Since the horse they had brought to pull the carriage on the main road suddenly collapsed again and appeared weak, they ultimately abandoned the carriage and released the horse. After that, they continued on foot toward the barbarian village, which wasn’t too far away.
Ard, Eva, Mirea, and Claudia, who knew the area, walked in the lead. Anna, guarding Princess Eliza, who was being carried by her maid, walked behind them. anwhile, Alicia, Milia, Geoffrey, Ainsley, Patricia, Irwin, Beatrice, and Rosalind walked behind the Princess and the maid carrying her.
Eliza kept staring at Beatrice, who was walking behind her, with her big, cute, blue eyes, which made Beatrice feel a little self-conscious.
"Hey, Rosalind, why does she keep looking at ?" Beatrice whispered.
"Hmm... maybe she recognizes that you’re a Princess like her... and you’re weird," Rosalind whispered back.
"What do you an, ’weird’?" Beatrice asked angrily.
"Weird because there’s a Princess like you in the world," Milia said, putting her arm around Beatrice.
"Grr... get your hands off ," Beatrice countered, shaking Milia’s arm off.
"Maybe she’s studying you, so she doesn’t turn out like you in the future," Alicia teased.
"Grr... what about ? Am I weird?" Beatrice asked.
"Hmm... not really, but you’re a Princess who gets seasick, grumbles, and is a little spoiled... well, compared to normal people, you’re weird," Milia answered.
"Grr... just you wait, stop making fun of ," Beatrice fud.
"Calm down. Don’t worry about it. Just let her look at you; she’s still a kid," Geoffrey said.
"Yeah, don’t make a big deal out of it, you weirdo," Ainsley added, adjusting his glasses.
"Maybe she just likes looking at you, who knows," Patricia added.
"Yep, true. Or are you feeling sothing when she looks at you?" Irwin asked.
"Huh... of course not. I feel perfectly normal," Beatrice replied, crossing her arms and looking away.
"If you felt normal, why did you ask? You weirdo," Rosalind, Alicia, Milia, Geoffrey, Ainsley, Patricia, and Irwin asked simultaneously.
"Grr... I hate all of you," Beatrice whined, pouting.
anwhile, Anna, walking behind Ard, Eva, Mirea, and Claudia, kept staring intensely at the black-haired Eva’s back, squinting her eyes sharply. Her hand remained on the hilt of the sword at her waist. Naturally, Eva, walking in front of her, felt the intense stare behind her. She pulled Ard and quickly swapped positions with him, which confused Ard.
"What’s up?" Ard asked.
"Nothing. I think that knight knows I’m Evageline Juliana Orthus," Eva said.
"Hmm... really?" Ard asked, turning to look back.
Ard could see that even though he had swapped places with Eva, Anna’s eyes were still fixed on Eva, and her expression was hard to read. Then Eva raised her hand and turned Ard’s cheek so he would look forward again.
"Don’t look back so obviously," Eva said.
"Oh sorry, I get it. Just act normal," Ard replied.
"Yeah, I got it," Eva countered.
Ard nodded, then turned back, walking backward while smiling. Anna, who was behind him, imdiately turned to look at Ard.
"Why was Princess Eliza in the port city of Tramund?" Ard asked.
"Oh... she lives in that city, but since the Orthus Empire declared war on our Kingdom, and their target must be Tramund, the King recalled the Princess to the palace for safety. That’s why we were traveling... it’s all because of the Orthus Empire," Anna said deliberately, glancing at Eva.
"Hmm, I see. Are you the Princess’s personal guard?" Ard asked.
"That’s right. I am Princess Eliza’s personal knight, assigned by the Ateras Kingdom’s Knight Order," Anna answered.
"Hmm... okay, I understand," Ard replied.
"Are you Prince Arden Larsen Fredonia?" Anna asked.
"Huh... y-you know ?" Ard asked, surprised.
"Of course. I once visited the Fredonia Kingdom to escort an envoy from the King. I saw you at the palace once, and I know your nickna, the ’Trash Prince.’ Your face is the sa, but your hair is different. It was red back then. Hair color can be easily changed with magic, you know. That magic cos from the Ateras Kingdom," Anna said, smiling, but sharply glancing at Eva and pointedly ntioning hair-changing magic.
"Ah, right... soone from Ateras taught how to use it, too," Ard said. "Technically not a lie since Reese taught , but the important thing now is to get her attention off Eva," Ard thought to himself.
"So what is Prince Arden doing here?" Anna asked.
"Hmm... we’re heading to the Rellios Kingdom. We’re from the academy and got an assignnt, haha," Ard replied.
"Hmm... what assignnt?" Anna asked, staring intently at Ard.
"We’re running away because of the war. We’re all academy students," Mirea said, turning back and helping to explain to Anna.
Anna looked at Mirea, who had facial features structured like an Ateras Kingdom native but also looked like soone from Durnhill. anwhile, Ard kept watching Anna’s hand gripping the hilt of her sword.
"Hmm... you seem to be from Ateras... but also not," Anna observed.
"Yep, my dad is from the Ateras Kingdom, but my mom is from the Durnhill Kingdom," Mirea said cheerfully.
"Oh, I see. No wonder you look like a mix of foreigners," Anna said.
"Well, that’s just how it is," Mirea said.
"And the one next to you, is she from the barbarian tribe?" Anna asked.
"That’s right. We’ll be at the barbarian village soon," Claudia answered, turning around to talk to Anna while walking backward.
Finally, Mirea and Claudia kept Anna engaged in conversation to distract her from Ard and Eva. Ard felt relieved, then turned and walked normally again. After that, he glanced at Eva beside him.
"Clear," Ard said.
"Grr... she definitely knows who I am. She subtly taunted several tis, even hinting at my hair-changing magic," Eva hissed in a slightly furious whisper.
"There, there... the main thing is that it’s safe now, right? Don’t dwell on it," Ard whispered back.
Finally, they kept walking until they saw a village in the distance, surrounded by a spiked wooden log wall like a sharp palisade and tightly closed. Inside, a lot of smoke was billowing out, apparently from the chimneys of the houses within the settlent. Claudia pointed toward the village and said it was a barbarian tribe village, though not the one she grew up in.
She knew the chief of that village and volunteered to speak to him when they arrived. Naturally, everyone entrusted that responsibility to Claudia. Ard, who actually knew where Claudia’s real village was and that this wasn’t it but recognized the place, just smiled to himself because he had lived in that village in one of his past lives. However, when he turned to look at Eva, he was surprised to see her face tense as she looked at the village ahead.
"What’s wrong? Do you rember that village?" Ard whispered.
"Yes. It’s the first village I destroyed in my fourth life... no, in all nine of my lives," Eva replied.
"Whoa... you’re not planning on destroying it this ti, are you?" Ard asked.
"Depends. If that knight keeps staring at , that’s a different story," Eva answered.
Dug, Ard raised his hand and used a chop to gently hit Eva’s head beside him.
A surprised Eva imdiately grabbed her head and turned to look at Ard beside her.
"Why did you hit ?" Eva asked, annoyed.
"Because your thoughts are still stuck in your nine past lives. We’re on the tenth now, so don’t get any ideas," Ard replied, smiling.
"Uuuh... you’re right, but you didn’t have to hit ," Eva whined.
"If I didn’t, you wouldn’t snap out of it. Besides, was my hit that painful? Don’t be such a baby," Ard said.
"Hah! Who’s a baby? I’m not Beatrice, so don’t compare to Beatrice, because I’m not spoiled at all and don’t hate everything," Eva shouted loudly.
"Hey! I heard all that! Don’t talk trash up front!" Beatrice yelled from the back, raising her hands and looking furious.
"That’s enough, Princess," Rosalind said, trying to calm Beatrice down.
Beatrice imdiately tried to walk forward, but Rosalind held her shoulders and restrained the visibly red-faced, struggling Princess. But suddenly, "Giggle," everyone imdiately turned to see Eliza laughing at Beatrice, who was now utterly silent.
Everyone, including Anna, who turned back, and the maid carrying Eliza, looked confused but smiled. They were all surprised because Eliza hadn’t shown any expression at all since the middle of the grassland. Beatrice, who had been angry monts before, went silent. Eliza continued to look at her, laughing, which eventually made Beatrice laugh too.
Finally, Eliza asked her maid to be put down, then she ran straight to Beatrice, and Beatrice imdiately picked her up. Of course, Beatrice indulged her, but suddenly she turned to see her friends laughing broadly, with teasing looks on their faces.
"I really, really hate all of you," Beatrice declared, but this ti she was smiling while hugging Eliza.
The atmosphere finally eased up again, and they continued walking toward the approaching barbarian settlent.
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