The Two Runaways
Fate
Book 5-7.1
“It is amazing and feels wonderful. Thank you to Yulian-nim and the crew for giving me such an opportunity.”
Adelina moved her flowing hair back as she gave her thanks to Yulian.
“There is no need for thanks.”
Yulian smiled as he answered and then started to shout toward Captain Thriger.
“Greatest Warrior Thriger! The lady wants to thank you!”
“Muhahahaha. I will raise the speed a little more since she seems to be having fun. This type of speed cannot be found anywhere else in the world.”
Thriger was excited and shouted toward the crew to increase the speed.
With the situation being pretty tense with the Silence Empire, Aizen did not have a lot of time to stay in Pareia. Aizen wanted to let Adelina have as much fun as possible in the few days they had.
During that time, they had heard about the ship that moves across the sand, and asked Yulian to let them get on board.
Yulian had pushed his tasks aside for a couple of days to entertain the people who will not be able to visit so easily in the future. He brought Grace, Violet, and his two children along as they boarded the Desert Runner.
They all needed a break anyways.
As Thriger mentioned, the Desert Runner slowly started to increase its speed until it reached its maximum speed. Adelina could feel her head spinning. She was not used to such speed and rocking of the boat.
“Are you okay?”
Aizen gasped and hugged the woozy Adelina.
“It is like a beautiful painting.”
As Grace numbled next to him, Yulian started to smile and speak.
“Should we do that too?”
“Honey!”
Grace turned away while holding Kiness.
“Violet, what do you think?”
Yulian then asked Violet, who was sitting down playing with Verikan.
“Don’t even dream of it. Do you know how many eyes are watching?”
The Crimson Desert was not very amusing for Violet. Even the first time she was on the Desert Runner was not fun because she got seasick.
Seeing Violet respond similarly to Yulian, Yulian just laid down using VIolet’s lap as a pillow and looked up to the sky.
‘It is so blue and so bright. This desert sky of ours.’
Even though he felt and saw the sky every day, it looked a bit new today.
Grrrrrrawrl!
Kyaaaaaaaaa!”
Shhhhhhhhhhhh~
Everything happened in an instant.
Shopping’s playful roar, Adelina’s scream, and Aizen unsheathing a red blade.
“Aizen!”
Yulian urgently shouted toward Aizen, and Shopping almost lost his life without even knowing why.
“Come here.”
At Yulian’s shout, Shopping’s head went back into the sand before appearing on the other side.
“I hope you weren’t too surprised.”
Grace urgently walked over to Adelina and asked.
“Ah! I am okay. But what is that?”
The still shocked Adelina looked toward Aizen’s sword that was still out. Grace called Shopping over and answered.
“He is my pet.”
“You have quite an amazing looking pet.”
Since she did not know about the monsters of the desert, she thought Shopping was just really a pet. Seeing Adelina’s innocence, Grace decided to tell her about Shopping’s identity.
“If you want to take a ride, please let me know. He won’t be as fast as the Desert Runner, but Shopping is the best to move at a height with nothing around you.”
“It seems dangerous.”
Aizen wanted to decline, but Adelina was already laughing and nodding her head.
“Is it really safe?”
As Aizen urgently asked Yulian, Yulian started to smile and nodded his head.
She may look weak, but Adelina must be a strong person. She had a slightly scared expression as she climbed onto Shopping, but the look of curiosity was much stronger.
“Her body is very weak. That is why I am more worried.”
“Do not worry. Shopping is smart. He is also the king of the monsters in the desert. You really don’t have to worry since Grace is with her as well.”
As Yulian casually responded to Aizen’s concern, Aizen finally started to feel relieved. Of course he still could not remove his eyes from Adelina.
Feeling that he would get to play with Grace for the first time in a long time, Shopping lifted his large body into the air and quickly started to move. It was because Yulian and Grace were both too busy to play with Shopping for a while.
“Uhh……”
Aizen’s subconscious sound of concern was drowned out by Adelina’s cheer.
“This is so cool.”
“I don’t think any other animal in the world can give you this type of feeling.”
Grace continued to pat Shopping’s head as she looked toward Adelina who was enjoying it like a child.
“He listens well to Grace-nim.”
“It has been over seven years.”
“Amazing. How were you able to tame such an animal?”
“Shopping is not an animal. He is the strongest monster in the desert.”
“What?”
Adelina asked with disbelief.
“Shopping is a Giant Sand Dragon, the strongest monster in the desert. Also, please be cautious as he understands human language.”
“Ah.”
Seeing Shopping nod his head, Adelina sat down in shock.
“Bad boy. You need to move carefully today.”
Feeling Shopping start to move again, Adelina could tell that Grace was telling the truth.
Adelina started to pat Shopping’s head like Grace and started to speak.
“I wish I had a friend like you too.”
“Adelina-nim is more amazing than you seem. Even many of the men get scared while looking at Shopping.”
“Grace-nim is here and Aizen is here as well.”
Grace started to smile knowing that the level of trust this couple had was very deep.
“Aizen-nim is amazing. He is a knight who can represent the Rojini Kingdom at his age.”
“Yulian-nim is the one who is an amazing hero. Aizen told me a couple of the stories. He says Yulian-nim is much stronger than him.”
The two women were lifting each other up as they continued to chat.
Adelina was the only heir to Duke Diperu’s household. Because of this identity, it was not easy for her to make friends. Even back in the kingdom, there were only a handful of people who could chat with her, so she had always been lacking people to chat and have fun with her.
But today, she started to pour out all of the things she was not able to tell anybody to Grace.
She may have Aizen who only had eyes for her, but it was impossible for Aizen to fully understand a woman’s heart. Only another woman could do that.
“I feel like Grace-nim and I have been friends for a very long time. Please excuse me.”
Grace smiled once more at Adelina’s words. She really liked this beautiful yet weak woman.
“I am enjoying myself as well. If you don’t mind me asking, could I ask your age?”
“I was born in year 230 of the continental calendar.”
‘......?’
Grace instantly started to question it. Adelina looked very young, and based on the way Aizen called Yulian hyung-nim, Adelina should be younger than her as well.
“Ah!”
Adelina must have realized what Grace was thinking about after seeing Grace’s expression.
“I am four years older than Aizen. I’m a bit embarrassed to tell you.”
“Ah! So that is the case. It is nothing to be embarrassed about. Our desert’s young warriors even take women with a larger age gap as their wives. But Adelina-nim doesn’t seem that old at all.”
“What about Grace-nim?”
“I was also born in year 230. Yulian-nim as well.”
Finding out that they were the same age, the two women felt even closer with each other.
“There seems to be something over there?”
While chatting for a while, Adelina pointed to something in the desert.
“There should not be anybody who dares to approach the quicksand river.”
Grace thought it was odd and looked out to see two people riding horses as fast as they could, with a large group of people on horses chasing after them.