"What's with you, Enkir? Why are you in such a bad mood?"
Ramsis, who stood next to Eric, didn't waste time mulling over it but asked right away when his sisters and Dahlia were away for a short moment. Yesterday evening, everything was fine with Eric, but today, things seemed odd with the other man.
"I'm not in a bad mood." Eric, leaning against the fence, answered coolly.
"Of course you are." Ramsis, smiling warmly, tapped Eric's forehead while reminding the other: "You say nothing's wrong, but whenever no one's looking, your forehead scrunches up like a dried fig."
"..."
"What's wrong?" Ramsis, who received no reaction from the other apart from silence now became serious as well. The other guy would only become silent when something fundamentally had happened. Otherwise, he would set him straight and react to all of Ramsis' teasings.
"..." Eric's forehead creased up when he thought about how the Coronian prince has learned to read him so well that even things like this can't be hidden now. He thought about how his poker face seemed to fail him more and more the longer he stayed in Coronia.
"Can't you even tell me?" The prince grabbed Eric's wrist and came closer. With his eyes full of concern, he broke through Eric's resistance in no time.
"This is a secret concerning the Royal Family..." Eric murmured. "And mine as well." He spat out bitterly, making Ramsis' curiosity hit the peak.
"Your family... and the Royal Family?" Ramsis, even though he was playful all year round, was still as sharp as a blade once it mattered and understood the hidden intonation.
"Is this about... Daria?" Ramsis' gaze became as cold as steel "What is the matter?"
"You're so fast when it's about gossip, Elem." Eric smiled bitterly; he didn't intend to hide the matter from Ramsis anyway. He was just not sure what to think of the issue himself.
"After we separated yesterday, Mother took me aside and told me that Leonhard wants to break the engagement with my sister." He finally spat out, obviously angered over the whole matter.
"What? Why would he do that?" Ramsis asked unbelievingly. His mimic showed instant disbelief.
"That brat said he fell in love with someone else. A peasant, none the less." Eric gnashed through his teeth. When he saw Ramsis raised his eyebrow in doubt, Eric's anger subsided a little bit, and the fire in his eyes softened somewhat. "I can't believe it either."
"Then Daria, she..."
"Mother said that Dahlia accepted to dissolve their obligations without any refutal."
Upon hearing that, Ramsis broke out in laughter.
"What's so funny about that?!"
"Ah.. no.. I didn't mean to laugh. It's just that she is such a strong gal. One couldn't tell she had any emotional burden at all. Unlike you." Ramsis teased and nudged the seething Eric with his elbow.
"I'm going to kill him."
"Regicide?" Ramsis chuckled and clasped the other's cheeks in his hands and squeezed them. "Sounds good to me. When you're done, then the two of you can come here, I will shelter you."
Eric, squirmed out of the others grasp and hit him in the side before refuting: "He's not my king yet. I've not sworn allegiance to him, and he can wait the rest of his life for it now. And why should we come here, don't tell me you want to marry my sister?"
Ramsis beamed like the sun, his smile almost blinding Eric. "You and I are like family. I don't need to marry Daria to worry for her as I worry for my sisters. You guys will always have a place here as long as I am alive and kicking."
"There's no need; I can take care of my own sister myself." Who was Eric? Eric was the future Duke of Highmount and Northwall, the one and only Duke in Florencia. Even if his sister never sets foot out of their home ever again, she could bath in pearls and gold for the rest of her life. He would make sure that she would live better than any queen on the continent.
"Hey! What are you guys doing!?" A sudden voice interrupted their conversation. It was Nadia who emerged on a black stallion out of the forest behind them. She was the first who came back. The two men shifted their attention towards the young girl.
Sometime later, Leila, who rode on a brown mare, arrived as well. Only Dahlia and her white horse never came back, even after waiting for a quarter-hour.
"We agreed to race back. Daria must be on her way..."
"How could that happen? What if anything happens to my sister?"
"Don't worry, this forest hast no danger whatsoever - it's been cleared of any carnivores. It's because you insisted on giving Daria the oldest horse, that's why she is so slow! There's only one way. She can't get lost even if she closed her eyes..."
Even though Nadia tried to calm Eric down, he couldn't sit back and wait for his sister when she was alone and out of his sight. Today was the first day in her life that she rode a horse by herself, how could he not worry about her - after they have so eagerly tried to talk her out of it all this time? Even if she was riding a donkey, there were still a thousand kinds of dangers out there.
Just when he was about to refute, Leila pointed at a specific spot above the forest.
"Look!"
From the direction they came from, a flock of birds raised from the forest and flew away in all directions.
Eric grounded his teeth in frustration and rushed into the forest on his horse, not waiting for anyone.
--------------
It took me half a day to learn horse riding. It was just the early morning hours since with the instructions of four specialists; only a mental case would fail this course. Eric insisted that I familiarise myself with the horse before we head out, so I went merry-go-round the stables until he let me pass at around lunchtime.
Both Eric and Ramsis were standing aside while I went with the girls into the forest to get a fresh breath of the air after a light meal. It was on our way back that Nadia suggested racing back. Leila, who saw that I looked secure and even excited for it, agreed hesitatingly. I guessed already that she was as much a doting sister as Eric was on me most of the times.
As expected, Nadia rushed forward while Leila planned to stay as close to me as possible. But when the competitive young princess discovered that none of us took it seriously, she complained until I told Leila to just go with it.
The two of them told me that the whole forest was clear of wild beasts and that only small game was left. I wasn't scared to be alone for a short time, and I was confident of finding my way on my own. Once Leila was assured, she charged forward to catch up with her sister. The truth was, it was more dangerous for Nadia who was recklessly riding ahead than for me, who galloped along the forest path with a retired horse.
"The two of us can take our sweet time and enjoy the scenery." I petted Sina, the white horse that carried me, and we went ahead.
Sina was the oldest rideable horse in the stables. The queen herself once used her. A calm and collected horse that fitted well with an amateur like me. Eric selected her because Sina wasn't able to race anymore and is too old and too well trained to act up on its own. He might pair me with a donkey if that wouldn't have hurt my dignity and that of our house.
But... how wrong we all were, to think that Sina couldn't run anymore.
At a juncture, a commotion began. From the bushes, a wild deer rushed forward in panic which scared the birds into flying up and scattering. Sina wittered something, and the old horse began to move back and forward without knowing where to go.
"What's wrong, Sina?" I worried. The mare seemed scared.
What happened next, went too fast to describe. A small arrow hit the ground in front of Sina's hooves, agitating the horse into jumping aside. Right then, another arrow - larger than the first one by three times, hit right where we stood before. If it weren't for Sina's jump, the horse would've been impaled by that arrow coming out of nowhere.
"AAAAAAHHHH!"
I cried out in terror when Sina bolted forward, fleeing off with me still on her back. Out of instinct, I gripped Sina's mane as firm as I could before her neck-breaking pace would throw me off. With my body pressed onto her back, I tried to cry for help, but the wind cut off the sounds that I made.
While being afraid of more arrows aiming at us, I still made an effort to find out what was going on just now or where Sina was carrying me. Right when I lifted my head, a low hanging branch grazed me. It left a cut on my cheek and ripped the hood from my head that used to protect me from the sun.
To my horror, Sina has left the path and was now running aimlessly into the woods. I didn't know how to calm her down or take reign over this wild ride. Talking to the horse didn't prove to be helpful, and just by yanking the reins, she almost threw me down.
"I should have listened to Eric, should have taken the donkey!"
A scary thought emerged in my head: I may die like this if I don't come up with a plan!
Just then, we broke through the woods and headed straight into a patch of grasslands.
"The water!" There was a small lake ahead. If we get close enough, I could try jumping into the water and maybe manage to not break my neck.
Just when I made up my mind, a shadow flickered behind me.
A black horse, as fast as lightning, caught up with us in no time. Its rider, a man, clad in black, reached out his hand towards me.
"Grab my hand!" His husky voice commanded. Despite being in such a risky situation, this guy seemed too calm for this whole case, as if he wasn't surprised to come upon a young woman being abducted by a horse.
The colour drained from my face. I've seen this scene often enough in fiction, but does he really think this works in real life?! I shook my head rapidly.
"I'm going to jump into the water!" If you have to choose, choose the option that will break the least of your bones!
It doesn't seem like he expected my answer because his fingers twitched ever so slightly. Still, his arm stayed outreached.
"You better... CAREFUL!"
Before the stranger could end his sentence, Sina's hoof hit a rock, as if directed by the God of Misfortune. Like running into a wall, the horse came to a stop immediately. Following the momentum, an invisible force pulled me forward, throwing me off the horse's back at a spectacular speed...