Apharoia (ep.5)

"Oh, you agreed."

Isadora softly whispered, her voice barely audible with the loud, fierce wind howling at them. 

"Only for this time. After this, you need to realize that you are no longer the princess you were hailed to be."

Giving Ox a soft nod, Isadora followed him in silence. After what seemed like a long while but only lasted a few minutes in reality, they were finally able to see a familiar style of building. 

"Thank goodness the Shader is not that far," Ox breathed in relief at the sight of the familiar tower. 

The tower was not tall, it was more like a small house made of mud and bricks together. It was a place made especially to shelter travelers from the sun. 

Connected to it was a small chamber used to store some food and water. Alongside them were some sets of clothes and other things that may be needed. 

Those places were what people called the Shaders. 

"Now you can go and rest a bit. I would be around just in case. No need to try to escape, it will only cause you to suffer."

Isadora gazed at the shader and did not pay any attention to Ox. She stepped inside it and slowly let her robe down, the heat was getting into her from their walk. 

She sat down, letting the white robe slide down her shoulders before pulling her long black hair up with her hand. Fanning her face with the other hand, she did not notice Ox's eyes darkening while looking at her. 

The trader felt his throat itching at the fallen princess. Only the rumors were known about her.  Aside from how beautiful she was, no one knew anything about her. 

Nothing about her personality, real status, or family. 

Some people even thought the existence of the princess was nothing but a trick from the Pharaoh. In order to save himself from the embarrassment of having no children aside from his son, Ammon, despite having more than ten concubines. 

Of course, some people caught a few glimpses of the princess and praised her beauty and good conduct. 

However, looking at the princess in this situation, Ox felt as if he was gazing at the real beauty of Neix River. 

'If she was someone else, I wouldn't hold back.'

That was Ox's thought as he rearranged his clothes. He was getting a little uncomfortable but decided to ignore that and continued to observe the princess. 

Isadora's fair skin was drenched in sweat, but the way the shader was constructed helped some cool breeze to freshen her up. 

'This was beyond my expectations,' the black-haired princess almost whined audibly. 

Her main motive for coming here was to escape the traders' watchful gazes, but unfortunately, Ox seemed to have different plans. 

The way he was looking at her made Isadora frown after she calmed down. 

"Why are you looking at me like this?"

"Huh?"

Blinking at her question, Ox needed a few seconds to wake up from his daze. Usually, if a woman caught a man staring at her like that, she would be hiding in shame. But this fallen princess…

She looked him in the eye brazenly as she questioned him. Which made him even more interested. 

'Such a waste that she is one of our most important goods.'

What a regret to have. 

To not make the situation awkward any longer, Ox turned his back to Isadora. 

"I looked because I wanted to look. There is no need for you to get ahead of yourself. Your fate is sealed whether I look at you or not."

"I suppose so," she laughed, her eyes darkened as she whispered threateningly, "But it's better to control yourself lest I make sure that you can never do it even if you wished to."

Although Isadora knew for sure that the trader would never dare to touch her in that way due to her worth as 'goods', she was not going to let him look at her as he wished. 

Different places and different people, but the identical look in those eyes made her disgusted. A few scenes flashed into her memory, making her face turn colder than an ice sculpture. 

Subconsciously, Ox closed his legs and moved a few inches away from the fallen princess. He did not need to look behind him to know how terrifyingly she was staring at him. 

After seeing that, Isadora let out a soft sigh. She stood up and looked at her surroundings curiously, unsure of what she could find in this place. 

'It's just the afternoon, there is no way I can borrow help from the wolves in chasing away this man.'

The first thought the fallen princess had was to throw Ox to the hungry wolves as she escaped away, but she seemed to have overestimated her chances. 

Ox was still sticking very close to her, no wolves were close and none of them came in the morning either way. 

'I was a bit naive,' she admitted to herself. 

Due to the environment, she thought she could manage to slip away alone. But instead, the heat was attacking her and her body's condition only got worse despite not touching the sun directly. 

Everything was a little too complicated for her liking. 

It was then. 

A hand came from behind her, covering her mouth. Isadora immediately reacted by attempting to bite it off while also kicking behind her, trying to hit the attacker's shin. 

"Shhh," the attacker, who sounded like a man, hushed her while enduring the pain. 

He did not have to endure much pain as Isadora was physically way weaker than him, and at the same time, she was barefooted. 

His warm, sly voice purred into her ear, "I won't hurt you. Let go of my hand."

Isadora stiffened while internally, she almost scoffed. 

She was not afraid of this unknown man hurting her. Despite being at a physical disadvantage, Isadora was willing to do anything to escape the possibility of dying. 

That was how she lived till now, and she had no intention of changing it as it was the only way she could survive. 

Screaming and alerting the trader? This man was an idiot if he thought she might do something as dumb as that. 

She released his palm and swiftly, yet silently, slid out of his hold. 

"I do not fear you, stranger."

Her eyes met the man's dark eyes, causing his smile to widen more as he pulled his scarf down. His lips moved slowly, asking her an unexpected question. 

"Do you remember me?"