Blaise didn't like this town. He wished they could have pressed forward without stopping. There were unsavory-looking characters everywhere he looked and Abby was too beautiful for her own good.
He had already seen multiple people eyeing her over the past few hours. Each ti he drew a little closer to her to give them the ssage to back off.
Unfortunately he couldn't be with her every second. She made him wait around the corner when she excused herself to use the outhouse. There was nothing he could do about it because that was sothing a person had to do alone.
Blaise waited anxiously for her to co back for over ten minutes. Finally losing his cool, he went to go knock on the door and make sure nothing bad had happened but she was already gone.
How? How had she vanished when he was within earshot?
Instinctively, he kept his hand on the hilt of his sword as he went looking for her. Why hadn't he listened to his instincts and let her convince him to walk so far away? He had known sothing bad was going to happen!
The traders said they were going to set out before sunset to find a place to camp. Blaise didn't have much ti to find Abby or they would be left behind.
But that hardly seed to matter at the mont. She was missing. Anything could be happening to her right now and he wouldn't be able to stop it unless he found her quickly. That stubborn woman! She had no sense of caution whatsoever.
Thankfully he was able to pick up the sound of sothing breaking in a nearby alleyway. Upon further investigation, Blaise discovered she had managed to get out of her captor's grip and smash a nearby flowerpot on his head.
Abby stood there with wild eyes, her chest heaving, still frozen in place with her arms above her head. She seed to be on the verge of hyperventilating. "Did I kill him?!"
To relieved to care even if she did, he checked the prone man's pulse. "No. There is no blood either. I believe you simply knocked him out."
She crumpled to her knees and Blaise rushed over to help her up. "Good. The last thing I needed today was to commit manslaughter. But my legs won't stop shaking so I don't think I'll be moving for a while."
He wasn't about to leave her here in this filthy alley where she'd had a traumatic experience. Plus they truly did need to get back to camp if they were to continue their journey in the caravan.
"With your permission, Miss Abby, I could carry you. Our group intends to depart soon."
She sighed. "I suppose it can't be helped. Thanks."
Blaise lifted her with ease. She wasn't at all heavy but for so reason his knees began to feel weak as well. Was her shock sohow passing to him? He had been quite anxious when she went missing.
His heart was racing too. The last ti he had carried her like this was when he pulled her out of the ocean. That seed so long ago now.
So many things had happened since then. Nearly getting arrested in the royal palace, hearing her wild story about her sister and where they were from, and now this. There were countless little monts in between as well.
The way her hair stuck up and her eyes were unfocused when she first poked her head out of the tent in the morning. Her bright smile when she found sothing amusing. The eager look on her face when she asked a question, whether it be about his life or the Kanta region.
Blaise wasn't completely out of touch with his feelings. He knew this woman had managed to imprint herself on his heart. There simply wasn't a point dwelling on it because they weren't ant to be.
Abby said so herself, she wanted a husband who could accept her as she was. He wasn't sure he could make himself believe that she was from another world and her sister's soul had moved to another body here after dying in an accident.
It was stupid to even think of marriage because she didn't plan on it until years later according to the customs of her country. And because he had never so much as considered settling down.
He had been trapped in that town in the middle of Shibatsu his entire life until the chance ca to beco a Warrior. Since then he had seen but a small taste of what the world had to offer and he wanted more.
Childhood friends and neighbors had dropped like flies into matrimony over the last few years. They were set to work on their parents' farms or inherit their shops or beco apprentices to tradesn in town.
Blaise wanted more than that. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life stuck inside the inn. This trip with Abby had already shown him more of the world than he had seen during his training.
He couldn't help but wonder if maybe, just maybesoday if he had seen enough of the world if he could co back to the Kanta Mountains and find her again. But soone as beautiful and interesting as her would likely be married with two or three children by then.
Besides, he was absolutely positive she didn't see him as a man since she trusted him to sleep outside her tent every night. The thought was more disappointing than it should have been since he didn't have the right to her heart and he knew it.
The only person in Abby's eyes was her sister. Once she found her there would be no reason for further traveling. She had ntioned before that she had originally pursued her career with the hope that she would be able to return ho and take care of her sister for a change.
Blaise knew there was no place in her heart for him. He wasn't particularly engaging or witty and she laughed more at things that the rchants said than things he did.
With how much she seed to enjoy laughing, Abby needed soone who could make her laugh every day. Not a restless wandering soul like him who was more serious than she could ever be.
Yet he still found himself pointlessly wishing that their ti together would never end as he held her in his arms on the way back to camp.
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