Forty minutes later From a distance, Shelia could be seen dragging something across the ground. She
had one hand filled with a pile of fruits and the other holding what seemed to look like a tail.
After quite some time of walking, she finally stopped. Shelia wiped the sweat off of her forehead as her
eyes drifted to the boy leaning against the tree.
“I’m exhausted. Luckily, I didn’t get lost. Are you hungry, Van?” Victor did not go anywhere.
The truth was that, he was capable of walking nonstop for forty minutes.
However, he was completely clueless as to why he did not take his leave.
Perhaps, he was too injured to walk. Victor tried to convince himself this was the reason he didn’t
leave. His eyes followed the sweat dripping from her forehead before looking at what was behind her.
From a distance, he couldn’t quite tell what she was dragging around.It was a dead wolf. The same
exact one that Victor killed.
“Why did you bring that here?” Victor asked in confusion.
There was a smile on Shelia’s lips as she turned to get a glimpse of the dead wolf.
“For food!”
“Food?”
“Yeah, but the thing is, I have no idea if would meat would be delicious. Still, it’s better than nothing.
I’ve thought about it. We can’t always just eat fruits all the time. Besides, you need to eat something
good in order to recover from your injuries. That’s why I went back to the place where you fainted last
night to check if the wolves were still there.”
Exhaustion ran on Shelia’s nerves. After all, she had been walking for quite some time now. She picked
up a fruit and took a generous bite of it.
“I didn’t anticipate for them to still be there. Maybe God really is looking after us.” Victor’s eyes drifted
from the dead wolf towards Shelia.
Not a single word escaped his lips. The smell of the blood from his throat grew stronger.
Suddenly, he felt suffocated. He had the urge to cough, but he knew very well that once he did, blood
would come out of his mouth. Despite having rested the entire night, he still did not get better. He was
barely able to hold on.
There was a throbbing pain in his temples and his eyesight was so blurred that he could barely see
anything. All he wanted to do was sleep. He was exhausted.
Shelia stood up and walked towards Victor. She put her hand against his forehead.
“It’s so hot.” Victor felt how cool her hand was.
Suddenly, a sense of comfort rushed into his heart. However, that moment did not last long since
Shelia moved her hand away
“You’re feverish,” Shelia said.
Coming to his senses, Victor said, “I’m fine. I’ll be better once I get some rest.”
Shelia’s lips formed into a straight line as her eyes drifted to the jar of water next to Victor’s hand.
It seemed that he did not drink it at all. Her eyes focused on Victor’s lips. They were chapped and dry
because of dehydration and blood loss.You’re not feeling well. Why don’t you drink some water?”
Shelia couldn’t understand why Victor did not drink a single drop of water.
For a while now, she had been holding her tongue because she knew that it was none of her business.
However, seeing how uncomfortable he was, she could no longer keep her curiosity to herself. Victor
raised his head a bit and looked into Shelia’s eyes.
Unable to hold their gaze, Shelia blinked her eyes a couple of times before finally looking away. She
picked up the | jar of water, unscrewed the lid and took a sip.
“I think it’s safe to drink.”
Victor did not expect what she did.
Before he could even react, Shelia handed him the jar.
“Don’t you really want to drink? Even just a little? You should hydrate yourself now that you’re sick.”
“Thank you,” Victor said as he took a sip.
The filtered water from the river felt cold as it flowed down his throat, washing away the smell of blood
in his mouth.
Raising her hand to block the sunlight from her line of sight, Shelia looked around.
“It’s not even noon yet. Do you want to close your eyes and rest for a bit?” she asked. Indeed, Victor
was exhausted.
“What about you?” he asked as he put the jar of water down.
“Me? I’ll be right here. I’ll clean the wolf while I watch over you.”
Pointing at the wolf’s carcass, Shelia added, “GO get some sleep. When you wake up, you’d finally be
able to enjoy some meat. We can leave when we’re no longer hungry.”
There was silence in the air as Victor gazed at her. His eyes that seemed to pierce through her soul
made Shelia feel a little uncomfortable. Touching the tip of her nose, she asked, “What’s wrong? Is
there something on my face?”
“Nothing. I’m going to sleep for a bit.” Victor’s voice sounded hoarse.
“Alright. I’ll wake you up once I’ve finished cooking.”
Suddenly, an idea occurred to him.
‘If Norton really sent Shelia to kill me, why hasn’t she done anything yet?’
Not too long after closing his eyes, Victor fell into a deep slumber. The wonderful smell of roasted meat
wafted through Victor’s nostrils, waking him up. Slowly, he opened his eyes. His vision was still
blurred.
“Shelia,” he called out. As if on cue, Shelia looked back and walked over.
“I was about to wake you up but you already did before I could even come to you.” Victor’s eyes shifted
to the piece of roasted meat in her hand.
“You…” Before he could even finish his words, Shelia handed him the piece of meat and said, “I
roasted the meat. Give it a try. I marinated it with some fruit juice. It should taste good.”
Her face was flushed and covered with sweat because of the heat from the fire. Taking the piece of
roasted meat into his hand, Victor took a bite. It tasted quite off and was still a bit undercooked.
“What do you think?” Shelia asked. For a moment, Victor was silent. His eyes drifted to the cut on her
hand. Instead of answering her question, he asked, “What happened to your hand?”
“Oh…I cut myself while I was chopping the meat,” Shelia answered as she looked at the wound on her
hand. She didn’t seem to care about it at all.
Again, she asked, “How is it? Am I a good cook?” There was a hint of expectation in her voice. Victor
could not bring himself to tell her the truth.
“It is delicious,” he lied.
“That’s great! I was afraid you wouldn’t like it.”
Heaving a sigh of relief, Shelia continued, “I’ll cook some more for you!”
After having some sleep, Victor felt a little invigorated.
He stood up and sat next to Shelia. There was a bonfire right in front of them. She used a dart to poke
some holes into the meat and then used a branch as a skewer before roasting it over the fire.
“Van, you didn’t get lost, did you?” Shelia asked out of the blue.
Victor was taken by surprise.
“While you were asleep, I wanted to do something about your fever. I accidentally saw the wounds on
your body, Initially, I thought that your injuries were from your encounter with the wolves. Later on, I
realized that theydon’t you were beaten up. Plus, you didn’t want to drink the water I gave you.” Shelia
turned around.
“Van, are your enemies hunting you down? You were worried that I was going to poison you so you
didn’t drink the water, right?” Victor looked intently into her eyes.
One of his hands was behind his back, gripping on the knife he had hidden. with the gentle press of his
thumb, the tip of the knife popped out.
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