Mani squirmed uncomfortably as Elanor brought herself closer to her. The elf being completely nude was not helping Mani's case at all. Olfina stood nearby, seemingly accustomed to Elanor's behavior.

"Aerendil... I'm sure you must've now realized when he would come to us while he was living with you?" Elanor said as her lips curled into a sly smile.

"I assume when he took too long to collect herbs," Mani retreated a step back, pressing her back harder against the edge of the lake.

Seizing the opportunity, Elanor moved closer. "Yes, yes. In truth, he didn't collect anything himself. We gave him the herbs after we had our nice 'talks,' you see."

Mani narrowed her eyes at Elanor. Elanor was a foot taller than Mani, so she had to crane her head up to meet her eyes.

"So the bastard was shirking his chores?" Mani muttered under her breath in annoyance. "Typical."

Elanor chuckled. "I will ignore the fact you just insulted my brother."

"I wasn't really trying to be subtle about it," Mani replied sarcastically.

"Anyway, Aerendil had contacted us not too long after you unshackled him. The thing that brought us here was the fact he saw that mark and your eyes," Elanor paused for dramatic effect which did not go unnoticed by Mani and Olfina. "The eyes of the long extinct human royals."

Mani remained silent.

She didn't know how people still even know about that, especially elves. Her parents had told her about her eyes and mark a long time ago but that was after an extensive amount of research on their part.

Her father said;

"The previous royal family of Minervah was the Lycoris Royal Family. Emperor Lycoris was the original sovereign bestowed upon by the gods of humans, Berad and Xion.

The one who ruled all the regions of the country of Minervah.

It's not common knowledge anymore since the six Royals of today have been ruling for hundreds of years. Emperor Lycoris's entire family were hunted down, one by one until every last royal was dead."

But then here was Mani. The trademark red eyes of the Lycoris family could have been excused but the indelible mark on her back set the fact in stone.

Still, her parents had confirmed that she was their biological child which was why Mani was an enigma.

Elanor smirked and backed up a bit. "Your silence is enough confirmation, my dear."

Mani frowned and glanced to the side. "I’m not denying anything, but what is the point of kidnapping me?"

"Now that," Elanor said with a mischievous flick of her finger that made Mani wince. "That is classified."

Mani rubbed her nose in irritation. She hated that Elanor was acting like they were friends.

"I wonder if someone from that royal family actually survived?" Olfina mused to herself.

Freya rejoined the group and added her own unwanted opinion, "Who knows what the humans have been up to. Imagine letting an entire royal family be assassinated, their guards must've been something else."

Elanor chuckled. "That's enough."

Mani got lost in her thoughts as she scrubbed herself.

Her origins were one of the things she's looking into herself. Although it's more of a personal project rather than something she'd make the whole guild investigate.

Now that the cat was actually out of the bag, what were these elves planning to do? Mani remembered them mentioning something about a trading card...

When the thoughts began to hurt Mani's head, she looked up at Elanor. "I'm done bathing."

Elanor smiled and nodded. "Of course, let us return then."

Mani felt refreshed as she walked back to the camp. After a not-so-relaxing bath, the dirt and grime that was previously on her skin were now erased. Her hair was still dripping wet but that'll dry itself later.

As they walked into the forcefield, the first sight that greets them was Aerendil pacing back and forth as he muttered things under his breath. When he saw them, relief washed over his face, a feeling he made no effort to conceal. He approached the group, and Freya noticeably positioned herself behind Elanor.

"Sister, you're finally back," he said as he made a quick headcount of the group. His gaze lingered on the shortest one, Mani.

Elanor only patted his shoulder with a hearty laugh. "You worry too much, live a little!"

"You know I can't do that," Aerendil retorted, swatting Elanor's hand away. "At least you brought the human back in one piece."

"She didn't try to run or anything," Olfina chimed in, earning a nod from Aerendil.

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Freya, however, remained unusually quiet throughout the interaction. Mani glanced at her, but her gaze was fixed on the ground, her pointed ears tinged with pink, quite a contrast to Mani's previous impression of her as a not the shy type.

Mani thought to herself. Could she be any more obvious?

"Can I go back to my cage now? I would rather be in there than here with you all." Mani intervened their conversation with a deadpan voice. Aerendil and the others raised their eyebrows in confusion, but Elanor was not taken aback.

Elanor chuckled heartily and then smacked her palms on Mani's back; the force causing Mani to take a step forward to rebalance.

"Of course! If that's what you prefer," Elanor said and lead her by her chains to her cage. Elanor, ever so kindly opened the door and Mani walked in.

She plopped down on her usual spot and rested the back of her head against the bars. She's got a lot of thinking to do and she's got the time.

Or so she thought.

"Did Elanor tell you anything?" Aerendil inquired, crossing his arms outside the cage door.

Mani turned her head lazily toward Aerendil. "What?"

"I said—" Aerendil started, but Mani cut him off with a groan.

"I heard what you said."

He uncrossed his arms and rubbed his forehead. "Then why ask—You know what, it doesn't matter. Answer the question."

"She didn't really say anything. She just kept probing me instead. I would ask why you're asking but it's not like you would answer." She glanced off to the side.

Aerendil nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer. He's about to say something else before the voice of another intervened.

"A–Aerendil," Freya stammered as she twiddled her thumbs, a stark contrast to her usual tough demeanor.

Aerendil turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "Yes? Is something the matter?"

"I uh... it's just..." Freya hesitated, biting her lower lip. "If you're free right now... Do you think we um..."

As she trailed off again, Aerendil tilted his head, furrowing his brows in confusion. Mani couldn't take the awkwardness playing out in front of her.

"She likes you, dolt. Could you maybe take this somewhere else? Not in front of me and my cage?" Mani's deadpanned, causing Freya to panic.

Aerendil just continued to look between the two in puzzlement. "I mean, what is so wrong with liking someone? I like you too, Freya. You should know this by now."

Freya's eyebrows nearly shot up to her hairline. "H-Huh? Wait, you do?!"

Mani sighed when they didn't follow up on her request to take this somewhere else.

"Yes, of course?" Aerendil sounded unsure as Mani lazily made herself comfortable. "Are we not comrades? I like all of my comrades."

Mani laughed at Aerendil's naivety, unable to suppress a snort. "Pfftt-"

Freya's jaw dropped open; her cheeks visibly redder as she cast her gaze back to the ground.

Aerendil stepped towards her. "Are you alright, Freya?"

"Fine! I'm perfectly fine, Aerendil. Excuse me." Freya, for some reason, bowed and then scurried off.

That was actually amusing to Mani and now she felt grateful they didn't take it somewhere else. Just when Mani thought she was incompetent in terms of the 'love' department; Aerendil was even worst.

"Why are you laughing? Did I say something funny?" Aerendil said, running his hand through his blonde locks as his eyes narrowed at Mani.

Mani just shrugged. "I'll let you figure it out. Goodluck to Freya, I suppose."

Aerendil just blinked at her in bafflement.

***

It was almost time.

The two soldiers that she burned were able to move properly now. The healing was spread out into a few days since their burns were too severe to heal in one go. Mani felt a tinge of pride when she overheard that she burned them that bad.

That one soldier did put his dirty hands on what was hers.

Today, Mani's only source of entertainment were the ten elves busying themselves to get ready to leave, also Freya's pathetic attempts at avoiding Aerendil.

Aerendil's bewildered expression as Freya constantly evaded him was quite the spectacle.

Mani wondered what Freya even saw in Aerendil. To Mani, he seemed like an arrogant elf with a minor superiority complex and a traitorous streak.

But then, she was likely biased.

The best thing that came out of Mani's observation was when she caught the glint of her earring in Elanor's hand.

They haven't gotten rid of it, good.

Mani also caught glimpses of her personal belongings such as her two tang dao swords, her red beaded bracelet, and her plethora of rings.

As long as they're not destroyed, she'll get them back, too many of them held sentimental value.

Then there were the two soldiers she had injured. She noticed them glaring at her, and she responded with a smug smirk. If it weren't for the anti-magic shackles, she would have burnt them once again.

However, when the situation began to stagnate, Mani found herself lost in thought.

Even if she managed to escape, her life couldn't really continue like normal, could it? If the elves really did make it known that they've got this enigma of the Lycoris Royal Family, then there's no doubt the current royals won't just let it go.

"Trading card..." She mused out loud as she watched Elanor direct the packing process. She's the one who mentioned it.

Was there some important prisoner the unified human army has captured from the elves? Maybe they're looking to trade Mani for that person. What if that wasn't the case and the real reason was that the elves are looking to reinstate her as the sole ruler of—

Mani shook the thoughts out of her head when it started getting ridiculous. Politics was never her forte, so she really didn't know what to think from a political standpoint. If only Gael was there to teach her.

When a shadow was cast over her, she looked up to see one of the soldiers she burned standing outside the cage, staring down at her. She recognized it was the one who ripped the earring off her ear.

"'Sup?" Mani greeted, confused.

The elf only continued to glare, and it started getting uncomfortable for Mani. She opened her mouth to say something else but then the elf talked, "You're going to pay for what you did. I'll make sure of it."

Mani must look unconvinced because he added on, "I'll make it slow and painful. Once we get to Fejuhn, you'll regret ever being—"

"Rune," Aerendil intervened, crossing his arms, and standing behind the elf named Rune.

Rune spun on his heels to meet Aerendil's glare with his own glare. "What?"

Aerendil gestured over to a tent that was yet to be taken down. "Gerald says you should be resting; we do not want you to collapse enroute."

"Shut it, I'll listen when Gerald himself tells me to." Rune crossed his arms to appear intimidating.

Rune had more of a darker palette than Aerendil—black hair and brown eyes—making him somewhat more imposing, but Aerendil's expression remained unflinching.

"Why don't you ask him yourself, then? He's not your babysitter; he won't trail after you like a lapdog."

If Aerendil was wearing normal clothes, Rune would have definitely grabbed a fistful of his collar. Instead, he shoved Aerendil back as a challenge. A challenge that Aerendil didn't even have the chance to accept as Elanor stepped in.

"Boys, what is the matter here?" Elanor interjected, positioning herself between them and shoving them both back.

Rune continued to glare at Aerendil. "Captain, don't you think your brother is a bit too fond of the human?"

Elanor, Aerendil and even Mani raised their eyebrows at his statement.

Rune continued, "Haven't you noticed, Captain? Even from the infirmary tent, I can see him constantly buzzing around her cage."

All eyes fell on Aerendil.