“Are you not going to eat? It’s delicious.”
The ripe meat delighted her palate.
“We look like a family, by the way. Is it because we all have black hair?”
Just a moment ago, Cardin and Fay, who had been expressing displeasure with the merchant’s colorful sales skills, came to her mind so she laughed quietly.
“If it’s because we have black hair, then half the people in this square look like a family.”
“What a big family.”
Cardin and Fay muttered as they looked at the passers-by.
The two have been like that ever since they were told by the merchant that they look like a father and son.
In some ways, the two of them were in sync, but the parties didn’t seem to know.
“Do you hate it that much?”
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She alternately looked at Cardin, who had sharp eyes like a sword, and Fay, whose eyes were slightly raised like a cat.
They have a somewhat similar atmosphere that people who don’t know them well thought they were really father and son.
“Why are there so many people with black hair?”
The question she had at the entrance of the square resurfaced. All the people she encountered had black hair.
Elvin explained with a smile at her question.
“Haha, if you ask the people of the empire what color they like, more than half of them will say black.”
The founding myth of the first wizard Fay, who was raised by the imperial people from an early age.
And the hero, Cardin, who is now the spiritual pillar of the imperial people within the empire.
Actually, there are heroes representing other colors, but the favorite color of the imperial people is Black.
Since it is the color of the hero of the Empire, black has become a symbol of good luck, and the harvest festival is colored with the hair color of the hero that everyone respects.
‘That’s why there were so many people with black hair on the street.’
“Of course, I don’t need to dye my hair.”
It was Cardin’s arrogant smile after a long time.
I thought you weren’t interested in what Elvin is saying, but you must have been listening to it.
However, there was nothing to refute that confident smile. It was obvious that Cardin was an empire hero.
“Yes, papa is cool.”
He seemed to be in a good mood for the first time in a while, so she responded. Whenever she said he was cool, he smiled unobtrusively.
“Li-el, Liel.”
“Yes?”
“Me too… I don’t need it either.”
Seeing Fay tugging her collar with a grumpy expression, she burst out laughing.
“Both of you are so childish”
She laughed nonstop until her lower stomach hurt.
Somehow, when the two were together, Cardin, who was blunt, and Fay, who was mature, disappeared, and were just like an adult and a child who had a childish war of nerves.
“You’re both awesome. Let’s go there, too!”
The two, who seemed to have a lot to say, followed her silently.
There was so much to see at the harvest festival. While listening to the music of the wandering band and the tightrope walking of the acrobatic group, her laughter continued.
She also had a lot of fun teasing Cardin and Fay as if they didn’t know each other.
“It’s already night.”
As she enjoyed the festival without knowing the time, the sky was dark before she knew it.
The store lit up and the street was ablaze with lights. It was a different charm from the street she saw during the day.
There were still many people, but it was less than during the day, making it easier to walk around.
Now, when she was thinking about where to look, she heard the conversation of people passing by.
“Let’s hurry up and go to the fountain. It’s going to start soon.”
“I’m so excited! What will it be this time?”
Looking around, people were rushing to the fountain in the center of the square one by one.
‘The fireworks that Elvin told me about are about to start.’
“Let’s go to the fountain!”
I must have played everything already. I can’t miss the highlights of the harvest festival.
As she was in the middle of Cardin and Fay, she held their hands, and ran to the fountain.
Already near the fountain, there was no room for people to step in to watch the fireworks.
Judging from the atmosphere, it seemed to start soon.
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For a moment, it occurred to her that Cardin hated crowded places.
After arriving at the fountain, she looked at Cardin, who was now less talkative.
Cardin held her hand tightly with one hand and looked up at the fountain with his usual expressionless face, but fortunately, there was no sign of displeasure.
Rolling.
When she looked down at the sensation of something touching her feet, she saw colored glass marbles glistening.
She looked around to know where it came from and found it rolling out of the child’s pocket in the arms of a young couple.
It was just a short walk away, so she took a short step to pick it up and hand over the glass beads.
When Cardin and Fay hands were released, their wandering eyes met at the same time.
“I’ll bring this to the baby over there. It’s been spilling it.”
She showed them two glass marbles and explained, when she approached the baby.
“Oh, it’s about to start.”
There was a man climbing on the top of the fountain.
She handed the baby the glass bead and was about to go back.
Boom!
An unknown roar came in.
“What, what is it?”
“Argh! Run away!”
“Well, let’s split up! Spread out!”
KWANG!!
This time there was a louder roar. The fountain was exploding. People screamed in horror.
The panicking people began to run away, pushing people next to them, forgetting the order.
“Pa…”
She turned her head to Cardin’s side. Cardin’s face was seen in the midst of screaming and running away.
He had an expression she had never seen before.
Cardin was seen shouting something and stretching his arms.
Tak!
It was an instant.
She was being run over and pushed away by countless people; she was constantly being pushed somewhere regardless of her will.
The last face of Cardin she saw was unforgettable.
***
“Oh, my…!”
It was a miracle to even be able to stand up in the midst of this chaos.
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The child’s body was run over and bumped mercilessly among those fleeing in fear.
“Ugh!”
She was hit right this time.
Her small body, which could not prepare for the sudden big shock, was laid on the floor like a sheet of paper.
“Ha, where there are no people…….”
She ran and ran with all her might because she thought she would be hit by a person if she stays still.
While running, she was pushed and hit by people’s legs mercilessly, but when she ran with her teeth clenched, she arrived at a place where people’s movements were rare.
“It hurts…”
When she came to her senses, she was alone and her body was screaming in pain as if it was beaten up.
Cardin’s face, which she saw just before people pushed her, was still clear.
“Hurry, I have to go back quickly.”
A child with no guardian had no power to protect herself in an unfamiliar place.
Moreover, today was the day where the empire was visited the most by the imperial people and foreigners.
It means that the worst situation is you can disappear without even realizing it.
“Where am I?”
She gathered her confused mind and looked around. No one could see how far she had been pushed.
The alley without even a lamp had a shady atmosphere.
For a moment, she remembered what Elvin had told her.
After coming out of Jacques’s scented candle shop, all alleys are not as safe as Sixth Avenue, so she has to be careful.
“I think I’m in a very dangerous place.”
The emergency light went on in her head. She remembered the iron rule of survival, to stand in one place when you get lost in a strange place.
But she shook her head immediately. This is because standing still in this secluded alley and waiting for Cardin was perfect for being a prey for dangerous people.
“And that explosion…….”
It was obvious that the sudden explosion, which caused all the confusion for a moment, would have driven all the security guards around.
There were security guards in the area so she gave up on looking for them.
She took a deep breath and decided.
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“If I go straight down the alley, I’ll find the main street. As long as nothing happens until then.”
She held her trembling hands together and regained her composure. There was no light to light up the surroundings, so she couldn’t see well, but she had to move on.
She managed to take a steady step forward. The damp moisture stuck to her skin and gave her goosebumps.
Thump.
The sound of her footsteps echoed loudly in the alley. She walked a little faster.
Her eyes were busy penetrating the darkness, and her hands were used to grasp her bursting heart.
“Was the alley this long…….”
It was when she thought that the alley on Sixth Avenue where she went with Elvin wasn’t like this.
A number of footsteps were approaching.
She quickly hid herself in a pile of boards visible around her. The pile of wooden boards was enough to hide the body of a six-year-old.
Soon the sound of footsteps approached.
“Hey, brother. It’s totally empty today. What’s going on here?”
“That’s true. I should have done one thing at a time when people were stupidly looking up at the sky from the fountain!”
“Looking at the situation, tomorrow is going to be a tough day, right?”
The shadow of the three men hung on the wall. She closed her mouth tightly with her hands and held her breath as if a small sound would leak out.
“Those anti-emperor guys……. It’s bad luck. If this doesn’t make the emperor come to his senses then what?”
The sound of the men’s conversation faded away.
She waited until she heard absolutely nothing.
“Phew.”
By the time the silence came back to the alley, she spread out her crumpled body and sneaked out.
She had to go in the opposite direction from where the men went.
“But where!”
Just as she was in a hurry to step away, men appeared and surrounded her.
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“If you want to hide, you have to hide properly. Your shadows were all over. Baby.”
“Why are you here? Hehe, she looks cute.”
The men surrounded her and narrowed the distance.
“What are you guys doing? You’d better not touch me. You’ll regret it!”
Even if the situation was unfavorable, she should not have been scared.
“Oh, you’re scared. You must be scared of these guys.”
There was no effect.
The men shook their legs in a funny way and cried.
“I can get some extra money from this at the market.”
“This is how it comes back after today’s lost. As expected, the sky didn’t abandon us! Hahaha.”
She didn’t think they’d let her go, judging by the conversation that the men had.
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