The arrogant prince persona evaporated instantly. Moving purely on instinct, Dae lunged forward, his hands shooting out to catch her before her face could smash into the dirt. He grabbed her by the shoulders, his arms taking her full weight as she went completely limp from magical exhaustion.

  He staggered back a step but held on, carefully lowering them both until he could prop her up against the massive trunk of a nearby tree.

  Her head lolled against his arm, her breathing shallow and ragged. Up close, without the terrifying glare, she just looked incredibly fragile and exhausted.

  Dae knelt there, his hands still hovering near her shoulders. The realization of what she had just done for him—sacrificing all her energy and nearly dying to save a prince who had done nothing but insult her—hit him like a punch to the gut.

  The mask dropped completely.

  "Hey," Dae said softly, his voice losing all its fake arrogance, replaced by genuine, quiet relief. "I've got you."

  He hesitated for a second, looking at her pale, unconscious face, before letting out a slow breath.

  "And... thank you," he whispered. "For saving my life back there."

  Her elegant, pointed ear twitched ever so slightly at his words, a subconscious reaction even in her deeply exhausted state.

  Dae stayed still for a moment, waiting to see if she would wake up to deliver another icy insult, but she remained completely limp. He looked up through the breaks in the thick forest canopy. The early morning sun was just beginning to cut through the morning mist, casting long, pale beams of light across the damp forest floor.

  It was a beautiful sight, but right now, all it meant was that the day had started, and they were completely exposed.

  "Right," Dae muttered to himself with a heavy sigh. "Just me."

  He couldn't leave her laying in the dirt, and they definitely couldn't stay in the open clearing where the spatial tear had dumped them. Carefully, he slid one arm under her knees and the other around her back. With a grunt of effort, he stood up, lifting her into a secure princess carry.

  Elara was surprisingly light, though the dead weight of an unconscious person was never easy to manage. Her head naturally lolled to the side, coming to rest softly against his shoulder. Her dark hair cascaded over his arm, and that faint scent of rain and wild honey wafted up again, making him stubbornly lock his jaw and focus on the trees ahead.

  "If anyone from Earth could see me now, they'd think I was the main character," he grumbled under his breath as he began to walk.

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  He trudged forward through the dense underbrush, his boots snapping dry twigs as he searched for anything useful—a cave, a hollowed-out tree for a safe haven, or maybe a stream for fresh water.

  He walked for what felt like hours. His arms were starting to burn, and his boots were heavy with mud.

  Suddenly, the dense wall of trees broke apart.

  Dae stopped dead in his tracks, his boots skidding slightly on loose dirt. He had stumbled right up to the edge of a massive, rocky cliff. The ground dropped away sharply into a sprawling, untamed valley below.

  He carefully stepped closer to the edge, making sure he had a solid footing while holding Elara. As his eyes scanned the vast expanse of the valley, he caught a flicker of movement in the distance.

  Down below, miles away but clearly visible against the green canopy, thin, gray columns of smoke were rising into the morning sky.

  A settlement. Campfires. People.

  Dae's first instinct—the deeply ingrained human urge from Earth—was to rush straight toward it. Smoke meant warmth, food, and help.

  But he stopped himself. He took a step back from the cliff's edge, his brain rapidly shifting gears.

  He shifted Elara's weight slightly and glanced down at his own reflection in a small puddle near the rocks. Pure, shimmering silver hair fell over his eyes. And emerging from his skull were those unmistakable, pure silver horns, curving back in a sharp, predatory line.

  He couldn't just walk into a random camp. His appearance wasent just nobility—it literally screamed, ROYAL FAMILY! If he strolled into a village looking like this, he would be the brightest, most valuable target in a hundred miles. He knew they had been dropped somewhere along the border of the Silver Kingdom, but the "border" wasn't just a line on a map. It was a massive, sprawling, heavily contested region.

  If that smoke belonged to the Silver Kingdom's deployed border soldiers, they were saved. General Kael's men or the local garrisons would immediately recognize him and protect him.

  But what if it wasn't?

  What if that camp belonged to a group of lawless barbarians? Or smugglers? Or worse, enemy forces that had already slipped through the dimensional tears? If they realized the sole heir to the Silver Crown had just walked into their camp without his two hundred elite guards.

  "Okay," Dae whispered, stepping further back into the cover of the tree line so he couldn't be spotted from below.

  Dae took another cautious step backward, letting the thick foliage conceal them completely. He turned away from the cliff edge,

  The forest floor was a mess of jagged roots, damp earth, and sharp, broken branches. There wasn't a patch of soft moss or a smooth bed of leaves in sight. If he laid her directly on the ground, she'd wake up more battered than she already was from draining her power to drag his heavy, useless body out of a collapsing spatial void.

  With a heavy sigh, he spotted a massive, ancient tree with a wide, relatively flat space between its thick roots. It wasn't a luxury inn, but the thick canopy above kept the ground there dry. He trudged over, his boots snapping dry twigs.

  Carefully, he lowered himself to the ground first, wincing as his own bruised back hit the hard bark. Instead of dumping her onto the rigid earth, he shifted his legs and gently guided Elara down, resting her head softly onto his lap. It was awkward, and his dark coat was definitely ruined, but at least her head was cushioned.

  Her dark hair spilled over his legs, and that maddeningly clean scent of her drifted up again.

  He looked down at her pale, flawless face, framed by those elegant, pointed ears that swept backward through her hair. She looked entirely too peaceful for someone who had just survived a localized spatial collapse.

  "wake up fast, you woman," he grumbled quietly into the silent forest.

  [Ding!]

  [ WARNING: High-Tier Foreign Energy Detected! ]

  [ Proximity: 1000 Meters and Closing. ]