Chapter 207
Elaine struggled through warm, viscous darkness. She saw only some white stains and heard a noise similar to the distant sound of morning rain. Gradually, she regained consciousness and found herself in a dark cave. She attempted to sit up, but her body immediately responded with a sharp pain in her back.
“Don’t move, my Princess,” a familiar voice said.
After a few more moments, her vision was completely restored. The first thing Elaine saw was a low, stone ceiling. It was wet and black, hanging over her like a coffin lid, which wasn’t the most comforting comparison right now.
The rain-like noise came from a murmuring stream nearby. It gave off most of the soft, bluish light in the cave.
“The Grass of the Azure Star,” the same familiar voice explained.
If she could’ve moved, Elaine would’ve immediately dived into the water.
The Grass of the Azure Star was one of the rarest, for Lidus’ standards, ingredients. For one bundle of this grass, if it was at least one hundred years old, you could purchase the scroll for an Earth-level Technique. And there was a lot of it in here, as the whole cave was glowing.
Well, maybe not the whole cave — a green fire had been lit in the center. It danced inside a can, gradually devouring a small, white, very fragrant substance.
The cave was no more than ten feet high and maybe 23 feet wide at best. It was narrow and small.
“Stop making that face, Princess. Some of your subjects live in smaller houses than this cave.”
She looked into his deep, blue eyes and saw her own reflection in them. Her body reacted faster than her mind. However, this could be justified by her recent dive into the ‘black whirlpool’. The sound of the slap echoed among the wet walls of the cave for a long time. A red mark spread across Hadjar’s face, gradually taking the shape of a woman’s palm.
He rubbed his burning cheek and moved away from Elaine. She picked up a cloak lying next to her and covered herself with it. Numerous bandages that he’d wrapped around her beautiful body immediately disappeared under the red cloth. Honestly, Hadjar looked at her beauty with a sense of detachment, as if looking at a picture.
He didn’t feel any sexual attraction toward his sister. If he did, then he would’ve seriously begun to worry about the state of his soul and mind. Hadjar didn’t tell the Princess that, in his childhood, he had often helped Nana and their mother wash her and that this wasn’t something new for him. Alas, she would hardly have believed him.
Deciding to give the girl some more time, he moved to the side and began to sharpen his sword. He didn’t need to, because Moon Beam, like any artifact at the Spiritual level and higher, couldn’t lose its sharpness. The act just helped him center himself and keep his mind alert.
Hadjar once again began to miss his old friend — the computational module of the neural network. The more time he spent without it, the more he began to feel like he’d lost a limb.
The silence lasted no longer than five minutes.
“How did we get here, General?”
Despite the fact that the Princess’ voice was calm, Hadjar still felt her anxiety. After all, Elaine had spent all her life in the castle and hadn’t seen the world beyond the garden. Except for when she’d escaped that time they’d met in the city.
“My Princess, you fell into the abyss along with your mustang. I jumped after you.”
Elaine tried to sit up again, but winced immediately. A red spot began to stain the bandages on her side. Cursing quietly, Hadjar rose and stepped closer.
The girl pulled the cloak closer to her chin.
“I assure you, Princess, I won’t be seeing anything new. I’ve seen naked women before.”
Elaine’s eyes widened either due to the depth of the insult, or in horror.
“How dare you?”
“However, you can ignore my medical services. In that case, the poison of the Red Bat, which managed to bite you quite deeply last week, will spread throughout your body.”
“A week ago?” Elaine screamed. “Where is Gwido? What have you done with my horse?”
“Although, it’s also thanks to that Red Bat that we didn’t die,” Hadjar continued as if he hadn’t heard the Princess’ words. “It brought us to the stream, which, in turn, carried us here.”
Elaine stared into the General’s blue eyes for a while, but she couldn’t see anything there. As if the man was completely devoid of any emotion.
“Will you let me help you, my Princess?”
Hadjar reached for her wound. Wiping away a tear (a tribute to the memory of her faithful four-legged friend), Elaine proudly raised her chin.
“My father will immediately execute you when he sees that you’ve touched me.”
The Princess was extremely pleased to see the brave General pull his hand away.
She didn’t know that, because of her words, Hadjar had remembered Haver and how awkwardly he’d used to swaddle the small, ever-crying Elaine. He’d often done so while her uncle, the current King, had nervously paced around the room.
Eventually, Elaine gave up. She threw aside the cloak and allowed the General to inspect her bloody bandages.
She turned away. Not because she was afraid of the sight of blood, but so that he wouldn’t see the blush on her cheeks. They were so hot that Elaine felt as if even her earlobes were glowing scarlet.
However, that wasn’t the main reason...
She couldn’t explain why the General’s touch gave her comfort and peace. Even her own father, King Primus, rarely touched her. She didn’t like being touched. The General seemed to be the first ever exception to that rule.
“You said that we’ve been down here for a week, so how did we...”
Instead of answering, Hadjar pointed to the stream. Elaine looked closer and found several ‘empty’ sections in the abundance of rare Grass.
Surely not.
“Did you use the Grass of the Azure Star for food? But that’s like eating pure gold!
