He turned his head and saw Sapphira just behind his bench with her hands crossed. She raised a brow, probably questioning why he was out this late.
Sometimes, Asher wondered if she forgot that he was her lord.
"It's late." His deep voice rang as he turned away.
"I know. I'm wondering why His Lordship, who has a very busy schedule even until the moment of his departure, is wasting his resting hours in the silent hours of the night."
Asher chuckled a bit. Because he lowered his head to chuckle, he had to lift up his head, and when he did, his eyes went up from Sapphira's bare feet to her head.
For the first time he saw her in her nightgown. It wasn't the provoking type as it reached her ankles, but it was sleeveless.
Just the sight of the black gown gently embracing her attractive womanly curves made Asher's pupils dilate.
He exhaled. "You look beautiful… in that dress."
Sapphira raised an eyebrow. She looked at herself, twirled, and unleashed a dazzling, soft smile.
"Thank you, my lord." She bowed, still wearing a blissful smile.
That 'my' struck a hidden chord in Asher's heart, causing him to feel weird. Not even Lia of Earth had made him feel this way, even though she called him sweet names.
Sapphira glanced at him secretly and saw that Asher was trying to pull himself out of his emotional mess, so she went behind him and laid hands on his shoulder.
"You won't be able to see me from here." She whispered into his ear. Asher could have sworn that his cheeks felt hot both from the embarrassment and her charm.
He took a deep breath.
Looking at the garden that no more had her beautiful figure, he sighed.
"You should be sleeping."
"So should you. Are you pondering about the war?"
Asher made a deep sound as a response.
"Taking Greenrock shouldn't be a problem."
"It isn't. The only unknown is the horror forest. I've read books; almost no man that enters there has emerged alive."
"Almost. My Lord should also be different."
Asher chuckled at Sapphira's untamed confidence in him.
After a brief moment of silence, he got to his feet.
"You've eased my burden. What's yours?"
Sapphira smiled. "I love looking at the full moons at this hour. I had no burden."
"I see. I won't stress you anymore."
With those words, Asher left while she watched him.
"He didn't even look back once." She muttered to herself as his broad shoulders vanished into the darkness.
Her lord was so close yet so far; he smiled, but only a few came from his heart. Because of his difference, she found an unreasonable yearning to become true friends with someone of the opposite gender, but Asher barely responded.
Two weeks and two days later….
Asher, clad in Exodus, could be seen on Bezerk's back. Euodias was firmly strapped to the horse's side, and his gaze was locked on the forest made up of crooked trees ahead.
Behind him were thousands upon thousands of plate-armored soldiers, some with the flags of House Ashbourne raised high.
Around Asher were officials on horseback. Alec, Paul, Alex, and Nero.
Beside them was a man clad only in a gambeson and brown pants. His eyes were grayish white, and his head was tilted toward the sky.
At this moment the entire troop halted, waiting for Uriah. A short moment later, Uriah opened his eyes and looked at Asher.
"Your Lordship, we can truly pass. There's nothing there except some wild beasts that will surely flee at the sight of our numbers."
"There is an unusual amount of rocks for a place without mountains and ruins of buildings."
Asher knit his eyebrows. "Ah."
Alec bellowed, waving his right arm forward. His commanders relayed it to their battalions, and the army began to move.
They journeyed into the forest, the clanking of their armor, the neighing of their horses, light chatter, and much more drifting out.
When the sun began to set, the army came to a halt. Asher stood, watching the soldiers set up their tents.
All of a sudden, Sirius, as small as an ordinary-looking wolf, looked to the right, and Asher felt a tug in his heart.
With a slight frown, he followed Sirius into the woods, and after pushing some branches away, he found himself in a stunning place.
He could see the statues of six men. It was so lifelike. One was on his feet and was about to turn, the other unsheathed his axes while the rest were statues of men charging at something.
Their mouths were open. Asher could see their teeth and tongues. At first he was marveled, but he soon noticed these statues were too detailed.
So detailed that it was simply impossible to sculpt them. What made everything more suspicious was that, looking around, Asher saw signs of struggle.
There was even a dead fire in the middle of some logs. Except there was a strange man who took pleasure in sculpting fake shocked scenes; everything here was all real!
When he came to that conclusion, the bushes trembled.
"My Lord, you left the camp."
Asher averted his gaze. "Look carefully at those statues.
Nero approached a statue and looked at it deeply. "They look like actual humans."
Along with Sirius, they left. Unknown to them, a statue's eyes shone green, and its head turned toward them.
A few days after Asher saw the statues, everything went on as normal. They caught beasts, killed them, and everyone ate merrily. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, but Asher refused to lower his guard.
It made him sleep less, causing his commanders to be concerned.
Finally, they emerged in a plain field only to spot thousands of statues, many of them adventurers and mercenaries who had visited this forest in the past.
Their eyes shone green, and they drew their stone swords.
A great wave caused by the mere stomp of their feet made some horses neigh.