After Putting the Slayer of the Night to Sleep, I Ran Away - Chapter 76

As Tatiana had expected, it was Ayla who, after eavesdropping on the two of them, hastily left.

Startled by their appearance, which anyone would see as lovers, she hid herself and heard things she shouldn’t have.

Because of that, she hastily left and found herself deep in the forest.

“Hah… hah…”

Ayla gasped for breath, looking around the forest.

In her haste to flee, she hadn’t even broken off any branches.

As she walked, pushing through the grass that came up to her ankles, the sharp edges of the grass blades brushed against her clothes and bare skin, leaving scratches.

Emerging from between the densely packed trees, she found a small, open space.

Ayla, with no strength left to walk further, slumped to the ground.

“I can’t walk anymore…”

She had lost her sense of direction long ago.

Leaning her back against a large rock, she looked up at the sky powerlessly. The sun was setting beyond the mountain ridge.

“By now, the hunt must be over.”

She couldn’t tell the exact time, but seeing the sun set gave her a rough idea.

Suddenly, thinking of Leo, who would have returned after the hunt, she found herself missing him unbearably.

Ayla, feeling dejected, muttered.

“He’ll be looking for me, won’t he?”

That person was always like that.

Even when she was on the verge of being caught at the moonlit mansion while looking for Rodrigo,

Even when she needed someone to spend the night with to break off the engagement,

Even on the day she was kidnapped immediately after running away from home,

He always found her and saved her from danger.

“Still… I don’t want to worry him.”

This time, she wanted to get out on her own.

Her existence, which was always a nuisance, felt like a heavy burden.

Ayla gathered her strength and stood up.

She was wishing she could somehow get out safely on her own and that he would never know about this.

Thump.

A heavy sound and a small vibration were felt.

Thump. Thump.

Feeling the vibrations growing closer, Ayla snapped her head up.

At that moment, a giant shadow emerged from the forest.

As she met the intensely glowing yellow eyes amidst the dark bushes, the day she was attacked by a pack of lycans vividly came back to her.

‘No way…’

It was the same as that time.

Hungry eyes staring at humans as if they were prey.

The sensation of that day, so terrifying it froze her body, returned.

A thick foreleg shot out from the bushes.

A bear with brown fur and a massive body revealed itself, its sharp claws glinting.

Facing the bear head-on, Ayla’s heart pounded wildly.

‘Run… I have to run.’

But her legs wouldn’t move.

The bear’s rough breathing drew closer, and clear saliva dripped from its gaping mouth.

“No!”

The fear of death threatened to consume her. At that moment.

“Screeeech!”

A sharp scream echoed from the sky.

Ayla, who reflexively raised her head, saw an unbelievable sight.

A large hawk was diving towards the bear, its wings folded.

In an instant, the hawk swooped down and pecked at the bear’s eyes with its sharp beak.

The bear let out a pained roar and swung its forelegs, but the hawk soared like lightning, circling above its head.

Then, it fearlessly swooped down towards the bear’s eyes again.

The enraged bear let out a monstrous cry and staggered.

Ayla seized the opportunity and put strength into her legs.

‘I can’t miss this chance.’

Forcing her trembling legs to move, she kicked off the ground and started running.

The thought of running to survive dominated her mind.

She didn’t know why the suddenly appearing hawk was attacking the bear, but she wasn’t in a position to idly wonder about such things.

Ayla pushed through thorny bushes and ran through tangled grass.

She twisted her ankle while running and tumbled once, but she quickly got up and kept running, looking only forward.

There was no other choice.

Despite the hawk’s continuous attacks, the bear did not abandon its pursuit of Ayla.

While swinging its large forelegs to chase the hawk, it relentlessly pursued her.

Ayla’s running speed was nothing to the bear.

As her breath caught in her throat, Ayla’s vision suddenly opened up.

Emerging from between the dense trees, a rather wide valley spread out before her.

Ayla caught her breath and bit her lip.

She lifted the hem of her skirt and stepped into the valley water.

It was a rather deep valley, with water reaching her thighs.

The strong current made Ayla lose her balance.

From behind her, she heard the flapping of wings and the bear’s roar.

Ayla tried desperately to keep her legs moving, avoiding looking back.

‘Just a little more!’

She felt like she could reach the opposite bank soon.

Then, a sudden question arose.

Could bears swim too?

She didn’t know. She felt like a fool who knew nothing.

Ayla suppressed the urge to burst into tears and put strength into her legs crossing the water.

Now, one more step.

As she took that final step.

Thwack!

“Kieek.”

A dull sound from behind her, and something flew and struck her in the face.

It was the blood-soaked hawk.

Hit squarely by the bear’s foreleg, the hawk, embedded in the ground, flapped its wings.

At that moment, for some reason, one scene flashed in Ayla’s mind.

‘No way!’

She remembered Leo’s room, which she had entered one night to find him.

Among the animals he was with, there was a hawk that looked just like that.

But the thought didn’t last long.

Turning around at the splashing sound, she saw the bear jumping into the valley water.

“Ngh…”

The bear was a good swimmer too.

Ayla bit her lip and bent her waist.

Hurriedly scooping up the hawk into her arms, she started running again.

Her heart pounded like crazy, and her breath was in her throat.

The situation was desperate.

With the hawk, which had been buying her time, in this state, she would be caught the moment the bear emerged from the water onto land.

To make matters worse, her foot caught on a rock, and she tumbled.

Without even feeling the pain, she sprang up and, the moment she clutched the hawk she had dropped back into her arms.

“Grrr…”

At the low, threatening sound from behind her, Ayla stopped moving.

Turning her head slightly, she saw the bear glaring at her.

‘…If I move, it’s over.’

Ayla sensed her predicament.

She desperately tried to think of a way to escape the situation, but the bear wouldn’t wait patiently.

As the bear kicked off the ground with its thick hind legs and charged at Ayla.

Fwoosh!

A gray wolf burst from between the trees and, as if biting and dragging the bear’s neck, brought it down.

Ayla’s eyes widened with certainty.

Without a doubt, they were Leo’s friends.

A crow circled overhead, cawing.

Its cry sounded like a command to run, so Ayla put strength into her legs and stood up.

Behind her, the sounds of the wolf and bear fighting could be heard clearly.

Low growls. And screams accompanied by pain.

The hawk in her arms panted roughly, and the crow’s caws continued as if urging her to run.

How long had she run?

Ayla leaned over, resting her hands on a tree trunk, and gasped for breath.

Tears flowed endlessly.

The cold evening air pierced her skin through her wet cheeks, but Ayla, gripped by fear, could feel nothing.

“You’re coming, aren’t you?”

She knew it the moment his animal friends appeared to save her.

Leo was coming.

After sending his friends to her first.

Ayla carefully placed the hawk she held in her arms on the ground.

The sun was setting.

The hawk’s condition looked bad in the darkness.

With trembling fingertips, she gently stroked the hawk’s feathers.

“Hang in there a little longer.”

A heart-wrenching scene flashed in her mind.

A deer, its four legs tied, used as bait.

The hawk that had fallen after relentlessly attacking the bear to save her.

Even the wolves that had fallen while fighting the bear.

They were all children who had been injured because of her.

An unpayable guilt stirred her resolve.

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