97. Someone Just Like Me

I must not get caught.

I didn’t know why they were looking for me, but fear engulfed me. I had been deceived by their schemes several times. I was tired of being manipulated.

Keeping low, I moved through the maze garden, careful not to step on any branches.

Avoiding the knights was easier than I thought. I just had to walk in the direction where their voices couldn’t be heard. They didn’t call out loudly, perhaps wanting to keep my disappearance a secret. As I crouched, the voices gradually faded away.

I went deep into the maze.

The garden was vast and its paths long, almost impossible to escape if you didn’t know the way.

Surrounded by tall hedges, I felt a different kind of suffocation. An eerie atmosphere hung in the air.

I had come too far, focusing solely on avoiding the knights. The deeper parts of the maze had no lights. I moved forward, relying on my senses.

Would there be an end? The vast darkness seemed endless.

I stood up, deciding that I needed to exit the maze even if it meant being found by the knights.

They say you should follow one wall in a maze, so I placed my hand on the left hedge and walked along it. I tried to lean against the large wall, but it kept ending abruptly at dead ends.

Gradually, fear began to set in. It was too quiet to shout for help, and the hedges were too tall to climb over.

I relied on the faint light to find my way.

Then, I saw someone standing at the end of the maze. Although not dressed like the knights, he seemed to be looking for someone.

I felt a huge relief and called out to him.

“Knight?”

The man wearing a brown beret looked up. His jacket bore no family crest. Although he carried a sword at his waist, he wasn’t an official knight from any house.

Despite my loud call, he simply stared at me without any intention of helping.

Was he not a knight? After a moment, he spoke, breaking the silence.

“Red hair.”

His eyes were fixed on me as he continued.

“Black dress, butterfly pin.”

He listed my appearance. His tone was rude, but what was more chilling was the coldness in his voice.

“Found you.”

With those words, he crumpled the paper he was holding, a smile forming on his lips.

It seemed the paper contained my details.

“Do you know Prince Deon?”

His tone was eerily unsettling as he asked the question, striding toward me with an air of arrogance.

“No.”

Danger.

Sensing the threat, I instinctively shook my head.

“Really? It seems like you do.”

The man smiled menacingly, his eyes gleaming with a sinister light.

“I said I don’t know him.”

I took a step back. I was about to turn and run when I bumped into another man’s chest behind me.

Only then did I realize he wasn’t alone. The man behind me wrapped his thick arms around me, preventing my escape. I tried to twist free, but there was no space to maneuver.

“Listen, noble lady. It’s best if you tell the truth if you don’t want to die. Let’s make this easy for both of us.”

The first man threatened me, his steps quickening as he closed in.

“You do know him, don’t you?”

For a brief moment, our eyes met in the air. A cold chill washed over my entire body.

I shook my head again. But they clearly didn’t believe me. Ignoring my words, the man signaled to the one behind me.

“This is the one. She matches the description. Take her.”

They easily restrained me as I struggled, covering my mouth with a cloth soaked in a strong-smelling substance. The chemical fumes overwhelmed me, and I couldn’t move as they held me tightly.

I tried to resist, reaching out with my arms, but it was too late. The pungent smell filled my senses, and my body went limp.

The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was the man’s sinister smile.

* * *

I woke up coughing from the acrid air. They had left me in an abandoned warehouse.

The warehouse seemed to be halfway up a mountain. From the view of the lights of the village below, it wasn’t too far away.

It had become night while I was unconscious. Darkness enveloped the surroundings, and the only thing I could see was a group of men gathered around a campfire. The sound of crackling wood was clear.

They had tied me to a wooden chair, my hands bound behind me.

Despite the tight ropes, they had overlooked one thing: my wrists were unusually slender.

If I twisted just right, I could probably slip free. If I could escape while they were distracted.

My wrists, scraped and swollen from the coarse rope, were still moving since I regained consciousness. Pretending to be unconscious, I kept my eyes shut and continued to work my wrists loose.

“Are you sure the signal’s coming from here? There were no guards around. We even shook off the knights.”

“But the signal keeps beeping.”

Their voices came through clearly even with my eyes tightly shut.

Signal? I silently pondered their words.

The deep voice grew closer. It seemed like he was walking towards me. To avoid detection, I stopped my frantic movements.

I slumped my head forward, feigning unconsciousness.

He placed his hand on the armrest of the chair and began to search through my clothes. The invasive touch made my skin crawl, but I forced myself to stay still, resisting the urge to frown.

The man’s hand, which had been patting my arms and shoulders, moved up to my collarbone. He grabbed my neck and whispered.

“This must be it. The tracking device.”

He yanked roughly at the necklace without bothering to undo the clasp.

“Ugh.”

I tried to suppress it, but a low groan escaped my lips.

He had pulled so hard that my neck was jerked forward, as if he had grabbed me by the collar.

For a moment, I felt like I was being strangled. The necklace snapped in his hand.

Through half-closed eyes, I saw his face. He had a scruffy beard and wore a dirty shirt that looked like it belonged in a slaughterhouse. The shirt, originally white, was stained with dark, reddish-brown spots—rust or blood, I couldn’t tell.

He threw the necklace to the ground.

“This thing?”

A sharp hook had scratched the back of my neck. The scraped skin stung, and it felt like it might have torn.

I stifled a moan of pain.

The man scowled at the necklace on the ground.

“That tiny thing is a tracking device?”

“These nobles have all sorts of gadgets. Too much money to spend.”

He sneered, then waved dismissively at another man waiting nearby.

“Bring the tools and smash it all to pieces.”

A younger-looking man dragged a large hammer from the back. It was thicker and had a longer handle than a typical hammer.

He swung the hammer a few times in the air, then brought it down hard on the necklace. The chain snapped, and the delicate components shattered under the impact. Pieces of the chain and crushed remnants scattered across the floor.

But the gem in the center remained intact. In the drab, gray warehouse, it shone brightly, standing out against its surroundings.

“This thing won’t break.”

The younger man exclaimed in a flustered voice, sweat trickling down his forehead.

“What? You just don’t know how to hit it right. Let me do it.”

The first man said, snatching the hammer.

He swung it just as forcefully as the other man.

Clang, clang.

The sound echoed through the warehouse, like iron being struck in a forge.

After a while, the man pounding on the gem paused to catch his breath, wiping the sweat from his chin. His face was flushed.

“What the… this…”

His voice was tinged with frustration and disbelief.

“There must be some magic in it,” he muttered, picking up the gem. It shimmered in the moonlight, shifting from purple to pink. He examined it closely, then clenched it in his fist.

“They gave something this expensive to her?”

“That’s because…”

The rest of his words were drowned out by the sound of the hammer striking the gem again.

I took advantage of the distraction, wiggling my hands against the ropes. My fingers were numb, but I managed to slip my pinky out.

Once I was halfway free, I decided to make a run for it when the men’s guard was down.

In the garden, Deon’s and the Sinoa family’s knights were looking for me. If it was this dark already, they must have realized I was missing.

My plan was to get down from the mountain and rely on their help. If I could make it to the lights of the nearby village, these men wouldn’t dare act recklessly.

The man tossed the hammer aside. The banging in the warehouse ceased, leaving a heavy silence. Their murmuring voices drew my attention.

“So what do we do with her?”

“Wait for the client to arrive.”

“Just wait around?”

“They gave her an entrance pass to the royal party. They won’t abandon her.”

I kept my eyes on them, not letting my guard down. Just a little more. Just a bit longer.

They continued chatting, oblivious to my escape plan. I managed to slip my second finger out from the ropes. Quietly, I celebrated.

“But are you sure she’s the right one?”

A man who had been silent spoke up softly.

“I’m sure. What’s your problem?”

“You’re always such a buzzkill.”

Another man chimed in, laughing lightly at the end of his sentence.

“I’m not trying to ruin anything. It’s just… she doesn’t look like the kind of beauty a noble prince would go for.”

“Nobles don’t just go for pretty faces. There must be another reason.”

The man chuckled, leaning back and laughing heartily.

“Still, she doesn’t seem like the kind of temptress who could ensnare the empire’s next crown prince.”

I paused my movements. Their conversation was taking an odd turn.

Something seemed off, a strange mismatch in their words and my reality.

“Are you saying this woman is the prince’s mistress?”

The man who had been casting suspicious glances at me voiced his doubt.

Could it be? They didn’t know who I really was.

I stifled a breath and continued working on the ropes. If they had the wrong idea about me, it might buy me more time.

One by one, I slipped my fingers free, feeling the ropes loosen around my wrists. All I needed was a few more moments to break free and make my escape.