"Still, my hands..."

    "Your body isn''t in a good condition right now. You should hold my hand to recover faster."

    I eventually looked away, he he didn’t say anything afterwards. It wasn’t too surprising since he was like this even when he was younger.

    I gave up and let him hold my hand tightly and led me towards the entrance of the cave.

    Reluctantly, I followed him hand in hand. The warmth spread, and I could feel strength returning to my body.

    What Ardion said was ridiculous, but my body did crave him. No, more specifically, it craved his mana.

    Why did Serina take the mana I didn''t even have? I scolded Serina inwardly. Why did this happen? It never happened in the original story.

    I had been shocked when Ardion just looked at Serina instead of rescuing her, but this was an even bigger shock. While lost in thought, I began to hear the sound of rain. Soon, the entrance to the cave came into view.

    When we reached the entrance, the sound of the rain intensified. It was so loud that it could be  mistaken for a waterfall, and the rain wasn''t just falling—it was pouring down. It was so heavy that I couldn’t even see anything right in front of me.

    As I stared blankly, I heard Ardion''s voice. "I found you and managed to come here to escape the rain. We''ll leave when it stops, so don''t strain yourself."

    But I was worried about Derol since Serina had taken him. A deep sigh escaped me. If I had known this would happen, I would''ve left him behind.

    I felt like I had caused unnecessary trouble.

    At that moment, Ardion placed his hand on my shoulder. "I should have brought a blanket if I knew this would happen. Are you cold?"

    He spoke in a way that seemed both familiar and different.

    A gust of wind brushed past my arm, but it wasn’t cold enough to matter. Besides, we were just at the cave entrance. Bringing a blanket seemed unnecessary.

    "I''m fine," I replied.

    "Let''s go quickly. You''ll catch a cold."

    "Your Highness, I''m not that sick."

    "No, I gave you mana in a hurry. It''s still not enough for you to relax."

    I closed my mouth and followed him. A little while later, I began to shiver slightly. If it were before, I wouldn''t have minded the cold, but something was different now.

    Now that I thought about it, Ardion was right. Since someone had recklessly taken mana from me, I was in a dangerous situation. It was much worse than just losing mana on its own.

    If things went wrong, my immune system could weaken, and even a minor injury could be deadly.

    I went to sit on a stone, but Ardion lifted me up instead.

    "Your Highness?" I asked, puzzled.

    He shook his head and inspected the stone carefully. "That one is dirty. What if you get infected by germs?"

    "But..."

    "Wait a moment."

    Ardion reached his hand towards the stone. Blue light emanated from his hand, and the stone, which had been covered in moss, instantly became smooth. Even after using mana, he didn’t show any signs of exhaustion.

    With a neutral gaze, he glanced at the stone and then turned his head to look at me. "You can sit now."

    As expected, Ardion was skilled with all kinds of mana. It looked effortless to him.

    "Thank you, Your Highness." I sat down.

    But he still didn’t move away. When I looked up, he lowered his gaze and met my eyes. "Laila."

    "Yes, Your Highness?"

    "Could you call me by my name, Ardion, instead?"

    His sudden request caught me off guard. But unlike mine, his emerald eyes held an unusual intensity, his gaze firm and unyielding.

    "They''re gathered around the nearby lake."

    A forest with a lake. I hadn’t expected that at all.

    Ardion gathered a few logs and struck the pile with two fingers, sparking a flame. He pulled out a knife and didn’t hesitate to cut off part of his sleeve.

    His muscular forearms became visible, and the bright light seemed to swirl around them. It was blinding. I had always thought he was quite handsome when he was younger, and I had been envious of him.

    But now, his arms had grown even more defined and muscular.

    It hit me—Ardion had really grown.

    He tossed the cut piece of his sleeve onto the lightly burning logs, and the fire quickly flared up.

    Noticing that I was watching closely, Ardion looked at me. "I have oil on my clothes. I always carried it like this on the battlefield."

    He smiled while making eye contact with me. I quickly turned my head away, feeling like something dangerous was about to happen.

    Even though he was just smiling...

    If I looked at him any longer, I felt like I wouldn''t be able to handle it. I stared blankly at the ground. Soon, the crackling sound of the fire filled the air, followed by the scent of smoke and roasted meat.

    The sizzling sounded appetizing. I gulped, trying to keep my composure.

    "By the way, how did you find me?"

    Ardion didn''t answer.

    Puzzled, I looked up and met his gaze.

    "I cast a little spell on your wrist just in case something like this happened."

    "Spell?"

    "When you get far from me, my wrist turns red. When you get close, it loses its color."

    I was too stunned to speak right away. Now that I thought about it, when he grabbed my wrist before the hunting tournament, I had felt a tingling sensation.

    "Didn’t Delzion tell you? I told him to tell you not to wander too far."

    I had nothing to say because I did indeed put myself in danger. But I still wanted to make an excuse. "Still, I found out the magician was Serina. If I hadn’t followed her, I wouldn’t have discovered this.”

    Before, I only had a feeling about it and didn’t know who exactly it was. This time, I completely uncovered who Serina was.

    “I’ll find Derol as soon as I get back. For now, eat this and get your energy back.” Ardion’s voice softened even more.

    More than anything, I felt relieved that he was going to look for Derol first.

    “Thank you.”

    I carefully accepted the meat Ardion gave me. He had grilled it on a branch, and it looked quite delicious.

    When I took a bite, the taste surprised me.

    Ardion smiled. “Is it delicious?”

    “Yes, it looks like there’s no salt, but it’s seasoned well.”

    “If there’s anything I learned from killing monsters on the battlefield, it’s that I should eat well.”

    Ardion took out a small pouch from his pocket. He opened it, revealing the salt inside. As expected of the male protagonist, his cooking skills were extraordinary. How could he create such a great taste with this kind of salt?

    In addition, the meat wasn’t tough and had just the right amount of juice, so I didn’t get sick of eating it.

    I didn’t think I’d want to eat meat grilled in a place like this... I eyed the meat being grilled.

    Ardion handed another piece to me. “Eat more. There’s still a lot of uncooked meat left.”

    I accepted the meat while saying thank you. I took a bite and inwardly exclaimed that it was great, but then a question suddenly arose in my mind.

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