"Ever since that incident, I was truly angry. All I could think about was revenge. Even now."
"Elys, forgive me for wrongly concluding that you were the murderer of my parents," Jerome said.
The woman remained silent. She stared back at Jerome with an intensely deep gaze. She approached the handsome man before her.
Seeing that, Jerome moved away slightly. He took a step back. His face showed confusion. What did the woman actually expect from him?
Elys heard the sound of galloping horses approaching them. She quickly urged Jerome to hide behind a shady tree. Jerome understood that Elys was on edge. He became more alert to his surroundings.
"Jerome, stay here. Don't move, and let me check out the situation over there." Jerome nodded. He knew the woman would not lead him astray.
There, on the rocky riverbank, Elys saw a group of people from an unfamiliar tribe. They were not from Vire or the Soomer tribe. Elys furrowed her brow. It seemed she had to be wary of everyone—especially anyone who wasn't from the Soomer tribe.
She understood that they had to get away from here immediately. Hastily, she returned to where Jerome had been.
But the man was no longer standing beneath the tree. Elys was stunned. She looked in every direction, making sure Jerome hadn't left. But there was nothing. No matter where Elys cast her gaze, she still couldn't find any sign of Jerome.
"Jerome!" she shouted.
As she circled the area, she tried to search for him. Unfortunately, what she found instead made the people from the foreign tribe suspicious. They began approaching Elys.
Unwilling to be captured, Elys immediately ran away. Jerome's figure kept flashing through the woman's mind. He was someone she could join forces with for revenge. Their fates were the same, and their grief was not so different. Both had lost someone they loved.
How would she find out who the real murderer was?
Breathing hard, Elys glanced behind her. She didn't want to die for nothing before finding the mastermind behind her father's death.
The man who had once loved her with all his heart. With him, she had known happiness, jokes, and laughter. Her father had been an incredibly precious presence in her life. Yet an act back then had taken the life of her idol—an invaluable treasure. Her father had been murdered right before her eyes, as well as her mother's and younger sibling's.
And so, driven by all her hatred, Elys kept trying to fulfill her desire. Even though it was impossible for her to do it alone.
The woman stopped at what appeared to be someone's former garden. It seemed safe enough for her, and she was already far from that foreign tribe.
Fortunately, Elys found a stream down below. It was more than enough to help her survive here.
"Mother, don't worry about your daughter. I'll avenge everything done by those who killed your beloved. Elys promises, Mom." The words slipped from her full, red lips, like a spear driven into the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Living as a girl of the valley had driven the warrior's spirit deep into her heart. Moreover, her father had once been a warrior himself. Elys had inherited that never-surrender attitude from her father, Jon.
Crackkk, scrapeee.
Elys grew alert. She heard something not far from where she was resting.
"Who are you?"
The girl with beautiful eyebrows caught sight of it. Something seemed about to attack her.
Elys drew her dagger. She prepared to face the threat.