However, there was still one person who would notice if she left. Her maid Emma, if Ara could deceive or convince her in some ways, no one else would notice her absence. Ara opened one eye to peep, when she saw Emma was busy squeezing the towel. Ara called in a weak voice.
"Emma?"
"Yes, yes, I'm here, my lady how are you feeling now?" Emma asked worried.
"I want you to do me a favor."
"What's that my lady? I'll do anything."
Ara sat up on the bed and looked Emma straight in the eyes and said.
"You see...I have to go somewhere important...I mean I want to meet someone, he's my sweetheart and we planned to meet somewhere around this town, and I don't want father to know about this, can you help me?"
Ara let the lie easily flow out of her mouth, a story that will appeal the maid. And she was right, Emma fell for the lie and quickly said.
"How can I help you, my lady?"
Emma looked at her mistress green eyes, waiting eagerly to know how she could be of help, because she also knew the feeling of missing the person you loved.
"I tried to let him go because we can never be together, with the difference in our status, he's the son of a wood cutter, but I can never forget him."
Ara waited to see Emma's reaction, before she said again.
"I won't stay long, I'll only see him for awhile...so will you keep this a secret between us? And when the guards ask about me, tell them am still sleeping."
Ara saw her maid thinking deep as if she was afraid of helping her out, so she dramatically covered her face with her hands and sobbed softly. Emma looked at her helplessly, unable to decide what to do. Ara said dramatically again.
"I can't live without him, I'll die if I don't go see him now."
"My lady, please don't talk like this." But Ara wasn't getting any of it and continued to sob dramatically. Emma couldn't watch to see her like this and said quickly.
"Fine. I'll help you my lady."
'Yes!' Ara rejoiced internally.
Ara looked up at Emma with her teary eyes and asked.
"Really? You'll cover up for me?"
Emma nodded softly and said.
"Yes my lady, now please stop crying."
Ara wiped away her fake tears, and took out a gold coin from her pocket and held it out to Emma.
"Please take this as a reward for your help."
Emma looked down at the coin in her mistress hand and shook her head. "No, my lady, I can't accept this." Emma pushed Ara's outstretched palm folding the coin back into Ara's palm. "I just want to help you my lady, there's no need to give me money...you can go I'll cover up for you."
Ara tried to make Emma take the money but the girl refused no matter what she said. She got tired of trying to make her take it and put it back into her dress pocket. Ara moved closer to Emma and held her hands and said in a soft voice.
"Don't worry, I'll try my best to come back soon. All the guards think I'm sick, so keep it that way, tell them I said nobody should disturb my rest, okay?"
"Yes, my lady." Emma nodded.
Ara reassured herself that this was the best choice, to keep everybody in the dark. In fact if she wanted to do everything easily, the easiest way will be to kill everyone to keep their mouths shut. But she couldn't do that, besides Emma reminded her of her sister, so innocent and naive. She won't be able to kill this innocent girl, this was the best way, lying will be better than killing.
With Emma's cooperation, Ara was soon left alone in the room. The time had finally arrived, she took out the scarlet metal armor suite that she had been hiding, she put it on easily, she placed the helmet on her head. She no longer look like a lady, she looked more like the Ara she was used to in her previous life. The sharp blade in her hands glitter in the light.
Ara murmured at the sight of the moon outside her window. "Here I come Prince."
Ara sneaked to the horses outside and unleashed one of the black horse, she mounted the horse and left the inn, as if she was never there.
As she got closer and closer to the battlefield, the heavy smell of blood stung her nose, soon she didn't have to wonder where it was coming from. There were as many bodies on the ground as there were trees in the dense forest. Even Ara who was familiar with the battlefield, grimaced deeply at the sight, there were far too many bodies to count.
'Why is it so quiet, is it already over?' She said internally. Just looking at the bodies on the ground gave her a rough picture of how fierce the battle was. The worst she feared had happened. The battle was over with no sight of any living soldiers or even the crown Prince.
"Did he leave already?" She murmured. But fortunately the remains seemed fresh, that means they should be around here some where. However it was too early to feel relieved. With fear rising that the crown Prince might have left, Ara urged her horse to go faster.
Fortunately, she soon heard the sounds of blades clashing from a far.
'Please be there.'
She prayed desperately. She finally arrived at the scene where the fighting was taking place. What she saw wasn't what she had expected, she had expected to see a fierce battle between the Findara soldiers and the opponent soldiers, instead there was only a lone man surrounded by dozens other men.
'So the dead bodies I just saw were the work of one man?'
It was hard to believe. But something even unexpected was unfolding before her eyes. "Oh Lord!" An involuntary gasp escaped her mouth.
The lone man was surrounded by dozens of enemies, but the man didn't seem to be fully human.
Her blood pounded in her ears. For a moment she looked into his chilling red eyes, she looked further down to his sharp fangs. She gasped when she caught a glimpse of his fangs, it could slice a hand off in one bite. She watched him dug his long nails into a soldier's throat and ripped off his head. Her heart almost left her chest, she remembered what people used to call him. "Monster" "demon." Scary beast."
"The rumors were real." She murmured. She was confused. was confused if the rumors were true, then Cornell should also be the same, in her battle with him, he still maintained human form even when she stabbed him. 'Why?' Why would he have to hide it? Why didn't Cornell appear like this in her previous life, but Prince Hamon did? Or perhaps...
Or perhaps the crown Prince doesn't have a human form, was that why he never made an appearance in public, nobody knew how he looked like. Ara stood frozen as she took in the scene.
One of the enemy soldier's sword cut the crown prince's side, as blood oozed out of the wound Ara quickly came to her senses. 'What should I do now?' She quickly looked around and saw some small bombs in the arms of the dead bodies. There were also as many horses wandering around as there were bodies lying on the ground.
"Alright, it's time to go boom." She murmured. Ara moved quickly with determination, she collected several small bombs from the bodies.
With the bombs in her hand, Ara began to ride her horse towards the Prince. At the Same time she threw some of the bombs she had collected.
BOOM! BOOM!
They landed near the dead soldiers holding bombs in their hands, causing a chain reaction that led to a larger explosion. The loud noises caused the soldiers attacking Hamon to scatter.
"What's happening?"
"I'll go and check it out!"
The carefully coordinated soldiers were quick to react, but they could not hide their shock at the sounds of galloping from all sides. It was the sound of horses running wild at the sound of the explosion.
Because of the small stampede the soldiers couldn't even guess who was coming from which direction. Just then at the same time, three arrows shot through the smoke created from the flames and penetrated the heads of the soldiers.
"The enemy!"
"The prince's backup has come!"
The sound of horses hooves thundered around them as the thick smoke obscured their vision, through the chaos she finally found a gap between the soldiers.
To them a scarlet armored soldier had suddenly appeared out of the smoke, everyone turned their heads in alarm. It was one, only one was coming out of the darkness. the squad, which consisted of highly trained soldiers, were overwhelmed with a feeling of dread.
The soldier wore red iron armor from head to toe, and the helmet covering it's entire face revealed only two eyes.
The soldiers fully prepared themselves for the oncoming charge, led by the red soldier, but something was strange.
Ara who jumped into the enemy's territory alone, stayed only for the briefcase moment. Hamon's red eyes and Ara's green eyes met.
"You're Highness, hop on!"
With an urgent cry, Ara stretched out her hand out to Hamon and he took it without hesitation. Ara pulled him up, Hamon used the tension to jump up and sat behind her on the horse.
It happened In a blink of an eye. The soldiers who were slow to react quickly raised their voices.
"Stop them, right now!"
Ara pulled out her sword and cut down those who were in their way. However she couldn't handle the horse and a sword at the same time. Hamon saw her struggling, and spoke in low voice behind her.
"Give me the reins."
It was a miracle that he was still conscious considering the large wound on his side. His shirt was so soaked in blood that she couldn't even tell where the wound was. Even so, an extra hand in this situation would be enormously helpful.
"Here." She said softly and handed him the reins. Having him control the horse, Ara focused on getting rid of the soldiers in their way. As they fled down the road, arrows poured out from behind like rain. Ara cut down some with her sword, one of the several arrows landed squarely on Hamon's back.
"Agh!" He cried of surprise and blood poured out of his mouth. She looked at him in dismay, but Hamon continue in a steady voice. "I can hold on. There's no need to stop the horse."
"You-"
"Don't look at me like that....am not going to die."
Ara bit her lips. She wanted to say something but it wasn't the right time to argue with him. At the moment the most important thing was to get out of here alive. She looked at Hamon clenching tightly at the reins despite the arrow in his back.
"Then stay with me so I don't have to worry." She said.