Episode 168
“Ayla!”
Luke couldn’t contain his excitement and raised his voice.
“Luke, calm down,”
Jade tried to calm him down.
“Brother, do you think I can calm down right now? Ayla’s talking about going to the Black Forest!”
“Luke. Please.”
In our family, except for Mother and Jade, once someone got riled up, it was hard to calm them down. The only person who could control us when we got like this was Father, but he was spending some peaceful time with Mother at the moment.
“Yeah, seriously, calm down, Luke,”
Noah joined in, trying to help soothe Luke’s anger.
“You’re not thinking straight. I dare you to say again that you’re going to the Black Forest.”
Despite the attempts to stop him, Luke continued to glare at me.
“I’ve already said I’m going,”
I responded, looking straight back into his sharp gaze without flinching.
“Ayla, you really—!”
“Both of you, just stop!”
Jade, who couldn’t take it anymore, finally lost his temper and shouted at us. This was the first time I’d ever seen him this angry—Jade, who was always calm and gentle, no matter what.
Stunned by his outburst, both Luke and I stared at him with our mouths open.
“Brother…”
“Jade…”
“I’m sorry for yelling. I was just worried that you’d keep fighting if I didn’t.”
Jade quickly apologized, his usual gentle smile returning. In the end, he had achieved his goal, as Luke and I were now silent.
“Let’s talk this through calmly, without raising our voices.”
“Yeah, we’ve got time…”
“No, we don’t have much time.”
Noah’s mention of time snapped me back to reality, and I quickly cut him off.
“What?”
“There’s no time. In fact, we don’t even have time for this conversation.”
“What do you mean?”
Luke tried to speak again, but Jade stopped him and asked.
“The Crown Prince is leaving for the Black Forest tomorrow.”
“What?”
“It’s not uncommon for a royal to visit the battlefield for morale.”
“Then…”
Jade gave me a meaningful look, and I nodded.
“Exactly. That’s why I need to meet with the Duke before the Crown Prince gets there.”
“Ha…”
“Damn it, this is insane.”
Jade sighed, while Luke muttered a few choice words under his breath.
“Ayla, are you really going to the Black Forest?”
Noah asked, confirming my intentions once again.
“Yes. I’m going to stop the Crown Prince.”
“The area around the Black Forest is crawling with monsters. On top of that, there’s a war going on. You could get caught up in a battle.”
“I know. I understand.”
“And you’re still going?”
“Luke.”
Noah interrupted when Luke tried to jump in again, his expression hardening.
“…Fine, I’ll stop interrupting. You two talk.”
Luke seemed to realize that any further interruptions would only lead to more fighting, so he backed off.
“So, you’re leaving now?”
“Yes.”
“Even if we try to stop you?”
“Yes.”
Noah kept asking, perhaps to check how firm my resolve was. And without any hesitation, I answered that I would go.
I understood my brothers’ concerns. I knew very well, even without experiencing it firsthand, how dangerous and terrifying the Black Forest was.
As Noah had mentioned, there was a very real chance I could get caught up in the war and lose my life.
But despite that, I had to go.
Because I was the only one who could save Lloydin.
And truthfully, I missed him so much.
But I couldn’t go to the Black Forest alone. To get there before the Crown Prince, I couldn’t afford to lose my way.
For that, I absolutely needed Noah, who knew the way.
However, I found it difficult to ask him to come with me.
Even though I needed to say it, asking my brother, who surely didn’t want me to go, was incredibly hard.
“So, about that…”
But there was no time. While I was hesitating, I had to hurry and get to Lloydin.
“Noah…”
Even so, the words wouldn’t come out. I ended up stealing glances at Noah, hoping he’d understand without me having to ask. Then, as if he already knew, Noah spoke up.
“You want me to come with you?”
He said what I had been trying to ask.
“…Huh?”
“You’re asking me to go with you, right?”
“Well…”
“What? You’re going with Noah?”
“…Yes. I need your help for my plan to succeed.”
With a long sigh, I finally asked Noah for help. Even though I felt like I was being shameless, I had no choice.
I really needed him.
“I’m sorry, brother. For asking you to come with me to such a dangerous place…”
I couldn’t bear to look Noah in the eye, so I hung my head low, filled with guilt.
After I finished apologizing, there was a heavy silence around us.
Perhaps my brothers were too stunned by my request to say anything. As the silence lingered, a large hand suddenly rested on the back of my head.
That hand began to gently pat my head.
“Did you really think you were going alone?”
“…What?”
I quickly lifted my head to look at Noah.
He was smiling at me.
“Did you think I’d let you go to the Black Forest alone?”
“…Brother.”
I could only stare at him in disbelief as he continued speaking.
“You know there’s no one who knows the Black Forest as well as I do.”
I nodded slowly, still unable to say anything.
“So of course I’m coming with you. Right?”
“Brother…”
I was so touched by his words that tears welled up in my eyes.
“Brother, I… I really…”
I didn’t even know what I was saying anymore.
Even though I knew what I wanted to say, the words just kept getting tangled up, refusing to come out properly.
“I know. I understand how you feel, so you don’t have to say anything more. I told you, I’m not going to let you bear everything on your own.”
“Brother!”
When Noah had returned from his travels and learned everything, he had asked me why I carried all the burden myself. He’d said there was no need to do that.
Back then, I thought it was just the way things had to be.
I still believed that.
It was my responsibility to deal with the consequences of what had happened because of me.
But maybe, deep down, I’d been waiting for someone to tell me otherwise.
And now, at the moment I needed it most, Noah’s words made my heart swell with emotion, and I suddenly burst into tears.
I stood up and threw myself into Noah’s arms.
“Thank you. And… I’m sorry.”
I apologized over and over, filled with gratitude and guilt.
“What are you sorry for?”
“For everything. Even if you didn’t want to go, I would’ve insisted. But you didn’t refuse… I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”
“Ayla…”
I couldn’t hold back my tears any longer and cried in his arms.
“Ayla…”
My other two brothers, trying to comfort me, spoke from the side, but the tears wouldn’t stop.
After a while, Noah, who had been gently patting my back, snapped me back to reality with a single sentence.
“You said there was no time.”
‘Oh, right. There’s no time for this.’
As Lloydin’s face flashed before my eyes, I forced back my tears and pulled away from Noah.
“We need to leave… now.”
“Yeah. Let’s go right away.”
“Okay.”
“Noah, Ayla! Are you really going?”
“We are, Jade. Please tell our parents. If we go see them now, we’ll lose more time.”
“Alright. I’ll tell them.”
“Thank you, brother.”
“It’s nothing. Do you need me to help in any other way?”
“There is actually… Jade, I need you to do something else.”
I quickly explained what I needed Jade to take care of.
“Got it.”
“And me? What about me?”
As soon as I finished talking to Jade, Luke turned me around and asked.
“Huh?”
“Don’t I have something to do? Should I come with you? Yeah, I think I should go too.”
The same brother who had been so adamantly against me going earlier now seemed desperate to join.
“Luke, you don’t need to come.”
“Why not? I should go with you.”
“No, stay here and help Jade.”
“Help Jade?”
“Yes. Please, brother.”
“Alright. Just promise me you’ll be careful. If it gets dangerous, run. Got it?”
“I will. Thank you.”
Finally, Luke and I exchanged a smile.
After quickly making our preparations, we slipped out through the back gate without alerting our parents and quietly mounted our horses.
“We’re off.”
“If anything happens, send word.”
“I will. Let’s go, Ayla.”
“Yeah. Brothers, I’ll be back.”
“Ayla, be careful!”
“I will! Goodbye!”
With a cloud of dust, Noah and I raced off into the dark, heading straight for the Black Forest.
I had one goal: to reach the Black Forest before the Crown Prince did.
