“In your opinion, it would’ve been better for us to starve?” Hadjar asked. “Maybe it’s useless as an ingredient, but it’s very nutritious.”
The General bandaged her deftly and quickly, smeared the wound with a stinking, mercilessly burning ointment, and moved back to ‘his’ corner. As far from her as possible.
“Why did you help-”
“You said it yourself, my Princess,” Hadjar stopped her. “I only help the rich and influential people.”
Elaine’s eyes flashed with anger. She wasn’t accustomed to anyone daring to interrupt her.
“...those servants?”
Hadjar looked at the Princess. She was beautiful. Young. Strong. Many men would’ve gladly given their lives to hold her in their arms for just one night. He would’ve given his life not to see her bloody and bandaged.
“Rest and gather your strength, my Princess. Soon enough, we’ll have to find a way to get out of here.”
Hadjar leaned against the wall, laid his sheathed blade across his lap, wrapped himself in a gray cloak, and plunged into deep meditation.
Elaine stared at the man. She’d heard so many songs and legends about him. He had always seemed like a magnificent hero to her, and not a recalcitrant, slightly sullen vagabond. She remembered his scars. They weren’t just the result of numerous battles, but had also been inflicted by whips and sticks.
At that moment, she didn’t have any respect or pity for the General. She was driven by a simple curiosity. Since she had the chance, she would solve the riddle named Hadjar Traves.
Chapter 208
“We’ve been here for nine days,” Elaine nibbled on her lower lip nervously, pacing along the edge of the tumultuous stream. “Eren and everyone else should’ve gone back to father by now. A search party will be here soon. Very soon.”
Leaning his head against a cold stone, Hadjar thought about how nice it would be to push the Princess into the water. ‘Accidentally’, of course. Then jump in after her to save her. That was the only way they could leave this cave.
And yet, while Elaine was a strong practitioner and her body had healed well, because of the injuries she’d suffered, she was now no stronger than a trained mortal, but that would still be enough to survive an underground journey.
If she’d been Nehen, Moon Leen, or Serra, they would’ve been long gone by now. However, his sister was a beautiful, carefully raised flower. Strong on the outside, but weak inside. She didn’t have the backbone that those brave ladies had. She was a girl who’d never known hunger, cold, gunpowder, or steel. And praise the Heavens and Earth for that! Hadjar was ready to bring any gifts to any gods to thank them for the fact that his sister had led such a life. However, at this particular moment, it was slightly interfering with the minor issue of their survival.
“Princess, please, listen to me,” Hadjar explained once again, “we are in an underground cave. Nobody knows how deep it is and what part of the mountain it’s located in. We ended up here due to a variety of random circumstances-”
“Which makes the likelihood of us being rescued minimal,” Elaine interrupted, repeating Hadjar’s words. “You’ve already told me this no less than ten times.”
“I’d hoped that you would finally hear me this eleventh time.”
“I heard you!” She shouted, and Hadjar closed his eyes because the ringing echo gave him a headache. “Just stop talking like a court scholar!”
Still biting her lip, the Princess paced the cave. As she did so, she nervously tugged at a small, rustling cloth bundle she’d attached to her belt — she had collected about a dozen bunches of the rare Grass.
Hadjar hadn’t even suspected that his sister had an entrepreneurial spirit. He wasn’t interested in the ingredient since he didn’t have the resources and knowledge to use it. If he attended a sufficiently large auction with it, people whom he wasn’t currently capable of defeating would come after him and the Grass. If Hadjar had to choose between wealth and life, he always chose life. Besides, with his sword hanging on his belt, and endless expanses stretching out before him as far as the eye could see, he felt richer than any king ever had.
“They’ll come and save us-”
“No one will be coming for us, Princess,” Hadjar said calmly. “I have no doubt that the King has sent a search party. But if no one could detect a whole underground stream teeming with one of the rarest cultivation ingredients for tens of thousands of years, then you and I won’t be found either.”
The Princess froze and looked at the water. Apparently, this argument had convinced her at last. With a sigh of relief, Hadjar rose and walked over to Elaine. He understood her panic and confusion perfectly well, as he had experienced it himself. Fifteen years ago, without legs, disfigured, and enveloped by pain, he had been thrown into a stony darkness. He’d also hoped that someone would come and save him. For almost three months, he hoped. Then he saw the truth.
He became aware that he was the one who would come and save him. That if he did nothing, nothing would change. The gods saw his efforts. Maybe that’s why Fate had taken pity on him and sent him a blessing in the form of a slave collar and a traveling freak show. Hadjar frowned and chased away these unnecessary memories. Around Elaine, he constantly found himself feeling sentimental.
“We don’t have three months this time,” Hadjar whispered.
“What did you say?” The Princess asked.
He saw his reflection in her eyes. They had similar eyes, which they’d inherited from their parents. In all other ways, they were as different as any two people pulled out of a crowd were. Traves’ heart had changed Hadjar too much...
“Nothing,” Hadjar shook his head, realizing that he had said the thought out loud.
Elaine looked at the water again. She trembled slightly. The girl clearly wasn’t accustomed to feeling weak and defenseless. She
