Chapter 1
A little girl’s dream is to look like a princess on her big day. The wedding day is every woman’s day to make themselves look the best. And the moment to be tied with the man of their dreams. It’s all daisies and flowers, but weddings aren’t always a favorite to every woman.
Take one unfortunate young woman for example. She is dressed for the day, wearing a beautiful white wedding dress and a veil over her face. She is not happy, but much more distraught and desperate for freedom.
She runs down the road, not even caring about her soles being bare or the skirt of the dress getting tousled around and dirtied and catching twigs and leaves. She long abandoned her bouquet, for the wedding is not what she wanted.
Ever, in her life.
“Why me?” The bride muttered to herself as she kept running regardless of what direction her feet take her as long as she’s away from the castle. That’s all that matters. This will be her starting life anew, even if the journey will be lonely but at least she was free.
She just keeps on running. And running, and running as far as she can get to. She avoids villages to lessen sightings of herself, avoiding to be seen.
Eventually, the heavily dense woods seemed like the perfect area for her to make a home. But she must make it count, if she wants to live on her own until the day she dies. Or hopefully, they believed that she’s dead.
Finding a spot isn’t easy. Yelena had to find a forest that isn’t claimed by any. It has to be very isolating, and out of touch from human civilization. Or any civilization to be frank, with the Holy War going on.
After days of running, she finally found the forest and wandered deep within to make herself a home. First, she tears off the atrocious wedding garb and frees her copper hair from being held up. With a touch of magic, she changes into a simple black dress and flats.
She went ahead to build a cottage. She would go for a den, but a cottage sounds more comfortable. Plus, she’ll just put up a veiling barrier as protection. With magic being her aid, the cottage was finished within two hours, a whimsical theme of a hidden seclusion from the world.
“Ahh, finally a home of my own.” she says to herself. She used her magic to start building furniture as well as started to decorate the cottage with flowers.
It took her quite some time for her to be finished with building and decorating. Her cottage ends up looking like her dream home.
Sure, anyone would kill to live in such a grand place like a castle. Though it’s so stuffy. Especially with folks doing things for her and such, when she wants to do things on her own. Maids and servants always intervene whenever she tries to do something for herself.
Although she will be a bit lonely in the long run, unbeknownst to her she will meet up with some unlikely characters.
Running away might actually be a blessing in disguise.
Only a few more days passed, and Yelena is getting accustomed to her new home and life. It was a good thing she loves spending time reading books and such, knowing what to pick and whatnot for consumption.
She even starts gathering herbs and flowers with magical properties that can be helpful in making elixirs. Maybe she can use them as profit.
Yelena even had to get used to killing animals for the sake of meat. She chickened out a few first time, and she finally went over it. The runaway isn’t a pro at butchering yet though.
Right now, Yelena is wandering through the woods with her gathering in the basket. Some fruits and herbs hanging over the rim, nearly overflowing it. “I have some leftover trout in the chiller. I can just use some lemon and thyme like it’s salmon.” Yelena remarks to no one but herself.
She thinks about other options of what to make. “Maaan... some tasty apple pie would be nice to have now.” Yelena bemoans.
As she continued to look for more herbs, she then noticed a body lying face down covered in cuts and bruises. “Oh my goodness!” Yelena says rushing towards the person and she checks their pulse. She sighs in relief knowing they were alive.
Yelena takes a closer look. It was a woman with brown skin, her hair was black as a raven’s wing. She couldn’t tell what the color of her eyes were given they were closed. She looked to be wearing a small kimono with a purple obi with long wide sleeves, long stockings with zori sandals, and long fingerless gloves. She also has a weapon’s pouch on her left thigh, a parasol next to her which contains a sword inside and a chained weapon.
Yelena also noticed a crow next to the woman and turned to her. “Oh thank goodness, could you help my mistress please?” It asked her, shocking the princess.
“You can speak?” Yelena questioned the creature in a mutter. Then she shakes her head.
“N-Never mind that, actually. I’ll help her.” Yelena tells the crow, before using levitation to lift the unconscious woman up and place her over her shoulder. She even levitates the weapons to strap them to the woman’s side.
Looking at her wounds, it appears she was in a rough battle with someone. She should be lucky that she’s still clinging on. Yelena takes her back to her cottage, and the crow soars after the pair. She doesn’t mind at all; its worried for the woman. Finally upon entering, and heading to the guest room Yelena sets the woman atop the bed.
“How did she end up like this?” Yelena asked the crow, just to be sure while assessing her condition once more.
“Well her clan was fighting in the Holy War against the non-human races. Despite them being human, they managed to overwhelm the other races using tactics as well as studying the dark arts to enhance their weaponry. My mistress is a Shinobi.” the crow explained.
“Oh... I see.” Yelena remarks, as she gazes at the woman with empathy.
She is involved in the bloody Holy War; those wounds should’ve made it obvious. Someone is set on trying to kill her, but either it failed or she killed it instead.
Yelena doesn’t see, sense or smell another person anywhere. So the person she fought must’ve escaped. Barely, she adds in her mind.
Shinobis are no slouches, very deadly with their ways of the blade. And with deception as well.
“Alright, this shouldn’t take long.” Yelena remarks, before hovering her hands over the woman’s torso. There, her hands are veiled in soft blue. The woman is covered in the same magical aura, with the crow squawking in surprise as the wounds she suffered begins to heal within seconds.
After a moment, Yelena stops using her healing magic. “The wounds are healed, but she will be left sore for a while. She’ll need some rest.” Yelena informs the crow with a closed-eyed smile.
“Oh thank you, we’re in your debt! Oh how rude of me, my name is Kuroiame and this is my mistress, Ryoko Kuromiya. What is your name, my lady?” The crow asked
Yelena opens her mouth to give her name. But then pauses a little, remembering her situation. “Carmella is my name.” Yelena tells him. It’s her middle name, even though it’s not her first name. But it’s not like she is lying.
“Like the flower?” The crow remarks, and Yelena smiles nodding her head.
“Just Carmella you go by?” The crow inquires, tilting his head. Yelena just snickers a little behind her hand.
“Just Carmella. I’ll go brew some tea that should help with fatigue. If she wakes up, tell her what happened and that I helped her, alright?” Yelena tells him, before getting up from sitting in the chair to head out of the guest room for the kitchen.
“Yes Ms. Carmella.” the crow responded, with a wing extended out.
Yelena hums to Kuroiame’s response, as she wanders down the hall and then to the kitchen. She looks at the selection of herbs and flowers on hand.
“Hopefully she doesn’t mind chamomile.” Yelena mutters, getting the chamomile flowers and herbs to put them in a teapot and pour in hot water to let it steep. Kuroiame heard groans and moans, his head turning to his mistress.
“Lady Ryoko, thank goodness!” He says hysterically, and Ryoko wakes up blinking. Yelena returns to the room hearing the crow, and notices the color of her eyes are purple.
The kunoichi sees her familiar. “Oh Kuroiame, how long was I out?” She asks lifting her hand to gently stroke his head.
“You’ve been out for almost two hours. Luckily, the nice lady found you before someone or something else did and took us here and healed you.” the crow explains to her.
“Nice lady..?” Ryoko mutters, before raising her head and spots Yelena standing by the doorway of the guest bedroom.
“Hello there. I’m glad to see you’re up.” Yelena greets her with a kind and sweet smile.
“You did.....?” Ryoko says in shock. Normally people wouldn’t risk their lives to help out a stranger given how bad the Holy War has gotten.
Yelena can smell the shock and disbelief from her, and she knows why and doesn’t blame her. She may have been cooped up in the castle almost her entire life, but she is not blind about the outside world.
“You were injured pretty badly, and I couldn’t look the other way. I know because of the Holy War going on, most people wouldn’t risk it for the sake of themselves. But if I ignored a person in need, it would haunt me for the rest of my life. So I brought you here and healed you.” Yelena explains to her with that same smile.
Ryoko blinks. “Thank you for saving my life. If it wasn’t for you and Kuroiame, I wouldn’t be here.” she remarks genuinely.
“Oh it’s nothing at all. I’m only doing the right thing. But I’m glad that I ran into you and saved you on time.” Yelena remarks, waving her hand a little. She looks very bashful even, with the smile reflecting it.
Though she did end up thinking what would happen if she didn’t decide to go out and gather fruits, flowers and herbs today. It does bring a chill down her spine, knowing the female Shinobi could’ve been in a much worse state.
“I’m sure you’re feeling a bit fatigued and sore, so I’m having tea being made right now that should help.” Yelena then informs her, while pointing out of the room.
“Oh thank you, I really appreciate it.” Ryoko says to her savior, and Yelena leaves for a moment and comes back to give her some tea to drink.
Ryoko takes it with gratitude, and she takes a moment to smell the aroma. Being a Shinobi, she cannot help with the habit of smelling any drink she was given for a sign of poisoning.
The tea is obviously safe, smelling the usual natural aroma of chamomile. Though there is also a smell of subtle honey, used as a sweetener. She takes a sip of the tea, and hums in content at the drink warming her.
She takes some sips slowly so it didn’t burn her throat. Her body was aching. She was surprised that she was still able to keep fighting even though her body felt like it was on fire from the fatigue.
“You’ve been fighting for a long while, aren’t you?” Yelena questions her, noticing the signs that her body was fatigued from combat. It’s clear that Ryoko hasn’t had the luxury of rest; the Holy War must be that bad.
“I have. I was never able to have a moment of rest since I joined the war.” Ryoko tells her, moving the rim of the cup away from her lips to speak.
“Endless fighting whenever we went. It’s quite disheartening to see neither side refusing to let up the battles.” Kuroiame remarks to the runaway princess. Yelena simply had a hand over her chest, looking to the side with a frown on her face.
No wonder why the human kingdoms started looking to merge with another to secure not only territories but also for supplies of army and rations and such. And that would also explain the sudden arranged marriages.
“I see. That is quite troubling.” Yelena remarks, looking back to them.
“I can tell that you’re a renowned fighter, but you need to take it easy on yourself every now and then. Soon it won’t be the enemies that kills you; it would be your own body from being overworked.” Yelena continues with genuine worry for the female Shinobi.
“Yes, but I can’t let my Clan down. Us along with the Holy Knights are giving the human race a chance to combat against the non-humans. True we can’t overpower them but we can use their weaknesses against them as well as use magic to enhance our weapons and use illusions. And of course our dear crows.” she remarks, as Kuroiame flew to her shoulder. Ryoko gently strokes his head.
Yelena simply hums to that, tilting her head a little with furrowed brows. Though she is worried for her well-being, it’s not her place to say that she cannot participate any further. It is her choice to defend their clan after all.
“Well, if you say so. But at least rest whenever you aren’t called to the front. I swear, the kingdoms really need to look after their forces if they truly care about defending their homes.” Yelena remarks, as she goes to tidy up the guest room for a bit. While sipping more of her tea, Ryoko notices that Yelena is the only one around in the cottage.
Maybe her parents or siblings are away at the moment?
“Oh, do you have any family?” Ryoko asked the princess while sipping on her tea.
That made Yelena stop in her tracks, a folded blanket over her arm as she stared at the wall with pursed lips. She knows better than to tell her that she is a runaway princess. But it does make her think of her parents back in the castle.
Her mother passed away soon after she turned five from an illness, and that resulted in her father ruling with an iron fist. That even extended to her, reprimanding her to focus on her studies and training due to her being born with immense sacred power.
Yelena’s once secured father-daughter relationship with him had become brittle since her mother’s death. She sometimes thinks that her father has grown to not care about her well-being. Perhaps it was because she looks so much like her mother, it caused him to not want to be reminded.
Even now, he had accepted the conditions of the peace treaty without a blink of an eye, never once hearing his own daughter’s opinion and wishes.
“I’m an orphan. My mother passed away when I was five and my father died with her soon after. I’ve been living here by myself since then.” Yelena tells her with a forlorn smile on her face.
Ryoko blinks in shock, feeling guilty for bringing up a sensitive subject. “Oh... I’m sorry. That was rude of me.” she says genuinely, feeling empathy for the princess given that children were made into orphans thanks to this godforsaken war.
It was hard to see the bodies of children spread out. She even takes some of the children to an orphanage far away from the Holy War. She may be a hardened warrior but she’s not heartless.
“It’s alright. It was tough without them and having no other extended families around, but I managed to get by no problem.” Yelena reassures the Shinobi with a closed-eye smile on her face, and a small wave of dismissal.
“Still, don’t you get lonely?” Ryoko asks her.
“Well, I’m much of a lone wolf kind of person so I don’t feel that lonely at all most of the time.” Yelena responds, and then forms a jokey kind of smile on her face.
“Besides, I have wild animals here that can keep me company.” Yelena jokes to her.
Ryoko frowns. “You don’t need to pretend, Yelena.” she says to her, seeing right through the princess.
That had the copper haired woman frozen right away, her crimson eyes gone a bit wide.
“How did you know my first name?” Yelena questions her in mutter. She addressed herself as Carmella, given it’s her middle name, to Kuroiame so there is no way for Ryoko to know.
But alas, she shouldn’t have underestimated her being a Shinobi.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone your secret. I understand why you left given the kingdom alliances, plus your aura is surprisingly strong for a human. Hell it may be even stronger than those from the nonhuman clans. Plus your beautiful copper hair is very recognizable, I don’t see any other being with copper hair. I have seen a picture of you.” she remarks genuinely.
“Oh... is that so?” Yelena mutters, appearing a little dejected to hear that. Though her face burns a little, hearing Ryoko addressing her hair being beautiful.
Her shoulders then slumped a little.
“Maa, I had a feeling I would be recognized because of my hair. I should’ve dyed it since day one living here.” Yelena mutters with a small pout.
“Please don’t, copper hair is so rare.” Ryoko commented with a smile.
“But yeah, your secret is safe with me. And you have a friend that’s actually a person.” Ryoko says to the princess. That made Yelena look at her with a surprised look.
“Are you saying you’ll be my friend?” Yelena asks her, sounding just as surprised as her facial expression shows. She never had a genuine friend before.
Living in royalty, no one would want to be friends with her among the aristocracy. If they do, it’s usually because of connections and having the benefits and advantages of befriending a princess that would soon be queen.
“Yes, I’m just glad I could be Ryoko and not ‘Lady Kuromiya’ but I do lead a clan of Shinobi. So I have to be on guard at all times.” Ryoko says with a smile.
“Within the Clan, many respect my mistress because of her prowess and skills. But there will always be some who wish to take her out and take over the Clan instead. Lady Ryoko cannot afford to let herself vulnerable around them.” Kuroiame remarks to the copper-haired princess.
That makes total sense to her, given there will always be some people who are driven to rule in power. She has seen and heard of those things plenty of times back then.
“W-Well um, if that’s the case then I don’t mind that at all.” Yelena remarks with a bashful smile on her face.
Ryoko chuckles.
“Yay, I get to have you to myself!” she says then she blushes softly. “Oh, that came out wrong.” she adds bashfully.
“Ahah, yes indeed.” the princess remarks with a subtle pink blush on her face. She then wanders over to take the now empty cup seeing Ryoko had finished her tea.
“Four days of rest should be very beneficial for your body. I’ll go fix something up to eat, hopefully you don’t mind some trout.” Yelena remarks.
“Oh I don’t mind at all, thank you Yelena.” Ryoko says genuinely.
“You’re welcome.” Yelena gives her the closed-eye smile, before wandering out to the kitchen.
And so the next four days passed by with Ryoko taking a much needed rest her body had yearned for from the endless fighting in the Holy War. Not that Ryoko minds though because this gave her the opportunity to know more about the runaway princess.
She did worry about the fact that Yelena would be discovered and all or the Holy War would extend to the forest she lives in. But Yelena reassured her that she had put up a barrier to protect her, the forest and the ecosystem.
Ryoko puts on her uniform and keeps her weapons hidden, still she wears a kimono over her uniform so she doesn’t make herself a target. Honestly she doesn’t want to leave Yelena and go back to fighting for the clan.
“Ah, you’re leaving right now?” Yelena asks her, coming around the house from tending the garden she had planted two days prior.
“Unfortunately, yes. If I stay here any longer, chances are I might bring danger to you here and that is the last thing I want. Plus, my clan needs their leader.” Ryoko remarks to Yelena with a disgruntled look.
“Maa, that is unfortunate. But you know, just because you’re leaving now doesn’t mean this would be our last meeting. If you’d like, feel free to visit when you have a chance.” Yelena tells her friend with a smile.
“I would love that, Yelena. I feel selfish for wanting to leave my duties and just disappear forever.” Ryoko said sadly.
“I know, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Just hold on to the hope the war would be over. But do promise me to look after yourself more during the battle.” Yelena tells her with a frown at the last part. She really doesn’t want to lose her friend to the Holy War.
“I will, Yelena.” Ryoko says with a smile, as Kuroiame leaps onto Ryoko’s shoulder.
“You better. Otherwise if you come to me injured and I heal you, I would consider making my place a secret recovery spot.” Yelena tells her with a giggle, saying it in a jokey manner.
“Thank you but I’ll make sure to keep my tracks hidden so that way you won’t be harmed, Yelena.” Ryoko says genuinely. She wants to keep Yelena safe no matter what.
Honestly, Yelena is touched by the fact Ryoko wants to be sure she is out of harm’s way. And she appreciates that, though she can look after herself with her sacred powers. Either way, she is touched.
“That’s thoughtful of you. Take care for now, Ryoko.” Yelena remarks, waving at her with a closed-eye smile.
“Take care, Yelena.” Ryoko says to her, waving goodbye.
“See you soon, Lady Yelena.” Kuroiame replied.
“Oh, you.” Yelena giggles at the crow. Though she has told Kuroiame to simply address her as her name, the crow is adamant to keep calling her that way. So she simply lets her when the second day rolls around.
And with the farewells exchanged, Ryoko moved swiftly on her feet to leave the forest with her crow keeping a tight grip on her shoulder. Yelena was impressed with her speed, and within what felt like four minutes, she could sense that the Shinobi was out of the forest and passed the protective barrier.
“I really hope she doesn’t get too reckless again.” Yelena remarks with a sigh, before going inside of her cottage to get her basket.
“It’s nice to have company, things are going well.” Yelena says, feeling optimistic about her new life. Especially with Ryoko, who now has motivation to live knowing she has a friend outside of her clan.
At this point, Yelena truly doesn’t regret running away from a marriage she didn’t even want. While washing the herbs from the basket, she looks out the window and sees the clouds through the tree lines looking pretty gray.
“Oh wow, looks like the rain is rolling in. No wonder the outside smells really humid.” Yelena mutters to herself.
Hopefully the rain passes over for just today.
She was wrong.
The rain kept on going the next day, but it wasn’t just as heavy. Still, she doesn’t have to worry about watering her flowers and the garden but she hopes the crops don’t get drowned.
At this point, she wonders about Ryoko, hoping she is taking care of herself out there in the Holy War. Yelena already had the fireplace going since the weather brings a chill, and was thinking of having some rabbit stew for lunch.
But she has not caught any rabbit, which prompts her to go out in the bloody rain to try her luck finding one. Sometimes, rabbits can be found taking shelter in the shrubs from the rain if they cannot make it to their burrow.
“Oh man...” Yelena says to herself with anime tears, as she hates getting all wet.
Why didn’t she bother making a sandogasafor this occasion? Oh right, cause she doesn’t have bamboo on hand.
But at least she is wearing boots with black trousers, and a black medieval tunic with a cloak that has a hood to protect her from the rain. Armed with a quiver of arrows and a bow, she heads out to find a rabbit.
If she can’t find a rabbit anywhere in the woods, then she’ll have to resort to seafood stew then.
“Time to go hunting.” she says to the woods through the rain with the hood up to go hunt some rabbits.
For the next hour, she is having trouble tracking down rabbits. Yelena has been using her sense of smell to at least find them hiding in the shrubs. But because she cannot be stealthy in a wet environment, or still lackluster in terms of stealth, the elusive animals would run off ahead of her.
She is still pushing her luck, and looking around with her bow still in hand along with an arrow in the other to be ready to shoot. Finally, with another hour that passed, she smells a rabbit in the shrubs a few miles ahead. Yelena kneels beside the tree, and looks at the creature with its back facing her.
It didn’t notice her yet, and she took the opportunity to ready the bow... and shoot. The arrow flew through the air, and struck the unfortunate rabbit through the head. An instant kill.
“Yes!” Yelena grins, and instantly makes her way to gather her kill, removing the arrow with her hunting knife. With one kill, she hopes to search for another one.
But then Yelena stops when she smells something. She sniffs the air, and through the humidity and wet grass smell she smells blood. But it doesn’t belong to the rabbit she just killed.
“Huh? Someone is here?” She says in shock, and she takes her rabbit with her following the direction of the scent.
She didn’t even realize that someone was here in the woods. Now that she thought about it, she did get the crept up feeling that something crossed the barrier earlier but she shook it off. She should’ve checked it out when she got the feeling.
Following the smell, she ends up seeing what looks like a cave beneath a very large tree covered in moss. And from there, the smell is more potent. And her powers warn her that there is a very powerful demon in there, much to her inner shock.
“Oh fuck, a demon...” Yelena mutters.
Now she is at a bind, wondering if she should risk going in there and see if the demon is wounded or not. After some quick thinking, she decides to risk it and steps closer.
She is at the entry, and looks in with her eyes squinted a little. Her eyesight adjusts, and eventually she sees something red lying in the deepest corner.
“Oh boy...” she muttered, but curiosity got the best of her as she took a slight peek.
Yelena never saw what demons actually look like. She was told they look like monstrosities, and even though that is what low-leveled demons look like. No one lives a tale about the higher ranked ones.
Imagine her surprise when she sees a very handsome looking man lying unconscious in the corner, owning a short but muscular stature. She couldn’t tell the color of his eyes given they’re closed because of him being unconscious. He has black hair that seems to grow counterclockwise, with ivory complexion.
He is wearing a red bodysuit with white insignias that flaunts his chest, with metallic gauntlets and black boots. She sees that he has a sword in hand, appearing to be caked in blood. But not his blood. And speaking of which, she can see that he is heavily wounded and it doesn’t take long for her to realize the wounds he has must be from him partaking in the Holy War.
Yelena moves away a little, almost kneeling as she looks down. “Oh man... he looks bad in shape. Should I really help him...?” she mutters.
All her life, she was told to stay away from demons. That demons are killers and won’t hesitate to kill on the spot. But Yelena always figured that maybe not all demons are bad.
However, many always told her to never toy with such a ridiculous notion. Her father being the main criticizer, as always.
Seeing the demon like that, she cannot help but feel empathy.
She puts her rabbit into a bag, before heading towards the unconscious man gently picking him up in her arms. She takes the sword, putting it back into the sheathe before heading towards her cottage to treat his wounds like she did with Ryoko.
Yelena really hopes he doesn’t wake up and get the wrong idea, cause that would be bad. Though he is short, man he feels really heavy. That had to be due to his muscle mass.
