I switched my attention to the sea far away.

"Yea, that's what I thought too! They had surrendered, yet, out of the blue, they attacked us."

"Out of revenge, perhaps?"

"..."

My mood turned dark upon listening to his response. I wanted to facepalm my head.

'That's not what I meant! You stupid bastard!'

I massage my nose bridge to relieve my anguish.

'Calm down. Calm down.'

And I explained in more detail.

"What I mean is, how did they get here? You know it's impossible to cross the Tèras forest and nearly impossible to cross the sea, right? Then why do they have such a large number of troops?"

Silent. Alexander didn't answer, but I decided to add a little gasoline to the fire.

"But there might be a chance if some group helped them."

Soon, my body felt like burning, it seemed Alexander eyed me intently. I ignored it and continued whilst gazing up ahead.

"Alas, I didn't know since I joined the war at the last minute."

–Chirp –Chirp –Chirp

Quietness descended as he just remained silent. The only sounds that could be heard were birds singing happily, and the leaves dancing along the wind.

Ultimately, my patient bore fruit.

"Yes, there is."

I turned to him with a confused expression; of course, I was faking it. I already expected their involvement.

"How are you so sure about it?"

"I fought them."

"Ah, I see. So that's the reason why you failed to stop them."

"Yes."

If I sum this up, then, Alexander tried to stop the enemy from approaching the camp, but he failed because he ran into another group which he originally thought was the Yovannian soldiers.

Unbeknownst to him, the 'real' Yovannian army had launched attacks on the camp. Or maybe that dark organization was the one who lured Alexander out of the camp to reduce the number of Knights.

And the one who was capable of doing all of these without a doubt, Annelise. If it was her, then she succeeded in making Alexander dance to her melody. That damn sly woman!

'Although I know what their intention is based on the answers I got from Alexander, I still don't know what benefits they will gain from setting up such a scenario?'

Whenever this organization appeared in novels, chaos would ensue. Due to the fact that they kept wreaking havoc here and there, the Empire announced that the organization was the enemy of this continent.

Furthermore, Dariush established a special force to hunt down this society and appointed Alexander as the head of this operation.

However, the organization's goal and headquarters remained a mystery. As I stated before, albeit I read the novel, I only read half of it; my knowledge was limited.

For now, I would put them aside because lo and behold, I definitely would find the answer to each of my questions.

'Just like how I wondered how to stop the war between Chrono and Yovanny five months ago, now I know what I have to do to stop the war in the easiest way.'

Only.

"Is that the important thing you wanted to say?"

I turned to the boy next to me as he stopped my train of thought. Ah, now that he helped me recall, I should grant him my piece of mind.

"I want to ask you, why are you ditching me from the war? Give me the truth."

Yet, he just looked at me with an expressionless face and I stared back at those golden gems fearlessly.

"Let's.. exchange the truths."

I raised one eyebrow; I couldn't comprehend what he was trying to say and he explained it in a more detailed way.

"I will answer your questions truthfully and you will do the same. How?"

To be honest, I was worried about what he would ask me, but I needed the truth.

"Fair enough."

"The reason why I kicked you out of the war is that you were too young and you lacked experience. I vividly remember how you almost fainted just by watching the naval battle."

Well, what he said was true. As I was about to open my mouth, he didn't stop.

"And your stick-like figure–"

My brows furrowed upon listening.

"–have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror? I mean–your stick-like figure–you know, it makes me worry that you might be blown away by the wind and I doubt whether you can lift a sword or not with your tiny little hands. Also–"

"Please stop, that's enough!"

I immediately cut him out. I threw my face sideways whilst massaging my forehead and beckoned my other hand for him to stop.

What the actual fuck?! Was he telling the truth or was he just making fun of me? I knew the truth could taste bitter sometimes, but this damn bastard had no conscience!

"Haa.."historical

Nonetheless, I took a deep breath to quell my blazing rage.

"Alright, it's my turn."

"Sure, sure, go ahead."

I twirled my head to him, and he opened his mouth.

"How did you escape from the illusion?"

An evil thought suddenly crossed my mind, my heart abruptly jumped in joyousness, and unbeknownst to me, my lips formed a curve.

Man, I thought he was going to ask something that would jeopardize my secret, guess I worried for naught.

"Are you sure you won't change the question?"

I looked at him earnestly and he answered with a stern face.

"I won't."

My smile widened.

"I escaped the illusion by uprooting the flower."

"..."

I could see how his expression darkened and the air around him turned murky. He must have felt robbed in broad daylight.

'Take that, you bastard!'

However, he immediately recovered.

"N-no, that's–forget it. My question is how did you find the Faellusion flower in the illusion? Do you perhaps have the Faery Dust?"

He sounded panicked which garnished my happiness. It seemed he just realized that he had made a mistake.

"That's three questions."

"Alright, let's change it into three."

"You're mad–"

I shook my head firmly.

"–no."

"Ian–"

"No."

"Please!"

"No. And, let's go back. The sun is about to set."

Silent. He just stared at me with his foul expression and I gazed back at him with my cheerful face. After a brief pause, he sighed sharply.

"Fine."

In the end, he gave up and we decided to go down the mountain. His dark aura was still swirling around; he was in a bad mood, and differing from him, I felt so delighted.

Oh my, just look at those gorgeous wildflowers! How come I didn't recognize it when I hiked here? Why did I miss such a picturesque scene? Ah, the world was indeed beau–

However, my step came to an abrupt halt and my ecstatic feeling perished when I saw Gideon standing at the exit gate of the camp with both hands planted on his hips.

His expression imitated that of a feral beast. Subconsciously, I paled and my body grew cold for some reason.

Snickers pricked my ear, and Alexander stood by me. I turned to look at him, but there was something weird, his atmosphere was so damn bright and his previous gloomy mood was nowhere to be found.

He smiled contentedly and spoke playfully as he took a step forward.

"He's all yours."

I was stunned.

"Alex wait!"

But he blatantly ignored me and just waved his hand in the air while leisurely walking away.

"Alex, you traitor!"

And that evening I was scolded by my grandfather.

.

.

.

The day passed and we gathered at dawn in the Refugee Camp Square. I saw how the knights packed supplies, inspected horses, carriages, and many more.

"So how was your night?"

Alexander positioned himself beside me and I immediately kicked him in the shin.

"Arg—what's that for?"

Ignoring his groaning, I gave my back to him.

"It's your fault."

"Why was it my fault when you were the one who sneaked out?"

I bit my tongue as I could refute his words.

'Now that I think about it, wasn't I being too salty? Or perhaps.. I don't know, whatsoever.'

I sighed and turned to him.

"Sorry."

I was startled when he put his hand on my head.

"Why so serious? I'm just kidding. I like it, tough."

My brows furrowed. I couldn't help but send him my crooked face and answered him while removing his hand from my head, gently.

"What do you mean 'like'? Do you like me kicking your shin? Are you a masochist?"

"..."

"...?"

However, he just looked at me with a dark expression and we growled at each other.

"What?"

"What?"

"Pfftt."

We involuntarily snapped at the sound.

"What?!"

"Eh?"

Sir Ulrich was bewildered and laughed awkwardly whilst swaying his arms left and right.

"Uh, please pardon my rudeness."

He bowed and straightened his back.

"It's just.. It seems both of Your Highness' looked more comfortable with each other compared to our first departure."

Hmm, now that Sir Ulrich mentioned it, I remembered how Alex didn't even bother looking at me because he was angry.

However, Sir Ulrich's words bothered me somehow.

'Am I... starting to feel comfortable around him?'