There was clearly no sound a moment ago. No matter how much it was buried under the sound of rain, it was impossible to completely erase its presence.
Eugenia secretly took in her breath. But she never looked back.
‘Who the hell is it?’
She still had a chance to escape.
‘Let’s check first. It could be a misunderstanding.’
Snap.
As she took one step at a slow pace, a loud ‘clump’ sound followed.
Slap, slap.
This time she tried walking fast. Likewise, a ‘slipping’ sound was heard at the same speed.
After that, she experimented with different speeds a few times. Clearly, the speed of the person following her was slowing down or speeding up to match her strides.
‘It’s not a misunderstanding. They’re definitely after me.’
Eugenia held her breath like a herbivore moving little by little in order to escape from the wild beast that was watching her.
‘Let’s walk first. Because it doesn’t look like it’s going to attack right away.’
She carefully clutched something in her arms.
‘In case of an accident…’
Please, this should work. She squeezed the object with some desperation and then let go.
‘I shouldn’t go straight to the inn.’
She felt the need to spin as best as she could to get the jerks off her. She wasn’t familiar with the geography of this place, but it wasn’t the time to take stock. She thought as she walked aimlessly but diligently.
‘If it hadn’t rained, it would have been easier to hide among the crowd.’
She was obviously thankful for the rain just a moment ago, but her mind quickly changed and she was very resentful.
‘They are like that too. Can’t you just take care of it and not run out when you’re tired?’
Even though she knew it was a wild idea, she had no choice but to do it. Eugenia pursed her lips, then swallowed her sigh and turned suddenly to her right. She was planning to go around the maze-like alleys and elude them.
‘This…!’
Her eyes were round. And then she bit down on the delicate flesh in her mouth. She could almost taste the fishy taste of blood.
‘Oh, no. Why is it a dead end?’
She has no time to panic. First, she had to get out of here and turn somewhere else. That was when Eugenia hurriedly backed away and tried to get out of here.
“You kept running away, but now you feel like talking?”
They spoke to her.
“Eugenia.”
And calling her name exactly.
Eugenia paused for a moment.
‘Shit.’
She cursed under her breath.
‘What a fool! I was telling myself to be so careful just a little while ago!’
Her teeth gritted at her own stupidity. But at the same time, she felt unfair. Pretending to know her name when she heard it was almost an unconscious reaction. Besides, wasn’t she a maid, albeit a former one? Since her job required her to respond quickly when a superior called her, she developed the habit of responding quickly.
Eugenia bit her delicate lips and blamed herself.
‘My mistake.’
But the situation wasn’t quite the worst. Fortunately for her, she just stopped and didn’t turn around.
‘Is there still a chance to make up for it?’
She wished there was. Eugenia gritted her teeth and pretended to tap the floor with her toes. It wasn’t because they called her to stop, it was to pretend that she stopped because something got into her shoe and it bothered her. However, it seemed that those who followed her were not really stupid people. A sound like a sneer or a scoff could be heard clearly through the sound of the rain. They whistled and looked around with a grumpy attitude.
“Well, that’s good. It’s quiet and there are few people.”
“That’s right. It’s the right place where no one would think it strange if someone disappeared.”
As if they had just seen the passing up until now, they quickly closed the distance between them.
“Hey, if someone calls you, you have to see their face, don’t you?”
One of them took Eugenia by the arm and roughly turned her on her side.
Slap!
She tried to hold on, but it was impossible. Eugenia’s body turned around helplessly. Two men she had never seen before were laughing at her. The man holding Eugenia pulled her hood back behind her.
“Right?”
The man holding the wanted badge looked at her paper and then at Eugenia’s face, then nodded at her.
“That’s right. The hair color is also clear.”
He immediately crumpled the paper he was holding into a ball as if he no longer needed it, then threw it over his shoulder. The men exchanged glances and chuckled among themselves. It looked extremely mean.
“Well, she responded when I called her Eugenia.”
“If you just catch this woman, you get 100 gold. It’s honey, honey.”
The moment she heard those words, Eugenia clicked her tongue inside her.
‘As expected, clumsy acting didn’t work.’
Of course she didn’t have high expectations herself. Still, she did it for herself just in case she didn’t know, but it didn’t seem to be of any use. Eugenia focused her eyes and glared straight at the man.
“What are you doing?”
“Is it her?”
The man holding Eugenia’s arm sarcastically repeated what she had just said. Eugenia’s eyes narrowed further. Rather than pointing out the rudeness, she decided to put more weight on conveying her opinion directly. She was trembling and kept flinching, but she gave strength to each word.
“Let go of this hand right now. Before we get into trouble.”
The men’s lips were parted and another loud sound of ‘Pisik’ came out. It was an obvious ridicule.
“It’s this woman. Would you let go? Your ransom is worth as much as 100 gold?”
It wasn’t very funny, but they felt so happy that they started giggling, as if they had already received the bounty. It was clear that he was looking down on her.
Eugenia narrowed her eyes even more.
“I told you to let go of this.”
“Oh my, you’re scary.”
The man who was sarcastic in a fussy voice twisted his mouth.
“Yes, yes. Let me go.”
Before she could finish his sentence, he pulled Eugenia towards him, but then he threw her away. It was as if he was handling an object. Eugenia’s thin body was roughly pushed and pushed back by the force of the other. Because of her recoil, she was unable to properly strengthen her legs and fell down.
“…ouch.”
Her palms became hot as if they had been burned, probably because they had been chafed when she fell. Eugenia was lying face down and curled up with her body. At first glance it would have seemed like she was scared, but she wasn’t. She was trying to hide something from them.
‘I guess I’ll have to use that.’
She moved her right hand carefully so they wouldn’t notice. It was a quick move. She reached into her inner pocket of her robes and grabbed one of her small cans. With her free hand, she quickly removed the cork that had been loosely plugged just in case. It was a self-defense item she had hastily prepared when leaving the capital. A so-called molester-fighting powder made by combining various herbs that are said to be strong.
‘It’s humid so it won’t extend as far as it would on a clear day.’
Even just a little bit was good. The moment she inhaled, the powder would irritate the nasal mucosa and make her shed tears and snot. Eugenia gritted her teeth and watched the men’s movements keenly. They seemed to be quite underestimating her, so they soon started talking among themselves.
“A child kidnapper? Aren’t the kids looking? I don’t have to take you with me?”
“Can’t you even read, you idiot? They say if you bring this woman, you will be rewarded. Even if you take the kids with you, it’s a burden.”
“Well, that’s also true.”
“If you understand, bring her to me quickly.”
The man who had pushed Eugenia approached with long strides. He roughly grabbed one of Eugenia’s arms and lifted her up. To catch her men off guard as much as possible, Eugenia stood up without much resistance. Perhaps with the intention of tying her up on both sides, the other guy also came this way. Eugenia, who had her head down, noticed that both men were getting closer to her, so she became cautious.
‘Now.’
She took a deep breath.
After stopping her breathing, Eugenia quickly sprinkled her powder into the eyes of the two men and closed her eyes tightly.
“W-what is it?”
“Cough! Fuck you!”
With a harsh curse, her hand that was holding Eugenia’s arm fell.
‘It’s okay!’
She quickly plugged her nose and took a step back. And then she opened her closed eyes.
“What the hell, kek! What is this! Cough!”
She was caught off guard by the sight of two men chuckling at the same time. It seemed like she had taken in a lot more than she expected, and she was covering her nose and mouth with both hands and giggling.
‘It’s okay! Now let’s run away.’
Eugenia took two more steps back, still holding her breath, but then she turned completely around.
‘You just have to get out of this alley!’
Only that thought filled her mind, and at the same time, her body moved.
‘Hurry! Faster…!’
She spurred her legs and ran hard. But the running did not last long.
Bang!
It was because her body hit hard, as if it was blocked by something solid.
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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 May, 30.
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