Plan to survive? Check!

⩥ Chapter Ⅳ

IRENE'S POV

"..."

Please, kill me already... I'm crying forever in my head and that damn horse is still nowhere to be seen! I will explain my situation to you and you will quickly sympathize with me.

After leaving the snake guy, I walked towards the village as planned. But if there's one element that bothers me, it's that he doesn't leave me a single inch. He follows me wherever I go without saying anything. While he was looking away, I even tried to climb a tree to throw him off. But as soon as I looked down, he was gone and I felt a presence behind me.

Guess who it was? The creepy guy, of course. I tried many times to escape him but without success.

"You know horses aren't in the trees, right?" He said amused.

"You're the horse, asshole." I whispered but I know he heard me.

"If I turn into a horse, will you accept that I bring you back where the village is?"

"If I ride on your horseback, will you agree to stay in the stables as a horse?"

"..."

"That's what I thought." I concluded.

I decided to ignore his presence and concentrate. Horses feel emotions not like him anyway. I closed my eyes and focused on what I felt in the forest. There were a thousands animals but only three were scared. I only have to spot the biggest one then. I started running towards the source of all the emotions with the guy behind me. Does he even have a name?

"Hey!" I threw while I ran.

"Wow, did you really start the conversation?"

I ignored his comment and rolled my eyes.

"What's your name?"

"Eero, Eero Ryu Emerodia"

I stopped running as soon as I heard his last name. Wait, wait, wait...

'The genius who was an only child in the novel would therefore have a little brother?'

"I am an illegitimate child of the Emerodia family."

"Tch. And I'm a genius too." He looked upset. He stood in front of me and took my hand.

"Are you going to compare me to my brother too?" He asked with puppy eyes.

Arggg. Don't look at me like that. Comforting him wouldn't hurt, right? He's not one of the captures targets anyway. I pat his head and said:

"I don't know your brother anyway. I have no reason to compare you." I said, trying to avoid his gaze.

"And stop reading my thoughts!" He leaned and chuckled a little.

"Thank you..." He murmured.

As I tried to look everywhere but the boy's face, I saw the horse hiding behind a bush too big for him. My hand left Eero's head and I walked towards the horse.

"Hi handsome. The snake is gone but I would need you to join my frie- I mean sister." I said softly so he wouldn't run away again.

I forgot Eero was there. Speaking of him, he kept glaring at the horse as he crossed his arms.

I mounted the horse and turned to look at Eero.

"Do you want to ride with me?"

He nodded and as soon as he got on he hugged my waist very tightly.

"Do you want to break my ribs or what?" I pointed out to him, trying to loosen his grip.

"I'm dizzy." The tone in which he shared it with me showed that it was only an excuse.