The Crown's Entrapment

Chapter 307 A Facade

Day one inside the Element Forest…

‘I have to get out of here as soon as I can…’

Those were the words Xenia chanted inside her head the moment she entered the Element Forest. The foreign energies surging throughout her body the moment she stepped inside alarmed her to no end, and she was sure that it was related to something she had no plans on ever taking lightly.

‘What was that?’ she mused with a frown as she inspected herself, moving to inspect her arms and legs to see if she was fine. That energy was probably from some sort of barrier the forest had, something that wasn’t visible to the naked eye.

She creased her forehead as she looked around… her focus on the seemingly ordinary forest before her eyes.

[My love, can you hear me?] Darius talked to her through their Bond. She could feel his worry, and Xenia found herself letting out some air as she tried her best not to get affected by it.

[Is this even allowed?] she snorted, already moving to gather things that could be helpful to her as she moved forward. [Don’t worry. I’m already inside and still breathing. Still unharmed. Just let me stay focused, yeah? So don’t check on me too often…]

It was a sound tactic. Xenia had been deprived of bringing a number of things with her aside from what she was currently wearing,  a flask of water, and a bag that she could use to store things. While it was decent, she still needed to improvise with what she could find that could be generally useful to her. She had no time to spare talking to her mate like this.

[Hmm, I’ll just put up a wall for now,] Xenia wondered with a smile, her eyes darting to a conspicuous raven looking at her. She could clearly see the symbol on the raven’s forehead. [And kindly do the same, please. You can watch me anyway. And the same goes for you whenever we feel each other’s emotions. That won’t help us to focus on our tasks at hand, so please refrain from that as well.]

She knew that the raven was one of the eyes around her so that Darius and the inner court would be able to monitor what was happening to her inside the forest. Historians would need these details for future use, like how she was able to read and find out about the previous trials that happened throughout the history of Cordon.

From what Darius explained a while ago, an independent and powerful white wizard, Magnus, the leader of Mount Sorel, was the one handling such things. The guardians only allowed such things to happen so long as they found that there were no hidden and malicious intentions with the said act. If it was for purely monitoring a human put in the trials, then they’ll allow such methods of scrying in the forest.

[Indeed, I would,] Darius reluctantly replied before sighing. [Alright, I’ll do as you say. You might get affected by my emotions, so I’ll shut them down for now. Please be careful, my love.]

With that, Xenia quickly put up her wall before she finally put all her focus on the task at hand.

According to Osman, the forest was almost the same as an ordinary forest, meaning that she’d be able to eat and drink anything that was edible to her senses. The only precaution needed was for her to be careful in sorting out which was safe to eat and which was poisonous. Her test would instantly start the moment she stepped into the Element Forest, so she should always put her guard up.

She wouldn’t need a weapon for fighting since the guardians would be generous and fair enough to present her as much if she needed it. It would be improper as well if she did bring a weapon with her since it might give out mixed signals… mostly negative ones against the guardians. As such, Xenia only needed to focus on defending herself and enduring the hardships coming her way, as well as passing some of the tests the cunning guardians would throw along her way.

Stepping into the forest proper, Xenia walked forward and began to pick up common fruits along the way, placing them inside her sack. Surprisingly, it didn’t seem like winter was happening inside the Element Forest.

‘It’s truly a magical and mysterious realm,’ she mused as she continued observing her surroundings with her heightened senses. She also couldn’t help but wonder if the angel blood in her would work to her advantage now since Darius already marked her.

‘I guess I’ll find out once I’m in danger,’ she thought with a sigh.

Wandering alone, she smiled at the familiar feeling as she moved forward. It was like before when she and Darius were inside a forest while she was searching for food and shelter, only the difference between then and now was that Darius’s weight was no longer there for her to pull.

Soon enough, the land suddenly shook so hard that it cracked open. Xenia maintained her balance as she leaned toward a nearby tree trunk. However, the tree was unsafe as well as it also started to fall along with the other trees around her.

Moving, she tried her best to dodge the trees that seemed to be falling down her way. The ground was practically eating everything around her just like how Osman described it. And wasn’t she just lucky to have had enough of heads up before entering the Element Forest?

From the looks of it, there was no way she would be able to escape this, meaning that there would be no need for her to run away and waste her energy knowing that she’d end up underground no matter what to face the Basilisk first…

Resigned to her fate, Xenia refused to move, letting the ground swallow her whole with her eyes closed and a smile carved on her face. It was a facade, knowing that Darius was currently watching her.

It was then that she was grateful to have learned enough about how to hide her emotions from him so that she would at least avoid worrying him too much. That was the least she could do for him while he watched whatever suffering she needed to endure.

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