On the board was the man who had been the coachman earlier, looking down at tem. And that too, with his mouth torn in half and laughing.
“Hmph!”
The child took a deep breath and his body trembled. His body was shaking as well as hers. She didn’t even know when he came, so she couldn’t tell if I would be able to run away from the sudden presence. But she couldn’t just sit still, so she started playing with her legs.
It was a moment when she was running frantically, putting all her strength into her legs.
“Where are you going, huh? You bitch.”
One by one, men came out of nowhere and blocked the path ahead. The knights they saw earlier completely surrounded them with eerie smiles.
“Do you know how exhausted we are?”
“Anyway, those rats are quick to notice.”
The man closest to them gradually approached.
“If you don’t want to be seen in trouble, it would be better to follow along quietly.”
The man said and stretched out his hand. Thinking that she would get caught if she continued like this, she unconsciously pulled out the dagger in her sleeve and swung it.
“Ugh!”
However, the clumsy swing of the blade only caused a slight wound to the man’s hand.
“What the…! You crazy bitch!”
Rather, it only incited the man’s anger.
Slap!
“Hah!”
In an instant, her cheek turned to the side and her body collapsed backwards.
Dump.
Aside from the pain, she was delirious from the feeling of her entire body shaking.
“Huh…”
“Huh, E, Elia, Hmm!”
The child was crying loudly in her arms, but she didn’t have the presence of mind to respond. She was just out of her mind. Her body was so helpless that she couldn’t even exert any strength. She slowly blinked her eyes, but then a great pain came to her hand. The man she had hurt was so angry that he was trampling her hand with his foot. He trampled on it so mercilessly that a scream came out. The pain was so bad that she screamed louder as she felt like it was going to be twisted.
She just felt like it would be good for anyone to notice that they were here.
“Do it in moderation. Don’t you know that if it breaks, the price will only drop further when you sell her?”
“But she cut my hand!”
“It’s not that big of a wound, so why did you drop it like that?”
“What? Yunan? Did you finish what you said?”
She heard some fighting, but she just screamed. The man was still stomping on her hand.
“Why are you making so much noise? Won’t you shut up?”
It was the moment when the man who had crouched his body tried to hit me in the face again, so she closed her eyes tightly.
“Ahh!”
A loud scream was heard and a strong bloody smell was smelt. Her mind was so blank that she couldn’t figure out how the situation was going. Her ears were filled with only the sound of a child sobbing and crying in her arms. Suddenly,her body felt like it was floating and she felt like she was trapped in something solid.
‘This familiar smell…’
When she finally opened her eyes, a dark red eye appeared in her field of vision.
“…Duke…, I’m sorry… It’s because of me…”
She regretted leaving the mansion just to go to the temple. Even if she was just curious, she would stay still. If that were the case, this situation wouldn’t have happened.
“What the hell are you…!”
The Duke said something but suddenly closed his mouth. He was looking down at her with a very angry expression. As she slowly blinked, she felt something touch my cheek.
What?
To her disbelief, the Duke was rubbing her cheek gently.
“Get it sorted.”
The Duke said this to the knights standing behind him and then started walking. Still, he didn’t take his eyes off her. She gradually began to lose consciousness. It seemed like the tension was completely relieved when the situation was resolved.
“Huh! Elia, Elia!”
When she finally looked down, she saw that the child was crying profusely, with many tears pouring out. She wanted to say something to say it was okay, but her voice wouldn’t come out. Her vision simply blurred and her consciousness quickly fell.
* * *
She slowly looked around the all-white space. When she saw this place again, it felt like she was dreaming. What was trying to appear before her eyes this time? She let out a breath and slowly sat down. Today, unlike other times, her body was very stretched out.
She lowered her head, feeling very tired. Whatever it was, she wanted to rest. It was a time when she was just staring blankly at the white floor. Soon the white space began to collapse. After experiencing it a few times, she got used to it and didn’t feel surprised. She just blankly watched the changing white space. Why was it in the forest this time? She quietly looked around the forest filled with trees and grass. Still, she had no desire to get up. She was just massaging her numb hand and lifting her head up.
A small chirping sound was heard.
‘Wait, this sound…’
She looked around at a feeling that was somehow familiar. It was that bird at that time. She saw something in the temple that she didn’t know if it was a sudden vision or something. The bird has a dazzlingly white body and even white eyes. At that moment, strangely enough, energy surged through her sagging body. When she came to her senses, she found herself fully awake. A bird flying slowly in the air looked at her and suddenly lifted itself up. Then it started flying somewhere.
‘Don’t go.’
Her feet moved without her knowing. She ran frantically, feeling like she had to follow the bird. Then, the bird suddenly stopped its wings and landed somewhere. She slowly lowered her gaze toward where the bird had landed. It was none other than a bird landing on someone’s shoulder. A man with dark blue hair and dark red eyes was standing on the shoulder of a man who was so familiar to her, so familiar that she even remembered his smell, and immediately looked straight at me.
He was Kaiden Nathan. It was none other than the Duke.
“…!”
For a moment, she came to her senses and exhaled violently. Then, it wasn’t long before she realized where this was. This familiar ceiling may be… She turned her head to the side and took a breath when she met the dark red eyes. She was so shocked that she couldn’t even blink.
“I guess you’ve come to your senses now.”
Then she finally came to her senses when she heard his voice.
“…Duke?”
“Yes.”
The moment she blinked a few more times, memories quickly passed through her mind. Yes, something happened while she was visiting the temple and touring the capital. Then, she was hit by one of the men who was chasing them and passed out. She raised her hand, which had been trampled on until she passed out, up.
‘Why are my hands fine?’
It was clearly a hand that had been trampled mercilessly by a man, but it was not covered with any bandages or anything. No, there was no trace of anything, only the original smooth hand was visible. She fumbled and touched her cheek, just in case. Her cheeks, which should have been swollen after being hit by the man, somehow felt fine. Even when she touched it with force, it didn’t hurt at all.
“It’s already been treated, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
“…yes?”
“It means I called a priest and treated you.”
He called a priest who was difficult to get and had him treated her? The Duke still did not understand what was being said. As she just stared with a blank expression on her face, the Duke’s brow furrowed slightly.
“They said that if I rest a little more, I won’t have any trouble moving. Anyway, that’s what I know.”
After saying those words, the Duke turned around and tried to leave. At that moment, her hand flew out without me knowing. When she came to her senses, she found herself holding on to the Duke’s collar.
“Is there anything else you want to say?”
“No, that’s…”
“If there isn’t one, it would be better if you let it go.”
The way he spoke was obviously the same, but why did his tone sound so soft? After looking at the Duke blankly for a moment, she opened her mouth.
“…Thank you for saving me, Duke.”
He looked down at her without saying a word. Because the gaze was meaningless, she hesitated and blurted out more words.
“I won’t force myself to go out anymore. I almost put Liam in danger for no reason.”
“Even though you’ve gotten to that point, you don’t know how to say anything like that?”
The Duke’s eyes suddenly became cold. She didn’t know why he was suddenly looking at her like that. She couldn’t figure out why, so she looked up at him quietly, but the Duke violently twisted his body.
Bang!
The door closed roughly with a sound. She slowly got up when she realized that the Duke had left the room.
“Why on earth are you so angry?”
She felt nervous for some reason, so she glanced at the Duke’s door and got off the bed. Her legs were a little shaky, but not so much that she couldn’t walk. It seemed like it was true that a priest came and treated her. Because her body was in better condition than she thought.
She walked in front of the full-length mirror and looked at her appearance. Was she really fine? Her cheeks, which should have had deep bruises, were still white. Anyway, why did he call the priest? Although the wound was quite serious, it was not serious enough to cause death. She thought that even if he did provide treatment, all he would see was what she showed to the doctor. But she never thought he would call a priest…
The more she thought about it, the more surprising it was.
“I don’t know what’s what. I don’t know.”
It was a moment when she was muttering that to herself. There was a small commotion outside and the door flew open.
“Elia!”
A small body suddenly entered the room and quickly rushed into her arms.
“Elia, are you okay now? Are you okay? Right?”
The child, who was talking frantically, soon burst into tears. The crying was so sudden that there was no way to comfort it. Ugh! She quickly picked up the body of the child, who had started to cry so hard that he almost couldn’t breathe, and shook him in the air.
“I’m fine. Can you see how fine I’m? So, let’s stop crying, okay?”
“Huh! But…”
“Is Liam hurt anywhere?”
“Sniff, …nothing, nothing. But Elia was hurt!”
She only asked with the intention of soothing him, but it only made him cry more. Tired of swinging the child in the air, she walked over to her bed and sat down. She lay down on the bed and slowly patted the child’s back.
“Let’s just stop now. You’re a good boy, aren’t you?”
After a few more coaxings, the child whimpered and nodded. After a while, the child’s crying was completely normal. She internally sighed in relief and stretched her body out completely.
“Elia, it really doesn’t hurt?”
“Yes. The Duke said that a priest came and treated me?”
“Yes. As soon as Elia collapsed, father was very upset.”
“…eh?”
Who was upset?
“As soon as we arrived at the mansion, my father called a priest and had him treat Elia. I also watched anxiously.”
“…”
“I watched the wound heal, but I was so scared because Elia wasn’t waking up.”
She quietly listened to what the child said. She felt dazed, as if she had heard something unexpected. It was to the point where she was confused as to whether she had heard correctly… she didn’t hear it wrong, right?
“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I couldn’t do anything when I saw Elia get hit. I was so scared that all I could do was cry.”
The child began to cry again, spilling his words.
“It’s okay. It’s natural to be scared in a situation like that. Anyway, it’s my fault for going out, so it’s my fault.”
“No!”
The child was startled and raised his head. There were still tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.
“Elia’s not doing anything wrong. It’s all because of those bad people.”
She clenched both of Liam’s hands and suddenly grunted. His eyes were filled with tears, and he was both cute and funny, and she burst out laughing.
“Oh, don’t laugh. I’m going to scold all those bad people.”
After saying that, Deliam punched her hard in the air. s if those people were in front of him. At that, laughter burst out again.
“…”
“I’m very serious.”
The child waved his hand as if to stop laughing, but the laughter continued to flow. By the time Deliamfinally stopped laughing, he had sulked slightly. She urgently stroked the child’s head, feeling like she was going to miss it for a moment.
“Relax, okay? Liam, I laughed because you were so amazing.”
“…Because you have a vested interest?”
“Yes. It’s special.”
“Then that’s enough…”
She hugged him tightly, as if asking when a child was upset.
“Anyway, I hope Elia doesn’t get hurt anymore. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“Yes. That won’t happen again. I promise.”
“Then, hang your finger.”
The child raised his head, grabbed her hand, and put his little finger in it. She then waved her hand and said, ‘I promise.’
“Well, of course.”
Now she looked down happily at the smiling child. At that time, she spoke with a look on her face as if she remembered Deliam.
“By the way, what happened with father?”
“Why?”
“He was upset, so I went to the stables and looked at Charles for a while, and when I came back, I ran into my father, and his eyes looked like this.”
The child paused for a moment and lifted her eyes with her hands.
“He was very angry.”
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on November, 5.
Want to read more?
