Chapter 125 Pretending to be Lost

Chapter 125 Pretending to be Lost
Azi brought the horse to a stop beside a stream so we could clean ourselves up. Sigrid had gotten muddy because of me when I climbed on earlier.

I took off my clothes, staying only in my undergarments. Azi was a short distance away, his back turned to me while he gave Sigrid a washdown. He was also topless and soaking wet.

The rain was still pouring heavily, causing the stream’s water level to rise. I washed my body, making sure every trace of mud was gone, before washing my clothes.

"I found a cave nearby," Azi called out from a distance. "We can stay there while waiting for the rain to stop. We can also dry our clothes there."

I shivered against the piercing bite of the wind. I hurried to finish washing my clothes before running over to Azi and Sigrid, who were done as well.

He glanced at me. "You done?"

I blushed, suddenly self-conscious that I was standing there in just my underwear. But I couldn't wear my wet clothes either, as that would only make me colder.

I nodded. "L-let's go to the cave you mentioned. It's freezing out here."

He nodded and led Sigrid out of the water. Azi mounted the horse first before extending his hand down to me. I took it and climbed on behind him. I hesitated for a second before wrapping my arms around his bare torso, but as soon as he urged Sigrid forward, I instinctively held on tight.

I bit my lower lip. I could feel the firm contours of his body beneath my hands. He didn't seem to mind, so I just brushed the feeling aside. I definitely didn't want to fall off and end up covered in mud again.

Azi dismounted first once we arrived in front of the cave he mentioned. "I'll check inside first," he said, handing me Sigrid’s reins.

He stepped inside to inspect the area and emerged less than a minute later. Without a word, he took Sigrid’s reins and led us inside.

I dismounted from Sigrid once we were indoors. The biting cold eased slightly, as the temperature inside was noticeably warmer. Luckily, there was dry firewood scattered around the cave, allowing Azi to quickly start a fire.

"Hang your wet clothes here," Azi said, handing me a sturdy wooden stick. "We need to hang them near the fire so they dry faster. They'll probably end up smelling like smoke, though."

Azi stood up and unzipped his wet pants.

I quickly averted my eyes. I pulled my wet clothes out of my bag and hung them on the stick Azi gave me. Once I was done, I glanced up.

"Here..." I handed Azi the stick with my clothes on it, carefully keeping my eyes strictly away from his lower half since he was down to his boxer shorts. "Just don't place it too close to the fire so it doesn't smell heavily of smoke."

I moved closer to the fire to soak in the warmth, wrapping my arms around my knees as I watched the flames slowly consume the dry wood.

Outside, the heavy rain continued to fall.

I felt Azi sit down beside me. He stoked the wood to make the fire burn brighter, which helped ease my lingering shivers.

I took a breath. "A-are we still far?"

"We were thrown off course," he answered before settling into his seat. He cleared his throat. "You went way too far. It's a good thing you had Sigrid with you, which made it easier to track you down. Otherwise, I might not have found you until tomorrow."

"At least you were still thinking of finding me," I chuckled softly.

"Yeah. Of course."

I stole a glance at him. He was staring directly into the flames. On his chest, a small letter 'S' tattoo peeked through, alongside a few other tattoos. He cleared his throat, making me quickly avert my eyes.

"It's a woman," he said out of nowhere.

"The archer?" I asked, keeping my gaze fixed on the fire.

"Yeah. Her head was covered, but I caught a glimpse of a long strand of hair. She fled quickly. I didn't pursue her because I didn't want to get pulled any further away from you."

"Ah..." was all that came out of my mouth.

"Are you hungry?"

I shook my head. "Not really..."

"I can grab us some food—"

"No," I cut him off immediately. I rested my chin on my knees while keeping my eyes on the fire. "I don't want to be left here alone. What if that woman comes back? Stay here."

"Okay. As soon as the rain stops, we leave. We should reach Vlanchard Clan before sunset."

"Ah. So it's close then."

Neither of us said anything after that. We flipped our clothes over to dry the other side. My body and the undergarments I was wearing had dried completely, though my hair was still damp.

I felt our arms brush against each other, so I shifted slightly to create space. A moment later, I felt his arm touch mine again, but this time I knew it was intentional.

"Do you want to hear the plan?" he asked.

"Sure!"

He added a few more sticks to the fire before returning to my side.

"We'll pretend we're lost."