Elderly Gres is the husband of Elderly Lin who was the head of the white eye tribe. Elder Lin has been in a coma since the huge incident with Commander Kal and the white eye tribe. They are the parents of Lise who was one of Commander Kal's wife, someone who most resembled Lea, the woman Commander Kal stole from Musician Hal.
"Of course! Of course I remember Miss! This one will never forget the grace Miss's family gave us." Elder Gres was all smiles as he greeted Eugene back. The grace he was talking about was Levis and bringing back Lise and reuniting him with her.
"It has been such a long time. I hope everything is well with you and your family." Eugene meant it when she said that however Elderly Gres' expression seemed a bit painful, allowing Eugene to realize that something was wrong.
Eugene hesitated, "Is…" Is Elderly Lin not awake yet?
Elderly Gres glanced down to the ground filled with grass and leaves before replying a while later, "She is still asleep."
Eugene had a look of realization and didn't continue asking. She thought for a minute before walking up to the Crown Prince who stared at her oddly. Eugene grabbed Euria and princess-style carried her and handed her to the Crown Prince who accepted Euria dazedly.
After that, Eugene turned to Elderly Gres and asked for his water gourd that he gave without hesitation. Eugene emptied the water gourd, took out her dagger and made a cut on her index finger.
"MISS?!" Elder Gres raised his voice as he rushed forward to stop Eugene when suddenly he was blocked by Pelle who shook her head. The Crown Prince stared at Eugene with a furrowed face however he said nothing and watched her.
'Heal.' Eugene made sure there were 20 drops of blood in the gourd before she closed the water gourd, cleaned up her wound and handed the water gourd back.
"Use some on Elderly Lin and some for yourself if you are injured." Naturally the Crown Prince and Elderly Gres were confused.
"... Blood?" There was no hint of disgust in the Crown Prince's voice, and only confusion. But, Eugene knew his real personality and knew that he was slightly disgusted over what she just said.
"I don't have aids you know…" Eugene mumbled in a non-audible voice.
"Huh?"
"Use it, and it will heal you. Trust me." Eugene didn't know how to explain her blood in a short amount of time. Just that she wanted them to trust her and not question it. It was then that she remembered something very important and stared at Crown Prince Nexiel and Elder Gres seriously, "Don't tell anyone."
No one replied so Eugene repeated again, "Don't tell anyone."
Crown Prince and Elderly Gres turned to each other before turning to Eugene and nodding.
Eugene didn't bother getting Euria back as they headed towards the exit of the forest.
"But why is Elderly Gres here?" she turned to him and asked. To be honest, when she saw Elderly Gres from above, she was startled and surprised. Though she knew that the relationship between the white-eyed tribe and people of Zene had improved, she didn't know that they were close enough to escort the Crown Prince himself.
The Crown Prince turned to Elderly Gres and smiled, "Well… We kept a good relationship."
When Eugene and her group left Zene, he and the King traveled to the white-eyed tribe and apologized sincerely with their heads lowered. The white-eyed people were kind so they quickly accepted their apology, but to the Crown Prince and the King, that wasn't enough. Hence, they made it mandatory to visit the white-eyed tribes' people every month and this continued on until today. At first, they were there for the sole purpose of apologizing and paying back what they owed to the white-eyed tubes, however now, they were simply close like best friends.
They were close to the point that the King of Zene wanted to visit the white-eyed tribe and play chess with them every day.
Elderly Gres smiled at the Crown Prince before turning to Eugene, "Miss Euria had saved me in the past."
Eugene furrowed her brows and stared at him dazedly. She was confused as to when Euria could possibly have saved him.
According to Elder Gres, he had encountered some bad people in the forest by the area knights in Zene trained. It was close to the training lake Eugene and the children learned how to swim. Well, Eugene didn't learn. She was able to flex her skills from the start. It was also at that place where Eugene found the stoned hand which led everyone to be conscious of the fact that Zene wasn't a safe place.
Back then Elder Gres was surprised that a girl with grey hair and red eyes appeared out of nowhere and flexed her swordsmanship to save him. It would be a few days later where he found out that the person who saved him was Euria Veria. In fact, he almost mistook the girl for Eugene because of their similar appearance.
Elder Gres kept the fact that Euria had saved him a secret and this secret has been with him ever since that day. He wasn't planning on escorting the Crown Prince, however, heard that the Crown Prince was heading to Raden to save Euria, so he asked to come in order to help and repay Euria this debt he owed her.
Eugene frowned. 'The day Euria saved Elder Gres was probably the day she planted the hand in the river…' She thought quietly. If it wasn't for Euria who made them suspicious of Zene in a way that was natural yet as creepy as possible, they wouldn't have been able to leave Zene without one or two of their limbs missing.
Suddenly, a sound of footsteps could be heard shuffling their way to them. This alarmed everyone greatly even though there was only a sound of one pair of footsteps. Eugene, Pelle, and Elderly Gres stood in front to protect the Crown Prince and Euria.
"Comrade Eugeneia." The figure whispered from many meters away from them. Eugene's ears picked up the familiar voice so she stepped forward and motioned for everyone to calm down.
"Comrade Con." She greeted back. Her eyebrows furrowed however when she saw Con with a hasty appearance.
"Enemies signaled that their target had escaped. Heavy reinforcement in the forest." Con reported without waiting for anyone to react.
Eugene only pursed her lips as she expected such a thing to happen. She was already prepared for this situation.
Crown Prince Nexiel and Elderly Gres had ugly facial expressions as they stared at Con.
"Who even are these pieces of shits? Such an unthinkable act of kidnapping a noble daughter." The Crown Prince cursed under his breath as he watched Euria sleeping in his arms.
Although the exit was only a few meters away from them, there was no doubt that the enemies would discover them and track them down after they leave the forest.
Eugene turned to Crown Prince Nexiel, Pelle, and Elder Gres. "Please make sure my sister is safe and sound in Zene." There was a smile on her face which startled the three and alarmed them greatly.
"Eldest Miss?"
"Go on. I will follow right after." Eugene pointed to the exit that was a few meters away from them.
"No Eldest Miss. We can't do that!" Pelle's voice was raised and she immediately rejected.
"Your master is in danger. That's what you should focus on. Now go, before it's too late!" Eugene's eyes were narrowed at Pelle who flinched unconsciously.
"Eugeneia." Crown Prince Nexiel called out to Eugene as he held Euria in his arms.
"Please." Eugene bowed towards the Crown Prince and when she lifted her face up, it was filled with determination as well as a small smile of trust.
"...." The Crown Prince's lips opened and closed. "Please be safe." He said after a while. He knew that Eugene would be in severe danger however her determined eyes stopped him from stopping her. What could he say to her anyway?
Eugene smiled at Elderly Gres who appeared to want to stay with her, "I have a plan. Don't worry, I'll be safe." She then pointed at his water gourd that contained her blood. Her meaning was clear, and it was for him to go to his wife to give her her blood.
Eugene and Con watch as Crown Prince Nexiel, Pelle, Elderly Gres escape with an unconscious Euria. After the three left, Eugene and Con tried their best to cover up everyone's trail as well as hiding the exit made by the wild animals.
"How many enemy reinforcements?" Eugene's voice was low as she asked Con.
"The children. Bandits, as well as Darius' comrades that had come over with the teleportation portal yesterday." He turned to Eugene and stared at her for a while.. There was hesitation in his voice before he broke the news out to her, "We are completely surrounded."