'Huh?!' Noel was shocked inwardly. 'Why would your face redden? No, you should be ashamed, right? That's right, your face redden because you feel ashamed because of your unpreparedness, right?'
Noel tried his best to deny everything he had seen.
Anna's thought was completely the exact opposite of his thought.
Anna truly felt a huge contrast from Noel today. Usually, Noel would always complain or trick her, making her put up her guard the whole time. But this time, she could see the caring Noel.
Due to the fact that Noel only directed that care to other people, she never felt what it meant to be cared by Noel.
Despite his hatred, he never directed that hatred toward innocent people. That itself was already a good feat. And this time, her enemy showed his caring side like this. Even she would be taken out by surprise.
After taking one bite, Anna turned to him with a big genuine smile on her face. "Thank you, Noel."
Just like Anna, Noel hadn't prepared himself for this smile. This was the first time Anna was this happy, so he could feel the genuine emotion behind it. At the same time, Anna was a beautiful woman since she was known to be one of the most beautiful women in the kingdom. That smile of hers could melt anyone's heart.
In that instant, Noel realized that he had lost in this round.
"Tsk." Noel clicked his tongue and looked away, frustrated. His movement was a bit stiff afterwards, but Noel shifted their attention to his words. "So, are we going to buy some spices?"
"Just the salt. I can do the rest with the herbs and meat." Anna explained. "That is if you don't mind eating on top of a leaf."
"Even if it's raw, I'll still eat it." Noel shrugged.
"Hehe, wait a bit then. I'll go to that shop to buy salt." Anna chuckled and pointed at the store next to the gate. It was an item store that was used to buy something they forgot to bring before leaving the gate. So, there was a wide variety of items.
Still, Anna only brought a small bag of salt for them to use it later.
"Let's go, shall we?" Anna smiled.
"Yeah." Noel took the time she was inside the store to calm his heart and finally returned to his nonchalant attitude.
When they walked out of the fort and arrived at the plain that separated them from the fort, Noel felt something different this time.
'Now that I think about it… this is my first time relaxing. I only used this plain to go to the Demon Forest, so I didn't realize it until now that…' Noel looked around. The slightly tall grasses that made the scenery look a bit cooler. The wind blowing the grasses soothed their mind. And the firm dirt road that had been slightly tilted to the inside due to many people and carriages passing over this area. This was the first time Noel saw everything a bit clearly and it felt, "…so beautiful."
Noel subconsciously muttered it out of his mind.
Anna's heart skipped a beat. She didn't know why but her body slightly warmed up.
'Did Noel just praise me?' Anna's heart was pumping like crazy as she glanced at Noel to check his expression.
However, Noel's eyes were locked on the environment. He never took his eyes off them, so that praise earlier was actually directed to the plain, not her.
Anna had her head low, disappointed. But soon she shook her head and thought, 'Why was I disappointed in the first place?'
Unfortunately for her, from that point on, Noel's eyes were locked to the scenery. Even when they entered the forest, Noel kept looking at the environment.
This was his first time seeing the world with such a relaxed emotion after all. His point of view had changed.
There were many things that the world could offer to him. But because in his mind, there was only training and revenge, he always looked at the front without caring about anything around him.
So, this was the first time he realized that the wind blowing the grasses could be so soothing, the tranquility of the forest could calm his heart, and the cool temperature of the forest made his body feel relaxed.
He learned so much things just by looking at the world from a different point of view.
Eventually, they stopped somewhere so that Anna could cook.
Since they couldn't move anywhere, Noel's mind had finally returned. He remembered his objective. By annoying Anna, he could see her reaction that would reflect her true nature.
Hence, the first thing Noel did when waiting for the food was to stare at her.
*Stare!*
"…" Anna could maintain her poker face for a while, but she felt slightly disturbed after a long time. "Can you direct your gaze elsewhere?"
"Why?" Noel smirked, showing his unwillingness.
Still, Anna was preparing food, so her ultimate weapon was still here. She replied, "If you don't look elsewhere, there's no food for you."
"I see. That's your intention. By asking me out here, you want to starve me out. I perfectly understand your intention now." Noel nodded in understanding as if he had seen her true nature. "At least, I know that I shouldn't trust you in the future.
Even Anna was speechless and corrected herself. "Wait, no! I don't mean it that way! You should know that I never let you starve whenever I cooked!"
Noel returned his gaze again with a smug as if showing that he had won.
Anna's eyebrows twitched, but she also had another comeback. She said calmly, "Though, you staring at me like this… doesn't it look like you're mesmerized by me? Like a husband watching his wife cook?"
But before she realized it, Noel had already turned his head around as if to prove that it wasn't the case.
"What the…" Anna subconsciously bit her lips, thinking, 'I don't know why but I'm more annoyed with this than the food… I somehow want to hit him right now.'
