II. The Impact of Her

~ Nine ~

With his serious tone, I turned to his direction and paid attention to what he was about to say.

He continued after a sigh, "Please be careful with Laura as I'm being cautious with letting her spend time with you.

His request spurred confusion inside of me. My brows met as I grew more confused and nervous as well. I wasn't sure where he was trying to revert this conversation into but I was starting to worry. Could it be that he saw me as a bad influence on Laura? Was I a distraction to her?

Or could it be that he knew something about my true identity? Has he seen right through my disguise? Has he seen through the facade used by ancient immortals to keep us safe in their realm?

We stayed silent once more. After the silence became deafening, Grandpa Ben proceeded, "I know what you truly are. Your guards didn't spend any effort hiding your true being the last time you visited this place"

My eyes widened. Was he referring to the little fiasco that happened the last time I visited this place? Did that ungrateful vendor continue spreading rumours about me?

"Also, the guard you sent to watch over us was quick to heal Laura when she accidentally cut herself whilst you were gone. That didn't help as well," he smirked as he teased.

My insides quivered with all sorts of emotions. I was worried, nervous, scared, everything in my body was in a panic. What was I supposed to say to what he just said?!

Perhaps Grandpa Ben sensed that I was shaking quietly on where I was sitting because he suddenly let out a laugh. "There's nothing to worry about, Robert," he put a hand on my shoulder, giving me a bit of a shake, "I just want to remind you that Laura is everything to me. I trust that you won't let anything happen to her."

"Grandpa Ben, the last thing I would want to happen is to put her in harm's way," I replied as soon as he ended his sentence. "I would protect her from anything, even me." My words can be just words spoken by any other mouth but the moment I let my words enter his ears, I'm making it clear that Laura isn't just someone that I want to play with.

"That's good to know and comforting to hear," he answered, satisfaction can be seen all over his face.

Moments later, Laura finally arrived with Leo walking right beside her, gently pulling him by his rein.

"Shall we go?" she asked as she walked towards us, leaving Leo with Lady.

I nodded, standing up with Grandpa Ben.

"I'll have the herbal medicine ready when you return," he smiled.

"Thank you, Grandpa Ben," I said.

Laura walked to Leo with me behind her. As she was about to go up, I offered help by holding her on her left side and my other hand on her right arm.

"Thank you," she smiled as she sat firmly on her saddle.

After checking everything on her and Leo, I hopped on Lady and turned to Grandpa Ben.

"Don't spend too much time out there. Laura still needs to come back before noon," Grandpa Ben reminded.

"I'll make sure of that, Grandpa Ben," I nodded quickly.

Laura and I looked at each other, sharing a nod of understanding. As we bid one more goodbye to Grandpa Ben, we proceeded to the hills, Laura leading the way.

~*~*~*~

We sat under the tree for quite some time now and all we did was enjoy the cool breeze with silence in between us. Our horses continued to frolic in the fields together, eating grass and enjoying each other's company like we're currently doing.