The Saintess and the Villainess

Chapter 96

Fucking rain, thought Anne.

She wouldn't have guessed it was possible for her to hate horse-riding even more, but the rain made her hate it even more. It wasn't much more than a slow drizzle, but they were riding pretty quickly, which meant the rain drops were constantly pelting Anne in the face, making it difficult for her to think about much more than cold, wet, and sore she was.

But Anne tried to force herself to think about other stuff anyway. There were too many important things that she urgently needed to think through.

It was a relief when they finally made it past the borders of the Sacred Forest. The trees provided some shelter from the rain, and the rough terrain meant they had to slow down.

It would still be some time before they made it to the Atrium, that magical clearing that acted as a sort of crossroads to the Sacred Forest, so she had at least a bit of time to get some real, serious contemplation done without the rain distracting her as much.

By the time they arrived at the Atrium, Anne had come to some conclusions.

"Well, here we are," said Corvina, sliding off her horse. She put her hands on her hips, staring around at the clearing suspiciously. "And no elven forces have come to attack us yet, so that's probably a good sign. Which way did Prince Elyon tell you to go to reach the elven city?"

"He said to follow the birch trees." Anne also dismounted, although she was much less graceful about it than Corvina had been. Iramis the horse let out a disdainful little huff, and when Anne glared at him, he turned his head away haughtily.

Rude, thought Anne.

"Alright," said Corvina. "It's still pretty dark, but the birch trees are easy enough to spot. We should probably go the rest of the way on foot anyway, just so we don't risk the horses getting hurt on the uneven roads."

"Yeah, we should definitely go on foot, but—" Anne took a deep breath. "I don't think we should go to the elven city."

"What?" said Corvina, her brows knitting in confusion. "I told you before, it's our best option for now."

"No, it's—"

"We can come up with a new plan once we're safe, but to do anything else we have to be safe first," insisted Corvina.

"That's not true!" said Anne, so forcefully that Corvina actually looked taken aback. "Sorry..." said Anne, lowering her voice again. "I just... ever since I arrived here, I've been thinking in terms of safety. I knew I didn't really belong here so I mostly just went along with things hoping that I wouldn't stand out too much—and look where that got me. But on the other hand... the best thing I've done since I got here was extremely dangerous and reckless and not even a little bit safe."

Corvina thought for a moment and then raised an eyebrow. "...you mean talking to me at the ball," she said.

Anne nodded. "Trying to stay safe led to me nearly getting killed by Eva, but being bold and reckless led to me being rescued by you. It led to us falling in love. If that's not the universe telling me something, I don't know what is."

"Well, I mean..." Corvina let out a little huff. "Just because your gamble worked out that one time doesn't mean you should keep gambling."

"But shouldn't I go double-or-nothing while my luck's still good?" said Anne.

"That's not... how gambling works. At a casino you would—" Corvina let out a big sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, forget about it. Metaphors are exhausting. Anne, I just... I care about you. I don't want you to get hurt."