Asya woke up and found herself staring at a purple ceiling that occasionally molded itself inward. She stared, time ticked, and, after a while, she felt her head slowly click- Oh. She remembers now. They had gotten out of the village just yesterday and... then they started moving, the day went on without any problems while the night... The night had been full of surprises and it just so happens to be that those surprises weren't done because as the situation fully dawned on her, Asya bolted up from her bed in sudden panic-

"Ugh." She groaned and buried her face in her hand, Jacob is there, sleeping with his clothes on and she was worried over nothing. Of course he wouldn't take advantage of her, Asya agreed to sleep alongside him yesterday knowing that much. Still, it was healthy to put a bit of distrust in people, even when it's necessary. She just... didn't need to show it to him, Jacob didn't need to know that Asya didn't trust him, not at all!

Slowly, she shuffled out of the small fort of pillows she had set up for herself and crawled across the padded floor, when she was sure that Jacob wouldn't wake up from her movements, Asya stood up and proceeded to move to her bag, there, she took out all the clothes that she'd need for the rest of the day as well as a curtain that is definitely not-an-extra-bedsheet-but-is-totally-a-curtain so that she had something to cover herself as she dressed. Setting it up was easy, she had plenty of hooks inside her Port and soon, she was behind a thin wall of fabric, which... is the only thing that's stopping Jacob from seeing her naked.

She felt her face heat up as she loosened the lace of her dress, a small tug later and she felt it flow down her shoulders, her then naked skin got awashed by the cold morning air. Asya made no moves to pick up her discarded dress, no, she can do that later when she had her clothes on: First came the underwear, and then a simple shirt, blue, then pants, and finally a scholar's robe was tied around her shoulders.

And to complete the look? Her hair was tied into a simple ponytail.

With a self satisfied smile, Asya nodded to her own reflection before stashing the circular slab of metal back inside her port. She looked pretty, she knew she did- which in the end is a double edged sword, especially when she decides to just agree to sleep right next to a man she had only met the day prior. Asya had no qualms about... whatever it is that Bards and Baronesses do whenever they're alone but she had a reputation to live up to as well as an obligation to continue. The death of her parents saw her fit to be taxed with managing the town that they had left behind and though Asya is bitter about people not recognizing that she is also now alone and parentless, she continued pushing against the pressure of managing the territory that she now owns.

And if only the problems that came with management were financial or perhaps something as mundane as managing the morales of her people, then maybe Asya wouldn't have been guarded with Jacob's presence but as things stand, there are a lot of men seeking her hand at the moment, from the children of noble knights to bastard sons of other families, Asya had no shortages of people wanting to take her parent's territory.

Asya, as well as them, very well knew that they'd only take it when her pulse stops and her body runs cold.

So, for now, she hopes that Jacob can forgive her for being distrustful and suspicious of his presence in the same tent as her.

Not that any bad feelings would've stopped Asya from taking the opposite actions. Such as right now, where she's standing at the open entrance of the tent, staring at Jacob's half buried face in the pillows.

A smile tugging on her lips, Asya pushed past the flaps and out into the open morning of their campsite.

Cold. That was what she felt the moment that she stepped outside of their tent. In response to the morning chill, Asya pulled her robe around herself.

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It was still early, but as the Dawn came to an end and the sun drew near, the servants were already preparing everything their hirers had asked them to do: Setting up the fire pits and igniting them back to life, cleaning the trash from yesterday's supper, doing maintenance on the wagons, tools, and everything in between, feeding animals, preparing the food- and so much more.

The campsite was already busy and unlike her, the workers didn't seem to mind the cold.

"You." She called out to one passing servant, a man past his 20s, who in response to her call, faced Asya with a professional and patient smile. The man was undoubtedly used to working with masters that only thought of themselves and as good as she liked to think of herself as, Asya wasn't confident that she can treat him and the other servants any less. She wasn't like Jacob, who seemed to be comfortable with talking with just about anyone.

"Light a fire pit for us-" her mind paused for a single second as she took in what she just said. Us. Hah! She couldn't believe that she already considers Jacob close enough to be comfortable with saying that.

Well isn't that a funny thought?

And as the brief moment of internal conflict passed by, Asya continued with her demands, "- and clean our pots. I think Jacob wanted to eat another serving last night's supper for this morning."

With a nod, the servant moved to do as he was told, "And thank you, call me when you're done alright?" The servant turned back with a smile, then nodded. "I'll pay you for your troubles later."

Sighing from the cold, Asya turned back to the tent and slowly made her way back, she pushed through the flaps and entered, smiling as warmth seeped into her skin once more. She wanted to relish this feeling, and preferably, she hoped it'll continue till the sun rises and the world starts heating up again.

Asya eyed Jacob in the periphery of her vision just as she took a seat at the center of her pillow fort, grabbing her Port, Asya threw her hands inside the expanded space of the bag and called for a book, nothing specific, she wanted to start fresh because she didn't feel like reading through another paragraph of that blasted book about deserts and mages with permanent, albeit limited, abilities. Or well, ability because it seems that save for those who can shoot "lasers", most of the mages there or "heroes" can only do one thing.

She had enjoyed the plot of the book so far but as luck would have it, Jacob just had to talk about a world that's so eerily similar to the one within the book and because of that, Asya couldn't help but stare at him whenever she's reading the book! And of course, being the way he is, Jacob just had to stare back at her!

What a prune!

Asya shook her head and pulled up the book she took out from her Port. It was a small little thing, a novella, one that's about a story of a princess living within a castle and trying to do forbidden things with her knight- wait-

Asya Quirked her eyebrow and read the brief description below the title again, "Oh." She said in sudden realization, face heating up at the thought of what she had just pulled. Idly, her eyes looked to her left and... she sighed. Well at least Jacob was still fast asleep and even if he wasn't... she would definitely read it in front of his face just because she would.

Yep. That's what she's gonna do.

Probably.

Another shake of her head later and Asya regained control of her embarrassment, since she already thought about it, then it's probably best if she pulled on her promise to herself and read the book until Jacob is awake and reads- reads the title and the description... She gulped then slowly, her thumb and index finger pulled on the edge of one of the pages, gently, she pushed past the front cover and then tugged on the edge of the page, it flipped, and the title of the book as well as the thoughts of the author greeted her.

Asya skimmed through it and then came page one-

Anna stared. Her hand resting on her cheek, the kingdom of Utoopa is at peace and the world is free from the clutches of the demon lord. The hero who slew him was nowhere to be seen, and though she was supposed to marry him, Anna couldn't help but think that maybe they weren't meant to be together. Maybe the Hero's soulmate was somewhere else? Maybe he was finding her?

Luckily for Anna, her soulmate is close.

She focused her gaze on the man standing at the corner of her room, by the door. With a sword on his hip and an expression of steel, her personal knight wore a set of armor that's just as tough. Gray eyes and illustrious red hair-

Asya found herself subconsciously staring at Jacob. The features of the Knight belonged to nobles (and the novella acknowledged as much,) but maybe... obsidian black hair and dark eyes wouldn't... be so bad.

She felt her face heat up and deciding that she had enough, Asya threw the novella back inside her Port.

If- if the Knight was a [Mage] instead, then maybe she would've kept reading.

Definitely.