As the carriage followed a rough path, shaking and tossing the two inside, Aksa glanced outside the window, looking at the fallen trees and acres upon acres of burnt farm lands.
"You've been quite silent for a while now," Iriel suddenly remarked as the carriage was filled with an awkward silence ever since they started moving.
"I was just lost in my thoughts," Aksa quickly replied as her words brought him back to his senses. "Anyway, how long will it take us to reach the capital?"
"Around three weeks if we face nothing that might prolong the journey," Iriel replied, "We will have to cross both of the crystal kin and the flames kin territories since that would be the shortest path possible."
"Now that you say that," Aksa said, "Iriel, you are not human, right? At least, you don't look like it."
"That's right. I'm from the royal family of the crystal kin." Iriel replied.
"Wait, the royal family." Aksa looked at her in confusion, "Aren't you supposed to be someone important? Why are you risking your life here?"
"You would be correct in most cases, but I made the decision to be a medic myself, and I can't just abandon my duties just because I'm royalty," Iriel replied.
"But--why did you do that? Like, why did you choose to become a medic? Isn't it a dangerous job?" Aksa asked.
"To step away from my family..." Iriel tilted her head down slightly as she spoke, "I wanted to distance myself from them as much as possible."
"Huh? But why?" Aksa became even more puzzled as she spoke.
"Aksa, do you know who Lady Kaelerith is?" Irel asked.
"No. Is she someone important?"
"Yes, she is very important. She is part of the great council that rules over the entire empire, as well as the ones that were supposed to stop the blood moon from cracking, but they failed this time." As she finished speaking, Iriel hesitated for a bit before adding, "She is also my mother..."
"Oh..." Aksa looked at her with sadness in his eyes. He couldn't help but feel like she was bragging, even though he didn't understand her situation since his mom had died in front of his eyes.
"She was never there while I grew up. I would be considered lucky if I saw her once a year, let alone talk to her," Iriel added, shocking Aksa, who was just envying her, thinking that she at least felt her mother's love in her life.
"But that isn't the main reason I distanced myself from the family," Iriel added.
"Why then?"
"I was set to become her successor in the council," Iriel replied after hesitating for a moment.
"Wait, isn't that a good thing?" Aksa was starting to get frustrated since he didn't know where she was going with her talk.
"It would've been if it didn't cause the entire family to start fighting," Iriel replied. "I have two brothers and a sister. Each one of them wanted to be the successor, but after Mother--I mean Lady Kaelerith chose me as her successor, everyone started fighting."
"Was your mom okay with you becoming a medic?" Aksa asked.
"No, of course not. She tried to stop me, saying that I shouldn't put myself in danger, but I just told her that I'd be running away if she tried anything," Iriel said.
"I take it your mother didn't take what you said to her well, right?" said Aksa.
"Yes, she tried to lock me up in my room, but I just threatened her by telling her that I would kill myself, and she quickly stepped back."
"Well, thankfully, you are well and living the life you wanted to live," Aksa remarked.
"Yeah..." Iriel nodded, but a hint of sadness was clear in her eyes.
Suddenly, the carriage stopped abruptly. Aksa quickly took a look outside from the window, to see that they had stopped at a crossroads and were surrounded by fog from all directions.
"What's wrong, Kael?" Aksa suddenly asked as he saw Kael looking at the guard with suspicious eyes.
"This guy says that he doesn't know where to go from here, so we're practically stuck here," Kael answered, clearly annoyed.
"It-it's true, I-I really don't know." The guard stuttered as he tried explaining himself, but Kael still looked unconvinced.
"Well, how about we just backtrack and go through a different route?" Iriel suggested as she peeked through the window.
"I think that's a good idea," Aksa added, "we didn't make that much progress anyway."
"N-no, no, I-I don't think that's a good idea," the guard quickly replied, fiddling with his fingers as he spoke, "W-we've already wasted so much time in that town, and L-Lady Kaelerith would be upset if we wasted anymore time."
"I don't see how adding a few more hours to our journey could be that upsetting," Aksa remarked as he looked at him while squinting his eyes.
"What does an ignorant child like you know about the matters of the royalty?!" The guard's voice started rising as he became agitated, spitting as he spoke with his face red in anger.
"Torren! That's enough! I will not tolerate any disrespect towards our guests," Iriel called loudly, her voice sharp as she looked at the guard with cold eyes, "turn around and go back."
"B-but, my lady--" The guard tried to object, but he was quickly shut down.
"Did you not hear my words? Go back. Now." Iriel declared.
The guard opened his mouth to argue, but he just gritted his teeth before turning the carriage around.
As Aksa and Iriel went inside the carriage again, Kael noticed a weird grin forming on Torren's face, but he decided to remain silent.
"Do you know that man, Iriel?" Aksa asked as he sat down.
"Yes. He has been my assigned guard since I was a little kid," Iriel sighed, her eyes looking away as she felt uncomfortable. "he's been acting weird around me for a few years now, and it got even more intense after the blood moon cracked."
"Are you sure he is safe to be around?" Aksa asked.
"No, I'm not, but I'll have to at least tolerate him until we reach the capital," Iriel answered with a smile, "Thankfully, you two decided to tag along, so I won't have to interact with him much."
Aksa gave a smile as he nodded slightly.
After a while, Aksa decided to take a look outside, only to find that they were still surrounded by the same fog and trees.
"Kael, why are we still here?" Aksa asked as he looked around, confused.
"I asked this guy the same question, but he said that he'd been following the same road," Kael answered calmly.
"I-I think we've been going around in circles," Torren explained as he hopped off the carriage front. "How about we stop here for a bit? I'll go check around to see if I can find the exit."
"I'll go in the opposite direction to cover the biggest area as fast as we can," Kael added, "Kids, stay here while we go looking around."
Torren took one of the horses leading the carriage and headed to the east, but Kael waited a bit. He kept staring at Torren as his figure faded into the distance.
Once he was nowhere to be seen, Kael approached Aksa, who was still looking from the window, and told him in a cold voice, "Kid, keep your guard up. I smell something fishy about that guy."
AKsa quickly nodded as he felt the same way, then Kael took Feye and went in the opposite direction.
After a while, AKsa and Iriel decided to leave the carriage and step outside to catch their breath. Aksa then tried walking around. However, before he knew it, Aksa started feeling dizzy and collapsing to the ground.
"Aksa? You okay?" Iriel asked as she rushed to check on him before she noticed a small needle planted into his neck. Aksa could barely see her through his blurry vision, but he couldn't move or say anything back. Then, Iriel heard a familiar voice.
"Finally, the nuisance is gone," Torren said as he suddenly stepped out of the fog. "We're finally alone together, my lady."
"Torren? What are you doing here?" Iriel asked in panic as she turned around to face him, "Are you the one who did this to him?"
"How about you stop worrying about lowly filth and focus here?" Torren immediately grabbed Iriel by her wrist before pinning her against the carriage.
"What are you--" Iriel tried to speak, but torren covered her mouth with his other hand along her body.
Once he reached her chest, he ripped her clothes apart.