To Anderson, Ainola’s smile looked absolutely hair-raising.
He seemed to understand her plan and spoke up in a hurry.
“Ainola, calm down.”
“Calm? I am perfectly calm.”
The expression on Ainola’s face was completely indifferent. She stood on the edge of the cliff, feigning a serious tone.
“I can’t bring myself to hurt you, so I can only use this method. Or rather, I had to give you some closure; only by my death will you truly give up.”
Listening to Ainola, Anderson felt a deep sense of urgency.
Judging by her tone, she was certainly not joking.
What was worse was the distance; it would be difficult for him to stop her from jumping.
Standing on the edge of the cliff, Ainola could see Anderson’s inner struggle.
Seeing that hesitation made her feel a wave of pleasure.
“That’s it, that’s the look I wanted to see. Anderson… if you want to blame someone, blame the Glory Empire for destroying my country. This is just a small act of revenge on my part.”
As she spoke, Ainola jumped without the slightest hesitation.
Such a sudden and rapid action left the Temple Knights and Anderson stunned.
They rushed to the edge of the cliff and looked down.
From where he stood, Anderson could see Ainola’s figure plummeting at high speed.
“She jumped!”
Lewis wanted to say something, but he suddenly realized that the Prince beside him had jumped as well.
“Your Highness?!”
Everyone was shocked.
In his haste, Anderson couldn’t care about anything else. He only knew that he had a Phoenix Amulet in his possession; even if he faced death, it would preserve a sliver of life.
So, as long as he had the amulet, both he and Ainola could survive. That was what mattered most.
“SURGE STRIKE!”
With a burst of speed, Anderson caught up to Ainola.
“Hey, hey, hey?!”
Ainola, who was just about to activate her bubble spell, was stunned to see Anderson appear right in front of her.
“Do you have a death wish?!”
Ainola had prepared for the jump; as long as the bubble spell was activated, she could land safely.
But Anderson hadn’t made any preparations at all. He had just jumped down like a fool.
Ainola couldn’t understand it. With Anderson’s intellect, he shouldn’t have done something so stupid.
However, Anderson had no time to explain. He wrapped his arms around the girl’s waist and drove his sword into the cliff face with all his might.
With a harsh, scraping sound, the blade carved a long gash into the rock, emitting a stream of sparks.
Even so, their falling speed did not slow down one bit.
What was worse, under such intense friction, Anderson’s sword could not withstand the heat, warped, and snapped.
Clang!
The blade broke, and Anderson’s final means of slowing down failed.
But they were still a long way from the valley floor.
If they hit the ground at this speed, regardless of any other dangers, both he and Ainola would be turned into a bloody mess.
“Spark! Think of something!”
Ainola did not want to die, but she didn’t want Anderson to die here either.
Even if he was her enemy, he had saved her life once.
Therefore, Ainola couldn’t just activate her bubble spell to save herself.
“It’s no use! Anderson is wearing knight armor; it’s too heavy! The bubble spell can’t support the two of you!”
Spark was also in a panic. She was just a small spirit without enough power to be of much help.
“So, Anderson, are you an idiot?!”
Ainola was getting agitated.
She had intended to fake her death to escape the Temple Knights, but she never imagined Anderson would be reckless enough to jump after her.
With this one jump, her entire plan had collapsed.
“Hold onto me.”
In this moment of crisis, Anderson pulled Ainola into his arms. He prepared to take the impact with his own body—an extremely dangerous choice.
But he did it anyway.
In truth, his decision to jump off the cliff had been purely instinctual.
He hadn’t thought it through; as long as he had the Phoenix Amulet, he could at least ensure that they both survived.
“You damn…”
In this life-or-death moment, his first reaction was still to protect her. If Ainola claimed she wasn’t touched by this, she would be lying.
But she still wanted to curse him out.
With no other choice, she pulled out a scroll.
Chaos Teleportation. It could randomly teleport creatures within a 5-meter radius to a new location.
Ainola didn’t know where they would end up.
It could be somewhere more dangerous, or perhaps somewhere safe.
But compared to slamming into the ground, she chose to take the gamble.
“This scroll cost 20,000 Gold Coins…”
Despite the heartache, she activated the magic scroll without hesitation.
As a white light engulfed them, Ainola felt a sudden sense of vertigo, as if she had been tossed into a washing machine.
The light was bright enough for the Temple Knights above to see clearly.
Once they realized what happened, they cheered.
“It’s a teleportation spell! The Prince is still alive!”
“It must be the White Wizard coming to his aid!”
But after the light faded, the knights waited on the ground for a long time, yet Anderson never appeared.
“Where is the Prince? Where did they go?”
Lewis was completely bewildered.
***
After the teleportation, Ainola fell into a state of unconsciousness.
She slumped onto the grass, stripped of any ability to resist.
As for Anderson, his physical constitution was superior, so he only felt a bit dizzy.
“What kind of place is this?”
Anderson rubbed his head and scanned his surroundings, realizing they were in the middle of a dense forest.
He couldn’t tell exactly where they were.
However, his top priority was, of course… to tie up this scumbag Princess.
He had no choice. Even if he wanted to get along with her normally, it was clear she wouldn’t sit still here.
Tying her up was the more practical option.
“Ugh…”
With a soft moan, Ainola began to wake up.
She stared blankly at the sky and tried to stand, only to realize she had already been trussed up like a zongzi by Anderson.
Furthermore… it felt a bit chilly beneath her skirt, and her thighs were throbbing with pain, as if they had been scraped by something during the fall.
“Huh? Am I… wait, wait, wait?!”
“Yo,” Anderson said with a playful smirk as he watched her struggle. “Up early, are we?”
“Anderson, let me go! I need to use the bathroom!”
Anderson clearly didn’t buy her excuse. He simply shrugged and gave her a dangerous look.
“I know you’re in a hurry, but don’t be. After all… we still have a debt to settle.”