She had the chance to closely inspect the arm on the pole after the flock of birds had flown away.The arm was severely decayed, and the bones were exposed from being gnawed by scavengers. Because of that, she couldn’t be sure if it was Laslo’s arm.
“No.”
This could not possibly be his arm. Agnes trembled and clenched her hands together.
Please. Please. Please.
The last bird flew away.
“Oh, no. No, no!”
Thanks to that, the tattoo of a thorn vine and a crow on the side of the wrist was partially visible. She had previously seen that mark many times on Duke Arpad. Only the family head could have it engraved on their body.
– Please be in good health.
“Aaaaah!”
Agnes screamed with her whole body, not just her mouth. She felt keenly what it meant for one’s world to crumble. Her toes went cold, and her breath stopped.
– My wife.
“Heuk, Ughhh! No!”
His eyes sometimes scared her. Every time he looked at her and sighed, she felt like an unwelcome presence, and her body stiffened.
– Be in good health.
Agnes knelt in front of the pole, clutching her chest.
Why did you not hand me over to the King?
Every day since that day, she has dreamed of Zoltan’s eyes losing their light.
There were times when Agnes wanted to stop traveling all the way south and let go of everything, but when she woke up in the morning, she drank cold water and ate dried jerky. She continued to make some sort of effort to survive. Instead of having the desire to live, guilt was what gave her the will to survive.
Her palms were drenched in tears. Her hands grasped the dry grass to the ground and crumpled it. Her entire being was overwhelmed by grief.
“Ah, ahhhh!”
She felt as though her chest and back were being pounded with a club. Every word that came out of her mouth shattered into pieces.
There was nothing I did for you. Even so, your limbs were torn because of me.
Suddenly, she saw her left hand wrapped in bandages. She frantically unraveled the bandages like a madwoman.
“This, if it hadn’t been for this, heuk, this…..”
It was a magical mark that only appeared on the bodies of royal family members with the right to succeed the throne. Since she was born, Agnes had always taken pride in this mark. She was so proud of proving her noble lineage that she didn’t even bother to wear gloves.
She struck her hand with the stone next to her without thinking.
“Heukk. If it wasn’t for this, heuuk, aah!”
She struck her hand until it was covered in blood. She struck it countless times, unable to count the number of blows, until the mark was no longer visible under the blood.
“Aa, aahhh, aack!”
Her blood rushed out of control as she remembered the image of Lasto, who had been disgracefully killed with his flesh torn apart.
Sebastian!
I will never forgive you. Never.
As she thought of her brother, who always had a twisted smile, she realized how powerless she was.
She scurried beneath the pole. She used her bloody bare hands to dig the pole out of the ground. The right arm, with only half of it remaining, emitted a strong stench as she got closer. But Agnes didn’t give a damn.
Instead, she carefully wrapped it in her cloak and descended the hill.
“Duke Arpad.”
She crouched down and dug on the ground in a location where the stars were clearly visible. She then brought his arm to the ground.
“Please never forgive me.”
She cried a few hot tears over the tiny grave before continuing on the road. She didn’t intend to travel to the South.
- ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
“Does it make sense that you still haven’t caught the princess? Isn’t she a royal who can’t even put on a shoe with her own hands?”
The king’s most devoted knight, Anton, could not conceal his annoyance. His soldiers bowed their heads.
“We apologize.”
“Huh. So where’s the princess now?”
“She’s in Kishun.”
“Kishun? Is she heading to that dragon forest?”
It is a huge forest with an old legend of a sleeping dragon. It was so complex that once you entered it it was nearly impossible to get out.
The princess, who kept pushing southward on her horse, changed her course and began heading west.
Anton clutched his throbbing head.
“His Majesty’s urging is gradually becoming more severe. There’s no need to bring her back alive, so hurry up.”
“Yes.”
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
“Gasp, huuhook, gasp”
“Get her! Ben! Go over there!”
Right next to her, she could hear the pursuers screaming. The sound of arrows piercing the air grazed her ears immediately after that. It landed directly in front of her. She continued moving her feet to avoid the arrows.
“Don’t let her escape! Kill her!”
Agnes ran so fast that her mouth was hanging open as she gasped. Her heart felt like it was going to break from how quickly it was beating, and her sides hurt like they were going to fall apart. The pursuer’s arrow struck the horse dead at the forest’s entrance. She fell with her arms first when the horse collapsed. Although she was unable to move it, surviving was more important.
She clung to her severely swollen arm as she made an effort to make it to the forest’s center. Then, a sharp pain struck her lower back.
“Ah!”
When an arrow hit her back, Agnes could no longer run. She stumbled forward a few steps before collapsing. The men who had been following Agnes swooped in and surrounded her.
“We got her!”
No. Death wasn’t what she feared.
Agnes was born and raised in the palace, where she experienced a variety of deaths. She had witnessed one of her siblings die and the other be crippled. It wasn’t frightening to die at the hands of Sebastian.
“Aack!”
However, dying without exacting revenge was heartbreaking and painful. She couldn’t let his death be in vain because she had been able to stay alive while his limbs were being severed. .She had barely made it to Kyshukun. Just a little further. Just a bit more.
“Let me go!”
Although it was excruciating as her broken arm pressed against the ground, she bit her lip and endured the pain.
“Ben! Get the rope and come here!”
“Let go of me!”
Agnes violently writhed, and the man holding her arms mercilessly struck her head. Her vision suddenly went white at that point.
“Keugk!”
“Be silent. I’ve been suffering for a few days because of you.”
“Captain, the King said we could kill her.”
The man’s voice carried a hint of annoyance. He spoke in a grave voice, remembering the long period of struggle brought on by Agnes.
“Still, it would be preferable to take her alive.”
He began to bind the princess’s body with the rope he had received from his subordinates. Agnes resisted with all her might, but her rebellion was futile now that she had been apprehended by several men.
Duke Arpad.
She repeated his name as her face got buried in dirt.
“It would be better to knock her out and take her.”
The man on top of her body spoke. He bound her tightly, preventing blood flow to her arms.
Duke Arpad.
– Please be in good health.
Agnes wept, but not just from the pain she had experienced. She couldn’t stop sobbing as she recalled the last time she had seen that man’s face. She felt as though someone were slicing and tearing her chest apart with a knife, suffocating her.
“Laslo……”
Agnes muttered a name that she had never used in her entire life. With a dull thud, a strong impact hit her head. Her recollection ended there.
- Beginning
– Don’t forget.
A voice said.
– You belong to me now.
“…is enough.”
She felt as if she’d awoken from a long sleep. Agnes blinked. Unexpectedly, the way her fingers bent was strange. Her mind was so groggy that she couldn’t remember where she was. When she raised her head a familiar face was standing in front of her.
“What?”
He told her again as he thought she hadn’t heard it.
“The title “princess” is enough.”
There was Laslo. Agnes couldn’t believe her eyes seeing the man speaking and alive.
“What?”
She asked again, with the same expression as before.
“Are you trying to make me repeat the same thing three times?”
His eyebrows furrowed as he folded his arms.
“Wait. No, is this a dream?”
She vividly remembered the sensation of the ground she had dug to bury his arm. The stench of his right arm, which was mostly bone, still lingered in her nose. Agnes pinch her cheek in bewilderment. Unexpectedly, it hurts.
“Dream? What do you mean?”
Laslo asked with a puzzled look.
“Laslo? Is that you really?”
Agnes clenched and unclenched her left hand repeatedly, then got up from the bed and approached him. Still, she struggled to accept what she was seeing.
“I haven’t permitted you to call me by my name.”
Laslo muttered with a subtle expression on his face. Agnes, as if he didn’t hear him, took a step closer..
“Is this real?”
Perhaps it was an illusion that would disappear when touched. It could be a dream in the midst of being dragged away like a dog to the king.
😊