[Arthdal Chronicles] Fight for freedom

CHAPTER 4: An ambush (EDITED 05/22)

Few days after the saeamsani, nothing much had changed into Tanya's routine. She still did the same things day after day: cleaning, going searching for the things Saya was asking for, cooking, being scolded by Hae Tuak and repeat. She still felt glad Saya was trying his best to teach her about Arthdal, though she wasn't sure she understood everything, it allowed her moments where she wasn't ordered around.

She wouldn't have been able to say she enjoyed the company of the young Lord though, he had the same face as Eunseom but they were different in many ways. The look in Eunseom's eyes had always been warm, comforting, like the soft caress of the wind on a summer evening, while the look in Saya's eyes was colder and when he stared at her it penetrated her like the stinging touch of a winter wind. Saya's presence kind of made her feel uneasy and yet, she knew it wasn't entirely his fault. The way he had been raised had made him a lonely person and it showed in the way he interacted with people around him and that was why she still had sympathy for him.

That afternoon, when Saya proposed to her to go for a walk in the forest, she hesitated. They had been there a few times already since Saya had shown her the hut he had built, but she just didn't feel it that day. As Enoria had advised her to do, she had asked him for permission to see her father, which he had agreed to. Since that day he had shown himself friendlier but the way he acted when they were alone always reminded her that his feelings for her may be more than what she wanted them to be.

She had tried to refuse the proposition he had made her by pretending she was tired but he had just looked at her with one of those smiles that always made her shivered in a bad way and told her he wasn't really giving her the choice, he was her master and she had to obey.

She was searching for a way to get out of the situation when Enoria got out of her room.

"Ah Enoria," she called out, "we are going for a walk, come with us!"

The Igutu woman looked at her, tilted her head in curiosity, feeling Tanya's insistent gaze and glanced at Saya too. "I don't want to," she simply said as she passed by the duo.

Tanya caught her arm, "you have been inside your room all day, don't you need some fresh air?"

"I wasn-" she started to say but stopped herself as she reminded herself she couldn't confess in front of Saya she actually sneaked out by the window from time to time. She trusted Tanya not to say a word but she didn't trust Saya for that. Tanya wasn't saying a word and yet Enoria could feel she was kind of begging her to agree. She rolled her eyes, she had other things to do than playing the baby-sitter but she couldn't say no to a pouting Tanya. "Alright, I am coming with you," she simply said, making Tanya smile.

Next to them, Saya felt like complaining as he didn't really want Enoria to join but when he started to open his mouth to do so, Enoria gave him a dark look that dared him to even try making her change her mind now that she had taken the decision to accompany them. 

They had just taken a step outside the house when Hae Tuak spotted the trio. "Where are you all going?"

"Walking," Saya replied.

"Ah yeah, of course, it's a beautiful day to walk," she said with an awkward laugh, "I am coming too."

"No, you don't ha-"

"I have to," she interrupted as she looked at Enoria then back at her Lord, "I have to keep you safe, you know."

"Why don't you say directly that you want to keep an eye on me? Babysit them not me, I am a grown up woman," Enoria said as she passed by her, "what an annoying being," she added in a murmure.

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They walked rather quietly to the forest, at least three of them, because Hae Tuak kept taking Saya up to show him stuff he didn't seem to care about.