The clatter of horses' hooves passed through the dense forest, and the black-clothed "crows" galloped past. The moonlight shone on the knights through the gaps in the leaves, and the branches of the trees also passed quickly beside them and made sharp sounds. Whistling sound.
The roads in the forest were narrow and rugged, and the knights had to steer their horses carefully to avoid colliding with tree trunks.
Sometimes they bent down and lowered their heads, sometimes raised their chests and raised their heads, flexibly adapting to the changing road conditions. Sweat dripped from under the dark veil, but they could not stop, and their keen eyes quickly searched the surroundings for traces of Cesare.
At this time, there were no traces of mycelial entanglement on Cesare's body, but he also knew that the infection had not been removed so easily. Those evil souls were temporarily hiding deeper in his body, ready to attack at any time. They may all come back...
But now he has completely lost his strength. He feels like there is no blood flowing in his body, and his heart is just beating dully, trying to force himself not to die like this.
He wanted to rest, but the sound of horse hooves chasing him was getting closer and closer.
Her legs had no intuition, and she tried hard to remember how walking should be, and tried to make corresponding movements, but in fact, every difficult move was Anya dragging herself forward.
Looking at the girl's mutilated left hand... the delicate and lovely palm was now missing its ring finger and little finger. It used the only three remaining fingers to tug on Cesare's tattered cloak and drag him forward.
The bandage was wrapped around Anya's hand, which provided more mental comfort than actual effect. The blood was still flowing and it was really distressing just to look at it...
Originating from ancient beliefs, people believe that there is a "vein of love" on the ring finger of the left hand that goes straight to the heart, so young girls will wear wedding rings on this finger to symbolize the eternity and loyalty of love.
Cesare remembered this allusion out of guilt. Anya was such a beautiful and smart girl, but at her youngest and most beautiful age, she no longer had that beautiful finger to wear a happy wedding ring...
The heavy sense of self-blame made Cesare feel tortured by being unable to breathe. He looked at Anya's strong smile and couldn't feel the comfort in his heart at all. He wanted to speak out and care, but he didn't have the courage.
He knew who those two fingers were lost because of, and what qualifications did he have to care about Anya...
The road in the forest was rugged, and the branches of the trees were intertwined to form a labyrinth with no end in sight. The young people leaned closely together and chose the way back in tacit understanding.
But for the chasing horses, even if they exhausted their remaining strength, they were still too slow.
The neighing of the horses was approaching in their direction, and they had no energy to escape or dodge. They heard the leaves rustling and saw something approaching rapidly in the darkness beside them.
A knight's figure sprang out of the darkness of the forest as fast as lightning and immediately blocked the way of the two of them.
Cesare looked up tiredly and saw the moonlight illuminating the knight's silver hair, and saw the familiar opponent Ilona riding a brown horse standing in front of him.
The blade of the sword flashed with cold light, and his sharp eyes revealed an unshakable determination.
"Ilona..."
Cesare's voice was so weak that even he could hardly hear his own voice. Not only did Cesare's call fail to reach Ilona's ears, it also made her body become even weaker.
Ilona's sudden appearance seemed to form an insurmountable obstacle, stopping everyone in place and making the surrounding air freeze.
Her soft silver hair fluttered gently in the wind. She sat quietly on the horse and held the sword in her hand tightly, her eyes cautiously resting on Cesare.
It seemed that what Ilona saw was different from what she thought before coming. Complex emotions kept changing on the girl's face, and she was surprised and couldn't tell whether it was sadness or joy.
The monster that had been in the count's bedroom had disappeared.
At this time, Cesare was just an ordinary black-haired boy, without any hyphae on his body. In Ilona's knowledge, this kind of thing... was simply impossible.
Although there have been countless experiments proving that pure silver can temporarily inhibit the growth of hyphae, another mutation occurred after wearing a silver ring...
There has never been any precedent of relying on one's own willpower to recover the body. This kind of thing is like a story on a phone call, which sounds beautiful but is not realistic at all.
Ilona thought of her brother who was stabbed to death by her sword, and the emotions in her heart were indescribably complicated.
She had obviously spent such a long time to make herself cruel, firmly believing that the infected were incurable, but now why did the gods want to play tricks on her, allowing her to soften her heart again and feel the pain.
Seeing Ilona blocking the way, he hesitated to say anything.
Anya took a deep breath, tired yet playful, slightly bent her body and bowed in greeting.
"I'm sorry, dear lady... you seem to be blocking our way. Can you move out of the way?"
Anya's voice immediately caught Ilona's attention. Her eyes were much more fierce than before. It was obvious that her attitude towards Anya was completely different from her attitude towards Cesare.
"Where are you going to take Cesare? The count will be back soon, and before that the infected must be left under the care of the crows." Ilona's voice was fierce, but it lost all the emotion she had in the castle. That self-confidence seems to be working hard to keep one's determination unwavering.
She held the reins tightly, seemingly stabilizing the horse beneath her, but more importantly, she was forcibly maintaining her inner calm.
Facing the cold light of the sharp blade in Ilona's hand, Anya did not flinch but protected Cesare even more tightly, as if silently expressing her firm position. Anya would never hand over her companion to anyone. people.
"But you just wanted to kill Cesare. I don't think you took him away just to attend the family's evening tea party."
Anya smiled at the corner of her mouth, but her hand slowly touched the sword again. Even though she no longer had the physical strength to survive two rounds, Anya still chose to persist.
Hearing Anya say this, Ilona turned her gaze sideways and didn't know how to defend herself.
"That's just because I had no choice..." Ilona explained in a low voice, not only to Anya, but also to herself.
The past scenes were recalled in my mind, recalling what happened to me when I was a child and later my life with Cesare... Then Cesare coughed several times in pain, and the sounds seemed to hammer the girl's cold heart, making Yi Lorna couldn't help but feel distressed...
Is it really right to bring Cesare back to the family... Will the Count really cure Cesare, or will the other members really let him live until the Count comes back? Ilona wasn't sure. As a knight of the Crows, she shouldn't think about these issues at all.
But the coldness deep in her heart is slowly melting, becoming soft and fragile. Ilona doesn't know what she should do, and other "crows" will soon find this place.
It was clear that she had absolute authority at this moment, but Ilona did not dare to look directly into Anya's eyes, let alone her own shaken heart.
And when the scene froze, Cesare, who kept his head lowered and didn't know what to do, spoke weakly.
"Ilona...!" He tried his best to make his voice spread farther, but it was only at a volume that the other party could barely hear.
Ilona was startled the moment she heard her name, and the chaotic thoughts in her mind fled in all directions. She looked at Cesare blankly like a kitten that was frightened when it made mistakes.
Cesare also sighed weakly and continued to say something vague.
"Letters, I actually wrote a lot...I tried to write to you about the school since the day I left..." Cesare said apologetically.
"I'm sorry... I didn't know that you didn't receive the letter I wrote. I thought... you just didn't want to pay attention to me and didn't write a reply. I've always missed you, Ilona..."
After speaking intermittently, Cesare just breathed hard and lost his voice.
And Ilona stood on the horse and stared blankly at Cesare for a long time.
The girl's shoulders were slightly raised as if she was under tremendous pressure. Her only right eye no longer looked calm but became aggrieved. Her eyes were slightly moist, and tears were about to flow out at any time.
The tip of her small nose twitched again and again, and her delicate lips pressed together tightly.
Ilona knew that the other party might just be telling lies to please her. How could a baffling explanation resolve misunderstandings over the years? Where did the so-called missing letters go?
There is no credibility at all.
But even though... Ilona knew it was a lie, she couldn't help but want to believe it.
The girl sobbed aggrievedly. She had really lost too much in her life. Ilona longed for a word of comfort, even if it was a lie.
Over the years, I have accumulated cold protection in my heart, wrapping my weak side layer by layer, almost forgetting that I was just a little girl who longed to be cared for.
Silently, Ilona actually cried. After a long, long time, Ilona almost forgot the feeling of crying.
Time passed little by little until Ilona made her decision...
Shortly after.
The chasing crows searched very closely, circling the castle without missing any corner. However, because there were still too few manpower, the speed of the search was also limited.
By the time the other knights arrived, the moon had already set towards the horizon.
It's almost dawn.
The forest is no longer as dead as before, the terrible things have passed, and the birds are singing happily as if to welcome the arrival of the sun.
But they did not find Cesare and Anya, but saw a lost girl walking towards them on a relatively empty grassland.
The leader, Mr. Andel, raised his hand to signal the others behind him to tighten their reins and stop. He watched the silver-haired girl walking alone in the forest, without her horse.
Ilona's eyes were slightly red and swollen, and there were obvious tears on her face. She watched the fellow crows arrive here without speaking or raising their eyes to look at them.
He just walked alone, ignoring everything around him, and walked in the opposite direction from where the crows were coming.
"Ilona? What happened? Where is your mount?"
Mr. Andel asked doubtfully, and Ilona stood still. The girl's shoulders couldn't help but twitch a few times with brief sobs.
"Dead... or something else, I don't know..." Ilona started walking again as if she had lost her soul, walking past several Crow Knights. "I'm so tired now, Mr. Andel... I may have to go back to rest, I'm sorry..."
Ilona walked alone, and then walked toward the castle alone.
Everyone looked at the girl who had lost her soul, but they didn't know what happened to her just now. It seemed that something very important had been lost and recovered in Ilona's world.
But in the blink of an eye.
Ilona lost it again.
