Chapter 23: White Tiger City! - Part 2

When Eva regained consciousness again, several hours had passed. Opening her eyes, Eva stared at the wood ceiling above her; her mind was feeling very fresh. For as long as a month, she felt frail. But now, she felt good.

Eva sat up on her bed with the help of her hands before she looked around her room.

"Mama!"

Sarah's eyelids moved. But she didn't wake up due to being tired and lack of sleep.

"Mama! Wake up." Eva shook her mother's shoulder.

"Huh... Ah, Eva, my darling!" Sarah woke up the second time she heard her daughter's voice. She has been dying to listen to those words for many days. She hugged her daughter tightly.

"Does it hurt somewhere? Tell mother if you don't feel good." Sarah asked as she looked into her eyes.

"No, Mama, I feel good. It doesn't anymore... Mama, where did he go?"

"He?" Sarah asked, confused.

"Hm, the fairy. He was standing right here, near me." Eva pointed at the edge of the bed.

'Ah! She is talking about Ivan.' It suddenly clicked to Sarah what her daughter meant by a fairy. She had indeed told her many times while sitting beside her that a fairy would come and heal her. She did it so that her daughter does not succumb to the pain and keeps fighting the illness.

"Where did he go, Mama?"

"He has left for his home after healing you," Sarah answered.

"He's gone? But why didn't he take me with him?" Eva asked, her eyes tearing.

"Eva, why are you crying? Why would he take you with him?" Sarah became worried. She didn't understand what her daughter meant.

"Sniff. . . Mama, didn't you say, I will marry the man who will kiss me like how Papa does to you and then take me away with him? Big brother fairy kissed me, doesn't that make me his wife? So why did he leave without me? Sniff. . ." Eva innocently replied and asked.

'Oh, my god! How did she know that? Wasn't she... unconscious at that time when Ivan was blowing air in her mouth?' Sarah looked visibly shocked. She understands that Eva was talking about Ivan, but it's impossible she would know he kissed her. No, it was technically not a kiss, and Ivan only did that one time to show Naina how it was done. No matter how unexplainable it was, Sarah had to give an answer, or Eva would start crying.

"Ah, my dear child... He didn't leave you; it's just that you are too young for now. He will come back and marry you when you grow up and become an adult. So wait patiently, okay! Please don't cry; I will also cry when I see you sad." Sarah said softly; she didn't know how to explain.

Eva was just a nine-year-old child, after all. She didn't know about the matter between men and women.

After she grows older, Eva would gradually understand and become mature in her thinking. Therefore, Sarah did not clear the misunderstanding about the relationship between a kiss and the marriage theory that Eva's father made up when Eva asked why he would kiss her Mama on the lips.

Though it was an innocent question, she was too little to know that stuff, or maybe they were too protective in her upbringing, so she and Torres never had 'the talk' with their daughter.

"Hm," Eva nodded, wiping her tears flowing down her cheeks puffed up because of baby fat.

Sarah heaved a sigh of relief, seeing that she stopped crying.

What Sarah didn't know was that the image of Ivan had already etched on the little girl's heart and mind as she had already started seeing him as her future husband.

The destiny has started changing for both Eva and Ivan from this day onwards as their meeting wasn't destined at all.

Whether this meeting would be ill-fated or will it bring happiness to the life of these two in the future, only time would tell. No one could foresee what world-changing effect their encounter would bring to the World of Aragnar.

"Achoo!" Ivan rubbed his nose after he suddenly sneezed involuntarily.

'Did I catch a cold?' Ivan looked at his stats, but everything seemed normal.

It has been two hours since they have been riding on the back of Fenrir, it was tiring as hell, but both and Ivan and Naina endured. Fortunately, they did not encounter any wild animals and quickly reached the official road that initially leads to the White-tiger city. It's the route that Ivan and Naina were taking before the bandits captured them.

"Ivan, how much more distance is left," Naina asked because she felt great pain in her butt and legs.

"White-tiger City shouldn't be far off; we should reach there in half an hour or so." Ivan figured.

Fenrir had slowed down since it was quite tiring to run such a long distance with two people on top.

Up ahead, there was a slight curve in the road as it bypassed around a small hill. Just as Fenrir ran the hallway around it, they heard a neigh of a horse.

A horse suddenly appeared from the opposite side, galloping at full speed with two men on top of it.

The sudden appearance of the wolf spooked the horse. But the man who had the reins in his hand controlled the horse and passed by the wolf without colliding with each other. Even if he had not moved, Fenrir would have easily dodged.

Ivan glanced at the second man sitting behind the one holding horse's reins. He was facing the back.

Because it was dark, Ivan found it hard to clearly see that man's facial features, but the arrow lodged on his shoulders didn't escape his eyes. That man was injured, and they seem to be running away from someone or something.

Rumble!!

Just when Fenrir came at the end of the curved road, they came across numerous armed soldiers galloping towards them with bows or torches in their hands.

Neigh!!!

The soldiers at the front pulled their horses' reins to stop them when they noticed the grey wolf and the two humans riding on top of it.

Fenrir also slowed down until he came to a stop just some meters away from the soldiers.

"Grrr!" Fenrir growled when he saw one of the soldiers aiming his bow at him.

"Easy Fenrir, move to the side and let them pass." Ivan rubbed the back of the wolf's head and nudged it to move to the side of the road.

The soldiers looked at each other before looking towards the man riding at the front.

"Hurry! They will run away. HA!" That person said after looking at Ivan's and Naina's face. Once again, his horse started moving forward when he urged his mount to run with a whip in his hand.

The soldiers followed after him and soon disappeared at the curve.

"They were the city guards of the Whitetiger city. They must be following after those two men that we passed just some minutes ago." Naina said.

Ivan nodded in understanding. Anyway, it did not concern him and Naina about their matter; therefore, Ivan patted Fenrir's back and told him to move.

After running more than two kilometers, the forest around the road suddenly became sparse, and then Ivan saw a vast barren land. In the middle of that barren land, they saw a massive city with outer walls towering nine or ten storeys in height and more than a kilometer in length. Something that Ivan had never seen in his past life.