'Is he scared too?' Odette wondered in her mind. She looked up slightly and saw Rion who seemed to be watching the monsters that were still passing, then she buried her face in Rion's chest again. If she could get inside that man's body then she would go in and hide there.
For some reason being in Rion's arms felt very comfortable and she felt safe.
After almost a minute had passed the creature's tail finally flashed.
"Hah." Rion breathed a sigh of relief and released his arms from Odette but not Odette. She was still holding him very tightly. The man cleared his throat and spoke curtly, "If you don't let me go, I'll think you're a real seductress."
Odette, who had been carried away by the comfortable atmosphere in Rion's arms and didn't realize that the tension had passed, opened her eyes in surprise when she heard Rion's words.
She then quickly let go of his hand.
"I-I hugged you because I was so scared," said Odette with a flushed face.
"Is that true?" Rion asked flatly.
"O-of course." Odette looked away.
'Ah, why did I even enjoy it, this is bad!' she thought.
"Let's go!" Rion said, then walked.
***
Inside a house with wooden walls and floors, Anwen was lying unconscious on a simple bed. Beside her were Trish and an old woman in white, who was a healer. The woman had treated all the wounds on Anwen's body but at this time Anwen was still in poor condition.
Anwen had difficulty breathing and had a high fever due to the snake venom from the tail of the chimera of the Randle Forest, luckily the healer had an antidote.
Right now, Trish and Anwen were in a small Village. This village was the closest one to Randle Forest. Seeing Anwen's badly injured condition, Trish decided to seek help in the village and they were lucky that the village had a great healer.
"We're just waiting for the antidote to work," said the healer and then got up from her seat. "You watch her. I'll make a new ointment for the wound."
Trish nodded in understanding and the healer walked out of the room. Trish then sat down beside the princess. Anwen's face was flushed with fever and he was breathing slowly.
"You'll be fine," Trish said with a smile and held Anwen's forehead.
Trish looked sadly at Anwen who was lying sick. Though usually the girl always looks cheerful and excited.
"Brother…"
Trish was slightly surprised when she heard Anwen deliriously call out to her brother. Tears were flowing from the corners of the girl's eyes.
"You miss His Majesty a lot, don't you? He will definitely come with Miss Odette soon," Trish said, wiping Anwen's tears away.
'You are close but you are so far away,' Trish thought to himself, staring at Anwen's face for three seconds then looking out of the window.
"I hope Your Majesty is okay," he muttered worriedly.
***
Rion slashed at the bushes and vines blocking the path. They got increasingly lost and farther from the way out. Randle Forest really showed its existence as a forbidden forest. No wonder no ordinary person dared to enter the Randle Forest.
Besides being famous for its savage inhabitants, this forest was also famous for confusing routes that made it difficult for people who enter it to find a way out. The deeper one entered, the more complicated and confusing the route would be.
"Rion, let's rest first," said Odette. She stopped and held her knees.
Her breath was panting and she was very thirsty. Luckily the backpack filled with supplies was still on her back. She opened the backpack and took out a water bottle.
"Huffth, what a relief," she said after drinking a few sips of the water in the bottle and then offered the bottle to Rion. "Do you want some?"
Rion who also felt thirsty immediately took the bottle and drank a little water there. He didn't know when they would find a way out so they had to save on the water.
Rion gave the bottle back to Odette, then walked and sat on a fallen tree trunk and Odette followed him.
"What are you and Anwen doing in this forest?" Rion asked as soon as Odette sat down next to him.
"Ah, that… I want to meet Aathreya," answered Odette which made Rion's brows curl.
"Aathreya? Why?"
For a moment Odette saw Rion next to her and then looked ahead. "I want to go back to my time."
Rion looked a little surprised and confused by Odette's answer.
"Maybe you won't believe it but I come from the twentieth century and I don't know why I got stranded here. Anwen said if I wanted to go home, I could meet the wizard Aathreya because Aathreya can open the dimensions of space and time," explained Odette.
She didn't say that Anwen had also told her about the rose around the queen's grave that could grant wishes.
After hearing Anwen's story about Rion being forced to sentence the queen to death, Odette didn't dare discuss it because she thought it was a very sensitive subject.
***
The sun was starting to set. The blue sky that stretched out was slowly being dispelled by darkness, making the dark Randle Forest even darker.
"At first, I couldn't believe all this. I fell into a river on a plantation and I woke up on the bank of a river in a forest." Odette exhaled tiredly. "It was like a nightmare."
"Oh," said Rion, causing Odette to turn to look at him for a moment.
"Just oh?" Odette furrowed her brows, staring at the flat face next to her. Did the man actually understand what Odette said or not? Why was the reaction so flat?
"I said I came from the twentieth century," Odette repeated for a few minutes, but Rion again gave a reaction that Odette did not expect.
"So?" Rion's face was still flat.
'BE A LITTLE SHOCKED, AT LEAST!' shouted Odette in her mind, then she exhaled harshly to quell her annoyance and neutralize her expression.
"Aathreya is my hope of going home, but at this rate… I feel like I will never be able to go home," she said.
Her eyes looked down, and she saw some leaves that were in front of her feet. Then she started thinking about Mia. How was the girl now? The girl's mental state was still very unstable. What if the girl thought that Odette had left her?
With great difficulty, Odette convinced Mia that she was not alone. Odette even promised to be by her side until she could get custody of her son and live a good life.
Odette thought back to when Mia looked at her with eyes filled with hope. Hope for a happy life with her son. Odette felt anxious thinking about Mia, who probably would feel disappointed, desperate, and want to end her life again.
Meanwhile, Rion silently watched Odette, who looked sad. He felt sorry for the woman, but there was nothing that could be done. If they entered the forest any deeper, they would just die silly as prey to the beasts in the forest or die by themselves from dehydration and starvation.
"We have to get out of here before nightfall," said Rion, standing up from his seat, and then again swinging his sword, slashing and removing every branch, bush, and everything that stood in his way while Odette followed closely behind.