Genie ran to the place where clean water was, following the guy's lead.
At that moment, Jade, enduring the pain in his knee, sat leaning against the cave wall, waiting for Genie to return.
A short while later, Genie and the guy came back into the cave, carrying a bamboo segment filled with water.
"Jade!"
Jade unconsciously smiled as he saw Genie enter the cave.
The moment he realized he had smiled, Jade quickly wiped it off his face.
Genie approached Jade, holding the bamboo segment filled with water.
"First, you need to drink some water, Jade."
Genie bent down and handed the bamboo segment to Jade.
"Thank you."
Since meeting the guy, Jade had deliberately not referred to Genie as "Princess" in his presence. He thought it wouldn't be good to reveal her identity as a princess to the man.
Jade accepted the bamboo segment and drank the water inside.
Genie quietly watched Jade quench his thirst with the clean water.
At that moment, the crackling sound of firewood burning was heard from somewhere.
Genie turned around.
"Oh! You started a fire!"
The guy was standing in front of the pile of burning firewood and smiled proudly.
"The firewood was already prepared, so while you two were having some private time, I started the fire."
The phrase "private time" made Genie feel awkward.
Genie turned her gaze back to Jade, who was leaning against the cave wall.
Jade, whom she had expected to deny it, said nothing.
In the end, Genie, feeling a bit awkward, quickly changed the subject.
"By the way, we haven't even shared our names. What is your name?" Genie asked as she sat a little apart from Jade, near the blazing firewood pile.
The guy, as if happy to be asked, smiled and leaned against the opposite cave wall, with the fire burning between them.
"Haha. I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is San-gi. And you two?"
Genie hesitated for a moment before answering.
"My name is Gene."
Genie shortened her name to avoid revealing her status as a princess, in case it came up.
"Ah, Gene. Then…?"
Sangi waited for an answer, looking at Jade.
Jade's mind was in a whirl.
'Since he's a man from the Ash Kingdom, it wouldn't be good to tell him my name honestly. What should I say...?'
At that moment, Genie answered for him. "This person's name is Dragon."
San-gi's eyes widened in admiration.
"Dragon? What a fitting name for someone with such an extraordinary presence!"
Genie turned her head and smiled at Jade, as if saying, "Didn't I do well?"
Jade, unable to stop himself, smiled faintly.
Curious as ever, San-gi continued asking.
"So, what is your relationship with each other?"
A brief silence fell.
Jade was suddenly curious.
'What would the Princess say about our relationship?'
Since she hadn't revealed her identity as a princess yet, it was clear that Genie didn't want to disclose who she was.
'In that case, she wouldn't be able to say that I am her bodyguard. What will she say…?'
Jade smiled faintly, lifting one side of his mouth.
After a long pause, Genie answered.
"We are friends. Long-time friends."
San-gi tilted his head in confusion.
"Friends?"
Genie nodded calmly.
"Yes, friends."
Sangi shook his head, unable to believe it.
"No matter how I see it, you two look like you have at least a ten-year age gap."
At those words, Genie let out a small laugh.
Jade also lowered his head awkwardly.
It wasn't hard to understand why San-gi couldn't believe it, given the twenty-three-year-old Genie and thirty-five-year-old Jade.
San-gi, still not understanding, continued speaking.
"Are you really friends?"
Genie nodded again without hesitation.
"Yes, of course. Age doesn't matter when it comes to friendship."
"Well then, how old are you both?"
"I'm twenty-three."
Genie turned to look at Jade.
Jade answered calmly. "I'm thirty-five."
Jade, who had just turned thirty-five last month, still found the number a bit strange.
He wasn't exactly comfortable talking about his age, especially in front of the much younger Genie and San-gi, who clearly looked younger than him.
San-gi's eyes widened at the mention of thirty-five.
"You're much older than me. You don't look thirty-five at all. I thought you were just two or three years older than me. I'm twenty-six. Should I start calling you 'bro' from now on?"
Before Jade could say anything, San-gi kept talking.
"Bro, then how did you and Gene become close? Even though the world is changing, men and women don't usually become close friends. Especially with such a big age gap."
Without any hesitation, Genie answered casually.
"Jade became close to me while teaching me martial arts."
At Genie's nonchalant lie, Jade couldn't help but chuckle softly.
San-gi, naïve as ever, believed Genie's words wholeheartedly.
"Ah, so he's good at martial arts, huh? No wonder. He's tall, fit, and broad-shouldered, definitely doesn't seem ordinary. Are you a warrior by any chance?"
Jade, thinking it would be better to hide the fact that he was a warrior for now, shook his head.
"I was a warrior for a while, but not anymore."
San-gi looked at Jade in admiration.
"You were a warrior, huh? You're really impressive. I work with arrows in Ash Kingdom, and I see warriors often, but there's no warrior as handsome as you in all of Ash Kingdom."
Jade gave an awkward smile.
Although he often heard compliments about his looks, it always made him uncomfortable.
Genie, glancing at Jade's awkward smile, couldn't help but chuckle.
'He gets so awkward whenever someone calls him handsome.'
San-gi, now feeling happy to have made new friends, no longer worried about dying alone on the island.
"I came to Arabia to collect materials for making arrows, and that's how I ended up here. Originally, I was supposed to meet a master in Hana to improve my skills and then return to Ash. How about you two? How did you end up in Arabia?"
This time, Genie answered smoothly. "I've been studying in Arabia for a long time. When my friend heard that I was going back to Hana, he decided to come for one last visit, also to see Arabia."
San-gi nodded in fascination at Genie's plausible answer.
"You two must be very close friends if he came all the way here to meet you."
Jade cast a quick glance at Genie who was smiling nonchalantly.
'The Princess is really good at lying.'
Jade laughed faintly as he watched Genie lie so effortlessly.
Just then, a loud growl came from San-gi's stomach.
San-gi, embarrassed, laughed.
Genie pointed to some peaches on the floor.
"Here, have some peaches."
San-gi, laughing awkwardly, picked up a peach and leaned back against the opposite wall.
"Thank you. I'll eat them now."
San-gi took a big bite of the peach.
"It's delicious!"
At that moment, Genie remembered the fresh fish that San-gi had stacked by the water puddle earlier, when they went together to fetch water.
They had both been too busy filling the bamboo segments with water and hadn't thought to collect the fish.
Now, back in the cave and having placed the bamboo segments down, they had planned to go back for the fish, but they had forgotten about it in their conversation.
'Since everyone is probably hungry, I should go and get them.'
Genie stood up suddenly, removing herself from the wall.
"I'll go and bring the fish we left behind."
San-gi was startled and shook his head.
"No, I'll go and get them."
Jade, unable to stand immediately due to his knee pain, also spoke up.
"It's dangerous for you to go alone."
"It's fine."
Without waiting for either of them to stop her, Genie rushed out of the cave.
Jade hurriedly tried to get up, watching her leave.
"Ah…"
The pain in his knee caused him to collapse back down.
He was worried about letting the princess go alone.
San-gi spoke up.
"Don't worry. The water puddle is not far from here."
Jade, glancing at San-gi, thought to himself, 'You should go out and get the fish, not the princess...'
But Jade couldn't bring himself to say it out loud, and he simply turned his gaze to the entrance of the cave, looking worried.
With a mischievous gleam in his eye, San-gi looked at Jade.
"Bro, you're not just friends with Gene, are you?"
Jade turned to face San-gi, who had a look in his eyes as if he knew everything.
"What do you mean?"
"It's pretty obvious you're not just friends. I can tell from the way you looked at her when I first arrived. You were clearly guarding her."
San-gi chuckled.
"It wasn't because of that... Ah, don't make strange guesses."
"Come on. I can tell by your gaze. You look at Gene in a way that's not how a friend would look at someone. It's not like you're looking at a younger sister, either... How should I put it…"
"No. It's just…"
'She's just... the Princess I have to protect... but in the end, I'll cause her pain...'
Jade couldn't finish his thought.
San-gi, completely unaware of his feelings, continued joking.
"Bro, I understand. Jin is beautiful and strong. I can tell."
Jade shot San-gi a sharp look.
San-gi, grinning, waved his hand dismissively.
"Of course, I don't have feelings for Gene. I know you like her. It's obvious. You two are alone together, and I'm not trying to interrupt. I'll say I'm going to the bathroom and leave you two alone for a while."
Jade frowned.
"I thought you said we weren't like that."
At that moment, Genie came back into the cave, carrying the fish.
Jade was going to continue his words but he closed his mouth.
San-gi, grinning, looked back and forth between the two of them.