In fright, she looked at the person behind her and found a silver-haired man standing inside the study, looking at her with amusent in his eyes.
"So brave of you, Oriana," the elf whispered.
"Lord Yorian! Why—"
He signaled her to stay quiet. "The Crown Prince is back. Want to get caught?"
Her eyes widened.
"B-Back?" she whispered. "Isn’t he in the conference?"
"He happens to be on his way back to this study," the elf whispered back.
Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound escaped her throat.
Seeing her frightened, Yorian laughed at her. This little witch was brave enough to play, but she was still too young and immature. She failed to take into consideration that most plans never co to fruition due to factors beyond anyone’s control.
A child with no contingency plan. It would be interesting to see how she would react to the consequences of her misadventure.
"....Yes, Your Highness. We gathered the statents of the witnesses, and it seems there was no intruder in the first place."
They heard the voice of the knight floating from the crack of the door, and it appeared that Cian was with him.
"You should escape, my lord. I will accept my punishnt," Oriana told the elf, to which he only playfully smirked.
"Not when I am with you."
Even before Oriana could understand what he ant, he held her hand. "Follow ." He dragged her with him towards the large window of the study.
"A-Are we going to jump?" Oriana whispered in fright. The study was on the first floor, and this mansion had unusually high ceilings, making the distance between the first floor and the ground roughly the sa as a second floor of an ordinary mansion. "My Lord..."
The next mont, Oriana found herself being lifted up by an unknown energy. Her body ’jumped out’ of the window on its own and landed on the ground below effortlessly.
She looked at the disguised elf standing next to her, her eyes sparkling. "Did you use your power, my lord?"
"Questions are for later. I think it’s ti for us to run away."
As if to prove Yorian’s statent, the sounds of patrolling guards grew louder, as if their owners were approaching their location, and Oriana got back to her senses.
Hiding when unable to run was instinct. Without thinking twice, Oriana grabbed the elf’s hand and pulled him behind a large decorative bush.
She made a shushing gesture to the elf who was looking at her in shocked amusent.
The young witch was yet to realize the extent of her power, or his power, not understanding there was no need for them to hide like this.
Yorian was an ancient elf. The number of tricks he had learned throughout the years was hard to imagine. He could use illusionary magic to make himself look human, so of course, he could cast the sa magic to turn himself and Oriana invisible. He could also easily take both of them out from the mansion without anyone noticing.
However, wouldn’t that be boring?
’Let’s escape her way,’ the elf thought. ’Her human way.’
He wanted to see what she would do next and decided to play along. After the patrolling guards passed their hiding spot, he asked softly, "Are you sure we can escape this way?"
"I am good at hiding and escaping, my lord," she said as she peeked from behind the bush. "Please trust ."
The elf smiled at her confidence and let her guide him. She continued to hold his hand and drag him along with her.
’Human cleverness sure is more thrilling than the convenience of powers.’
The elf allowed himself to be protected by a ’human’. It was a novel experience.
Finally, they passed the wall protecting the guest mansion of Abetha, and only then did Oriana let out a sigh of relief.
"We are safe now, my lord!" She brightly smiled at the elf.
"Seems like it," he said before glancing down at their linked hands. "I don’t mind you holding my hand, but soone out there might not like it."
Oriana thought he was referring to a passerby seeing two n holding hands, not to ntion one man was a ’noble’ while the other was in servant uniform. She let go of his hand imdiately. Not even a thought crossed her mind that the elf could be talking about her master, prince Arlan.
"Apologies, my Lord. Please forgive for acting rude."
"It’s alright," the elf said, sowhat missing the feeling of her hand on his.
"My Lord, thank you for saving back there. If not for your warning, I would have been caught."
Her words pulled Yorian’s attention back towards the young witch. "It’s nothing much."
As they walked together, Oriana asked, "May I ask why you were in the mansion of Abetha?" In her mind, Yorian was similar to Seren’s knight. Wherever the Queen was, Yorian would never leave her side. It was strange he was not in the mansion of garis.
"I felt a fluctuation of a familiar divine power. I was sure it belonged to a certain young lady, and decided to check if she was in danger. Turns out, she was causing mischief."
Oriana gaped at him, surprised by his words. "So you ca to help , my lord?"
"Should I have not?"
"No, no, of course I don’t an that. In fact, thank you very much for helping ."
"Why did you sneak inside Prince Cian’s study?" the elf asked. "I expect an honest answer."
Oriana didn’t want to confess, but since Yorian saved her, she chose to co clean.
"Clues as to where I can find black nightshade. I want to know how much Prince Cian has progressed and buy so stalks before those rchants get targeted."
"Hmm," the elf looked at her, rembering her need to use them for dicine creation. "Do you know, you can get your hands on that herb in an easier, smarter way? I do not understand why you prefer to struggle in hardship. Does it give you a sense of achievent that you made it happen against all odds? Do you like thrilling experiences that cause your blood to boil in excitent?"
Oriana felt puzzled by the elf’s choice of words."Easy? Smart?"
"I am sure you can find an easy way if you think about it," Yorian chuckled. "But I must say this kind of rush makes feel like I’m a young warrior all over again. It is a good way to live. Make sure to invite next ti you pull off this kind of stunt. An old man like needs to stretch my bones, otherwise, I’ll die of boredom."
Oriana didn’t know what to say, but she understood that he wanted to beco her partner-in-cri. "Umm, I don’t wish you or anyone else to be in trouble."
"Trust , instead, I can be the one to get you out of trouble when things go out of your hand."
"I... will think about it."
"Sure. I hope you rember all the marked places in that map. The copy you made is quite sloppy. I sure don’t know if anyone can read it."
It shocked Oriana so much that she did not hear his remark on her poor drawing skills. "You saw the map as well, my lord?!"
He simply smiled. "Let know when you need help." At that point, they reached the mansion of garis and he walked away towards the gate, leaving Oriana bewildered.
’Why does it feel like he is always aware of everything?’
She watched his retreating back, but the next mont, his form was nowhere to be seen, as if he disappeared in thin air.
’Where did he go? Are my eyes playing tricks?’
Unable to see the elf walking towards the mansion entrance, she shook her head.
’Never mind. How long was I gone? For now, let’s get back or else that Sir Ahren will choke for being late.’
She hurried back towards the guest mansion of Griven, while the ’missing’ silver-haired elf was watching her from the window at the top floor of the mansion. His lips carried a smile which widened the more he looked at that sneaky little witch.
He once again looked at his hand, the sa hand she grabbed and held throughout their escape.
’How many centuries has it been since the last ti soone tried to protect ? I almost forgot how it feels to be protected. I must say, it feels good. Especially when the protector is soone silly yet brave like her.’
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