"Are you alright?"
Lune gets up slowly and tries to feel her arm, where she feels another sharp pain shocking her whole body and hisses. Before she can do anything further, the boy approaches and he inspects her arm, and shakes his head, "can you walk? I think I should bring you somewhere to get this treated."
"Thank you, but I think I can go back on my own."
"And risk getting attacked by another beast? You must have little knowledge of the dangers of a forest if you don't even know how to protect yourself," Lune frowns at how right the boy is, and is mad that he just assumes without understanding her situation, "I do know some self defense, just paralyzed from the surprise attack."
"Okay then little princess, then I assume you have bodyguards of your own then?"
"How do you know I'm a princess?"
.
..
…
The boy's blue eyes widen and he shouts, "you're really a princess?!"
Afraid that they might be heard by someone else, Lune covers his mouth to shut him up and shushes him, "can't you be more quiet or something? What if you alerted something strange?"
"Fine," Lune puts down her good arm down and he continues, "my name's Chilve, what's yours, or do I have to call you the blonde princess without knowing your name?"
"Lune."
Chilve tests the name by rolling his tongue a little, "Lu- Lune," and he tilts his head, "so what are you doing here in the first place?"
"I was tailing my brother until I lost sight of him, and I got distracted by some flowers."
"So some flowers are more important than searching for your brother?"
"It's not some flowers, I have never seen them!"
"I thought you are a princess, and a princess is supposed to know every flower in the royal garden or something."
"I feel like I'm being watched if I'm in the garden, so I took this chance to have an quick escape from the palace surveillance," she pouts and Chilve suddenly laughs, making her mad with him, "what do you even know about being watched constantly?!"
He wipes some tears that come out from his eyes from laughing too much and he grins, "oh, I do know that, but at least I do know how to protect myself unlike you, Lune."
"And that's because they don't even let me learn magic or sword fighting!"
"Have you considered asking or just picking a sword up? Maybe archery suits you," he rubs his chin while thinking about something and continues, "or you can try to focus on combat magic, since most mages are girls anyway."
"That's outdated thinking."
"That's how it is, it's related to our body's flow of energy."
Before Lune can ask further on the current topic, the wolf ears on Chilve's head moves and he turns to face another direction, and he puts a finger on Lune's lips. After a few minutes, he removes his finger and asks, "it seems a group of armored guards are looking for you."
"But I don't hear that."
"That's because I have keen senses thanks to my wolf side," he grabs her good hand and starts pulling her and starts walking. Before she can ask where they are going, he answers her question first, "I'm leading you towards them, and you will be back in the palace in no time."
"But I don't want to go back so soon."
"And I don't want to babysit you if there's another beast attack."
"Babysit? I'm already 10!"
"At least I'm older than you princess, I'm 12."
Lune knows she can't exactly refute Chilve's logical thinking, so she lets him lead the way since he is the one that heard where the guards are. After some twists and turns, he finally stops walking and she almost bumps into his back, "they are right in front. Go ahead without me."
"What, are you some sort of a refugee?"
"Do you think they will believe what a boy says about saving their princess from a beast's attack? Just go," he goes to her back and pushes her forward, "wait!"
"What is it?"
'If I don't say it now, I might not have the chance to learn more about him.' "Can I meet you again? You know, to get to know more about your kind for educational purposes."
He seems to be speechless and just when Lune thinks she said the wrong thing, Chilves smiles at her and says, "why not. It's not like you can meet a werewolf everyday anyway, since we are pretty rare. See you at the same time everyday near the royal garden,"
"How do you-" Lune turns to look at Chilve, only to see him gone like the wind, leaving no traces of him while a group of shouting approaches where she is, and she frowns when the familiar looking guard uniforms are in her sight, where one of them who seems to be the captain kneels down in front of her, "Princess Lune, are you alright? You look pale."
"How do you even know I'm gone?"
"One of the maids came to your room to deliver some tea time snacks and you disappeared. That's how we found out there's a hole in the wedge wall and now, you can rest assured that you will be safely escorted back to the palace."
Worried that Sol might not be able to come back if they cover up the hole, she decides to come clean, "wait! Sol is still out here in this forest."
The guards look at each other at the news and one of them whispers something to the captain in the ear, and the captain nods before saying, "it's fine, we know about his daily routine and someone is following closely on him, so be at ease of your worries, princess."
'So he has been going out without telling me!' Feeling betrayed, she just pouts and decides to follow them back, and after reaching the palace, she asks, "can you send the physician for me? I think I hurt my arm."
"Of course, your highness."
After getting looked at and getting bandaged to prevent further dislocation, Lune exits her room to see Sol is walking towards his room which is beside hers from the corridor outside and he looks surprised to see her out. He then calmly composes himself and enters his own room, but before he can enter, Lune stops him and asks, "where did you go?"
"I had a walk around the garden."
'This brat lies with a straight face?' She sighs from how this brother of hers can be this brazen with lies, and she puts on her most furious face expression she can muster, "I knew you went out from the palace, because I followed you. What did you do?"
"What are you trying to do now, Lune?"
"Tell you what, if you tell me what you normally do, especially related to magic, I will not tell his majesty about your little retreat."
Sol seems to be thinking from how long he has been keeping silent while staring at her, and just when Lune thinks he won't agree easily without absurd conditions, he heaves a sigh, "alright," she brightens up from the word and frowns when Sol's expression turns into a serious one, "but! Promise me you don't hurt yourself if you're trying to experiment about magic."
"I'm mature enough not to try those odd looking ones," Sol raises one of his blonde eyebrows and she pouts, "what now?"
"It's nothing. You know my tutor schedule, right? Come over when it's magic studies."