"What was that?"
"A man was hidden under the bush. He had a bow and arrows," Sebastian said.
He walked forward. First, he searched the man and found sothing in his pocket. Then, he took the bow and arrows from the dead man.
"He was planning to attack our Mistress. He had a picture of her."
He showed the paper. There was a printed drawing of Veronica.
The picture itself wasn't professional but there was a description of her below the picture.
Her unique appearance was already hard to copy. As a result, whoever knew her, they all could guess who the poster was ntioning.
Veronica frowned. Ironin didn't look any better. Catherine and rlin were shocked.
"What's happening? Why are people looking for here?"
"That's what I want to know," Catherine murmured. "Ver, did you do anything in this forest to make yourself a criminal?"
"What?! No!" Veronica exclaid.
"Then, why are people looking for you with your picture on the poster?" Catherine interrogated her. "They only do that for the wanted criminals!"
"Not entirely," Ironin finally opened his mouth. "This poster isn't a wanted poster."
"True, if it was, there would be the seal of the royal guards of Lynnford," Sebastian agreed. "This is their territory."
"We need to move quickly," Ironin urged them.
No one argued with him. They grabbed their bags and headed to the west.
They didn't go that far before arrows flew toward them.
"They are attacking. Take cover!" Sebastian shouted.
Afterward, he quickly grabbed Catherine who was close to him and hid behind a large tree.
Ironin got a hold of Veronica and rlin and hid behind another tree.
The tips of the arrows struck the nearby trees. So even passed them.
"What's happening? Who are they?" Veronica asked.
Since there was a shower of arrows, they couldn't peek to see the enemies' faces.
"Are you sure you didn't do anything, Milady?" rlin asked.
Veronica scratched her cheek.
"I really don't rember much. I've visited so many places that it's hard to rember every single detail."
She had been roaming around for months. With the elves by her side, many things happened.
She trained, she killed, she ran.
The agony and nightmares haunted her every night. Many sleepless nights passed.
Urulas used to tell her that she would groan while sleeping and asked her if she was okay.
At that ti, she was a heartbroken woman who thought her husband cheated on her. Although she had freedom, her world seed to turn gray.
She was open on the outside and quiet on the inside. She didn't want to share her thoughts or feelings.
Urulas could understand it. That's why he didn't pressure her to express her feelings. Rather, he pushed her hard and trained her to beco a better fighter.
Those nightmarish days, she would rather forget.
"They stopped shooting at us," Ironin said.
Veronica focused on her surroundings and realized that he was right. No one was shooting arrows at them anymore.
"Did they stop? Should we run?" Catherine whispered.
While asking, she couldn't control her curiosity and peeked out. That's when an arrow ca flying toward her.
"Watch out!" Sebastian grabbed her arm and pulled her forward.
"Ahh!" Catherine landed on his chest.
Sebastian tightly wrapped his left hand around her waist.
"What do you think you are doing?" he hissed. "Do you plan to die?"
"I-I don't," Catherine's voice quivered.
Her face was touching his chest. She could feel his warmth, his unique odor and his heartbeat.
His heart was beating rapidly. While listening to his heartbeat, her heart started to beat at the sa rhythm.
If she was scared before, she was nervous now.
She was afraid of rubbing her body against him and giving him the wrong idea. She dared not to move in his arms.
"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" Veronica asked in a low voice.
Sebastian gave a signal with his finger to show they were fine.
"What should we do now?" Veronica asked Ironin. "Wait until they approach us?"
Ironin said, "They realized they were wasting their arrows. So, they plan to shoot only when we show ourselves."
"And they can slowly approach us by keeping an eye on us, knowing we won't be able to move a muscle," Veronica muttered.
She suddenly got an idea. She shouted, "You people who are attacking us, if you are bandits, please leave. We don't have any money or jewels to give you. We are just random travelers."
rlin was stunned by her attitude. So were Sebastian and Catherine.
'Why is she yelling? Doesn't she already know that they are rcenaries? Which bandit has wanted a poster with them?' they thought.
Only Ironin didn't say anything. He waited for a reply.
After Veronica shouted, there was silence in the forest.
No one spoke. Even the wind stopped blowing and birds stopped chirping.
Just when they were running out of patience, a voice spoke.
"My, my, it was never my intention to harm you lady with the silver hair."
Veronica found the man's voice familiar but couldn't recognize it.
"Who are you? What do you want?" she loudly asked.
"Have you forgotten ? I've helped you once. I'll be sad if you don't rember ."
The man chuckled.
His attitude angered Veronica.
She refuted, "Don't joke with . You and your people tried to kill us. What kind of person would help and then would want to kill ?"
"So, you have forgotten my voice. It has been so ti. Since I owe you a big ti, I'll forgive you this ti. Why don't you co out and see my face? The lady might rember ."
The man tried to be as friendly as possible but nothing about him made him trustworthy.
"Yes, I do that and you shoot to death. I won't fall for your trap," Veronica replied.
"That would be a dilemma. I was hoping I could collect you unscathed."
There was a hint of disappointnt in that man's voice.
'Collect unscathed?!' Veronica couldn't understand what he ant.
She looked at others. They seed confused too.
Veronica asked, "Who are you working with?"
The man answered, "? I'm not working with anyone. I'm working for myself. These n I hired; I did that only for you."
"Why would you do that for ? To help ?"
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