Chapter 170: Old Acquaintance

"Wait..." she shouted as she stared at the carriage that was slowly moving away.

She had not expected to see Nox here!

Wasn’t he supposed to be hiding somewhere like a rat? How did he end up sitting inside an Elysian private carriage?

And that black-haired young man beside him...

Lyra’s eyes narrowed slightly.

So the Black Witch was with them too!

She immediately urged her horse forward.

The caravan was already moving ahead. They could not simply stop just because someone shouted from the side. What was more, Levi had not given any order to halt.

Lyra hurried her horse forward, trying to catch another glimpse through the window.

"Stop!" she called out hurriedly.

Evan frowned beside her as he kept up with the pace.

"What’s wrong?" he asked, clearly displeased at her sudden attention to the Elysian carriage.

"I saw someone I know!" Lyra said urgently.

"Who?"

"I think it’s that black witch from the Vaelis pack."

"Huh?"

Evan’s gaze immediately turned toward the carriage.

He had not paid much attention to the people inside earlier. There had been too many of them, and his mind had been fully occupied with the argument over thirty thousand siki.

Lyra frowned in deep thought.

She had heard the rumors spreading through Malong City that the Vaelis pack’s exiled princes had been taken in by the Elysian merchant guild and were no longer any concern of the Vaelis pack.

Apparently, it was just a rumor spread by some rogue. No one had taken it seriously.

But the bounty from the Vaelis pack had disappeared the day before yesterday.

And both their fathers had ordered them to return as soon as possible.

They had all awakened their wolves last month during the full-moon mating ceremony.

Now the academy doors were about to open, and all awakened young wolf spirits could be admitted for further development.

The alphas had already ordered the young generation to gather in the west, where the beta and a group of guards had rented an inn for these few days.

Yet Lyra and Evan were still stuck here because of that scoundrel group from the tavern.

They had been so certain those people were the black witch and the defective brothers that they ignored everything else and chased after them.

Who would have thought that the very night they went to arrest them at the courtyard, the real defective brothers would appear inside the gorge instead?

Their whole effort to catch the witch’s group had turned into a complete comedy.

In the end, the tavern people were nothing more than ordinary rogues.

And for that foolish judgment, Lyra had been thoroughly scolded by her father.

What was more, Evan had been acting strange these past few days.

He had suddenly called more guards and spent all his time searching for someone around Malong City.

Yet he always hid exactly who he was looking for.

She now regretted getting entangled with this idiot from the Vesper pack.

If not for the fact that Evan had bought her quite a few things these days and she did not want to ruin her image in front of him, she would have left long ago.

Now this journey had dragged on for far too long, and they were already late.

They did not even have enough money for a proper carriage and had been forced to travel on horseback the entire way.

Looking at the comfortable carriage in front of her and knowing that Nox was sitting right there, yet he had not uttered a single sound all this time, she felt aggrieved.

How could he do this to her?

And that black witch. She had only caught a side profile of him for a moment.

Really a bewitching, bitch-like face, just as the rumors said.

He must have put some kind of illusion over Nox’s eyes. Even Ugo and Axe were sitting there motionless.

And that young prince from Elysian was also suspicious.

Even if those exiled defectives could be taken in by a merchant guild to do chores, they should never be sitting with the prince inside his private carriage.

Why would a black witch like him be sitting so comfortably in a merchant’s personal carriage?

That simply did not make sense.

Unless...

Her eyes widened.

She leaned forward on her horse and called out again,

"Young Prince Elysian, please stop for a moment."

The curtain had already fallen back into place, but she was certain she had seen correctly.

She was also certain that the black witch must have done something to all of them.

Levi finally stopped the caravan and lifted the curtain, looking rather annoyed this time.

"Lady Lyra, is there something else? If you want to pay thirty thousand siki to pass first, I can still consider it."

Evan’s face twitched.

Thirty thousand siki?!

This damn merchant was still thinking about that!

He thought so, but on the surface he only smiled and said politely, "We will give the honor of passing early to Elysian."

"Then why are you still here?" Levi asked lazily.

Evan almost choked at that.

Lyra hurriedly pulled her horse closer before Evan could start another argument.

Her face had grown increasingly worried, and her eyes held a strange, unknown sympathy.

"Young Prince..." she hesitated. "May I know your name?"

"Levi. Levi Elysian. And I am not a prince, just another descendant who manages property." Levi answered indifferently.

Evan and Lyra’s faces both faltered.

’What the hell! Was he pretending to be a prince all this time? He is just a manager! No wonder he dared to demand thirty thousand.’ They thought.

Lyra’s expression fell.

If he was only a manager, then it made a little more sense that the exiles were riding in this carriage. But the carriage itself was clearly not a simple one.

She cleared her throat and began speaking softly.

"Young Master Levi, please don’t misunderstand us. We didn’t mean to disturb you."

She gave him a sweet smile, then glanced toward the carriage again.

"I just happened to notice your guests. I was a little worried, so I thought I should remind you to be careful about the people you associate with."

Levi raised a brow and looked around.

Inside the carriage, Moon had already closed his eyes and was pretending to sleep.

He had heard the shouting outside, but he hadn’t paid much attention to it.

There were always people who wanted to make a scene on the road. As long as they didn’t disturb him, he couldn’t be bothered to care.

However, when Levi’s gaze fell on him, he opened one eye and asked,

"What?"

Levi chuckled.

"Oh, it seems your acquaintances want to greet you."

Saying that, he removed the curtain fully, exposing the group inside.

Nox glanced at her briefly before lowering his head again.

Lyra immediately dismounted and walked closer to the carriage.

"Nox!" she called out.

"So it really is you. I heard you had joined a merchant caravan, but I didn’t expect you to be traveling with them from here in Malong City."

"So?" Nox answered reluctantly.

The more he talked with her, the more trouble he would have explaining later.

Lyra’s cheeks flushed slightly.

She seemed sad hearing his indifferent tone, yet also shy at meeting him after so long.

"Nox, are you still angry with me?" she said.

Nox’s jaw tightened.

"What are you talking about? Why would I be? Lyra, stop saying vague things."