Fake Princess
Dlxxxiii Chapter
Both of my eyes widened to return their gazes before I sat back down by turning to look towards Aeneas. I lifted the tube with the arrow on my shoulder, and placed the wooden tube near my feet. With one arrow, I put the blade of my arrow into the small jar near Eneas, while I bow the arrows that have been smeared with poison earlier to the side of the boat to quickly dry.
I kept doing it over and over again until all my arrows had been smeared with poison, just the same thing I did to Haruki's arrow while Eneas did it also for the arrow Izumi had.
I turned back to the front after putting the tube containing my arrow back on my shoulder. My eyes narrowed again, staring at the backs of those sitting on the boat in front of us. “Haruki, do you see the land in front of which there are many vines?”
“I saw it. But do not rush to approach it, we do not know .. What creatures are likely hiding there,” Haruki said chiming in Izumi's words.
“I understand,” timpal Izumi brief.
The boat we boarded was moving faster than ever before. It didn't even take long to get through the boat that Fabian and his entourage were riding. The speed of the boat decreases, even less as the boat we ride moves closer and closer to the water plants that float on the surface of the river water.
My hand quickly clutched the side of the boat as I felt someone crash into the boat until it almost lost its balance. I took a deep breath, my heart was getting bigger, beating erratically while my eyes were still looking towards the calm river water.
Many times, my eyes glanced to the right as well as to the left .. Trying to figure out what exactly hit our boat earlier. But still, I did not find anything .. There was only, the ripples of water caused by the moving of the boat. “What was that?” the sound of Eneas whispering from behind made me nervous.
“Izumi, don't let your guard down! Stay careful!”
“Deliver everything to me, don't worry,” Izumi replied in a whisper to Haruki.
Our boat began to walk again even though it had stopped before. I slightly raised my hand, grabbing the arrow that was on my shoulder with one of my other hands tightly grasping the bow. Every now and then, my head moved while glancing towards the surface of the water that looked like there was no life.
“Oh gosh.”
I glanced at him, as the mutterings Izumi made touched the ears. I also threw my gaze towards the gaze of his eyes, more precisely to the side of the boat that was beside Haruki. My saliva again flowed by itself through the esophagus, as a large black shadow wriggled in the river water not too far from our boat. “What is a snake?” eneas murmured softly in the ear.
“Sa-chan.”
“Originally we don't bother him, he may ignore our existence. Importantly, do not let any of us fall into the water,” I said slowly while staring at the black shadow that was moving further away.
I flinched, the sound of a loud object falling into the water made me look back quickly. “What do they do?” I said furiously as I looked at him who was called the Prince jumping down, swimming into the water followed by two other men besides Fabian who shot their arrows at the snake swimming earlier.
I turned my gaze towards Haruki when the voice from his breath sounded, “stop the boat Izumi. Then sit down, and enjoy the show,” Haruki said as his head turned to the Prince who was swimming closer and closer to the snake.
I sat with my face on, looking at the Prince who was swimming with a sword in his hand. “Sometimes, stupid and big guts .. It was a hard thing to let go,” I murmured slowly, my eyes still pointing to some arrows that followed the Prince.
“You're right. I really feel sorry for those who have a mind but are not used well.”
“If they're one of my family members. I may have replaced their brains with horse brains, at least the horse can still take my orders well,” Haruki said again chiming in on my words.
“It's so annoying when you two put each other down to insinuate someone's stupidity like that,” Izumi's words make me and Haruki look at each other simultaneously.
“I hope you don't follow in their footsteps, Ene-”
“If I had a brother like them, I would rather poison them to death. Rather, their stupidity was contagious to me,” Eneas' words that cut Izumi's words, making Izumi let out a little laugh when her head was bowed.
My eyes shifted as the male screams suddenly sounded. I sat back with my face on my back as my eyes fell upon the man called Prince. The scream from him grew even more so when the shadow of the snake we saw earlier had moved around his body.
The prince moved to hit the head of the snake that bit his shoulder strongly. Every now and then, his head sank into the water, then reappeared with his bawling breath. I glanced to the side, as the sound of water ripples from a powerful falling object sounded. My eyes followed two men other than Fabian who had swam after the Prince who was still struggling with the snake.
We who were on the boat, just kept silent watching them. The ripples from the river water, the more obvious it became when the two men were trying to help the Prince, to escape from the snake. “Please Haruki, save my sister!”
The voice of the woman who shouted, made me and the others look towards her. “Prince Takaoka Haruki. Who are you, how dare you call my name like that?” haruki said so without moving his gaze.
“If you marry Luana, it means .. She is also your sister, right?”
“I only married Luana, not married her family. Didn't you sacrifice it first? I mean, ordered him to go alone to the Empire?”
“Again, why should I let go of this precious experience? When else, I get new knowledge .. Knowing how long humans can survive the snake attack,” continued Haruki, I still look at him who is still unmoved.
“He will really die, if you delay too long, Haruki.”
“Good. Eneas!” tukas Haruki chimed in on Izumi's words by raising one of his hands back.
I glanced at Aeneas who placed a small bundle of cloth on Haruki's hand. Haruki raised his hand to grab his arrow, then tied the bundle of cloth in the middle of his arrow. Haruki stood up while aiming at those who were still wrestling with the snake.
“Eneas, what is poison?”
"Come, Lux made it," Aeneas replied in a soft whisper looking at me.
My eyes turned towards Haruki's arrow that had stuck in the snake's body. The more the snake squirms in the water, the more it also has the water around it slightly turns white, and that means … Poison or whatever it was in the bundle of cloth on Haruki's arrows, increasingly spread in the water around them. “We just have to wait until they're unconscious. It was exhausting to do so,” said Haruki who sat back by putting his bow beside me.