Chapter 103 - The Traps

Mars stared at the girl for a long time. Emmelyn really was a strange princess. She was too carefree and completely unlike all the women he knew.

Ahh .. he really liked Emmelyn! He felt so lucky to have met this girl in his lifetime.

All he had to do was try to make the girl stay with him. Hopefully later, when their children were born, Emmelyn would be able to change her mind about leaving and forgive him and his family.

"Very well," said Mars, nodding. "Then what should we do now?"

"You help me cut some branches the size of this one. Later I'll make it into a trap and put it in several places. After that,, we can leave them and continue doing our sightseeing. Later, when we want to go back, we can just pass here and see which of the traps catch any rabbit," explained Emmelyn.

"Ah, alright." Mars took the branch from Emmelyn's hand and estimated its sizes. Then he walked around looking for similar sized branches. After finding ten branches, he then handed them over to Emmelyn.

"Thank you," said Emmelyn happily. She then pulled a rope out of her coat and began tying a few twigs in certain knots. Mars sat beside her and took a good look at the girl.

He was amazed to see how skillful this girl was at making her trap. Mars had never learned to make a trap because he never needed to find food that way.

Even if he was forced to look for animals to hunt during his trips, he could easily shoot the animals with his arrow. He was the best archer in Draec. His ability was even superior to Gewen's.

"Where did you learn to trap animals?" asked Mars with great interest.

Emmelyn replied without taking her eyes off the trap she was making. "I was taught by my teacher. I traveled with him on my 21st birthday. Father allowed me to go on adventures because he lost a bet with me... hehehe. So, I followed my teacher to see the world. He taught me so many things."

"Oh ... he sounds really smart," said Mars. "Where is your teacher now?"

"We parted ways after he got the news that his son was caught by pirates in one of the ports in Atlantea. He left quietly because he didn't want me to join him and endangered my life. That old goat... After being my teacher for ten years, he still stood in ceremony with me. Uff.. Anyway, when he left secretly, apparently he entrusted me to Maxim," Emmelyn said, pursing her lips. "Seriously. I'm still going to make him pay for leaving me behind."

Mars was very interested to hear how Emmelyn seemed very close to her teacher. He wanted to ask more. However, he felt his head suddenly turn hot when he heard Maxim being mentioned again.

From the sound of it, Emmelyn's relationship with that man was quite close. Even Emmelyn's teacher left her with that man. Mars could understand the closeness between Emmelyn and her teacher, since the man taught her for ten years, and was probably much much much older than her.

However, Maxim was just a guy she met on the road. And she said he was young and handsome. Mars got a headache just by hearing his name mentioned.

Mars felt a bit guilty though. The reason why Emmelyn left Maxim was that she heard her country being attacked. So, in a way, Mars got her away from that man by invading Wintermere.

"Do you like adventures that much?" asked Mars attentively. He tried to sound neutral.

"Of course. Living in one place for too long is boring," Emmelyn said coolly.

Mars nodded. Hmm ... what should he do? Emmelyn was obviously not one to stay in one place for too long. If Emmelyn became the queen in Draec, she would have to stay in the capital. Would she really get bored if she stayed in the palace with him?

Should Mars take her on adventures before they had kids? So that Emmelyn would feel comforted.

Mars could see that Emmelyn would feel restless in the castle, unlike other ladies or princesses.

Ah .. this was the risk of falling in love with a girl who was different from other girls. Of course, her attitude and personality would be different from those other girls, and Mars must know how to handle her well.

"Then, we can go out again and explore," said Mars. "Maybe after the royal ball, before it snows."

Emmelyn fell silent at Mars's words. Uff ... she didn't know if she would still be alive after the royal ball. She still planned to kill the king.

If she couldn't find a good opportunity to kill King Jared, then she would take it as a sign that Emmelyn must fulfill her agreement with Mars.

"All right, that's fine," said Emmelyn. "We can go out again."

[If I'm still alive.]

Mars was very happy to hear Emmelyn's approval. He noticed how the girl swiftly tied the branches with rope to make a trap that was ready to use to catch small animals.

"Ah, it's done," said Emmelyn shortly afterward. She handed three traps to Mars and gave him orders to place them in strategic places. "You look for a hole in the ground where rabbits usually hide. You put this trap nearby, and cover it with dry leaves."

"Is that it? You don't put any bait on it or something?" asked Mars.

"Of course," said Emmelyn. She took two carrots from her coat pocket and gave one to Mars. "Just break this carrot into three and put it on top of the leaves covering the trap. I think one carrot is enough for three traps."

"Okay."

With pleasure, Mars received the carrots and the three traps from Emmelyn. He then walked around looking for a small hole to put the trap.

Meanwhile, Emmelyn helped set the traps in several rabbit holes in the opposite direction from Mars.