The journey was boring as hell. Adrian Night was like a giant iceberg, standing there without saying a word, while Lucian Vane buzzed around like a mosquito—so annoyingly chatty. At first, Ivy Shen tried to be cautious around Lucian, but after half a day together, she realized she was actually pretty useful to them. He wouldn’t hurt her, so with her worries gone, all that was left was to bicker back and forth.
"Careful with that sharp tongue of yours, or I’ll poison you mute," Lucian Vane threatened, waving a silver needle at her.
"Drop dead, you freak," Ivy rolled her eyes at him. This psycho acted like she was the one clinging to him, but honestly, he’d been yammering nonstop the whole way—like a mosquito buzzing in her ear.
Lucian frowned at her words. This woman started showing attitude as soon as he gave her a look—did she really think he wouldn’t dare make a move?
"Danger," Adrian Night suddenly opened his eyes and spoke, his voice sharp and cold, breaking his long silence.
Right after he spoke, a scream rang out from outside, and the carriage started jolting wildly. Clearly, the driver had run into trouble.
At that moment, Adrian Night lifted the curtain and, with a single step, flew out of the carriage.
"Oh my god, this jianghu is way too dangerous! I just joined, and it’s already like this?" Ivy wailed loudly, obviously freaked out by the chaos.
"Sit tight, silly girl!" Lucian Vane, usually all jokes, suddenly got serious. He yanked open the curtain and grabbed the reins, but the terrified horses were running wild and totally out of control.
Outside, the sound of clashing blades—crash, bang, clang—kept coming. Ivy couldn’t care less who was winning; all she wanted was for the carriage to stop. The wild jolting had her sprawled on the floor, feeling like her guts were about to be squeezed out.
With a long, shuddering screech, the fighting outside suddenly stopped. The carriage tipped over, and Ivy rolled right out, landing flat on her stomach like a flipped turtle. Right in front of her stood someone, who paused and deadpanned, "No need to be so grateful as to kneel for me."
Mortified, Ivy scrambled to her feet, instantly fuming. "Iceberg, what’s your problem? Not only do you not apologize, you have to make snarky comments! I told you I didn’t want to come, but you two dragged me out here. Happy now? I almost got killed—not by assassins, but by getting thrown out of the carriage! You’re a total devil!"
"Iceberg?" Adrian Night, hearing her call him that yet again, was clearly annoyed.
"Yeah, Iceberg! Look at you, acting all high and mighty twenty-four seven. If you’re not an iceberg, are you a volcano? Don’t think I’m scared of you—if I were—hey, where are you going?" She was still ranting when Adrian just turned and walked off, which made her even madder.
"Alright, enough staring—Iceberg’s already gone ahead. Let’s catch up!" Lucian Vane couldn’t help laughing. He’d been watching the show the whole time and now thought Ivy was pretty entertaining—at least she could get Adrian to make that grumpy face. Interesting!
"Catch up? We’re not taking the carriage anymore?" Ivy paused, confused.
"The horses are dead, so we’re walking. But the inn up ahead shouldn’t be too far," Lucian said, already heading off after Adrian Night.
Seeing this, Ivy hurried off the carriage and ran after them. But after walking for a while, she realized she’d been totally tricked—this was nowhere near close! They’d already been walking for almost an hour.
"Slow down! I can’t walk anymore!" Ivy wanted to just plop down and refuse to move, but that damn Iceberg had tied a rope to her wrist. If she stopped, he’d yank it hard—ouch, that really hurt!