Unconsciously Olen was grinning.
He didn't know that Elena mistook it as him intentionally groping her as she released her spirit art.
Elena, on the other hand, didn't remember that even if she lightens her weight to half, for a fourteen-year-old Olen with no spirit training, it isn't easy to carry her through these woods, though he is stronger than the average kids of his age.
So his hand had to keep moving, trying to get a better grip.
In any case, the boy was struggling more and more. But even so, he didn't put her down. He has to get his 'future bride' to safety.
Before too long, he heard a voice that sounded like his mothers' maid Jully.
When they got close to her, she was shocked to see a person on Olen's back.
"Who's that?" She asked.
"I found her on my way back."
"Young master, why did you go in the woods without telling anyone when Jon's not here? Don't you know how worried Madam was?" Jully said while getting Elena off Olen's back. But once she notices the person on his back full of injuries, she shuts up and obediently starts walking toward home.
They were still not out of the woods yet. The woods here are quite safe, but the danger doesn't come invited. So it is best to leave first.
Reaching home, Olen saw his mother, Bianca Alden, standing at the entrance with an agitated expression on her face.
"Mom, see who I…" -Olen
"Hey, young man, where were you this late?" -Bianca.
Olen wanted to introduce his future wife but he got cut short by Bianca. Her voice was cold. Olen prepared for a scolding.
"Madam," -Jully suddenly said.
"What?" Bianca is agitated.
"Young master carried this girl from the woods. She is injured." -Jully speaks up quickly. She doesn't want to get Bianca mad.
"Hmm." -For a moment, Bianca didn't understand what she said.
Elena was on Jully's back. And Bianca's attention was on Olen. So she didn't understand who she was talking about.
Then she saw Elena's figure carried by Jully.
She composed herself.
"If she is injured and your young master has brought her back then of course we should take her in and take care of her." -Bianca said in a dissatisfying tone.
"Yes, madam." And hurried in. Not wanting to hear anything else.
"And stop trying to always cover for Olen." But before she could leave, Bianca's words came to her ears.
She could care less about Elena. To her, she's just a stray cat brought in by her son on a whim.
But Jully always gets in the way whenever she scolds him. This way, Olen will become spoiled. She doesn't want that.
Jully left without replying, keeping her head down. Bianca knew Jully didn't mean any disrespect by it and let her go.
"And young man... we will continue this talk later. Now go, wash yourself. You are covered in dirt." Saying this, Bianca went inside.
Bianca looked at the back of Elena as she was being carried away by Jully.
She could see the injured girl had fair skin and the dress she is wearing. It is now full of tears and dirt. But the materials used to make it are definitely of high quality.
She suspected the origin of this girl is not ordinary and might lead to some troublesome matters.
But she loves her son very much. And Since it was her son that brought her here, she couldn't just throw her away. So, she left the troublesome matter of dealing with her for later.
Right now, she has more pressing matters to attend to. She has to discipline this disobedient child of her. Doesn't he know how worried she was?
She wanted to scold him more to get her worries out of her mind. But she couldn't. Seeing the tired and dirty face of her son and the eyes that looked for forgiveness from her, she couldn't pull herself to do it.
"Go inside and clean yourself up. This matter isn't finished yet young man." -is all she could say at the moment.
Even though she is a strong-willed woman, how could she make her naive son understand what a mother feels when she's worried that her kid might be in some unknown danger?
But she also knows that it is not the right thing to do to always keep her son under her shade. So, the only thing she could do is suffer from various anxieties that her son brings her silently.
.
The next morning Elena woke up with a cold sweat. Looking at the surrounding she confirmed that there was no immediate danger. Someone dressed her wounds and changed her dress. Her belongings were kept in a nearby basket.
She was tired. But she must do something immediately.
Her wounds were deep. If it's not tended carefully it will leave a scar on her.
As a lady of a noble family, she is more concerned about it than her life. Even if someone dressed her wounds she doesn't believe they would put so much importance in her to use a medicine that won't leave a scar, especially in a remote place like this.
She fumbled through her dress and retrieves her pocket. It may look ordinary at first glance. But it holds a large space inside, three hundred fifty cubic meters to be exact. It's like carrying a house in the pocket.
As father's favorite little girl, she had a lot of contacts with the merchants. And with her mind for business, she had enough money that she could afford it. Even though it left her penniless and put her in debt it was worth it. As she was traveling all the time she needed this item very much.
She had a regular one as well that has a size of twenty cubic meters.
She took out a bottle from her pocket. She undid her dressing and poured some powder-like substance on the wound.
The pill she took earlier should take care of the internal injuries. So, she checked if there was any other injury on her body.
It will take a little longer for the sun to rise. She was too fatigued and hungry.
She took out some rations from her pocket and ate. She has been traveling from place to place for the last five years to gather experience and support. She mostly has everything she needs on her.
She doesn't know when danger will come. She has to be up and moving as soon as possible.
Right now, she should be relatively safe. She lies down and falls asleep.
She slept all day long. The mental pressure she withstood for more than a day and the physical execution took it all out of her.
After waking up, the first thing she sees is Olen's face looking at her curiously.
"Hmm, who are you? Where is this?" -she looks around.
First, she has to get her act right. She mostly understands her position. But she must go with the flow. Right now, she needs to lay low for a while. She knew her brother would be very keen to do away with her.
"Oh, hello... pretty lady… my name is Olen Alden. You are in our house." -being suddenly asked, Olen was a bit flustered but answered honestly.
"Pretty lady, how are you feeling now? You look so hurt." -Olen asked. He looked very concerned.
"No, I'm fine," -Elena told nonchalantly.
"You stay here. I'm going to call Jully to see you." -Olen.
While seeing Olen, Elena became a bit confused.
'Is he younger than I thought? He looked more reliable yesterday. It looks like I misjudged him yesterday.' While Elena thought so, she became embarrassed. She gave her helper trouble for no reason at all. But she can't apologize now. That would be just too embarrassing for her.
'I'll just have to make it up to him. It's not like I harmed him or anything.' -Elena determined.
"How are you doing, Miss? Is there any discomfort?" -Jully asked after coming in.
"No, I'm fine." -Elena answered the same way she answered Olen.
"Were you the one who saved me yesterday? I'm grateful for what you did for me." -Elena said politely.
"No, it wasn't me. It was the young master who saved you and brought you back from the woods. You can thank him for that." -Jully denied.
Olen looked proud of himself while standing behind Jully.
'Well, I knew that already.' Thought Elena.
"Thank you, young master Olen." Elena bowed in a composed manner.
"There's no need for that. If you want to thank me, you can be my bride." Olen spoke, trying to look like his father. He looked proud when saying that.
"…"
"…"
Both Elena and Jully became speechless.
'Nope, this brat has evil intentions. There's no doubt about it.' Elena determined. But in the end, she didn't say anything and acted like she didn't hear anything.
"Yong master, you can't say things like that to someone out of nowhere like that. Can't you see she is still injured?" Jully looked a bit disheartened.
"Ow, ok, sorry. Then I shall ask her when she gets better."
"That's not…"
"You're awake? You look better than yesterday. That's good news" Jully couldn't finish what she was saying as Bianca came in.
She gave off the feeling of authority that the lady of the house should have. She has a big bosom and bottom that most of the nobles like so much.
That is the first expression Elena had of her. Especially the second part. Elena didn't understand how could all the wives of noble people have these kinds of assets everywhere.
Her hair is the same red color as her son's. But the color of her eyes is not the same. While Olen has Reddish eyes, Bianca has black eyes.
Her tone wasn't high or low. The gesture she uses and the postures she stands in are well-practiced.
'She looks like a born noble.' Elena concluded in her mind.
"I am Bianca Alden, wife of Baron Alden. May I know who exactly my son saved?" Bianca asked in a flat tone, not showing any real interest.
Since Elena viewed this big-breasted red-haired woman to be the one with the highest authority here, she became cordial.
"Yes, my name is Elenora Aniston. I'm a traveler." She gave a false name. The family name is the family name of her mother.
She didn't think much when saying her name. So the false name came pretty close to her real identity. Anyway, if someone could find the link to her name, then the person wouldn't have trouble finding her even if she gave any other name.
Even if someone came to save her, they would be followed by the people of her brothers. So the less people know her whereabouts, the better. So, she thought it to be better not to reveal her family name.
"I and my colleagues were attacked on the road upstream by bandits. My colleagues died but I escaped by jumping into the river. And when I woke up, I heard young Master Olen saved my life. I'm very grateful that Baron Consort took care of me. Thank you very much." Elena told said politely.
Bianca's impression of Elena improved a bit. 'At least she is a polite kid', she thought.
Nobles always put great emphasis on manners and culture. So, Elena's well-practiced greeting made Bianca put Elena in the 'good book'. So, she held out the questions she wanted to ask for later.
"Well, you must be hungry as it's been a full day you haven't eaten, right? Jully will bring something for you to eat in a moment." -saying so, she hinted to Jully to bring some food.
"You should rest up. I don't want to look irresponsible. As someone my son brought home, we will take care of you while you stay with us. But we shall leave this house soon. So, I'd have to bring you to the Wolf Fang city with us if it's all right with you", -Bianca stated.
"Thank you very much for your generosity," Elena replied.
"We shall talk about you after we reach there." -with that, Bianca headed back. Bringing Olen back with her.
The place they were at was a vacation house for the Alden household. It's by the mountain and has a nice view. It isn't very far from the main home. Just half a day away from Wolf Fang City.
Elena learned from Jully that Olen's family came here for a breather. But his father had to go back home in the middle. Something important had come up.
The next morning, their carriage was ready. There were ten people in total. Elena, Olen, Bianca, Jully, and another maid with five guards.
Elena found them to be quite ordinary. They don't seem to have trained their spirit too much. All of them are between light-green to moderate-green spiritual rank. It may be possible that they have never trained their spirit in any way.
Seeing this, Elena was dumbfounded.
'Is this place really that undeveloped?' Elena thought.
Elena had never been in contact with such a 'rural' area. Even though she traveled a lot, most of the time, it was somewhere between large empires. Even the backward places there have strong spiritualists everywhere.
Among the guards, the strongest is the captain with a dark-green-grade spirit base. Elena can easily crush him even in her this state. These guards can give her close to no protection.
'I thought they were guards of a noble would be stronger. But it's only this much.' Elena thought. A bit disappointed.
'Well, this works too. I don't have to worry about getting attacked by anyone as long as my brothers don't send someone after me.' -Being spiritually injured, Elena doesn't wish to face any strong opponent. So, it's a blessing for her to find a place to recuperate.
So they set off for Wolf Fang City.