Chapter 42

Aaron looked at Sophia's clenched hand too shy to look up, shocked.
He examined himself for a moment to confirm.
He hadn't been drugged or titillated.
Aaron never imagined that one day he would be in this situation and hear Sophia offering to solve his physical problems, not forced, not otherwise.
Sophia stole a glance at him, chagrined that she had said this at a really bad time, when she had been so bold.
Looking at her helpless look, Aaron's heart was soft and he reached out to hug her.
"No, you just let me hold her for a while."
It was probably because Sophia and Aaron had been in the back for so long that Susan and Carl, who were waiting outside, were wondering if they had snuck away.
Susan was anxious, thinking that it was so hard to meet them, even if Sophia was present, she still had a chance, she must not let them get away.
She stood up and moved to where they were, while shouting: "Sister, are you ready? Is there something wrong, do you need help?"
Sophia, who was gently held in Aaron's arms, suddenly woke up.
Aaron frowned and pulled Susan's rating infinitely towards negative. He held Sophia for another half minute to calm down and let her go before Susan came over.
Susan's head emerged from behind a rock, relieved not to see the two of them doing anything strange, and glad she had come just in time.
When she met Aaron's unkind gaze again, she smiled curtly.
"Your Majesty, Susan was worried about you."
She saw the circle of bandages on Aaron's body, and her eyes took on a bit of heartache.
"Your Majesty, why are you hurt like this, are there any wounds left to be treated? I still have medicine here, let me take care of it for you."
"No need." Aaron said coldly.
Susan was sent away, full of resentment, and returned to Carl's side.
Carl still didn't know she was there to hook up with Aaron, and was still asking her about Sophia with concern.
"Susan, are they okay."
"What could be wrong." Susan replied in an uncharacteristic manner, and feeling wrong, questioned him, "Why are you so concerned about my sister, brother Carl, are you trying to make up with her?"
"What are you talking about." Carl blushed hard and retorted, "I'm already with you, how can I still want to get back together with Sophia."
He went over to coax her, "You really misunderstood me, we grew up together after all, Sophia is your sister, they are hurt, isn't it normal for me to care?"
"Really?" Susan looked at Sophia who walked over and deliberately asked.
"Of course it's true, I just care about Sophia as a friend for the sake of our former friendship," Carl gently held her hand and said affectionately, "Susan, it's enough that I have you."
Susan's mouth curled into a smug smile as she pulled her hand out of his and said perfunctorily, "Of course I trust brother Carl."
She really couldn't wait to see Sophia turn pale, to see her show her sad face again, preferably to make Aaron think she still loved Carl and was disappointed in her, so that she could take advantage of the opportunity to please Aaron.
Unfortunately, Sophia didn't react at all, her face was calm as if she didn't hear what they said, and she was pulled by Aaron's hand and sat down on the side.
"My wife doesn't need your attention."
Aaron said in a very contemptuous tone to Carl, who sensed a bit of insult in his tone and his face turned red at once.
But he fought it off with a stiff upper lip.
"Your Majesty, Sophia is also considered my relative, what's wrong with me caring about my relative, don't you think you are saying that is too unreasonable?"
Sophia gave him an odd look and echoed Aaron's words.
"I don't need your concern."
The scene was awkward for a moment.
Aaron's sarcasm almost turned into substance, stabbing into Carl's heart so hard that Carl could only swallow back the blood that had reached his mouth.
For the first time, Susan learned to be smart and not interrupt their rivalry, leaving Carl to be slapped on the beach against the waves and turn her head to Aaron with a sweet smile.
Aaron very dryly ignored her.
"Hungry." Aaron reached out and touched Sophia's flat stomach, they had only eaten a few wild fruits since the attack and couldn't get full at all.
"Not very hungry either." Sophia said soothingly, not wanting to stress him out.
"I'll go find out if there's any pheasant or rabbit nearby, if you don't eat again, your body won't be able to carry it." Aaron stroked her head and stood up.
"Forget it." Sophia pulled him back and said worriedly, "We can't light a fire now either, it would be bad if we were discovered."
Aaron patted her hand gently and touched his lips to her forehead.
"Don't worry, there are ways to eat without lighting a fire, don't worry, I won't let you follow me to starve."
Sophia let go of him uneasily.
Aaron lifted his leg towards the forest, suddenly turned his head sideways and showed a provocative expression to Carl.
Carl, who could not stand this kind of stimulation, stood up with a brush and said loudly, "I'm coming with you!"
Susan looked at him and groaned inwardly.
Stupid!
Sophia couldn't hold back a laugh, not expecting Aaron to be so childish.
Carl, however, saw this as a provocation from Aaron, and although the other man was a king, he himself was not weak, so he followed into the woods without conceding defeat, vowing loudly, "Wait for me, I'll bring you the fattest prey right away!"
It is not clear whether he was speaking to Susan, or to Sophia.
The two men went hunting, and the two women didn't stay idle while they waited.
As soon as they left, Susan came over to get close to Sophia, frantically rubbing her almost-absent face on the ground.
"Sister, what exactly have you run into, tell me, maybe I can help." Susan said affectionately.
Seeing that Sophia didn't say anything, Susan gritted her teeth and looked at her pitifully.
"Sister, I know you're still blaming me for what I did before, but we are after all close sisters, I can't possibly watch you get killed, right?"
Sophia finally spoke almsgivingly.
"You really want to know?"
Susan hurriedly nodded her head.
Sophia hesitated for half a day and told her in Susan's expectant gaze.
"Actually it's not something that can't be told, it's that we were robbed by bandits on the way here, they thought we were rich and injured, wanted to profit from us, took the money and tried to kill."
Sophia sighed in mock sadness.
"Aaron and I got separated from the group and kept being chased by those people, and fled all the way here and met you guys."
"Robbed by bandits?" Susan exclaimed in mock surprise.
She quietly snickered in her heart, full of the thought that Sophia still didn't know that someone was deliberately trying to kill them, and thought that when the time came to analyze it to Aaron, Aaron would definitely think highly of her then.
She didn't even think her kind sister would snub her.
"That's too bad." Susan marveled, "Sister didn't send a letter in advance so we could come out to pick you and the king up."
"Didn't I send a letter ahead of time saying I was coming back to visit my family and mom and dad didn't get it?" Sophia queried suspiciously.
"Received, received." Susan said awkwardly, she didn't care how Sophia was doing, how could she make a point of asking her parents what Sophia was doing by sending a letter back.
"It was an accident too." Sophia sighed, "It wasn't supposed to come back that soon."
Susan echoed a few more words, Sophia topped off with a face of pure goodness, not a word of truth came out of her mouth, and by the way, she got all the information Susan knew
As they were talking, Aaron came back with a processed pheasant in his hand, followed by Carl with two skinned rabbits and a slightly embarrassed expression.
"Back." Sophia stood up and looked at the chicken in his hand, "How do we get this?"
Aaron dotingly rubbed her head and squatted down to wrap the processed chicken with a large leaf.
"Just sit and rest, you can eat it later."
Carl squatted beside him and followed his movements.
Aaron wrapped the chicken with the leaves, wrapped a thick layer of mud on the leaves, and dug a hole in the ground, lit firewood and stuffed it into the hole, burned it for a while, and before much smoke came out, stuffed the mud-coated chicken in and reburied it.
"That's good?" Sophia had never seen this way of eating and asked curiously as she squatted aside.
Carl on the other side also followed his example and handled the two rabbits, making a huge mess of himself.
Aaron handed Sophia the water he had picked up.
"We found a stream on the other side, the water is clear, it should be fine, drink it."
Sophia took the water in his hand and took a small sip.
Carl saw this and immediately handed over his own water as well.
"Sophia, I have more here if you don't have enough!"
Sophia didn't pay attention to him, as if she couldn't see this man, turned her head and leaned into Aaron's arms, closing her eyes to rest.
Aaron was very pleased with her reaction and scooped her up and put her on his lap, finding a comfortable position for her.
Carl awkwardly withdrew his hand.
Susan on the side also knew that she couldn't watch the fun and hurriedly said, "Brother Carl, I'm thirsty too, my sister doesn't drink for me."
Carl hurriedly handed her the water, and the embarrassment was finally relieved.
The mound of earth began to emit heat, sitting on the edge of the baking very comfortable, Sophia lying in Aaron's arms, sleepy yawned.
Aaron woke her up and dug out the chicken buried in the dirt with a branch.
Carl also hurriedly dug out his rabbit.
After baking, the mud wrapped around the chicken had hardened and turned into a thick shell, which Aaron cracked open and a smell came out.
Aaron was a little sorry.
"It's a pity that there's no seasoning, the taste might be a little worse." He tore a chicken leg and gave it to Sophia, instructing, "Be careful with the heat."
Sophia took it carefully and took a bite.
The baked chicken was still tender, it just did taste a little bland, but it was good enough to have a meal of meat under the circumstances, and she wasn't picky.
"When we get back, I'll make it for you again." Aaron assured.
Sophia smiled.
"Good."
The atmosphere between them was so thick that no one else could interfere with it, making the two people watching next to them very uncomfortable, and their minds were spinning quickly, thinking about how to break this atmosphere.
Carl thought about it and gave the rabbit to Susan first, saying gently, "Susan, you should eat something too."
Susan sweetly said thank you and took the rabbit.
Carl took the other rabbit, and against the pressure that pervaded Aaron's side, he was not afraid to pass it in front of Sophia, his voice so gentle that it could pinch out water.
"Sophia, you try it too, we often ate roasted rabbit outside together when we were kids, I never thought we would have the opportunity to sit and eat rabbit together now."
Sophia looked at the rabbit handed to her eyes, suddenly a little appetite.
"No, I'll just have the chicken leg." Sophia shook the chicken leg in her hand and simply refused him.
Aaron watched him hit the wall and let out a scoff, very satisfied with Sophia's performance and tore another piece of tender chicken breast for her.
Rejected again and mocked, Carl felt Sophia had really changed and silently tore into the rabbit meat and ate it without speaking.