Chapter 18 Open The Barriers
Delphine studied the items for a moment, then spoke softly.
“You don’t seem to care much about longevity.”
If you want to live long, buy yourself a body.
In a world where even nobles could be decapitated at a moment’s notice if they offended the Emperor.
Even if you were a commoner, you would be summarily executed.
“Hehe, I think I’ve lived long enough. Let’s see… While you’re here, I’ll also prescribe you some sedatives, just wait a moment.”
The old doctor disappeared into the curtained dispensary.
Left alone, Delphine stared down at the strange-looking object.
Most of what the old man had said about the Northern Continent had passed her by.
What had caught her attention was the illness of the heart.
Trauma…
It was then that Delphine absentmindedly raised the object in her hand.
It flashed.
For a moment, white light shot out of the glass end of what looked like a telescope.
What just happened?
Delphine pulled her hand away in surprise and examined the object suspiciously.
There was no match, no fire, just a glow.
As if by magic.
But magic had died out in the imperial witch hunts three hundred years ago.
There is no one left who can use magic, and if they are found out, it’s a death sentence.
Not just any death, but the most painful kind: burning at the stake.
She might as well have been hanged with her father.
After a moment’s hesitation, Delphine cautiously reached for the object.
The strange object was unusually still.
‘No. It can’t be.’
Relaxing, Delphine leaned back against the backrest.
Why did she keep having these strange visions?
Was it the trauma, after all?
Delphine ran her hands down her face.
That’s right. Perhaps she was not normal now.
“It’s done, My Lady. Gastritis medication, sleeping pills, and an additional sedative….”
“You were right.”
“What?”
Delphine blurted out as the doctor emerged from the dispensary.
“The illness of the heart.”
But the old doctor looked pained.
It was not the look of a nobleman or a guest, but of his granddaughter.
“As I said before, the best thing you can do is rest and clear your mind.”
“I see. Thank you.”
“I’ve prescribed some more sedatives for now. It should help a little.”
Delphine nodded slightly, then took the pills and stood up.
“Oh, and.”
Before she left the room, Delphine turned around and said.
“That weird thing.”
“What?”
“You said you wanted to know what it was for… I think it’s for making light. Through glass, in front of you.”
“Hooo…”
Leaving the inquisitive and admiring doctor behind, Delphine slowly exited the chamber.
***
Shake.
The carriage rattled away.
“It’s a disease of the mind. Our brains create illusions.”
Delphine leaned helplessly against the carriage wall.
The swaying carriage was on its way to the mansion.
To Pride Manor, where her father died before her eyes.
She leaned back in the carriage and swayed.
The bloodstained chandelier swung from the ceiling of the dark carriage where she sat alone.
Sway, sway, sway.
It was then.
“My lady. Are you all right?”
Delphine snapped out of her reverie at the sound of her escort’s voice over the partition.
… Sure enough, the carriage was swaying excessively.
Delphine hastily opened the window where she had placed her foot and peered out.
The carriage was still traveling through the second district.
The sun was just beginning to set, and a group of black-cloaked men were rampaging through the streets.
They were smashing shop windows and carrying food in sacks and water from the square fountain in cloth bags.
However clean the water was, it was hardly potable.
As Delphine watched in horror, she heard them shouting in frustration.
“Bring clean water to District 3!” they shouted.
“Children are dying from drinking the factory wastewater! You pig-headed aristocrats!”
“Open the barriers!”
Hurrahs for freedom and equality could be heard here and there.
“Lady. Please close the windows.”
The two escort knights who had followed the carriage on horseback were now beside it.
“What’s going on?”
“There seems to be a disturbance in the District 3.”
The knight’s face remained expressionless at the commotion.
“We’ll speed out of this area, please close the windows.”
The carriage shook violently as it sped off.
Delphine sat with her back against the wall of the carriage and caught her breath.
Her heart pounded with fear.
She had heard that the people of District 3 were vicious, but she hadn’t expected this.
‘What’s wrong with them?’
Having lived in District 1 all her life, she didn’t know much about the situation in District 3.
No water?
The capital of the Astraxian Empire was a beautiful place, full of clean water, so much so that it was called the Water City.
Delphine could barely contain herself in the violently swaying carriage.
Suddenly, the carriage lurched to a halt, lurching to one side.
The recoil sent Delphine rolling forwards and she ended up slamming her elbow into the wall of the carriage.
“Suck…”
“How dare they! Do you know whose carriage this is?”
Before she had time to replay her agony, she heard the coachman shouting outside.
Followed by the voices of excited men.
“I know it! The imperial sigil of those knights, the Emperor’s bastards!”
The sharp metallic sound of swords clashing.
Someone is screaming.
And then…
“Search the corpses, there might be something we can use!”
“Who’s in here? If it was a knight guarding… pull them out!”
No way, there were two fully armed knights, and he’d just been beaten?
Delphine clutched her throbbing elbow, panic filling her.
They were vastly outnumbered.
The cloaked men must have numbered at least a dozen.
The reason people feared imperial knights so much was not so much their power, but the absolute power of the Emperor behind them.
Then.
BANG!
A sharpened ax smashed through the carriage door.
Delphine gasped and pressed her back against the carriage wall.
“Get out!”
“Rip the door off!”
The small doorknob that held the carriage door in place swayed precariously.
One more blow of that ax and it would surely meet its fate.
‘There’s nowhere to run in here anyway.’
With a split-second judgment, Delphine unhooked the carriage door, which was still hanging, and kicked the half-shattered door hard with her foot.
“Go ahead, open…”
Bam!
The door unexpectedly opened first, and the man with the ax jumped back in surprise.
Delphine took advantage of the opening and quickly looked around the carriage.
Masked men were swarming around the carriage.
In the distance, she could see her escort knights lying bleeding.
There wasn’t a hair on anyone else’s head.
This is not good. Very bad.
“Hey, what are you doing? I’m not pulling you down…”
An angry, strong hand grabbed her wrist in the carriage and yanked her down.
Without warning, Delphine was jerked out of the carriage, tripping over her own feet and falling to the ground.
Her head snapped up and she glared at the man who’d grabbed her wrist, her eyes glowing with a strange light.
Her face exposed in the sunlight, there was a moment of silence between the masks.
“Wow…”
Someone let out a small exclamation.
But only for a moment.
“Wait a minute. If it’s the red-haired, green-eyed beauty…”
“That’s the woman who became Pride’s wife!”
At that moment. Delphine stopped breathing at the roar of fierce emotion that erupted from among the masks.
“Kill her now!”
“Pride, you demonic bastard that not even the Gods can save!”
“She is the wife of a murderous bastard!”
Delphine shuddered violently at the outpouring of accusation and hatred.
What was this?
“I want this woman… right now!”
Someone, unable to contain his emotions, shouted harshly, reaching for her.
It was then that she heard a low, calm voice.
“Wait.”
A tall man, standing at the center of the group of masks, raised his hand.
“She’s too good to kill, we’re taking her back to headquarters.”
It was hard to tell with everyone wearing masks, but it was easy to tell he was the leader of the pack.
The backlash was immediate.
“What? She’s the devil’s wife! She’s a filthy noble! Kill her! This is a golden opportunity!”
“No. He’s absolutely right, and even if she was his wife, I wouldn’t want her to…”
“We don’t have time for this! He’s robbed the shop, we have to run!”
As their opinions diverged, Delphine nervously backed away, searching for a way out.
But with layers of masks surrounding her, there was nowhere… to run.
“Damn it, what are you doing, my whole family is dead at the hands of that man!”
Just then, someone shouts in anger.
A man with a dagger in his hand lunged at Delphine before she could stop him.
“All of them! That devilish bastard…!”
A slow replay of the blue dagger lunging at her played in slow motion.
She could see the tall man reaching out in panic, but he was too far away.
Will she die?
This way, in vain?
Delphine instinctively closed her eyes tightly.
CHANG-!
It was then that he heard a metallic sound that pierced his chest.
It was the clash of sword against sword.
Delphine shuddered and managed to open her eyes.
What she saw was not a group of mask figures, but a back wide enough to block her entire view.
And a well-groomed dirty blonde perched atop it.
The man.
It was Ioan Pride.
