Stella nodded. Her expression remained calm, though her eyes briefly lingered on Albert as if she were weighing his words.
"Then you should ask Alma about it. She knows a lot. I only know a little."
His tone remained steady, as usual, giving nothing away beyond the simple information he had provided.
"Well, I'll ask her on the way. But I'm feeling tired now, so I'm going to get some rest, sir."
She adjusted her posture slightly, her exhaustion from the long and eventful day becoming more apparent.
"We're almost there."
Alma and John were waiting for them at the entrance to the Willow Forest.
The trees formed a dense green backdrop, their branches swaying gently in the wind.
Alma was wearing a leather coat over a brown dress, practical clothing suited for travel and outdoor conditions.
The moment she saw Stella, she shouted, "Where have you been, girl? Do you know what happened to me when I woke up and couldn't find you? I'm still shaking!"
Her voice carried both relief and frustration, as though the fear caused by Stella's disappearance had only just begun to fade.
"Oh my God... How am I going to explain this?"
Stella struggled to respond, feeling the pressure of the situation.
"Actually, I..."
Before she could continue, Albert interrupted her in his usual calm voice.
"She went to relieve herself in the woods and got lost because she was embarrassed to wake you up."
His explanation came naturally, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Ugh, how clumsy you are. Why be embarrassed when you could have just woken me up?"
Alma's frustration eased slightly, though she still looked unconvinced. Her eyes shifted between Stella and Albert.
Albert then said, "Well, now that Alina is back, we should rest. We still have a long way to go. Come on."
His words brought the brief tension to an end, signaling that it was time to return to normal.
Afterward, everyone returned to their places to rest.
The atmosphere gradually settled as the caravan returned to its usual rhythm of movement and rest.
Inside the carriage, Stella kept thinking about everything that had happened that day, and about Mr. Albert.
He seemed completely different from the man she had thought she knew.
She took out the necklace and examined it again under the dim light inside the carriage. It was made of pure gold, reflecting a faint glow. The sun symbol engraved on it was simple but distinct.
Fortunately, the fire hadn't reached the well. Otherwise, the necklace might have been damaged.
She wondered if it had belonged to one of the villagers who had once lived there. She turned it slightly in her hand before carefully putting it away again.
"Well, at least I didn't go there for nothing. If necessary, I can sell it and make some money."
After thinking for a while, her eyes slowly grew heavy, and she eventually fell asleep to the steady movement of the carriage.
Dawn came, spreading soft layers of light across the sky.
One by one, everyone woke and prepared to continue their journey.
The morning air was cooler, and the caravan slowly set off once more.
They still had another day of travel before reaching the eastern capital, where they would sell their goods.
The city was known as Plain Of The East.
A day later, without further interruption, the caravan finally reached the city.
As they approached, the landscape gradually changed from open roads and rural surroundings to organized streets, buildings, and distant signs of urban life.
The atmosphere was completely different from the villages they had passed through.
It was the largest city in the East and its capital, famous for having the biggest trading markets on the continent. Merchants from all across the various regions gathered there to trade their goods.
That was what Stella had heard from Alma.
Even so, she had tried not to get her hopes up. She had already expected something impressive once before, only to be disappointed by the abandoned village.
But when they finally entered the city, her expectations were completely overturned.
She was genuinely impressed.
The sheer scale of the city, the endless movement of people, and the organized chaos of its markets created an entirely different world from anything she had experienced before.
"I didn't expect it to be like this."
She looked around in amazement.
"It looks like a city from a fairy tale."