased on their own but when I gaze to where he was looking, my eyes do what they usually do.

We were already in the paradise place he mentioned last night and it just took us half a day to find it. I looked around the place was covered with green vines, there were pillars and benches made of white cement everywhere and the Vesron that Crane mentioned was planted in the middle of a white table.

"It seemed that we found what we're looking for so right now, we should get it and head to the exit..."

"Do you know where the exit was?"

"Do you trust me?"

I nodded.

"Then that's all that matters, perhaps, by the end of the day we would be in the capital already"

"That's impossible, Crane"

"But you trusted me, right?"

"Okay, if you broke that trust you have to swallow thousands of needles"

"I promise," he even grabbed my pinky finger and intertwined them with him.

After getting the Vesron, an ingredient he wanted to get, he led me back to the place, but before everything, he asked me.

"Could to smell this handkerchief, Lady Festin?"

I nodded and smelled it, but suddenly my vision shook and before I knew it, vague words came to mind but only a few clear words remained.

"As soon as you wake up, you'll be in your room, Vestia..."