Several days earlier Rowena had been made difficult to deal with various kinds of problems, one of which was Duke Carbell. Fortunately, today's blue troop training is temporarily closed. So, at least she could rest for a while before re-starting those annoying activities.
Today Rowena plans to hunt alone in the Delarice forest. Delarice Forest is the only forest near the capital city of Sunverro and the most dangerous place. Many hunters often went in there, but not a single person was able to get out anymore. Therefore for now no one dares to go in there let alone to hunt.
Despite having a dark history behind it, the forest is now one of the tourist destinations for Rowena today. Rowena wears the clothes she usually wears during training, at least even though it looks simple but not as complicated when wearing a dress or knight uniform. Rowena walked leisurely towards the stables with a bag containing dozens of arrows and her left hand holding a bow while humming.
For today she chose a large and strong black horse. She stepped into the stirrup and sat on the black horse's back with enthusiasm. She started to ride the horse out of her residence and moved towards the Delarice forest.
Rowena's dark horse ran as fast as lightning. Rowena came straight to Delarice Forest in twenty minutes. If it was a normal horse it would probably take an hour to get there.
As rumored, from the outside Delarice Forest looks very scary. When Rowena was about to enter the forest, there were some commoners who forbade her to enter there. Even though it was forbidden, Rowena still didn't want to listen to it and went into the forest casually.
The forest looked very dark even though it was still day. There were so many leaves that were sticking down that anyone who hit them would surely fall by tripping over them. Rowena continued to ride her horse into the depths of the Delarice forest.
From a distance Rowena saw the long grass that kept moving as if there was an animal hiding there. Rowena approached the grass slowly then aimed the focal point of her bow in the direction of the movement and then she released her arrow. Just as the arrow had shot toward its target, Rowena suddenly heard a man's voice wincing in pain. Rowena approached the source of the voice.
It turned out that the man who was grimacing was Diego whose palms were bleeding from holding back Rowena's arrows that flew at him just now. Rowena was confused when she saw Diego. She don't know why these days fate keeps bringing them together.
"Why are you here, Diego?" asked Rowena with a frown on her face. In a short time her spirit suddenly disappeared after seeing Diego.
Diego quickly turned to Rowena and smiled warmly despite the fresh blood oozing from his palms. "Hi, Rowena. It turns out that you shot this arrow, no wonder I had a hard time holding this arrow just now. My purpose here is also the same as your purpose of being here now."
Rowena sighed and tore off her clothes so they could be used as bandages. Rowena got on her horse to get closer to Diego and began to bandage the man's wound carefully and slowly. "Stop talking like that. I don't know why you make me so guilty when I didn't mean to do that."
"As a token of my gratitude, how about we hunt together?" offered Diego.
Rowena laughed with a straight face. "I don't think that's a form of gratitude at all because I didn't find any advantage for me in your offer at all."
"What if I exercise my rights as Odelette's crown prince? Surely you will agree to my offer right?"
"Fuck! Then let's start hunting before it gets dark," answered Rowena who had finished dressing Diego's wound.
They began to ride their horses into the forest to look for animals to be hunted. Even though the smiling forest is dark and spooky but hunting there is a lot of fun for Rowena. The air was fresh and her chest didn't feel as tight as when she was in the capital. Rowena's mind became very calm when she was there.
It didn't even feel like it was getting dark. After a tired hunt, Rowena and Diego took their prey to the river bank to clean up while resting for a while. Finished cleaning the blood they had hunted, the two of them threw themselves into the river to clean their bodies which were dirty from the splashes of animal blood.
After washing themselves with water, they went up to the river bank soaking wet. Diego's body was shaking from the cold.
"Aren't you cold, Rowena? If you're cold I can use teleportation magic so we can quickly get to your residence or my room," Diego said.
"If you want to come back please come back yourself," answered Rowena curtly.
"No. I'll just accompany you here," Diego replied while sneezing.
Rowena sighed seeing the behavior of the man who was now sitting right beside her. She used his fire magic to dry Diego's clothes and her clothes too. Diego who saw that could only be astonished.
"Didn't you say that your mother belongs to the Odelette imperial family so you can use light and darkness magic, but why can you also use fire magic?"
"Don't you believe what I told you before?" Rowena replied.
"It's not that I don't believe it, I'm just confused. Indeed, the Odelette Imperial family is blessed with light and dark magic, but apart from magic power, Goddess Odelle also blessed us with fiery red hair as our trademark," explained Diego who didn't want to make Rowena misunderstood.
Rowena chuckled for a moment at Diego's explanation. "If it had to be told, it would be a long and endless sad story. Would you like to hear the story?"
Diego nodded his head. Rowena smiled and then deactivated the dark magic she used earlier to turn her hair black. Diego was surprised and amazed to see Rowena's hair which was red like a burning fire.
"I used to be the youngest daughter of the Edelle Kingdom. Actually this is a secret, but because you are a distant relative of mine then I will be generous to tell my name. When I became a princess my name was Rowena Odelette de Edelle. Beautiful isn't it? Unfortunately my life is not as beautiful as my name," said Rowena who lowered her head.
"Rowena Odelette de Edelle? Don't tell me you're Erica's aunt's daughter?"
"Yes, you're right. My mother's name is Erica Odelette de Margareth, the crown princess of the Odelette Empire who resigned from her position and chose to marry that bastard from Edelle to replace her beloved younger sister at the time," replied Rowena.
Diego's face looks like a confused person. "But from what I heard from the king of Edelle himself, it was said that Erica's aunt didn't have any children because she was barren. Then Erica's aunt was also said to have a weak physique so she had to be cared for in Edelle's palace and couldn't get out of there nor let anyone visit her. "
Rowena laughed loudly like crazy when she heard Diego's explanation.