Katherina froze in fear and didn’t dare utter a word.

  Alhen remained wholly unaware of her change in demeanor, being too focused on listening all around him for a sign that the wiht might be close.

  The wiht didn’t attack, only observing Katherina’s face while nearing her with the same expression.

  Now that the wiht was closer and its body could be seen, it gave her a clear view of its almost anorexic appearance.

  Ribs were showing, and the length of its limbs was disproportionately large to its body. It held Katerina’s gaze with intensity, but not moving a muscle, as if curious about her.

  Katherina, with the creature before her, gripped Alhen’s shoulder firmly and squeezed it.

  Alhen then noticed that she was not behaving like her usual self and turned around with his revolver, aiming straight and the wiht.

  Katherina’s heart missed a beat, but he didn’t shoot immediately, and the creature didn’t react; it didn’t even flinch.

  Katherina was stuck between the wiht and Alhen, and the nerves began manifesting themselves as shivering.

  Not being able to take it anymore, she shouted, “Shoot!”

  “Bang!”

  Alhen didn’t process her words before he fired, the bullet leaving the chamber and landing straight on the wihts chest.

  He had reacted on instinct, and contrary to his expectations, he heard the bullet land on a solid surface and bounce off.

  He shot again, and the same sound was heard again.

  Katherina stood to the side in shock, watching the wiht taking those bullets as if soft sponges had hit its body instead of solid metal.

  Throughout the process of firing and the bullets landing on the floor, the wiht hadn’t moved at all.

  It kept his eyes locked on Katherina.

  Alhen’s hand froze in the air, still squeezing the trigger. He went to reload the gun, but the princess stopped him dead in his tracks by squeezing his arm.

  Alhen stood in silence with a racing heart.

  ‘What just happened? I heard the bullets colliding with something solid, based on the sound, the wiht shouldn’t be dead. Why did the princess stop me then? What is happening!?’ Alhen exclaimed in his mind.

  The cold air caressed his face and caused goosebumps to travel all over his body.

  He slightly jumped once he heard some movement to his right, but then he realized that it was the princess who had taken a small step in his direction and neared his ear.

  Throughout the motion, Katherina didn’t take her eyes off the wiht which was staring directly into her eyes.

  She kept her eyes open until they teared up, afraid that if she closed them, the wiht would take her life directly instead of disappearing.

  “T-The wiht is not harmed, but it doesn’t seem to move as well. Alhen, let us get out of here slowly while facing it, I believe it is our only chance,” the princess managed to say.

  Alhen, hearing her words, didn’t dare to be rash, and his back was drenched with cold sweat.

  ‘I have never heard about a wiht behaving like this from my mentor. If it’s not attacking us, we should be careful not to provoke it into causing harm,’ he thought.

  Despite shooting at the wiht and making tons of noise, they didn’t do it again lest the wiht change opinion and kill them.

  Alhen slowly nodded where he last heard Katherina’s voice and started walking backwards with careful steps.

  ‘So much bad luck, we are not even halfway to the Kingdom of Yhia, and we are already facing this kind of danger,’ he thought.

  He didn’t know whether Katherina was following or not, but he moved backwards. The lack of noise was starting to worry him, but his ears soon picked up a pair of footsteps following after him.

  ‘Very well, Katherina is following, now I just have to keep moving until I receive a signal from her. Without being able to see, it’s impossible to survive alone. I need her.’

  Alhen kept moving backwards without stopping to take a break, always making sure that the princess was following after him by hearing the sound of her footsteps touching the soil and stepping on the leaves.

  A few minutes passed like that, and he started to get worried.

  ‘I only hear one set of footsteps following me, did the wiht stay behind? If that’s so, then why hasn’t the princess let me know yet?’ he thought.

  In a moment of distraction, he stepped on a tree branch and heard the footsteps rapidly approaching his location before he felt an arm wrap around his forearm.

  The hand was cold, extremely so, and it was rough, the texture resembling sandpaper, and he could feel some liquid staining his clothes.

  Alhen’s brain stopped working for a second, he took a moment to process what had happened, and when he did, all the hairs on his body stood on end.

  That wasn’t the princess holding his arm, it was the wiht.

  It didn’t seem to do anything apart from grabbing his arm, but there was no knowing what could happen.

  He wondered what to do, but ultimately came up empty-handed. The wiht could kill him whenever it felt like it, and the only option now seemed like it was to pray and hope for the best.

  Alhen began breathing heavily, but he tried to be as quiet as possible.

  ‘Wait a second, if this is the wiht, then where is the princess? Did she stay behind and use me as bait to draw the wiht away from her? It’s possible!’ Alhen thought with fury, but feeling the solid grip of the wiht on him kept him grounded.

  He then heard heavy breathing in front of him getting closer, until the breath hit his nose and he smelled a foul stench emanating from what was probably the wiht’s mouth.

  ‘Is it going to eat me?’ He thought, his brain working in overtime as he tried to figure out what to do next.

  Before the wiht could get close to him, however, there was a sharp sound that emanated from one of the nearby bushes.

  The wiht turned to look in that direction, and he could feel the grip of the wiht lessening until it let go completely.

  He heard footsteps getting away from him, and he took this time to breathe deeply. Alhen hadn’t noticed, but he had been holding his breath and was now able to release it, feeling much better.

  The feeling of danger didn’t dissipate, however, as he knew that the creature was still nearby and it was going to probably follow after him after he checked out what the sound was.

  Alhen heard tiny footsteps approaching him from the side, and this time he did not doubt that those footsteps belonged to the princess.

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  Without making a sound, she took hold of his shoulder once more and guided him away from the wiht who was still walking towards the nearby bush where she had thrown a fallen branch.

  “Quick! We have to put as much distance as possible from the wiht and us!” The princess whispered hurriedly.

  Alhen didn’t wait and breathed a sigh of relief once he finally became aware that the princess hadn’t abandoned him and was simply standing on the side waiting for the perfect opportunity to get them out of that situation.

  They speed walked a considerable distance away before Katherina spoke.

  “Alhen, I just became aware of our location. We are in the Shrill Forest, my father says that wihts in this place do not follow logic and act in strange ways. I never thought that one day I would be inside it and experience it firsthand,” Katherina commented.

  “What else have you heard? Any piece of information could be the deciding factor between walking out of here alive or dying inside this forest.”

  “Well, some good news is that there appear not to be many wihts in the Shrill Forest, and it is not that big. We should be able to get out of here in a few hours of walking, but we will find wihts that attack without waiting outside.”

  “Is the wiht behind us is going to follow when we leave this place?” Alhen asked.

  Katherina shook her head before she remembered that Alhen couldn’t see and spoke up.

  “I am not sure if it is going to follow us, but I do not believe that is the case. This part of the forest has many strong wihts, and I believe they are all confined here. I heard my father once talking about a special kind of energy in this place, but I did not pay that much attention to his words.”

  Alhen fell silent, reflecting on her words.

  The princess turned back to look and almost sighed in relief because she couldn’t see the creature, but she didn’t let momentary relief cloud her mind.

  “We have to walk even faster if we want to put more distance between the wiht and us. I believe that now it is safe, as I cannot see it,” Katherina spoke.

  Alhen nodded and allowed himself to be led by Katherina.

  Wherever she went, he followed.

  They didn’t relax until they walked for a couple of minutes without seeing the creature.

  Momentarily, they allowed themselves to breathe fully.

  ‘That was dangerous, we have to be quick and get out of here before it catches up to us if it’s following our trail,’ he thought.

  He didn’t have much time to feel relieved, however, as the next second, as if they had summoned him with their energy, it appeared and looked at them from behind a faraway tree.

  Katherina noticed this and let Alhen know with shaky words.

  “A-Alhen, it has appeared once more. Let us walk before I blink, I do not want to lose it from sight,” she commented.

  Alhen didn’t need to be told twice before picking up his pace with Katherina, who walked backwards.

  Thankfully, the wiht didn’t seem to move when she had her eyes on it, and they walked further away until Katherina blinked and the wiht appeared once more in her vision.

  She had to repeat this many times, leaving her eyes red from the lack of moisture.

  “Alhen, I will not be able to hold on for much longer,” she warned, and Alhen paled.

  ‘Damn it! If it follows us without stopping, what are we supposed to do? We will die before reaching the kingdom!’ Alhen exclaimed in his mind.

  There wasn’t much he could do.

  He had been looking in the wiht’s general direction, but it didn’t seem to work because he was blind; maybe the wiht could sense this and choose to move freely under his ‘gaze’.

  Just as the princess was despairing, she saw something far away that made her widen his eyes.

  ‘There is no doubt, that is… Bernard,’ she thought.

  The princess gritted her teeth in anger when she remembered his betrayal. She had already expected him to betray her, but now that it had happened, it made it more real, and she was livid.

  ‘You were there even in my childhood, taking care of me and teaching me many things, but you still chose to give up on me at the end. That bastard, I will kill him,’ she thought.

  A dangerous emotion passed through her eyes before focusing back on the wiht.

  In any normal circumstance, she would be worried that her personal guard was following after them, but now, they had a chance right in front of them.

  ‘If only I manage to make the wiht and Bernard face each other, that could give us enough time to escape. Bernard is strong. I did not think I was going to say this, but I wish the wiht is as well to give him a worthy fight. If it can beat him, then better.’

  With a plan forming in her mind, she smiled lightly.

  ‘Thanks, you could not have arrived at a more perfect moment,’ she thought.

  Bernard did not appear to have spotted them; he was following some trails on the ground, and if they were alone, it would have been dangerous because he was way stronger than they were.

  Considering Alhen wasn’t able to harm the wiht, it was simply impossible for him to win against an experienced guard that had gone through many life-or-death situations, and especially now that he was blind.

  Talking about Alhen, he remained wholly unaware of what was happening, but he could feel a change in the princess’s demeanor.

  “Bernard is here, he is looking for us. I am planning on letting him and the wiht fight each other, buying ourselves time to escape,” Katherina whispered in Alhen’s ear.

  His heart picked up the pace, hearing about the current circumstances, and he prepared himself for anything that could happen.

  “It is normal for Bernard to have found us. He is one of the best trackers, and we did not do much to cover our tracks, making it simple for him to reach us,” she commented.

  He listened with one ear open, and with his one hand, he started reloading his revolver with the extra bullets he always carried with him, and got prepared for the conflict that would soon ensue.

  “How do you plan for the wiht to attack Bernard? Until now, it has remained somewhat passive. Are you sure that you would be able to make them attack each other?” Alhen asked, his voice barely audible.

  “I am not sure, but it is our only chance. I plan to attack him before he spots us, take him by surprise. Last time when I threw the branch at the bush, the wiht followed. Maybe if the wiht takes damage, it will become enraged and attack Bernard.”

  “Very well, so what you are saying is that your whole plan depends on whether Bernard attacks the wiht and damages it?” Alhen asked.

  The princess hummed in confirmation and asked, “Do you have any better ideas?”

  Alhen remained silent, and the princess took this as a sign that she should start right now lest she be spotted by her previous bodyguard before her plan could take place.

  Bernard was located further back to the left of the wiht, he looked focused on the ground, probably trying to discern some clues left by them.

  Katherina, without taking her eyes off the wiht, took a fallen branch from the ground and took a deep breath before stilling herself to throw it with all her strength.

  Before she did it, however, she stopped.

  ‘No, what am I doing? My strength is not enough for it to fly all the way over there. If I throw it, it will only land halfway, and then we will be in trouble,’ she thought.

  Katherina gritted her teeth and reluctantly gave the branch to Alhen, who had to pocket his revolver and turned his head in her direction.

  “Why did you give me this?” he whispered.

  “My strength, unfortunately, is not enough for it to travel all the way to Bernard. I am hoping that with your Luna Signum, you will be able to reach him,” she said.

  “Very well, but you will have to guide me as I can’t see,” he responded.

  The princess agreed and told him the general direction that he would have to throw the branch at.

  Receiving her instructions, he held the branch firmly in his hands and took a deep breath before activating his sign.

  The sign glowed a bright white inside his jacket, and he sent it flying towards Bernard. He heard the branch landing, but wasn’t able to see if it hit its objective or not.

  Katherina saw in real time how the wiht followed the branch with its eyes until it landed on the ground right next to Bernard.

  The guard had realized that something was wrong the moment the branch left Alhen’s hands and turned to look at what had caused him that feeling.

  When the branch landed next to him, he became careful and sharpened all of his senses.

  Looking up, he saw a wiht rushing in his direction with fast steps.

  The expression on its face didn’t reveal anything, and it didn’t look hostile, but Bernard wasn’t taking any chances.

  Bernard took out some daggers hidden deep within his jacket and threw them at the charging creature after activating his sign.

  The inside of his jacket became light blue, and the daggers flew with great speed at the creature, impaling themselves in its skin and drawing out crimson blood that landed on the floor.

  The with stopped its charge and stood still, as if dazed. Bernard didn’t waste this opportunity to charge at it while it was distracted.

  As this happened, Alhen and Katherina were standing on the side, hidden from plain sight in a nearby bush.

  ‘Running away is useless now. If Bernard was able to find us one time, he will no doubt find us again if he’s not taken down here. No matter what happens, we have to make sure that neither the wiht nor he is leaving alive or in any condition to hurt us.’

  For now, Alhen couldn’t do anything apart from hearing what was going on, so he decided to remain silent and wait for a message from the princess.

  ‘I hate this feeling of not being in control. If it weren't for my blindness, I would be able to make plans and think more clearly about the situation. It would be nice if I could also be aware of my surroundings, it feels strange trusting someone from the royal family,’ Alhen thought.

  He was snapped out of his stupor when he heard the sounds of fighting. Katherina, next to him, was breathing heavily and kept herself close to Alhen.

  Back in the conflict zone, Bernard rushed at the stunned wiht, taking another set of daggers from inside his jacket and approaching with a deadly expression.

  He arrived in front of the wiht in no time and started slashing at its chest, leaving deep gashes of blood wherever his daggers passed.

  At the end of his barrage, he stuck both daggers in the wiht’s head, and throughout the whole process it hadn’t moved an inch.

  Katherina was confused and worried, was the wiht this weak?

  Bernard could barely believe it himself as he had wide eyes and an expression of disbelief.

  He knew that he was strong, but the wiht in front of him was just too weak; it hadn’t managed to defend itself before it was killed.

  At least that’s what he thought, because the next second, with blinding speed, it swung its claw at his head and almost tore it apart.

  Bernard moved just in time to avoid being decapitated, and a cold sweat ran down his back.

  “Now this is starting to get interesting,” he said out loud.

  The wiht’s skin began changing colors, becoming a blood red color and looking deadlier than before.

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