Ambush-1

Vladis took advantage of the gloomy day and redirected the road in order to mislead the thugs and buy some time. To stop being seen from afar through the curtains, he even switched off the light in the carriage. When Vladis noticed that no one was watching them, he motioned for the carriage to come to a halt.

He took a stern look at everyone and said, "We must immediately disembark from the carriage. We'll take a stroll. Take Resel with you, Rune, and I'll take Camy with me. It is preferable to travel separately."

Rune had mixed feelings about the proposal. He couldn't bring himself to put his faith in Vladis for Camy's protection. Resel, on the other hand, was his duty, and she and Vladis were strangers to him

He was also aware of Vladis' feelings for Camy. He reluctantly nodded as he considered this. They all disembark from the carriage.

Rune took Resel's hand in his and led him into the woods.

Vladis requested that the coachmen of the carriage to leave them there and continue without them. He then took Camy's hand in his and began driving in a different direction. The sounds of rustling leaves and crickets could be heard as they were walking. It was deafeningly quiet and terrifyingly noisy.

"What is going on?" Camy asked, breaking the silence.

"We were being followed by some people. The area that we were going to cross is the hub for all the thugs. To prevent us from getting robbed or getting both you girls hurt, I asked the coachmen to leave us here."

Though Vladis told Camy that it was the robbers, he had a hunch that it wasn't just the robbers or some local thugs. To validate his suspicion, he took this step.

...

On the other side of the forest.

Resel was unusually quiet. She seemed frightened, not even uttering a sound, as if afraid that even her breathing might get her into trouble.

After traversing quite some distance, Rune finally relaxed a little but didn't let his guard down yet.

He then stopped to look at the back to see if anyone was coming and then looked at Resel. He asked, concerned, "Are you scared?"

Resel was suddenly frightened, and while laughing awkwardly, she said, "Yeah. A little"

"Don't worry. I won't let them harm you. Let's go." Rune held her hand in his hand, and they started moving.

After some time, Resel asked, breaking the silence, "Why didn't you go with your sister to protect her?"

"What do you mean?" Rune was perplexed.

"I mean, you don't allow anyone to hurt your sister, but you sent your sister with the Knight Commander?"

Rune couldn't understand whether she was sad that she accused him of not taking care of his sister or upset because she might want to go with Vladis, and he ruined her chance.

Obviously, because she found the Knight Commander quite handsome, he believed this because of her compliments for Vladis at the mansion. He felt frustrated thinking about that, and instead of answering, he questioned, "Why? You wanted to go with the handsome Knight Commander Vladis?"

She became tense and tried to explain while stuttering, "Oh no, no hurriedly. I never said that"

Why would she say that? This was the first time she was facing this kind of situation and a handsome young man. She became embarrassed, and her cheeks became red, thinking about it this way.

Seeing Resel under the sun with red cheeks, Rune became more frustrated. He was irritated that she was thinking about another man and even blushing about it. He ordered her with an irritated tone, "Stop it. Or else I will leave you here."

Resel asked confusedly, "Stop what?"

"Ughh.....Stop thinking about random things. Concentrate on escaping from here."

Before Resel could reply to anything, her eyes suddenly became wide as she suddenly came to a halt.

Rune couldn't understand her reaction, and before he could ask anything, Resel hurriedly pulled his hand and blocked an arrow with her body from hurting Rune.

The arrow gave her a cut on her left shoulder, and she felt wincing pain from it. Though the cut wasn't deep, she was still hurt and suddenly fell on her knees, breathing hard.

Rune asked in a panic, "Resel, Are you okay?"

He was tense beyond his limits and wanted to tear the person who did this into shreds. But since the arrow came from a distance and in the dark, he knew that even if he went to chase them, they would still have the upper hand.

He almost lost his temper seeing Resel hurt but calmed down the next moment because if he lost it, the situation would be out of control.

"Resel lay down. Let me call Vladis and Camy for help. Don't panic and calm down."

"It's okay. I am fine. If you call Vladis and Camy, then they would be in danger too. We should move ahead." She got up with one hand holding her shoulder and used the other hand to take Rune's help. And they started moving forward.