Their journey across the flower field was kept on the small road that extended to somewhere off into the distance. Rose wasn’t quite sure where the path was taking them, as she couldn’t see anything nearby. But after several minutes of travel, something in the distance became viewable.

It became clear to Rose that the area seemed to be encircled by a vast forest.

As they got closer to it, Rose couldn’t believe what she was seeing. At the front of the forest, were two majestic looking deer—with a faint glow surrounding their body. They approached—with each one going to a different side of the carriage. 

They then started to follow it, with Rose shrinking deeper into her seat as they walked beside her. The man then peeked over to her, but promptly looked ahead again.

After some time, she slowly emerged back up as they didn’t seem as frightening to her anymore. It then looked like they passed a glance at her, but she thought maybe she was just imagining things.

Each deer soon walked up to the horse and began to travel alongside it. It seemed like they were guiding the carriage through the forest, which no longer had a road to follow. The man on top of the horse didn’t seem to be controlling the horse any longer, as it looked like it was just walking together with the two deer.

“Judging by your reaction, it doesn’t seem you’ve encountered them before,” he suddenly said as he looked at her. “Did you not come through here then?”

Rose nodded her head to say no.

“Hmm. Well there’s no need to be scared,” he replied. “Without their help, it’s rather difficult to find one’s way through this forest.”

He then looked at Rose’s sleeveless arms.

Rose looked at them too. “I’m sure I changed when I went to sleep,” she whispered to herself.

“Put this on."

When she looked back up, he had thrown his large fur coat at her. She awkwardly caught it and was surprised with how soft it felt.

“T-Thank you,” she said. “B-But I’m not really cold.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” the man replied.

The two deer suddenly began to depart. They walked backwards and met Rose’s gaze. When they left, the carriage continued forward—revealing a road ahead out of the forest. But as the path opened up, there was a sudden change in the environment.

Everything ahead was covered in snow.

As the temperature abruptly dropped, Rose quickly put the fur coat over her as she began to shiver.

“But how?” she asked.

The man—who was now controlling the horse again, did a quiet chuckle.

“I’m now sure of it. Young lady, you aren’t from this Kingdom are you?” he asked.

“No,” Rose replied. “I’m not really sure where I am.”

“Then where are you from?”

Rose gave a brief description of her hometown and where she lived. She could tell that he was listening, but was unsure if he was believing anything she was saying.

“How odd. There are many other Kingdoms oversea, but I have never heard of one such as that,” the man said. “That land is of a mystery to me.”

For a few seconds, neither said a word as the man continued to ride the carriage across the snowy road.

“See the pouch beside you? If you get hungry, you’re welcome to eat what’s inside,” he said. “There’s a drink in there also.”

“O-Okay,” Rose said, as she looked at the pouch on the seat by her side.

She however was too nervous to even think about eating anything at the moment. Everything that was happening was still unbelievable to her. It all felt too real for it to be a dream. The smell, touch, everything. But with how real everything felt, Rose couldn’t help but feel sleepy after a while of travelling.

The coat she was given was truly warm. So warm in fact, it eventually caused Rose to fall asleep in the carriage. The contrast between the cold weather, movement of the carriage and the warmness of the coat made for a cosy experience. 

But the cosy journey came to an abrupt end when the carriage suddenly stopped. The sudden halt woke Rose from her sleep.

“If it isn’t Sir Romance himself.”

Rose peaked over the carriage, still laying under the fur coat. They were surrounded by half a dozen rough looking people.

One—who appeared to be the leader—was at the front of the horse. He went to stroke it but it threw a small tantrum before being calmed down by the pink haired man. The leader then looked up at him.

“So the rumours were true. You’ve been riding out here alone,” he said. “You had us all convinced you were still cooped up behind that gate.”

“That look’s like an Aoser horse to me,” one said.

“Means the townsfolk are a bunch of liars,” said another.

“Why is your group this far out?” the pink haired man asked. “Do you wish to anger the Oracle?”

“No no. We were simply going for a walk is all,” the leader said, causing the others to laugh.

The pink haired man tightened his fist. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s time to leave, Baron.”

“Oh ho. Still remember my name do you?” the leader said in surprise. “Guess you’ve always been good at that. Remembering everyone’s names…”

The man then began to circle the carriage, and then noticed Rose inside—who then hid back into the carriage. The man then walked in front of the horse and faced toward the pink haired man again.

“Who’s that you got over there? I thought you spent your time alone these days.”

He then rubbed his chin and smirked. “A replacement perhaps?”

The pink haired man didn’t respond, and instead looked back at Rose.

“Stay low and close your eyes.”

Not knowing what was going to happen, Rose did as he said. She could then hear him climbing off his horse and landing on the ground.

“What?” the leader said. “Have I upset ya? Well boohoo. You’ve upset more people than I ever could.”

There was a brief silence.

“Cover your ears too,” the pink haired man said.

Rose did just that.

For a minute or so, there was no sign of anything happening. However, the carriage suddenly began to rock and shake. The suddenness of it startled Rose as she did not know if she was in danger or not. She was scared that next time she opened her eyes that she would be greeted by one of the people that stopped them.

But even with that fear, she did as the man said and remained where she was. That was until the carriage somehow fell to it’s side and she rolled out of it. However, she didn’t land on the snowy ground.

When she opened her eyes, she was in the arms of the pink haired man. For the first time, she got a closer look at his eyes. Even though they were beautiful and kind, Rose also felt a sense of sorrow from the mans gaze.

“Sorry,” he said, as he put her back on her feet. “Everything's okay now.”

Rose immediately noticed the people that stopped them were nowhere to be seen. Also, it seemed the horse had been set loose and had run away. But she then moved her feet and accidentally kicked something. Before she could look down however, the pink haired man stopped her.

“How about you keep your eyes on me for now,” he said. “Here, take my hand.”

She did as he asked and held his hand while not looking down. He walked her over to the other side of the carriage and looked down the road.

“One of them had a horse nearby and got away. I don’t think he’ll be coming back. But it’s worrying for bandits to be so close to the Sanctuary.”

Rose wondered if he had fought off so many just by himself. She looked up at him as he scanned the surroundings and noticed there were no obvious signs of injuries on him. He then collected the pouch from the carriage, which was now on the floor—and gave it to Rose.

“Come. We will travel through the forest,” he said. “Their camp must be nearby. Let us take shelter there.”

But before they went off, he quickly picked up two other things from the floor nearby. It was a bow and arrow one of the bandits were carrying. Also, he picked up and gave Rose one of their fur coats after taking back his own. The man then guided Rose toward the snowy trees.

As they set off into the forest, Rose couldn’t help but glance back at the carriage. With a tree blocking most of the view, she saw just an arm flat against the snowy ground, poking from behind it.

But the snow next to it was red, and was indented with what seemed like an oddly large foot print.