CHAPTER 5: HERE, NOW, AND YOU (V)
Part 101
A long time passed after Hegel left. What day was today? Was it stranger or night now? Should she be stuck here waiting for Hegel to come and say crazy things? Adrian was probably looking for me. Had her father and brother heard her news? He said soon she would move somewhere else, then she would go outside, right? She couldn’t escape.
So many thoughts rushed through her that her head rang. After feeling depressed and holding her legs together under the blanket, she suddenly got up. She thought she heard something, so she leaned close to the iron and put my ear to it. The sound of metal clicking could be heard outside the thick iron. Careful hands were unlocking the lock. Who was it? Was it Hegel? Hegel would not have opened his mouth so carefully. Was it Adrian? Did he come looking for her? The clicking sound stopped and there was the sound of chains scraping. Someone was trying to open the cabinet.
When she heard the sound of metal pulling the bowl from outside and raising her ears, she was startled and fell from the bowl. After hesitating about what to do, she backed off. Although she was in a narrow cell with nowhere to go anyway, she stuck to the opposite wall as much as possible and hid behind the screen. What if it’s not Adrian? He said he was taking her somewhere, but what if he’s a bad guy other than Hegel? She was nervous, but as soon as the door opened and she saw the person entering the room, she shouted.
“Homer!!”
“Lady Damien!”
It was Homer. ‘Oh my god.’ He came to save her. She could get out of here! Homer approached her with great strides, grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him.
“If I had known this would happen, I would have brought the knights. Young lady, stay on my back. I will definitely get you out of here.”
It was a low voice. She shouldn’t attract attention. It seems like Homer has snuck in. She nodded and followed Homer. After leaving the terrible cell, she followed Homer and walked down a dark, dark underground passage. She was so nervous that even the sound of her own footsteps made her cringe.
After walking for a while, they came across a small open chest. Two militiamen were lying on the ground. It was pitch black outside Nabu Boon, so her steps stopped without her realizing it. Homer turned around and held out his hand, urging her on, when a militiaman appeared from behind.
“Huh? The woman is running away! There is an intruder!”
From that moment on, she didn’t think anything of it. She took Homer’s hand and ran into the darkness. Militia members were chasing after them, and the dark passage continued endlessly.
“Miss!”
When she heard Hegel’s voice, goosebumps rose up her back. No. She could run away. So she ran with all her might. The only thing she could rely on in the long, dark passage was the back of Homer running ahead of her. She didn’t know how much of a curse she felt for her body, which had never even exercised, as she worked hard to keep up. The dress was all wrinkled and cumbersome. The slippers she was wearing had already come off a long time ago. But the militia pursuing them got closer and closer. As they left the long passage and came out, she saw a red sky with dusk falling. Homer and she ran to the dock. Large and small boats were tied up at the end of the long dock. They were trying to get on a boat. Homer cut the rope he was tied to with a knife and climbed onto a small fishing boat, reaching out to me. He held out his hand and was about to grab it and climb onto the boat.
“Kya!”
Someone grabbed her hair viciously. Homer swung his sword without hesitation. The feeling of being pulled from behind disappeared and she threw herself onto the boat. She fell on her stomach and turned around to see Homer cutting down the militiaman who was holding her hair. And in the meantime, other militia members were seen climbing onto the boat. Homer was dealing with a crowd of militiamen on the bow and approached her directly. She barely got up and retreated hesitantly from the shaking boat.
“I thought you said it would be okay as long as you don’t kill me?”
She ran to the end of the ship, but the militiamen laughed at her and chased after her. On a rocking boat, the blue river behind them. There was nowhere else to go, but the guy with a vicious face approached her and raised his sword as if he was going to swing it.
“Damian!”
Homer shouted urgently, but she was a good distance away from him, and the militiaman was already trying to swing his raised arm. She closed her eyes tightly, hugged her head, and screamed, but the next moment, something unexpected occurred to her. When she opened her eyes, she saw the tip of an arrow sticking out in the middle of his chest, coughing up blood and dropping his sword. She could see Homer’s urgent face running towards her, and Hegel holding a bow in the distance.
The militiaman, who had stopped breathing, collapsed. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to avoid at the end of the boat, so she lost her balance while trying to avoid the body of the guy falling. The boat shook violently, and she fell under the boat, waving her hands.
‘Oh, I really hate water.’
* * *
Homer gritted his teeth and ran and stretched out his hand, but Damien sank beneath the water. The strong current of the River Lorraine swept her away in an instant. Without any hesitation, Homer also jumped into the water. When Hegel arrived on the ship, both of them were already gone. A militia member rushed to report to Hegel, who was looking at the flowing river in despair.
“Right now, Duke Bigor is coming here. All the kids in the basement are already dead!”
Adrian was coming. Damian was swept away by the river. Hegel, who had raised his body, grabbed Damian’s hair from the militia member’s body lying on the floor. Then they threw his body down the river.
“Dispose of the other bodies as well, the lady has already left on the ship.”
As the blood stains were quickly washed away in the river and the body was disposed of, Adrian appeared out of the secret underground passage with his red eyes shining. Hegel felt as if his heart was frozen by the cold air emanating from Adrian as he walked. He hugged his soft chest and lowered his head with a forced smile on his lips.
“My lord.”
Standing at a distance where he could have cut off his head if he had drawn his sword, Adrian looked down at Hegel’s head in silence. As Hegel lowered his head, he felt as if he had seen his head cut off several times and rolling on the floor. After a long silence, Adrian’s icy voice fell on Hegel’s head.
“She is?”
“The lady left on a boat a little while ago.”
Hegel responded by raising his head and making eye contact with Adrian, but then quickly averted his gaze. He thought he would be angry. He had seen him being friendly with Damian a few times, and he knew that he was pouring her heart out in a way that made it impossible to think of him as the usual Adrian. So he thought he would use Damian. Although he was reluctant to kidnap a helpless lady, especially the woman his lord was in love with, it was much better than Hennessy and Doev’s plan to hurt Adrian. He may be angry right away, but once he knew everything, he would understand. Damian would return to Adrian in good health, and he would be grateful after becoming king and gaining many things, he thought.
However, he couldn’t face the gaze he was seeing for the first time. Although he was said to be cold-blooded and merciless towards his enemies, Adrian was very warm towards his own people. He was the master who laughed at Hegel’s trivial jokes and patted him on the shoulder after the battle. The man who protected his subordinates with red eyes in a dangerous battle that could have cost him his life is now looking down on Hegel. With eyes that see things other than his colleagues or subordinates,
“Where did you take the young lady?”
Ethan asked, unable to bear the silence between the two. A quick glance at Ethan’s eyes was no different from Adrian’s. A deep sense of betrayal and an even deeper sense of disgust pierced Hegel’s eyes.
“Ah, I hope she is in a safe place. I will send her back when my lord ascends to the throne.”
Hegel managed to calm his cracking voice and reply. His lips trembled as he told lies. Adrian and his former colleagues were pressuring Hegel with a deadly force. Franz was trembling as he tried to restrain himself from jumping out. Hegel, who thought he could endure a moment of misunderstanding, became increasingly thirsty.
“Hegel.”
Adrian called Hegel. He jerked his head up at the sound of his own name, which sounded extremely unfamiliar. Adrian looked straight into Hegel’s eyes with eyes that had not changed at all.
“Yes, yes, my lord.”
“Die.”
It was an order that seemed to have to be implemented immediately. Nothing happened, but Hegel felt like he was being strangled. He fell to his knees and mustered up all his strength to make an excuse.
“Master. It’s true. You become the king, and I will explain. If you create a strong empire that no one dares to surpass, how about you become the emperor of that empire? She, too, will return safely and become empress. That’s all I ask, my lord. Please listen to me more.”
“Die.”
Hegel grabbed his neck so that his voice could no longer come out. Adrian’s red, red eyes commanded him to die immediately, and at the master’s command, Hegel had a hard time resisting the instinct to draw his sword and strike his own neck. Adrian was gathering his patience not to swing the sword he was holding. He saw the small, dark, cold cell where Damien was locked up. He saw one remaining shoe lying on the floor. There was still warmth inside the rough blanket.
It was here. Damien, until a little while ago, was here. She could have been saved, if only he had hurried a little longer, but she disappeared again.
The guy who he would tear into a thousand pieces if he could was talking nonsense. Who was the colleague he spent the last four years with? Adrian looked down at Hegel with a cozy feeling, and Hegel looked up at Adrian with a breathless expression. Hennessy appeared, leading a bunch of militia, in front of those who were wielding their hearts instead of swords that they could not swing as the sun set and darkness fell.
“I think I said that if you do something unnecessary, your woman will get hurt. It’s not good if it’s like this.”
Hennessy spoke with a disapproving look on his face, but neither Adrian nor Hegel turned around. Hennessy, who was even more offended by the two men’s actions, shouted at Hegel this time.
“Hegel, can’t you get up? How long are you going to kneel down?”
When Hegel stood up and stood behind Hennessy, Adrian also looked at Hennessy.
“From now on, don’t let your knights leave the Duke’s residence. If you act like this one more time, I’ll understand that it means you really don’t care about hostages.”
In front of the threatening Hennessy, Adrian bit his tongue and couldn’t say anything. It seemed like if he opened his mouth, his trembling voice would come out. He couldn’t even blink because he felt like if he moved even a little bit, he would swing his sword without thinking. After looking at Adrian unresponsive, Hennessy returned to the royal palace with Hegel in tow. Hegel looked back at Adrian several times, but bowed his head at Hennessy’s Progress and walked away. On the dockside where the cold wind blew, Adrian and the Knights of Bigor stood looking at the river for a long time.
Ethan, who was looking behind Adrian’s back with a longing heart, spoke carefully.
“Master, please leave now.”
“Ethan.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“There’s blood stains.”
At Adrian’s words, Ethan looked at the floor. He caught a glimpse of blood stains on the wooden floor at the end of the dock that had not been completely washed away by the water. Ethan raised his head, looked up at Adrian, and shouted in a hurry.
“Probably not!”
Adrian nodded his head, keeping his gaze on the river.
“Probably not. But something happened.”
Ethan, attach someone secretly. “Check out where Hegel goes.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Tears welled up in Ethan’s eyes as he lowered his head. Probably not. Damian was the only card they hold. There’s no way they could hurt her. Even though he was thinking that, he felt so bitter inside. How did Adrian feel when he saw this? He was unable to raise his head for a while, unable to even cry in front of his lord, who was barely holding on with nerves that were on the verge of breaking.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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