Dark eyes closed as he hummed audibly. Everything wasnât as great as it seemed up high, then? âLike an animal, huh?â Shouta repeats a frown creasing his face. It wasnât all that surprising, truth be told. In fact, it was more surprising that the other had decided to run away on her own. âShe at least isnât brainwashed or the type to go along with those horrible thingâ he thinks with a small tilt of his head.Â
âAh, I see. You have your reasons. Something like that is hard to change. Even if you were to become Empress youâd just be a puppet so to speakâ the man says folding his arms over his chest. âAs far as them not being noble any longer⊠it does indeed show. The influence being felt among the commonersâ he gives a heavy breath as his thoughts were vocalized, his finger raised up to his lips. It would honestly cause a bit of disarray when the general public were to find out that the Empress to be had run away.âYouâre quite lucky then. Going to anyone elseâs house, they more than likely would have turned you in. Not to mention the possibility that a reward will be on your head to capture you, at least within a few daysâ he shrugs. Â
The huntress had been silently listening with closed eyes. âThey are still around searching Iâm sureâ Kuromori breaths out as she sits on the bed, her hand on her chin. âIf a bounty is put out then people will be actively looking for. People more troublesome than those soldiers. I donât believe you will get to far without a plan⊠you also have no weaponâ. As she spoke the look on her face became more confused, her own words causing multiple questions to surface in her head âDid you have a particular plan? How you would escape or where you would go?â
âRight, right you can stay here till the morningâ Shouta says to stop the line of questioning..â We can figure what out to do thenâ Shouta nods at the executive decision. âWe have a bed and extra bedding and everythingâ he says, but his tone made it seem like he wasnât going to accept a refusal.
âIâll start making a bed thenâ Kuromori breaths out before standing to leave the room. The huntress knew, from the look on his face, Shouta had already decided on what to do.
A weight fell from Oukaâs heart when she heard the stranger by her side acknowledge her explanations in an understanding way. She nodded in relief, albeit still quite sad about the reality, to the brunetteâs assumption that even if she were to become the next Empress, things would have been hard to change with most of the power being divided among the aristocrats. It was not like she had not thought of that option before, either. In fact, before her resolution to escape that place was made up, she had clung to the hope that she could somehow ... make things better when she became the new Empress.
   A hope in vain, it turned out to be. Sighing along the otherâs remark of how the obnoxious nature of the ânoblesâ influenced the lives of the commoners, Ouka knew what he meant. After all, she had seen it with her own eyes ... Especially once she left the palace to live alongside the so called âcommonersâ.
The silverette perked up when the taller one spoke up again, claiming that anyone else would have delivered her to the soldiers instantly. Undeniably, they had a point. And if money was involved--and it did not seem too far off of a bounty being placed on her head--people would surely see it as an opportunity to save themselves!
   âYou have my sincerest gratitude for not handing me over immediately,â Ouka responded softly, her gaze wandering between the two. Truly, she was thanking them from her heart, for she was spared from a cruel fate just a bit longer. âYou have a point, though. I cannot stay here for long or else it will cause trouble, not just for me but ...â Her voice trailed off as the Kuromori person started to ask her various questions, all about the details of her escape.
As the young woman was thinking of how to reply to them, Shouta kindly interfered with the suggestion to leave things until the morning. Which surprised Ouka greatly, considering what her earlier thought was leading to. âW-wait!â She called out to Kuromori who was in the middle of leaving the room, then turned towards Shouta who had come up with the idea in the first place. While she found his consideration towards her and her situation, as well as his drive to help her more than admirable, she could not possibly allow them to get more involved with her case than they already were.
   âI really, truly appreciate your intentions,â Ouka said strongly with her pink orbs facing the other directly, âbut ... ! Iâll be fine from here on out, thereâs no need to put yourselves in further danger for me! Iâm so sorry, I donât want to cause you two more trouble than I already did.â