Chapter 50

I froze in place, holding my breath.

Who had spoken?

Though the message seemed directed at one person, my legs stopped involuntarily, and I focused on the faint sound of Adam’s shallow breathing.

That’s when I heard something large rustling through the underbrush.

Neigh!

The sharp cry of a horse rang out nearby.

Could it be the one who shot Adam with the arrow?

Panic-stricken, I shoved Adam into the bushes, forcing him to stay hidden.

‘If I run in the opposite direction, I can draw them away…’

But as I hesitated, stepping backward cautiously, a horse appeared abruptly before me, startling me into a sharp gasp.

It was much closer than I’d expected.

And the rider’s face was familiar.

Their surprise mirrored my own, their expression shifting as recognition dawned.

“You…!”

“Your Highness, the Crown Prince?”

The sight of his face, which I hadn’t expected to see here, caused my knees to buckle slightly with relief.

‘No, wait… this isn’t safe.’

The person hunting Adam was an imperial guard acting on the emperor’s orders.

And the Crown Prince, his son, could hardly be considered trustworthy either.

I stepped back slowly, trying to put distance between us.

“Unbelievable. I told you to stay put in the camp, and here you are. Come with me, now.”

Before I could resist, the Crown Prince, Judis, grabbed my arm.

Dismounting from his horse, he hauled me up onto the saddle, his hands firm on my waist to ensure I wouldn’t slip.

His touch reminded me of Adam for some reason, and the thought made my chest ache.

“Do you know where the hero is?”

At his mention of Adam, my shoulders tensed.

This was it—the moment I had to decide.

‘Can I trust him?’

His claim that he was searching for Adam didn’t seem like a lie.

But why bring so few people for such a mission?

It felt eerily similar to the lone imperial guard who had tried to kill Adam earlier.

“I know where the hero is,” I admitted cautiously.

Judis’s expression shifted as if expecting me to continue.

“But, Your Highness, can I trust you? More importantly, can the hero trust you?”

My blunt question caught him off guard, and he stared at me for a moment in silence.

It might have seemed ungrateful after his help, but I needed to be sure.

Despite their constant bickering, Judis had always seemed to display a strange melancholy whenever he mentioned Adam.

What should I trust? His status as the emperor’s son, or the subdued kindness he’d shown so far?

Judis finally responded, his expression softening as he looked at me.

There it was—that look.

I’d seen it countless times on Adam’s face as well.

“Do you think I brought only one knight because I wanted to hunt him down? I’m trying to get him out of here unnoticed.”

His voice was low, almost bitter.

It was the look of someone speaking the truth amid countless lies.

“Maybe it’s a ridiculous sense of guilt.”

Judis laughed quietly, his expression twisting painfully. It wasn’t the face of someone who was lying—there was no reason for him to look so tormented if he was.

There wasn’t much time to debate further.

Clenching my fists, I shut my eyes tightly and told him where Adam was.

“Your Highness! We’ve found him!”

One of Judis’s knights returned, carrying Adam slung over his shoulder.

They laid him down gently on the ground, but his condition seemed even worse than before.

“How is he?”

A healer, who had come with them, knelt down to examine Adam’s wound and face carefully.

“Thankfully, the first aid was done properly. We just need to rebandage the wound with clean cloth and give him medicine to lower his fever.”

At her words, Judis visibly brightened.

Though he quickly masked his relief when our eyes met, I’d already seen the emotion flicker across his face.

‘The emperor wants Adam dead, but the Crown Prince feels guilty toward him.’

And, most likely, Adam was already aware of this.

That’s why Adam disliked Judis.

He resented Judis’s guilt and deliberately taunted and pushed him away.

There was clearly something between them that I didn’t know.

Why was the emperor so intent on killing Adam? And Judis’s guilt seemed to stem from more than just the fact that his father wanted Adam dead. His concern and care for Adam were far too significant for mere guilt.

Even though the emperor had tried multiple times to kill Adam, Adam remained unharmed.

I knew Adam’s life better before he killed the Demon King, and during that time, the emperor hadn’t intervened directly.

This time too, Adam had survived, so it was another failed attempt.

Rationally speaking, this incident wasn’t even something Judis should feel guilty about.

There must have been other failed attempts, similar to this one, that weighed on him.

But now wasn’t the time to ask.

“Load the hero onto the horse! We’re getting out of this forest immediately. The carriage isn’t far—full speed!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Judis mounted the horse with practiced ease.

Though I was momentarily surprised by his skill, given that it was the horse I had been riding, there was no time for questions. The horse took off quickly.

‘Ah, so they’d set up a guide rope.’

I’d assumed their bold entry into Mia’s Forest was a reckless death wish, but Judis had prepared.

A bright yellow thread, visible even in the dark, connected us to the forest’s boundary.

One of the attendants reeled in the thread, leading the way. Following close behind were Adam’s bearer and Judis on his horse.

It wasn’t long before we emerged from Mia’s Forest.

Despite the muddy terrain slowing the horses, we managed to leave before they became too exhausted.

As the towering trees that had blocked our view of the sky gave way, a vast expanse of clear blue greeted us. Relief washed over me.

One of Judis’s attendants found an empty cabin nearby and carried Adam inside.

But the real problem began then.

“His body’s burning up… We’ll need medicine to bring his fever down,” the healer Judis had brought said after examining Adam’s condition in the cabin.

It was obvious even at a glance—Adam’s state had worsened significantly.

“He’s lost a lot of blood, and with all that rain, his condition was bound to deteriorate. For now, he should rest here until he’s stable enough to travel again.”

“I have herbs!” I exclaimed.

“…Really? Let me see them.”

The healer examined the herbs I handed over and nodded in approval.

They must have been exactly what was needed for Adam’s condition.

She glanced at Judis, seeking his consent.

“Alright. A short delay should be fine. There’s no way they’d expect us to be on this side of Mia’s Forest,” Judis said, nodding calmly.

The healer and I left the cabin to prepare medicine for Adam.

* * *

Judis sat on a chair, pressing his throbbing temple with his fingers.

‘I was lucky. The hero didn’t die.’

Perhaps it was because Adam was chosen by the gods that his luck always seemed to hold.

Of course, true luck would mean never being in such peril in the first place.

Tap. Tap, tap.

Lost in thought, Judis drummed his fingers on the table.

If the rain hadn’t washed everything clean, the traces of Adam’s injuries near Mia’s Forest would have been discovered, and the emperor would have felt at ease.

Few had ever emerged from Mia’s Forest.

Known for its infamy, the forest’s labyrinthine nature caused wanderers to become hopelessly lost, circling back to the same spots no matter how far they thought they had walked. It was this disorienting quality that earned it its name: The Forest of the Lost.

‘But that maid managed to find her way out, didn’t she?’

The few survivors of Mia’s Forest had often been rescued by others who ventured in with ropes or other guiding tools.

That was how Judis had come to know the method of navigating the forest.

When Eveline mentioned that the hero had entered Mia’s Forest, Judis’s first action was to check on his father.

Upon confirming that the imperial guard who always stayed at the emperor’s side was missing, Judis gathered his most trusted men and entered the forest.

Instead of approaching directly from the hunting competition’s location, Judis had chosen to enter from the opposite side, searching for Adam in secret.

But when the rain fell and darkness swallowed the forest, he thought finding Adam would be impossible.

The deeper they moved into the forest, the more the search was delayed. At one point, Judis believed it was hopeless to locate the hero within such an expansive maze.

‘But he was near the edge of Mia’s Forest.’

Almost as if Adam had known where the exit was.

Or perhaps it was an extraordinary coincidence.

But Judis didn’t believe in coincidences. He found himself intrigued by Eveline.

Why was she so determined to stay by the hero’s side? And why did Adam treat her with such uncharacteristic gentleness?

‘He cherishes her enough that even the emperor noticed, yet he seems completely unaware himself.’

Judis tapped his fingers on the table again, his thoughts lingering on Eveline’s unique position by Adam’s side.

 

 

 

 

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