Several days had passed since Carel's suicide, and now his son and granddaughter were almost reaching a safe place.
The father and his daughter were camping beside a large tree, and the father was cooking a rabbit he had hunted for his daughter.
While the father focused on cooking the rabbit, the girl sat and thought to herself:
Why hasn't her grandfather come yet?
But she did not want to ask her father, because whenever she asked, he always answered that he would come soon, and all they could do was wait.
Elina had already memorized his answers and knew that her father himself did not know when her grandfather would arrive.
As she thought about that, she noticed a box hanging from her father's belt that she had never seen before.
When she focused on it, she remembered that it was the same box her grandfather had given him, and she wondered what was inside.
She looked at her father and said:
"Father, what is in this box?"
As soon as the father heard that, his thoughts scattered, and he almost threw the rabbit into the fire and burned it.
After holding the rabbit carefully, he looked at his daughter in surprise and said:
"Why do you want to know what's inside, my little one?"
Elina said to him, noticing his worry and distraction when she asked the question:
"Nothing, father, but I was curious about what's inside… suddenly… isn't this the box that my grandfather gave you, father?"
The father looked at her briefly and continued cooking the food, saying calmly:
"What's inside is dangerous, Elina, you must not know. Do you understand?"
Elina looked at him and knew that her father did not want to talk about it, so she said:
"Alright, father, I won't ask about it again."
The father looked at her for a second and thought to himself:
Damn… I should not have let her see the box… I must not show it to her again.
The father was worried about his daughter regarding what was inside the box, as he knew that the dark heart was the heart that belonged to the first enemy of the imperial family and had been made by an ancient wizard. The dragons had destroyed it because one of the components used to make the heart was dragon blood.
Thinking about that, he became even more afraid and shocked at what his father had done, for no one on the continent of Mira had ever harmed the dragons and survived for thousands of years.
He even looked at his daughter while thinking this and said to himself:
What will happen after we reach that place? Will we hide until we die? Will my daughter live that life?
As he thought about this and the life that awaited him and his daughter, and whether they would see the outside world and live a normal life afterward or not.
He quickly snapped out of his thoughts, looked behind him, and thought anxiously:
What is this powerful aura coming toward us?
He looked at the food and fire he had prepared, quickly extinguished it, carried his daughter—who was surprised by his sudden actions—and ran quickly away from the place.
He muttered unintentionally:
How did someone with such a powerful aura appear behind us? Didn't my father mislead them?
After muttering, he realized he had spoken out loud, and his daughter might have heard him. He looked at her and found her looking at him worriedly and saying:
"Father… is someone behind us?"
He looked at her briefly and said while hastening his movements so as not to alert the person with the powerful aura:
"Don't worry, my little one, I'll handle this… don't concern yourself, they won't find us."
When Elina heard that, her worry calmed slightly, but fate had other plans.
At the same time he said that, he sensed that the person with that aura had found his location. He was shocked and stopped his movement and escape, knowing that someone with that aura would not let him escape.
He had been running because he felt he had not been detected yet, taking advantage of the situation, but once his location was known, he realized he would not escape even if he tried the impossible.
He looked at his daughter, who did not understand why her father had stopped running, and lowered her from his back.
He said to her while kneeling to be at her eye level:
"My daughter, I must do something important. Can you run in this direction, and I will come after you quickly?"
When Elina heard her father's words, she sensed his deep fear and lie, not knowing what else to do except hug him, and she said:
"Yes, father, I will do it, but will you come after me quickly?"
When the father saw his little daughter's hug, he hugged her back while holding back tears that almost fell from his eyes and said:
"Of course, my little one, I will come after you quickly."
After he finished speaking, he took a deep breath and said in a gentle fatherly tone as he let go of his daughter:
"My little one, can you carry this box for me while you leave?"
Elina looked at the box her father had said a little while ago was dangerous, but she did not oppose it with her eyes, and said:
"Alright, father, I'll take it with me."
She said that as she took it from her father and looked at him one last time, as if knowing she would not see him again, trying to memorize his appearance to remember it no matter how many years passed.
After a moment, she took a deep breath and ran in the direction her father indicated.
As she ran, tears leaked from her eyes without her realizing it.
When the father saw his daughter running and following his orders, and her last look at him, he took a deep breath to calm himself.
After a while, he gathered his aura to full power and ran in the opposite direction from where his daughter had fled, and toward secret locations, using his full aura to distract the pursuer's senses so they would not detect where his daughter had escaped.