Winter was approaching, and Tuno spent his days hunting outside, stockpiling food for the coming season. Annie followed the women in the group to collect berries and dry them. They also grew crops, but Annie, who couldn't tell one grain from another, couldn't tell what kind of food it was. She could only roughly sense that their yield wasn't high, with a large expanse of land producing very little.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Annie learned their language from them. She was intelligent and in about ten days, she had learned the basics, able to speak simple words and communicate at a basic level.
They all advised her to change into clothes like theirs, a leather skirt that was convenient and unremarkable. But Annie refused. This was her only connection to her past life, and she still hoped that one day soon, she would run out of this forest and return to her homeland. When that time came, this clothing would be the only proof of her identity. If she were to wear a leather skirt, she would probably be mistaken for a savage and captured immediately.
Moreover, she was unwilling to expose her body.
Fortunately, the tiger man didn't force her and only gave her strange looks. Annie was already used to such gazes. In this forest of beastmen, she didn't have beast ears, spoke strange languages, and was unwilling to expose her body. She was the odd one out.
Occasionally, she would follow the women to the stream by the tribe to wash leather and fetch water. People here didn't have the habit of bathing, but Annie did. She hadn't had a bath in a long time and felt like she was wrapped in mud, which was very uncomfortable.
One day, as she followed the women to fetch water from the stream, she couldn't help it anymore and asked them to go back first. Although the women had never treated her badly, she was still an outsider, so they remained vigilant and guarded against her escaping. After discussing for a moment, the women asked Dodo to stay and keep an eye on her.
Annie breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't want to escape now; she just wanted to bathe.
She found a large rock and took off all her clothes, washing them in the stream as best as she could. She had never done this kind of work before. In the past, palace servants would help her with laundry and other tasks, so she never had to do them herself. Now that she had to do it herself, she was clumsy.
She spread out all her clothes on three or four large rocks, and with the sun shining brightly now, they should be dry and wearable soon.
Dodo couldn't help but marvel at Annie's clothes spread out over three or four large rocks and asked, "Isn't it troublesome for you to wear all these?"
The sentence was quite complex, but Annie only understood the word "wear" and vaguely guessed that Dodo was marveling at the exquisiteness of her clothes. After thinking about how to phrase it for a moment, Annie replied, "I'm used to it."
Dodo curiously poked at her clothes and noticed her jewelry, asking, "What are these?" Annie didn't know the words "diamond" and "necklace" in their language and believed that these things didn't exist in their language either. After thinking for a moment, she said, "These are the decorations.
Dodo immediately picked up the necklace and seemed to love it. She looked at it from left to right, but couldn't see how it was decorated. Was it hung around the neck? Wasn't the neck used for hanging animal teeth? Why did they hang something shiny?
Soaking in the stream, Anne felt cool and comfortable. The dust of the past ten days seemed to have been swept away, but the tragic feeling of being captured by a foreign race still lingered in her heart.
She had to find a time to escape.
Now, if she walked southward along the stream, she would find the forest. She decided to run along this direction and keep going. She would surely find her way out of the forest.
However, she must bring enough food and water. Food is easy. She knows where the meat distributed by the Tuno family is stored. She can steal a large piece before leaving and eat it when hungry. At worst, she can collect some wild fruits, which should be able to sustain her for many days.
But water is a bit of a headache. At most, she can carry two or three bags in a skin bag, and she can't carry any more. She can't steal enough water bags either. Even with two or three bags of water, she may only be able to drink for three days. What if she can't get out of the forest in three days? What if she doesn't encounter any water sources along the way?
Despite all her worries, her desire to return home was too strong, and no matter how long and dangerous the road ahead might be, she had to leave as soon as possible.
Going home is the only belief that supports her to persist.
She stayed in the stream for a long time, naked. She washed her hair, which was tangled and took her a long time to untangle with her fingers.
Dodo was curious when she saw her washing her hair, "What are you doing washing your hair?"
The people here have no habit of washing their hair, so their hair is messy and smelly. They were very curious to see Anne wash her hair.
Annie casually said, "It's the custom of our tribe."
These days, these women like to ask where she comes from, and she can't really explain that "her father is a duke". She just casually says that she comes from another distant tribe. Whenever she has any strange behaviors or habits, she explains them casually as customs of their tribe.
After washing her hair, she leaned against a large stone and waited for her skirt to dry.
But the skirt was quite long, and the sun was setting fast. They waited for a long time, but the clothes still weren't dry. Dodo kept urging her to go back, so she had to wear the half-dried clothes on her back.
After realizing it on the creek that day, Anne began to prepare for escape.
She began to secretly hide meat, stealing a little bit every day and hiding it in an inconspicuous corner of the tent. Tuno was careless and would not notice, and the other women had no control over meat, which was managed by the men. She stole meat for five or six days without any sign of being discovered.
As for water, she had found the hiding place of the Tuno skin bag, and was waiting for the day to go. She would steal three of them, drink some at the stream, and fill them all up. It should be enough to last for a while.
Everything is ready except for the east wind.
In the past few days, Tuno has changed his previous self-restraint and abstinence. He began to have sex with women at night, and Anne was scared that Tuno would force himself on her. Fortunately, for the first two days, Tuno seemed to have forgotten her existence, and Dodo kept pestering him, leaving him no time to worry about Anne.
But on the third day, before leaving the tent in the morning, Tuno suddenly noticed Annie in the corner. He walked over and stroked her cheek with his rough, large hand, his eyes filled with amazement and fascination. He said something in a chagrined tone, which Annie recognized as something like, "I'll come to you tonight."
Tuno walked out after saying that.
Anne was shocked and she had to make up her mind. Today, she must escape.
During the day, the women would gather to collect fruit and chat. Although Anne was an introvert, these days she had made up her mind to learn the language of the orcs well, and she often went to listen to them speak.
But today, since she wanted to run, it was naturally impossible for her to go out with the women. In the morning, she pretended to have a stomachache and wanted to stay alone in the tent.
The two elderly women were worried about leaving her alone, and wanted Dodo to watch over her.
She said quickly, "I'll be fine for a while. Don't have to stay with me."
But the more she said so, the more women doubted her. Despite her objections, they left Dodo behind and specially guarded her.