Chapter 244 - DEFEND THE CARRIAGE!

Episode 237- DEFEND THE CARRIAGE!

Euria raised a brow at Crown Prince Nexiel's joke before shaking her head light-heartedly. What she didn't know was that there was some truth to his words and that he meant it when he said that he wanted to lock her up. 

After laughing for a while the Crown Prince smiled and reached over with his hands, "And? Are we friends now?" The atmosphere between them wasn't tense anymore, and he didn't want everything to go back to the way it was. 

Euria's lips lowered and she was in deep thoughts. She wasn't lying when she said that she wanted to avoid Crown Prince Nexiel. She truly didn't want to hurt him like she did her previous life. But, time-reversed and now, she didn't know what to do. To ignore him and slap his hands away would hurt him momentarily but will not stop his pursuit in this 'friendship'. But if she were to take his hands, wouldn't that also give him false hope?

No matter what she did, she was bound to hurt Crown Prince Nexiel. 

Euria stared at Crown Prince Nexiel's hands in deep thoughts. 

"Euria."

His voice snapped Euria out of her thoughts and she grabbed the hands that almost pulled away. 

'... Ah. It's full of calluses.' She could feel the bumps that didn't exist in the Crown Prince's former life. His hands suddenly reminded Euria of Eugene's words 6 and a half years ago. 

'To protect.' It wasn't her family who she only wanted to protect but this man in front of her too. Euria lifted her head and stared straight into Crown Prince Nexiel's eyes. 

"Yes, just friends." 

The moment Euria said that Crown Prince Nexiel's hands backed away slightly, however, Euria didn't let go and grabbed it tightly. 

She smiled, "Forever friends."

Crown Prince Nexiel pursed his lips before faking a smile. He hadn't thought his words would come back and hit him in the face like this. Not to mention, the girl was not letting go of his hands. After about 30 seconds of struggling, Euria let go and his hands were finally free. 

The Crown Prince became increasingly sour as the journey to the capital city progressed. He hadn't expected such a trick from Euria hence he sulked the whole way. Naturally, Euria noticed this and wanted to laugh, however held herself back. She reckoned that if she laughed, he would really burst out in anger. 

Though the sky was cloudy and outside was dark, the beauty of Xenperia still shone through. Unlike the calm and peaceful Zene, everything about Xenperia was sophisticated. The houses, the lives, and the way people dress. It makes one almost stuffy if you look at it for a long time. It was the first time the Crown Prince had come this far inside of Xenperia, so he made sure to register everything and memorize everything into his mind. 

Euria's lips curved as she watched the Crown Prince glancing around at everything curiously when the carriage took a sharp right turn suddenly. Euria and the Crown Prince were able to stabilize themselves quickly as they stared at each other in shock. 

"DEFEND THE CARRIAGE!" 

The expression on Euria and Crown Prince Nexiel immediately darkened. 

"GENERAL! THERE IS ONLY A CHILD!"

The moment one soldier said that a bad feeling immediately settled in on Euria's stomach. The reason for this was because even if Exitium had perfected the technique that allowed a person to be completely manipulated through and through, the children would never become as perfect as Commander Kal's children. And the reason was that, even until Commander Kal's last breath, he never spoke of the secret that made his children who they were. 

The only children allowed to roam and walk on their own were Kal's 20 children who had the ability to speak for themselves, had the ability to execute any order by themselves, and did not require to be hypnotized to carry the orders. The other experimental subjects had to continuously take in medicine in order to follow an order. They did not have the ability to make proper judgments and would not move unless an order was given. It was obvious but these children were not allowed to roam alone and needed to have someone with them. 

"AHHHHHH!!!" One after the other, screams erupted in quick succession.

"RED! THERE'S SOMETHING RED FLOWING AROUND HER! DON'T GET CLOSE OR TOUCH IT! AHHHH!" Screams pierced through everyone's ears and chill tingled down their spines. 

The moment Euria heard the words of the soldiers, her heart dropped completely. Her face was pale as she stood up slowly. 

There are only two people in this world whose association with red will become famous. One person was her sister who of course wouldn't carry out an attack on their ally. This means that the person who was outside of the carriage right now was...

Crown Prince Nexiel examined Euria's incredibly pale face and stood up with her, "What's wron-" 

Before he could finish his sentence, Euria pushed him down, back to his seat. She grabbed him very tightly on his shoulders which made him flinch however Euria did not back down. 

She stared straight into his eyes with intense emotions he couldn't understand. Her eyes were determined and serious, "No matter what, don't leave the carriage."

"Excuse me?" Crown Prince Nexiel furrowed his eyebrows, confused at Euria's words. The pain coming from his shoulders kept increasing however he held it in. 

"Don't. Come. out." Euria dropped any formality and spoke to the Crown Prince directly. Her words were authoritative as if she wouldn't take a no for an answer. 

The Crown Prince observed her face again before nodding solemnly. The moment he nodded, Euria's grips lightened however it did not leave the Crown Prince. 

"Please promise me you won't come out no matter what." Her voice was softer as she asked the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince nodded again, and it was only now when Euria backed off. She turned around and was about to push open the carriage door when the Crown Prince called out to her and stopped her. 

"Wait! What are you doing?!" Just as he was about to stand up, Euria turned around and glared at him, "You promised. Please stay inside this carriage." Seeing that the Crown Prince looked like he wasn't going to back down, Euria bit the inner bottom of her lips and threatened him, "If you don't keep your promise, I will completely disappear from your life."

Crown Prince Nexiel immediately froze. He stared at her face in speechlessness as he froze. Her words made him unable to do anything.  His hands trembled in shame as he couldn't bring himself to reach out to her. He could tell that Euria was serious and that she would truly disappear from his life if he didn't do as promised. 

When Euria saw Crown Prince Nexiel backing down, she gave him a small yet sad smile, "Thank you…" Her voice was soft as if apologizing for her rude words just now. They just became friends and she was already acting as a bad friend.

"You owe me one." There was a threat in Crown Prince Nexiel's voice as he stared at her seriously. He was not willing for this situation to come out in favor of her side if she was going to be like this. 

Euria's eyes moved slightly before she smiled, "Alright." 

There was no hesitation in her when she left the carriage and the Crown Prince behind. She did not turn back and began to observe everything carefully. Her serious demeanor was cold as her eyes stared at the road ahead of her. 

The carriage was completely surrounded by the soldiers and knights. 30 Zene knights stood shoulder to shoulder in front of her, and beyond them, 60 soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder. She wasn't able to tell but she was sure that 60 more probably stood in front of the 60 soldiers, and they were surrounding a figure. 

"MISS? PLEASE HEAD BACK INTO THE CARRIAGE!" One of the knights caught on to Euria's hair from the corner of his eyes and immediately raised his concern. What he didn't expect was to meet Euria's cold gaze that stunned him frozen. 

"Protect the Crown Prince. Even if you die, not a single scratch should be visible on his body." Because the knight was loud when he called out to Euria, other knights became aware of Euria's presence. But just when they were about to say something, their lips were shut tight because of Euria's words. 

Euria walked forward, passing through the little gap between the knights and the soldiers. Everyone who saw her wanted to pull her back to safety and wanted to say something, but they were all either frozen because of the cold air radiating off her or were unable to touch a single strand of her hair on her body. 

"You're here?" An incredibly cold voice, one that brought a chill down to everyone surrounding the figure, and one that brought a chill down to Duke Rodriguez, spoke suddenly.