âYour Majestyyyyy, are you really not going to look at me?â
Shamir poked his face through the wooden grates that were pierced on all sides of the large cart.
The gap between each grate was about the size of an adultâs fist, so only Shamirâs high nose could fit in between, and both of his cheeks were pressed by the grates, resulting in a ridiculous face.
âSo why did Your Majesty break his arm? If I hadnât stopped him, that punk wouldâve been beaten by you again, and this time, even his legs wouldâve been ruined. I did really well, didnât I? Arenât you going to praise me, Your Majesty? I became a bad person for your sake.â
Shamir pouted because of Elisha who never gave him a single glance.
âI put a cloth over this cart for fear of burning all the white flesh of Your Majesty, I even chased after and saved your horse that almost died from running elsewhere and dragged it with me like this. Are you really going to keep doing this?â
While walking next to the cart, Shamir shook the horseâs reins.
Trotting next to each other, connected with a rope, were Shamirâs horse, which was connected to Spot, who suddenly neighed.
Perhaps that caught Elishaâs attention, so Elisha turned her head.
When Spot made eye contact with Elisha, it showed its joy and grunted.
âYour Majesty, do you like horses more than me? You seem to like it so much.â
As Shamir grumbled, this time Elisha met his eyes. The sand-like eyes turned to Elisha.
Why was Elisha looking at him? She thought that no matter how lightly Shamir behaved, no one treated him casually.
Everyone chuckled and accepted his pranks, but tacitly admitted that this man had the upper hand in their hierarchy.
He was definitely not an ordinary friend or colleague.
He seemed careless, but when he saw something strange, he turned around with his gaze sharpened, and checked it himself.
âSpot listens to me well. Who knows? If you listen to me well, maybe I will adore you too.â
In response to Elishaâs reply, Shamirâs eyes narrowed.
âAre you asking for help in escaping? If I let you go, I may get beaten to death by the chieftain of the tribe. How can you be so cruel, Your Majesty?â
âIs the chieftain that strong?â
Shamirâs skills were confirmed by Elishaâs own eyes.
The power to handle mana could not be compared to the excellent knights of the Empire, but there was something unique about the desert sword.
The movements left no traces.
âHeâs strong. Heâs a person who gives a child a bowl of water and then abuses them for ten years. Unless he has a very strong heart, he wouldnât be so shameless.â
âI think youâre a pushover.â
âMe? Iâm no pushover.â
Shamir denied playfully while pointing his index finger at his nose, but Elisha responded indifferently.
âThen did you get two bowls and drink it? A bowl of water for a child who canât do anything with their own hands can be worth a decade, and I think your age should be well over twenty.â
If a boy who is over 10 years old is offered a bowl of water in exchange for 10 years of service, even if he doesnât accept it, he will grow up on his own thinking about the past.
âYou think Iâm a pushover?â
Elisha asked again and gave him an answer instead.
Shamir burst out laughing. Then he pounded his chest and shouted.
âIâm a pushover, right! A pushover!â
Even though this place was in the middle of the desert, with the 2nd Empress being kidnapped and taken to the home of the tribe, no one frowned or paid attention to this commotion.
Everyone pretended not to know, turned their faces, or acted as if they didnât hear.
Elisha looked at them and the surroundings.
It would be nice to know the way, but the endless desert made her lose her sense of direction.
When they caught her, they persuaded that if she obeyed, they would not touch the 1st Knights.
As time passed, the monsters seemed to be annihilated on their own, so she followed the desert people as they cleaned up the monsters, and after, she had tried to escape from the time the distance (between the 1st Knights and the desert party) began to widen, but Shamir caught her repeatedly.
Elisha was not in a good condition, so it would be too much to deal with Shamir, and so she entered the desert with the crescent-shaped sword stuck in her neck.
Later, the sword did nothing to her, but she didnât try to run away again.
At that time, she thought they would break the tendons of her ankles if they caught her, so she didnât even think about trying. Not to mention the desert tribe was surprisingly good at treating their hostage.
If she just ran away, she would only die, and the best people to find other people in this desert would be the desert tribe, so she left the thought alone.
It would be ridiculous to even try.
Leon would be worried, so she would have to go back soon.
Shamirâs shoulder trembled as he chuckled while watching Elisha slightly frown.
âBy the way, Your Majesty. Isnât it good for you too that Iâm a pushover? Since Iâm such a pushover, Iâm helping you like this just because itâs a bit fun. Well, itâs not just a bit, really.â
Without Shamir, she would have been uncomfortable.
In fact, the wooden bars surrounding the cart were not made to prevent Elisha from escaping.
It was because those who wanted revenge continued to approach Elisha, because half of the nearly 100 warriors who died while chasing Elisha when she fled into the village.
So the wooden grates were to protect Elisha, who was almost harmed.
These wooden grates were meant to give the men of the desert tribe outside a chance to reminisce about their former torn mates, and to change their minds before that happens to them.
Looking at Shamir who was so excited while making it, it seemed unfair to say that it was only for Elishaâs sake.
âThere can only be one. Either youâre not a pushover, or wish you werenât a pushover.â
At Elishaâs words, Shamir stopped and stiffened.
Then he smirked and said that who knows if he was greedy and that he couldnât help himself, arguing that the only place he had to go was to be like the trash on the ground. But the air around him sank as cold as midnight in the desert.
âIsnât it good not being a pushover? Everyone lives like the trash on the ground anyway. They work hard until they are old and worn out, and when they are thrown away, they try to live as they are.â
Then they would either get a chance to be happy, to ruin their life, orâŠ
They might even be revived.
âOh! Are you joking to make me happy now? I like Your Majesty so much, so I can let this go, but donât do that with the chieftain when you arrive.â
He pretended to be thinking about whether or not to tell her about this, then stuck his nose through the wooden grates and revealed his teeth.
âThereâs something worse than what I said about our chieftain before, itâs that he never listens to other people. And your status is noble. Noble people usually pretend to know everything even though they donât understand other peopleâs difficulties. Most nobles are like this, and thatâs why he hates nobles the most. No, thatâs not right. I think heâs hated nobles since a long time ago?â
Although she was not good at it, Elisha realized again that conversation is always necessary in any case. In the conversation just now, she learned that this tribe was not a pro-Kran group and that it was extremely unlikely that he was taking her hostage to negotiate with the Empire.
Of course, neither bode well for Elisha.
Elisha estimated how much power Undine had left. She tried to save it as much as possible, but she couldnât help but use it because she would be bitten if she showed weakness. Elisha scanned the pendant hanging from her neck with her fingertips.
Small pearls embedded in the lid were touched, and when the lock was unlocked with the fingertips, there was a picture of a child with auburn hair and auburn eyes held in the arms of a woman. And a fairly large emerald was embedded in the lid of the pendant.
It was a great emergency fund. And the eyes of the woman holding Rohan were the same color.
It was not a bright color like Isabelleâs, but a very warm and soft color.
Originally, emergency funds are used at the last minute, so she wanted to save it as long as she could.
Elisha closed the lid of the pendant.
When she turned her head to look outside through the wooden grates, the sand shimmered under the scorching sun.
The beautiful scenery was as if gold powder was sprinkled, but the endless desolation makes oneâs heart flutter.
When Elisha was quiet, Shamir, who had been talking non-stop, shut his mouth as well.
The cart passing on the rustling sand left no trace.
This was the reason why the desert became lonely even when numerous people were present.
âYou didnât bring hostages, you brought a distinguished guest!â
Elisha learned that the place where she arrived was a circular valley surrounded by rocks everywhere.
The scale of the valley was quite large, and in one corner there was a dry oasis.
From the area around it, there were tents that the desert tribe used instead of housesâŠ
Due to the concave nature of the valley, when viewed from above, the white tents fluttering in the wind looked like waves.
The oasis, the desert flower, was just like an empty bowl without any traces of water.
As she slowly went down without taking her eyes off there, a middle-aged man was waiting.
It was the first thing he said when he opened the crude door attached to Elishaâs cart.
When Elisha looked up at him, a large man nearly two meters tall raised his hand and slapped Elishaâs cheek.
With a loud sound, Elishaâs face turned to the side.
It had been so long since sheâd been beaten purely rather than injured in a fight, so Elisha turned her face to her man and stared at him again.
One side of her face was swollen and bruised, but there was something to check now.
Did they need her to live properly? Or did they kidnap her so she could die properly?
âBut you donât seem to be intimidated by things like this because you know how to handle power, right?â
The man shrugged and raised his hand again. The manâs eyes sizzled with hatred.
What Shamir said seemed to be wrong.
The chieftain did not seem to need a reason, perhaps he just needed someone to vent his anger.
âChieftain, isnât that enough? Weâve all seen her use the power of water. How can you treat her like this when she might be the incarnation of Sionil?â
âLook at how many warriors have been reduced. Our family, the great assets for our tribe! If that woman hadnât dragged them among the monsters and played tricks, half of them would have been able to come back alive!â
âThen, are you implying we should be taking care of the kidnapped person?
âShamir, you care more about the empress of that empire than your family! Were you seduced?â
âWhat seduction? Even if she doesnât look like it, the empress already has a husband and a child. Iâm doing this only because Chieftain asked me to, so stop making fun of me. It was so exciting in the past, when I was just tasked to pick up people and wander all over the place trying to save our tribesman, I even questioned at one point why it was so hard to live. But these days, all I do is nonsensical things. Isnât this really bad?â
Aran, the chieftain, looked coldly at Shamir, who waved his hand towards Elisha, saying it wasnât that he did not like Her Majesty, before turning around.
âThe empress of the Empire will be taken to the prison. Shamir, you will come with me.â
Shamir went behind Aran and told Elisha that he would see her later. Elisha did not answer.
She wiped her wet lips with her hands to see if the flesh was torn. It seemed that the time she spent in this valley would not be as pleasant as she thought.