"Come on up, Miss," Zhang Jiangwu said to Ara.
Ara just nodded and got on the horse, then Zhang Jiangwu did the same. The others followed.
They then left the royal palace, moving around in the royal capital with such appearances, raising many questions in everyone's mind.
Ara riding a horse with the Crown Prince, sitting on the same horse made the girl feel awkward, but the crown prince didn't seem to realize what she was feeling at all.
Honestly, Ara did not know where to go. She kept pointing in random directions, out of the Royal Capital, into the countryside, through the dry meadows until Ara's eyes saw a dense forest. Her eyes sparkled.
"There!" she said again pointing towards the forest.
Hesitantly, Zhang Jiangwu followed the sentence of the girl sitting in front of him. The forest they were going to was one of the forests in the Qin kingdom. The forest was rich in resources, some residents made a living in the forest, many Qin people hunted and farmed in the forest, and there were many other things.
Entering the forest, the hot air slowly replaced with cool air, the light breeze blew slowly, caressing everyone's skin and managing to give a refreshing sensation.
They had already spent hours, making the crown prince feel uncomfortable.
"Stop!" Zhang Jiangwu suddenly shouted.
"What is it, Your Majesty?" asked Bai Jun, leveling his position with the man.
Zhang Jiangwu raised one of his hands, causing Bai Jun to back away and return to his original place.
"Miss, are you sure this is the way? You're not tricking me, are you?" Zhang Jiangwu asked, his breath warm against Ara's ear, making the girl shudder.
"Right, this is already the right way. After escaping from the soldiers' pursuit, do you think we dare to wander around the residents' quarters?" replied Ara very confidently.
"Improve your speech, Miss. Don't you know who you're talking to?" Bai Jun protested.
Ara was silent and just snorted at those words. As for Zhang Jiangwu, the man cleared his throat quietly.
"I will kill you on the spot if you dare to deceive me, Miss," he said and spurred on his horse again. The male nobles and the soldiers who were with him also did the same.
They continued to move without stopping, occasionally they ran into some of the Qin kingdom's people. It was late afternoon, orange light was seen filling the sky on the western horizon. Judging from the shadows of the trees and their position, Ara could guess, that they were currently moving towards the south of the Qin Kingdom.
She just wanted to take them in circles, she had no purpose at all. She was just waiting for nightfall to escape from the crown prince's group.
"Your Majesty, we should rest for a while. These horses seem to be thirsty," Feng Ming said to Zhang Jiangwu. It was true, since their departure earlier, they had not rested at all.
"Okay, then let's find a river or spring to rest for a while," replied the Crown Prince.
'Good, this will take a lot of time,' Ara thought happily.
She didn't realize that she was approaching the southern border region of the kingdom. Indeed, the boundary of the southern kingdom's territory is the closest to the Royal Capital. It also made the Crown Prince less suspicious of her, he thought that after escaping from the pursuit of soldiers, the intruders would not go far from the kingdom's borders.
Yes, it is a very fortunate coincidence. A coincidence that Ara was not aware of.
After moving for several tens of minutes, they finally found a river. The river is not too big, the water is very clear, some large rocks are also seen lining some of the banks of the river.
The soldiers and the six noblemen took their horses to the riverside to drink, they also took care of the crown prince's horse. Not only that, some of them even took a bath as if they didn't care about the existence of a girl among them.
"I'm thirsty," Ara said causing Zhang Jiangwu who was standing not far from her to reflexively turn to her.
"I'm thirsty, I want a drink," Ara said again when she didn't get any response from the man.
Zhang Jiangwu only glanced over at her, still not giving any response. He ignored it.
"Don't blame me if I can't bring you to their hiding place because I died of thirst," said Ara again, not wanting to give up, she had been thirsty since earlier.
Hearing that, Zhang Jiangwu squeaked in displeasure. He then took the bottle of water he had brought and gave it to Ara.
"You should be honored cause I let you drink my water," Zhang Jiangwu said as he tossed the golden bottle to Ara.
"Help me to drink it," Ara said again and that made Zhang Jiangwu glare at her.
"Look, my hands are tied. I can't even hold the bottle," she added, putting on a scowl.
Zhang Jiangwu's jaw hardened, he held back his anger. In his life, this was the first time a woman had asked him to do anything, other than his mother.
"Don't do it if you don't want to. I'm not forcing you," said Ara.
The Crown Prince approached Ara, pulling his sword from its place-making Ara fixated on the spot.
"W-what are you going to do?" Ara stuttered. The reflection of the sword filled her eyes.
Zhang Jiangwu raised his sword in front of Ara, causing the girl to close her eyes.
Ssreettttt...
At the same time, the rope that bound her hands was severed, freeing her hands.
A sigh of relief sounded from between Ara's lips, followed by a wide smile on her face.
"Thank you," Ara said then grabbed the bottle lying in front of her.
Zhang Jiangwu snorted, returning his sword to its place. He then walked to the river bank to wash his face.
Leaving Ara and the two soldiers who guarded her since earlier.
It was getting dark, the sound of nocturnal animals could be heard, signaling that night would soon come.
"Is the place still far away?" Yua Ahn came and approached Ara.
"We've come a long way, you didn't trick us, did you, Miss?" he asked again. Crouched next to the girl.
"Do I have the power to deceive you? I'm just a weak girl, what kind of courage do I have, to do something like that? I've been caught by you guys, I don't want to be the only victim, so wouldn't it be better if I showed my friends hiding places?"
"You betrayed your friends," Yue Ahn said again.
Ara smiled bitterly, "Think of it like that, sir," replied Ara.