"Kyaaa ---!" Ophelia screamed when she tripped on a tree root. Angel immediately held her hand preventing her from falling.

"I don't know how many times she almost fell." he thought.

"Do you want to rest?" he asked worriedly. He knew as a princess she had never walked this far, let alone through difficult paths in a forest like this.

"No, I'm fine," she answered as she trying to get back on her feet.

Angel glanced at her feet which had begun to swell.
"I can't let her continue to walk like this."
"Miss, if we want to go to Euphorion, we need some preparation."

"Preparation?" Ophelia asked.

"Euphorion is very far from here, moreover we take it on foot. If we don't prepare well, we will lose our lives before we get there," he explained.

"He's right... I never had the experience of traveling without guards before. I should followed his advice."
"Alright. Show me the way," she replied. 

He nodded in reply.

After they passed through the forest they arrived at the edge of Swanstar Lake. His smile grew on his face when he saw a small wooden cabin not far from the lake.
"It's turns out the cabin still exists. I thought it had been destroyed." he turned his gaze to her.
"Miss, we will rest in that cabin."

He turned his gaze to the wooden cabin not far from her. The cabin is small and looks uninhabited for years.
"Is that your house?" she asked.

Angel stared at the cabin, the memories of him and his father playing near the lake replayed in his head. The cabin was built by his father in secret as a place they spent time together.
"Yes, that's my house, " he replied while his eyes stucked on the cabin.

"It's turns out he's from a poor family..." Ophelia thought.
"Are your other family lives there?"

"I don't have a family." he turned his gaze to Ophelia. "Let's go in." he said as he walked towards the cabin excitedly.

He opened the door which was about to come off the hinges. The dust flew out. He waved his hand front of his face to dispel the dust and stepped in slowly toward a pole. He rubbed the pole, cleaned it from dust, a faint smile adorned his face. Several horizontal lines appear on it, beside each line there is a small carving.
--- Angel 6 years 7 months.
--  Angel 5 years 9 months.
-   Angel 5 years 2 months.

He stretched out his hand, his dark aura reshaped his sword, then he scraped it on the pole just above his head and carved 'Angel 22 years 3 months'.

*

*

*

Ophelia walked slowly toward the cabin and looked around.
"How can be someone live in a house like this?" She turned her gaze to the nearby Swanstar Lake.
"I remember, Uncle Renart often brought Angel to play around the lake before that incident." she looked down. "Angel... where is he now..."

Angel came out of the cabin and approached her.
"Miss, the house is very messy. But we don't have other place to go. Do you mind if you spend the night here?"

She turned her gaze to Angel while frowning in objection.
"Didn't you say you only make some preparation?"

"The sun will set soon and we are still far away from any town. If we keep going, we only end up to spend the night in the forest. Isn't that more dangerous?" he tried to convince her.

She was silent in objection, even though she knew what he said was true but she did not want to stay with an unknown man in the same room.

Angel noticed her objection and quickly added.
"Besides, we haven't been eating anything, aren't you hungry?"

The mention of food brought her mind she hasn't eaten anything since morning, and suddenly, her stomach rumbled loud enough for both of them to hear. Angel pretended not to hear it while Ophelia blushing in embarrassment. After a moment, she tried to regain whatever dignity she had left.
"I think it's better for us to take a rest before we continue the journey," she said while looking away in embarrassed.

"Alright, I'm going to looking for something to eat. You can wait inside."