Cannon Fodder To Villainess

🏮6: Flower Boy in the Shadow Forest

The guy who bumped into Amber walked over to the other elves and sat nearby them. In this group it was fairly difficult to tell the males from the females as they all looked similarly beautiful. Amber pulled her hood down a little further.

However, one of the elves stuck out a little more than the others as he was sitting in a raised palanquin and being fanned by two shockingly beautiful women. The two fanning women were identical with short platinum hair, ice blue eyes, beautiful delicate features, and pointy tipped ears. They were wearing low cut silver dresses with thick metal bracelets around both of their wrists. Some of the other members of the party were also wearing silver clothing. There were also some members of their party wearing thick leathers with bows strapped to their backs and others who were wearing overly decadent clothing to be touring around a deadly forest. All in all, there were forty-three people in their party, with only six of them dressed extravagantly.

The man the twins were fanning stuck out a little more than the others because he was sitting on a palanquin as if he wanted to be anywhere but there. His eyelids were half closed and he kept on looking sideways at people with his head resting in his hand. His nails were sharp and three inches long. They made him look like he never had to work a day in his life and likely he hadn't.

He had long light purple hair that reached to his knees with diamond chains resting across it. The diamonds and his hair sparkled in the light. His golden colored, almond shaped eyes were enchanting and the rest of his features were elegant. He was wearing loose white silk slacks, a button up silk white shirt with intricate golden flower stitching, golden slippers, and a large purple ring. However stunning he was, he certainly didn't look like he was about to traverse the Shadow Forest. He looked pained as if he'd somehow been coerced to be here.

Amber happily sighed while looking at him and Nova tried to pretend that she didn't notice.

He kept on glancing at a girl about the same age as Nova who was cultivating while sitting on a fluffy blue blanket and wearing a white lacy dress. She had curly golden hair and golden eyes. She looked like a beautiful china doll. Green colored mana was swirling around her. She had her eyes closed, but she kept on peeking over to the elf sitting in the palanquin to see if he was paying attention to her. Her lips always pouted slightly when she realized that he wasn't paying any attention to her.

Most of the elves in their party were guarding them, but there were five other palanquins and four carriers each. All of the servants were wearing silver and the guards were wearing thick brown leather. There was a green haired elf wearing a light purple dress who had many flowers woven into her long hair. Her eyes were dark green, like emeralds. She was climbing out of another palanquin and walking over to the purple haired elf. Three short haired elves chased after her. A light blue haired girl carried a parasol, a brown haired girl carried a large crystal glass full of water, and a dark blue haired girl carried a fan.

She pulled her eyes away from the interesting scene in front of her and walked around the company. As much as she enjoyed looking at them, she didn't have the time to goof around here. As they walked under the shadow of the forest, she felt a cold chill try to enter her bones. She looked down and Nova was shaking uncontrollably. She would have left her by the entrance, but who knows where Nova would be sold off to before she got back.

Amber paused and looked down at Nova. "I want you to stay close to me, but if we become separated, I want you to walk up the path I was walking down when I met you. You'll eventually come to a high stone wall. There will be an entry door. Sneak in through that door and go into the gazebo, in the middle of the courtyard. It has comfortable benches and provides decent shelter, because it's heated and no one goes there. I'll come fetch you.

Nova shook her head in agreement and they walked into the forest.

It immediately became ten degrees cooler and the wind disappeared. There was an eerie stillness in the air. Nothing could be heard except the crunching of leaves under their feet, which seems shockingly loud to their ears. Amber looked down as she felt frantic tugging on her cloak again. A strange shadow was swirling around like gray smoke and crept up Nova's arm. Her mouth was wide open. As she tried to shake it off, it slowly crept up, and traveled towards her face. Amber smacked the puff of smoke and it materialized into a shadow pixie that landed in the dried leaves of the forest floor. Amber picked up the dazed pixie, wrapped her up with a string, and threw her into her cloth backpack. Nova looked at Amber with her eyes blinking rapidly.

"The pixie may come in handy later," Amber said.

Nova made a mental note to not offend her master to avoid being tied up and thrown around like the pixie.

"Could you collect some of these for me?" Amber bent down and picked a small yellow flower with long pointy leaves and showed it to Nova.

Nova shook her head yes quickly and ran to a nearby patch of yellow flowers as fast as her little legs could carry her.

"Goodness, she's quite enthusiastic," Amber said to herself and started humming a happy tune as she continued to look for more of nature's treasures.