Adela curled up on the damp ground next to Arkin where the dense green ferns swayed gently with the airflow beside the stream. The late autumn's dropping temperatures were becoming more noticeable by the second.
She missed her shawl terribly, but it was only right to place it beneath her knight's head. It was a choice between the extra fabric she had on or her leg, and since her undergarments were currently performing other duties, becoming a victim of the cold weather was the lesser evil between the two.
"Do you plan on sitting there all day?"
Adela's eyes switched from gazing upon Arkin's serene face to reluctantly making contact with two dark brown ones that blazed fiercer than the torch planted close to her. She took a leveling breath finding it silly to have to repeat herself over and over again.
"Forgive my impudence, my lord… It is like I told you before, I just want his body to properly rest before riding back. If I wake him up right away, I fear the bandage won't take the repeated slamming against the back of your friend's horse,"
Fabricating or not, Adela was able to sound convincing when she desired to, courtesy of the prolonged social etiquette training that she was put through over the years.
She wanted Arkin to save enough energy so she can ride with him on the way back instead of re-experiencing the same torture she went through riding with the foreigner, the mere anticipation of having to repeat that ride made her stomach tighten and had her skin tingling where his arm was. She hugged herself protectively and kept silent for the last hour, only answering questions once thrown at her.
Pacing the narrow path between his stallion and Adela, the foreigner exhaled sharply.
"Our carriage is not too far, Andreas should have returned by now,"
Was that where the angel disappeared to?
Mortified by the idea of being inside the extravagant carriage in her current muddied and undergarment-deprived state, she looked at him with horror-stricken eyes, her face losing all color as he glowered back at her.
"...What now?" He probed with clear dismay.
"That…That same carriage from the morning? I am unbefitting of riding it, my lord,"
She could barely see his facial features in the glow of the torch now that he had paced the path all the way back to his stallion.
"…You certainly do care much for appearances,"
Lady de Lanark missed a breath because of the potent rejection she felt toward what he accused her of, his low opinion of her was so unfair, it was choking.
Her hand covered her throat from his view, "Had this been true, my lord, a lady would not have gone out underdressed when there was a possibility for her to encounter noblemen with fine tastes such as yourself,"
His moves became edgier as if his temper was on the rise, and he had that same frigid expression he wore when she glared back at him in the morning.
"Adela... A name that means kind and noble... Your humble attitude is what noblemen with fine tastes might find unbefitting, not your improper garments,"
His cynical tone bit straight into her pride.
"Adela is short for Adelaide, mother lost a sister with that name right before I was born and named me after her,"
"It is a shame,"
Her neck prickled.
"What is so shameful, my lord?"
"A noble family gives their daughter a noble name, then said lady — disguised as a commoner — sneaks into an infamous forest that almost swallows her whole,"
Adela's heart rate increased, her anxieties competing with her irritation, both flaring up.
"My knight and I had things under control before you showed up. We would have been fine... eventually... Do not believe everything you hear, my lord, this forest does not swallow people whole..."
Her hoarse voice at the end betrayed her uncertainties, but something else stopped her from finishing her thought, she did not know the man she was arguing with at all, yet she could have sworn that he was trying hard to control himself.
"Noble women are born sheltered and are raised that way, it is only natural for you not to be aware of that which happens right under your nose, it is but means to protect your precious covered eyes from the ugly truth,"
First shallow? Now an idiot?
"I happen to know quite well what the locals say about this forest, but you, my lord — a privileged man who surely lacked for nothing in his life including proper education — Do you have palpable proof that this forest is haunted by ghosts, or do you consciously choose to applaud baseless rumors surrounding things just because they make up for a good story during an aristocratic gathering?"
Her small outburst was faced with an outright fury written all over his face.
"What if there were ghosts in this forest?" He came close enough for her to see his evident vexation, "What if it was a place where helpless people seek to put an end to their endless misery?"
Baffled by the foreigner's passionate yet bitter tone, she was more determined to change his mind about what she considered an inseparable part of her father's lands, "...Even so, the forest remains innocent, for the crime befalls they who commit the sin of taking away their life, doesn't it?"
She was astonished to see him turning his back on her in the middle of a conversation and walking away without a word of apology, he looked like a vengeful spirit himself with the wind blowing his red cloak around scornfully, he did not stop until he reached his horse then purposefully stayed where he became one with the darkness.
All she was left with were unexplainable feelings of guilt.
"It took you long enough,"
She felt a sharp jolt in her chest when she heard him murmuring in a low tone, but soon made out the figure of Andreas who must have made a silent comeback to their location.
"The carriage is not too far from here, and the road is clear, you and I can help the knight to his feet and the Lady can follow us on Xavier,"
"E-Excuse me?" She interrupted the discussion that she had been excluded from standing on her two feet which had gone numb.
Andreas stepped into the light with a small smile on his face, "Riding the horse alone should not be a problem for you, my lady, should it?"
"Oh…Absolutely not,"
Adela answered with a sure tone before stealing a glance at the foreigner who seemed to be looking the other way, she could not decide which was worse, being at the end of his sharp remarks or being completely ignored by him.
Neither of the two sat well with her.