Riding the horse, Mila saw Ambrose already reaching her with the horse he stole from the stables with the Knights just at a loss on what to do. He tried to tap her off her horse or catch her, but Mila dodged his hand that was aimed at her. Avoiding him made it very difficult for Mila to stay still on her horse. 'He is determined to catch me!' She felt very worried that she may have played the wrong game.

Hurrying, she then saw a fallen tree ahead which had her pull her reins to the horse since she did not think that the horse would be able to jump over it. The horse was after all just an ordinary rock element that would jump lower than any other since it had a heavier weight. The horse had struggled to stop with the reins being of no avail, making Mila fall forth off the horse. Embracing for impact, Mila was waiting for it, but she was hugged into a pair of arms that shielded her.

Still feeling her body ache a bit, she was still injured in some little ways, but it shocked her to see what he had done for her. Ambrose had hugged Mila into his arms to avoid her from taking too much damage or impact from the fall. "Ambrose?! Why did you do that?! You idiot!" Mila saw that his hands were bruised from the impact of the fall to protect her head and body.

"Are you okay?! You're not hurt are you?!" Mila held his cheeks and she could only feel his mask on her palms, but it still felt as though she could feel the warmth emitting through. Mila was breathing heavily and looked worriedly for Ambrose who just saved her which could have cost him his very own life. 'Why would you go so far to protect me?' Mila felt very guilty, she did not want him to die so soon by her but at the same time, she did not want him to die at all. Wanting him to just keep living on with no regrets about his life choice.

Ambrose held Mila's hands that slowly fell to her lap, turning her hand to allow him to see her palm. 'I'm okay. Are you worried about me?' He wrote down making Mila look at him giving him a clear answer from her expression that she was indeed worried about him.

"Yes! Yes, I am worried!" Mila was crying to see how he would put his life on the line just for her sake. "Don't put your life on the line for me when it can endanger you. I don't want to lose you." Mila wiped her cheeks that had tears streaming down with her mask still over her eyes. 'Damn it! I must look pathetic!' She hated crying in front of others the most, mainly when they were her close friends and family.

Ambrose just hugged her close to him, allowing her to calm down and relax after what had happened to them both. He never thought that she would feel so concerned for him. Mila felt hiccups from making her try to force herself to calm down and at the same time, she felt ashamed for crying in front of him which was like a sign of weakness in her mind. Mila took out the bandage that Thelma had given to her before leaving, wrapping it onto his hands. "What do you want? You won." Mila looked at Ambrose who looked at her. "I keep my words." Mila held on strongly to words, vows, deals, and promises and would prefer to die than to give them up.

There was a long pause for them both, but Ambrose then wrote onto her palm. 'Can you give me something before I go to war?' He wrote onto Mila's palm making her know that he was going to go and no one could change his mind nor could they change his fate since it was decided by the Mireraweth emperor's men.

"I will." Mila held her hand out with a glowing light that soon had a small pouch appear into his hand. "This is something that I made a few years ago. It's a scented pouch so make sure you keep it with you. Don't lose it. Make sure you come back no matter what!" Mila handed him the small purple scented pouch that held a soothing scent to relax one's muscles. Helping him up, she had him wrap his arm around her while they made it back to the training ground. Iris had won against Perry but Mila was lectured by Perry since his little brother did get hurt in the game. 'I kind of expected this kind of reaction, but they are brothers.' She sighed, knowing that there was no issue with Perry being mad at her.

"Next time, we will play another game. Just not this one." Perry looked to everyone who recalled that the game was his idea.

(-_-lll) (-_-lll) (-_-lll)

'This guy...' All three thought, looking at Perry who was trying not to feel embarrassed for the game that he suggested.

They were all sent home, Mila waved to them all and watched as Ambrose was being helped by Perry. Mila knew that Ambrose would die in the war, but she wanted to still have a little hope that he would come back alive. 'You need to be alive. I don't know why, but you make me feel like I'm missing a piece like my beasts if you were gone.' She didn't know why she held such a strong sense of familiarity with him.

***

"Oh, she must love you." Perry smiled, looking at Ambrose who received a scented pouch from her. "You should marry her." Ambrose left Perry once they arrived home, going back to his room with his injuries to tend to.

Iris was the first one dropped off home since they did not want a woman to travel alone with Perry sighing to see how he had to give Iris a new sword since she won. 'She always asks for a sword each time. I wonder why? Is it that hard to get one?' Perry knew that Iris fought and trained on her own, but at times he would spar with her. He would always be challenged by her, and he won, but he lost the match of hide-and-seek this one time since he went easy on her on 'purpose'. Although, he smiled to recall the smile that Iris held for the first time in front of him which he found very rare to witness.

***

Mila stared up to her bedroom ceiling, feeling a bit unsettled for days since she met again with Ambrose and had to think about his future or the outcome that would happen. 'When does he go to war? Why does he have to die? How did it benefit the emperor?' Mila sighed, covering her eyes with her forearm with continuous questions that did not make sense. Hearing knocking at her window, she got up seeing ZH who she did not think that she would see again so soon. Going over, she opened her balcony doors seeing how he still would come to see her from her balcony entrance. "Why are you here again?" Looking at him, she never understood what went through his head.

"I missed you." ZH acted like a child, going ahead and hugging Mila who didn't understand why he was acting like that out of the blue.

"We see each other a lot, so I don't understand why you would miss me." Mila smiled, seeing how he gave her a puppy look, but he was also clinging to her. 'This man is childish. He may be mature at some point, but around me, he can be immature.' Petting his head even though he was much taller than her, he then grabbed onto her hand and kissed her palm. 'What is he thinking now?' Giving him a suspicious look, she did not understand how he could continue to act like this towards her. 'Does he act like this to other women around him?'

"Don't worry, you can relax. I won't do anything mischievous. I can see that your mind is feeling disturbed. Want to tell me about it?" ZH could tell that something was bothering Mila ever since she came back to her room.

Mila sighed, going back towards her bed where she loved the soft cushion to lay on. Sitting down on her bed, she fiddled with her fingers feeling a bit unsure of how to start since she was always able to tell ZH her most personal concerns. "Well... I'm worried that something will go wrong when the war starts." Mila could feel her heavy heart weighing down like there was another way to avoid too much war from happening.

"What are you worried about in this war?" ZH went over sitting down at the edge of her bed with Mila. 'What are you thinking about? Your mind can never stop worrying about others which makes me more concerned for you and you're future more than my own.'

"I'm worried that I'll lose someone in this war." Mila faced him seeing his usually calm face with his mask still hiding half of his upper face. 'I do not know if he would understand me or not. It's hard to get someone to understand you even if they are your very best friend.'

"Would you like to tell me more about this person that you are referring to?" ZH was curious about the person that Mila would be so worried about when he knew who it was in his mind. 'It seems interesting how she can tell me about it.' At the same time, ZH would feel possessive if she had another man in mind other than him.

"He's a good friend of mine. Even though he doesn't talk, he is still an important friend of mine that I can understand since I was in his shoes before as well." Mila didn't know how to put it, but Ambrose was a good friend of hers ever since she met him in the forest where they encountered danger at the same time. She didn't understand why they would send him to war when he wouldn't be able to speak up to the soldiers or control them in any way. Holding her head, it felt like she was being torn in half with how the war was separating family and friends from one another.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure that he isn't going to war because of something stupid like fame or attention. There's probably more behind the story since you said that he can't talk so maybe there is some sort of motive." ZH had laid down on Mila's bed, pulling her to lay down on her bed with him. Looking at him, she held onto his warm hand. It was a nice feeling to know that she had someone by her side. "Get some rest. I'll be back again to see you."

"Are you going to stay until I fall asleep?" Mila asked, holding his hand tighter wanting him to stay a little longer.

ZH felt happy his heart beat faster to know that she wanted him to stay with her until she fell asleep. "Yeah, I'll stay here until you fall asleep. Just go ahead and sleep. Don't worry about a single thing." He kissed the top of her head, allowing her to get comfortable in her bed.

Mila didn't know why but her nightmares had become more and more frequent but when ZH was there then it all vanished as nothing happened, or it never existed. ZH was about to leave when he heard Mila mumbling in her sleep with her eyebrows narrowing in pain. It was a sign of distress that bothered him knowing that Mila would still get nightmares or possibly visions in her sleep.