“Where are you going?” Eldric asked. He gathered the fallen leaves on one side and was just finishing his sweeping. Even without either Tamara or Lia telling him, he started helping out in the house. Small tasks, nothing too strenuous such as sweeping the perimeter of their house.

Sometimes, Lia wondered if he really was a powerful man in the country. With his homely look right now, it was hard to imagine. He wore a white shirt, Lia bought when she first brought him in. He was lean but muscular, his toned muscles visible on the threadbare shirt. He wore his pants rolled up to the knees, lining up his equally muscled thighs and legs. He really was good-looking, despite his impoverished look. Lia suspected that he would still look majestic even if he was only wearing a sack.

He glanced at the sun and narrowed his eyes as he brought his hands over his eyes to shield them. Then he put away his broom and strode over to Lia.

Lia gripped the basket handle. “I’m going to gather ingredients in the woods.”

He nodded. She need not say anymore. By now, he was used to the lessons Lia took under Tamara’s guidance. The lessons amazed and perplexed him at the same time. “Alone?”

“Of course.”

“May I go with you?”

Lia started to protest but Eldric stopped him. “My wounds have started closing. And if it’s just walking then I think I should be fine. I’ve been sleeping for so long I need to work my body and breathe some air.”

Her shoulder sagged. He had a point. Unable to refute his words, Lia had no choice but to give in. Eldric gave him a boyish grin that somehow knocked her off her orbit.

Eldric walked a few steps behind her, looking around the forest in admiration as if he was on a tour. Lia paid him no attention but at times, she felt like someone’s staring at her back. When she turned, she would find him watching the trees instead.

When they came to the clearing, Lia abruptly stopped. Eldric stopped beside her. Her eyes seemed to be playing tricks on her as she saw trails of blood near the pond. She blinked her eyes and found none of the droplets.

“It’s fine, there’s no one here. We’re safe,” Eldric assured her. Though Lia could see his eyes scanning the area, the kind when a predator searched for prey. She shuddered visibly and hated herself for being so obvious. “Do you want me to scour the area?”

Lia shook her head. “No, I’m fine. I’ll be fine. It’s just…” she could not find the right words so she shook her head again.

Eldric seemed to understand her. He placed his hands on the pockets of his pants and acted casual. “What do you want me to do? Do you need me to pick grass?”

Lia snorted and got to work. “We’re not looking for grass.”

It ended up with Lia explaining each and every plant she was getting. Eldric was a curious one.

“What are these ingredients for?” he asked holding a leaf between his thumb and forefinger.

Lia pointed at the freshly picked leaves. “These are medicinal herbs, while the other ones will be dried up and later be used as spices.”

Once they were done, they sat around the clearing as Lia splashed her face with water from the pond. Eldric laid on the grass using his arms as pillows under his head.

“Are you the only ones living in this area?” He asked

“Yes because who wants to be neighbors with a witch?” Lia shrugged and dried her face with her handkerchief. There was a nagging thought at the back of her mind that had been pestering her since Eldric woke up. So she added in a quiet voice, “Are you not afraid of us?”

“Why should I be afraid of my saviors?”

Lia could tell that his answer was genuine and that brought her unease. Why was he nonplussed about all of this? “Well my mother only ever saves people instead of hurting them but that doesn’t stop people to judge.”

“You two don’t have enough sense of danger,” he held a finger when Lia started to protest. “You took me back without even knowing me. What if I was a bad person? Or what if the people who attacked me were still in the place where you found me? You say Tamara saves people despite everything. Well, so are you.”

‘But I knew you.’ He was the protagonist. He had the protagonist halo. Everybody else was mere cannon fodder. Eldric and the female lead were the stars of the story. He had to live. And that went without saying, he could not be a bad guy. Of course, Lia did not say all of that. She murmured, “But you’re not a bad guy.”

She expected Eldric to laugh it off with his usual boyish grin that was a borderline smirk. Maybe even tease her about it. Instead, he watched her, eyes with inscrutable melancholy in them. His dark brown eyes, deep and unreadable. Lia prepared herself for what she would hear next. But his next words threw her off the loop altogether.

“Let’s go, your mother probably needs these herbs now.”