CH 20

Asha gave Yuri a deep look, held out a hand, and asked for a dance.

Yuri looked around in amazement, and then timidly approached the center. 

Asha put her hands together with her, funnily moved her feet, and danced happily.

The shouts grew louder, but the two of them were just absorbed in the dance, despite the laughter.

Jackal was watching her for a long time, and suddenly, someone’s hand moved in front of him. 

He came to his senses, and when he looked to his side, Gabe said with a mischievous smile.

“Captain, do you know that you can’t take your eyes off Asha even for a moment?”

Jackal felt weird. 

He felt his face getting hot from the drunkenness.

“Do you even know you have a smile on your lips?”

Gabe giggled like it was fun to tease him. 

Jackal instantly changed his expression and glared at him with sharp eyes. Gabe quickly looked down.

“Sorry, I crossed the line.”

“You know well.”

“Then, since it’s over, let’s move on a little further.”

Jackal looked at where he pointed. Asha was dancing skillfully as if she was flapping her wings. 

To commemorate his legs being healed, Gabe held her hands as well and began to dance, to which everyone roared with laughter.

He didn’t know how to dance, so he moved his body freely out of excitement, but Asha did everything he did. 

Jackal’s eyes looking at the two of them burned brighter than the campfire. 

Gabe winked at him and smirked at him.

“If captain is confident, you can dance too, right?”

“…..”

Jackal did not dare to say that he could not dance. He seemed very unhappy. 

He wanted to dance with Asha, too, but he was afraid his ridiculous moves would disappoint her.

He knew how to perform threatening dances like the sword dance, but he had never ballroom danced with the opposite sex. 

If he danced now, he might perform a sword dance for Gabe.

Gabe seemed to have noticed her sentiment. He giggled and gave a polite greeting to Asha.

He figured that if he teased him any longer, Jackal might sew his mouth instead of his legs. 

After such a fun night, Asha’s eyes were half-closed. 

Then suddenly, her blurry eyes saw Jackal sitting on a log carving a piece of wood with a rustic dagger. 

In his spare time, he would often carve out pieces of wood.

But seeing as he doesn’t make anything particularly meaningful, it seemed like a habit he made whenever he wanted to organize his thoughts. 

The moonlight fell like snow on his blue-gray hair. 

Perhaps due to the light, his hair suddenly looked like an eerie purple color.

Asha looked at him in awe. 

Jackal suddenly felt a gaze from the side and looked back at her. 

He clapped his tongue at Asha’s drunken expression.

“You’re drunk again. Go in, wash your feet and go to sleep…….”

Jackal could not finish speaking and froze.

Suddenly, Asha closed her eyes and leaned on his shoulder. 

He looked at Asha’s face, and he murmured to himself.

“You’re very drunk.”

“Ummm……”

Asha rubbed her face against his shoulder, as she had with Sheppy, and sank deeper into his arms. 

Her daring act caused Jackal’s eyes to widen and freeze completely.

Asha, who was drunk and sleepy, didn’t know what she was doing. 

Jackal’s heart was beating fast. 

He lent her his shoulder without moving, and soon carefully wrapped a blanket around her body without causing Asha to wake up. 

Asha murmured with her eyes closed.

“Sheppy’s scent… smells good…….”

He smiled mischievously, but the way he looked at Asha was full of affection.

However, his expression quickly became bitter.

“If you find out who I am, you’ll end up not liking me either……”

What kind of woman really likes a man who transforms into a horse? 

He hated the fact that he was a member of the kelpie clan, and thought that his weakness was turning into a horse.

The reason he didn’t reveal this to his comrades was that he thought they would be shocked and hate him or there might be chaos within the organization.

For him, it was kind of complex. 

If a wild horse other than her husband stood by the bedside on the first night, most brides would probably faint in shock. 

All members of the kelpie clan were forced to reveal their true selves, even for a brief moment, when they had their first night with the opposite sex. 

God played a mischievous trick to hide his identity from the other person until the end and prevent him from continuing his false love.

He had the advantage of a fateful relationship of deep trust with his partner, but he was a man who firmly believed that there would be no woman in his life. 

But before he knew it, Asha was deeply ingrained in his daily life without him noticing. 

His feelings for her continued to grow uncontrollably in his heart.

“Someday I will be able to tell you…..But not now. It’s enough that you’re here.”

He muttered to himself, and slowly made his way back to his house, carrying Asha like a princess. 

His heart deepened under the moonlight.

* * * * *

“……Captain!”

Early in the morning, when everyone was sleeping after the drinking party, a patrolman suddenly came to Jackal’s house in a hurry.

At the sound of a loud knock on the door, he asked, lifting his sensuous half-naked body from the bed.

“What’s going on?”

The patrolman opened the door and spoke urgently with a pale face.

“There…… On top of the mountain…..The Cactus Knights……!”

“…..The Emperor’s knights?”

Jackal frowned.

The sudden noise woke Asha up and she ran down from the upper floor.

Frozen in the middle of the stairs, her face looked pale and tired. 

Jackal jumped up and gave instructions to get ready quickly.

“We are moving right now. Tell everyone to gather in the courtyard with their luggage and weapons as soon as possible.”

“Yes!”

The members of the organization were taken aback by the sudden attack. But they finished their preparations in perfect harmony and gathered in the courtyard. 

The sky was still a light blue color just before sunrise. 

Jackal instructed.

“Set the village on fire. It seems that our location has already been discovered anyway, so we will have to eliminate our traces and cover the escape route with smoke.”

“Yes!”

They set fire to a pile of wood and straws and threw it towards the village without any regrets. 

Asha watched in disbelief as the village she had been living in for a while was burning in front of her. 

It felt as if the happy and enjoyable memories of last night had turned to ashes in an instant. 

She suddenly remembered the day her village was destroyed.

Watching the fortress, the meeting room, and finally, Jackal’s house burn in flames, where she had a good time with the others. Asha muttered with a pale face as if she was being possessed by a ghost.

“I’m sorry…..because of me….It’s because I came here….”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault.”

Jackal said calmly.

“We have always been like this. It’s nothing new.”

“But….! But I’m sure the Emperor is coming for me…..!”

Asha instantly recalled Karaf’s blood-red eyes and shivered involuntarily. 

Jackal put his firm hand on Asha’s shoulder.

To her surprise, the shaking stopped immediately.

As Asha looked at him blankly, he met her eyes and said seriously.

“You’ll be safe with us, so don’t worry.”

With his calm blue eyes that didn’t seem to be shaken by anything, Asha soon calmed down and nodded. 

Each of them mounted their own horses and began to race through the mountains. 

They were all not in good condition because they had drunk a lot the night before.

It must have been a deliberate attack on this day.

Gabe said, clinging to Asha’s side.

“Don’t worry, sister. Are we Lycaon for nothing? It wasn’t just luck that we survived until now. If you’re worried, maybe sister will sweep them away with an arrow.”

As Gabe smiled as he ran, Asha also laughed a bit calmly at his joke. 

Gabe told Jackal, who was leading the group at the front.

“Captain, I’m going to see how far they’ve come.”

“Yes, be careful. Don’t let the enemies find out.”

“Yes. I will follow you soon.”

Gabe immediately changed direction and ran back. 

His red-brown hair fluttered wildly in the wind. 

His eyes were fiercer than those of a hawk’s. 

Asha turned her head to look at him, then suddenly looked around, and her eyes widened and she screamed.

“Sheppy……! I can’t see Sheppy……!”

She couldn’t see anyone riding Sheppy. She felt as if her heart was sinking. 

But Jackal said casually.

“Don’t worry about him. He will catch up on his own.”

“How did you know? Did he go out again……?”

Hearing Asha asks in bewilderment, Sosa, who was following behind them, burst out laughing. 

Jackal glanced at him. 

Sosa then smiled kindly and said to Asha instead.

“This time he went out with the most beautiful white horse in the world, so he will be safe. That horse is stronger than it looks.”

“Perhaps……that white horse is a female?”

“It’s a male.”

“It’s a male.”

Sosa and Jackal’s faces hardened as they spoke at the same time. 

They never wanted to be mistaken for going out on a date together. 

Asha was anxious but decided to relax for now because the two of them were joking around and talking casually.

Above all, she had the belief that Sheppy would not be defeated so easily. 

They left the village early in the morning and it was not until dawn again that they unpacked their luggage in a cave to rest for a while.

Asha was so nervous that she couldn’t even eat properly. The knights chased after her all day, but she was relieved as soon as she sat down on the ground. 

Gabe returned safely after spying on the knights. 

Jackal asked.

“How is the situation?”

“They are also camping in the valley.”

Jackal nodded.

“They must have decided that it would be dangerous to keep chasing us in the middle of the night.”

Unlike those who lived in the forest and had brilliant night vision, the knights who lived in the luxurious Imperial palace were vulnerable to darkness. 

No matter how skilled the knights were, they decided that it was dangerous to run through the thick forest at night. 

Jackal looked around and said.

“Let’s get up a little faster than them and set off just before sunrise. We will rest for three hours and leave immediately.”

“Yes!”