Trap
In the fall and winter of that year, when everything was lost, the world seemed to collapse, but people were stronger than we thought, and the world doesn’t fall apart that easily.
That’s how Riela became part of Garland, a very deep mountain village in the southern part of the Liotta Kingdom.
It is not a rich place, but it was a place of quite simple peace to stay.
Riella worked tirelessly at Madame Fernier’s bar, where she served a stranger.
Riella did just fine.
She tried to understand her colleagues, who had no choice but to be the way they were, and she let go of the past and adapted to her new life.
And she forgot about Fabian.
Meanwhile, the seasons changed rapidly.
By the time she spent the rest of the fall and winter and into the spring of the following year, some of the wounds that seemed like they would never heal had healed.
To be precise, it wasn’t healed but dulled.
It was fortunate that this village was the place where she ran away and hid. Garland’s busy life has been a great help in making her forget her confused thoughts.
“Riella! I want to pay for our drinks.”
“Mr. Bill, you paid the bill earlier. Are you drunk already?”
“What are you talking about? I never paid for it. Hiccup! Come on, Get the money for the drink!”
“No. Then you’ll come back tomorrow and ask me to bite you again, right?”
“Ugh No, I won’t. This is for Riella, so you can take it.”
When Riella showed disapproval in front of the tongue-twisted customer, the lady at the counter laughed.
“Mr. Bill wants to give her pocket money, Riella, just pretend you don’t know and take it,” she said.
Riela giggled as she watched the customer stagger ridiculously in front of her.
‘If I laugh at trivial things while staying busy like this, I will be freed from painful memories someday.’
Riella thought so.
Cring, cring!
“Yes. Welcome oh…Oh my goodness?”
It was then that an unexpected customer entered the bar, which was always crowded with the same regular customers.
The room, which had been noisy with people who had spent the day relaxing with a glass of cheap beer, was silenced at once
All eyes were on the strange visitor in the bar.
“Oh, welcome. the royal knight…What brings you to such a shabby place…?”
Lady Fernier greeted the guest cautiously. She had a good eye for the fact that the crest drawn on the knight’s armor belonged to the royal family.
But the knights did not respond. Instead, they only looked around with hard faces, just like people who came to find something they had left in advance.
“Ah. There she is.”
A neat woman with red hair tied back entered the front of the knight holding a wanted flyer. No matter who sees her, she doesn’t fit in a place like this.
“Riella Blinite.”
The knight approached Riella and said.
“I arrest you according to international law. Until you are handed over to the Empire, from this time on, your recruits will be taken over by the Royal knight of the Kingdom of Liotta.”
“What? Arrest?”
“Riella? excuse me. Aren’t you misunderstanding something?”
Lady Fernier, the bar staff, and nearby customers were surprised and rushed at them, but the soldiers easily defeated them and restrained Riella’s wrists.
Riella just staggered with a blank face.
‘What is this? Is it a dream? I thought I was finally out of the nightmare. Was I mistaken?’
“Let go of her! What crime did Riella commit?”
At that moment, the youngest and strongest man among the customers jumped out and grabbed the knight by the collar. He was a man who usually flirted with Riella and was kind to her.
The knight answered the man.
“It is a crime of plotting the assassination of His Majesty, the Emperor of the Elshweig Empire.”
The knight didn’t even shake it off, but the speechless man let go of his hand. The other customers, who had been protesting fiercely, and Lady Fernier all shut their mouths with a shocked expressions. The cold silence held Riella’s breath.
The knight who handcuffed Riella now began wrapping the chain around Riella’s torso.
* * *
In the carriage, which traveled day and night without stopping, Riella continued to cry out in desperation. This is ridiculous, there must be a mistake, how could she plan to assassinate someone like the Emperor of the Empire?
At first, the soldier did not even pretend to listen to Riella.
But the reason the knight had no choice but to answer was because he couldn’t beat Riella, who hadn’t eaten or slept for two days and attacked him with swearing.
“Since you were hiding in a valley, you should have looked at how things were going on in the world if you had done something big. You really didn’t know that the crown prince who was missing from the empire came back and became the new emperor? The same crown prince you and the mercenaries tried to kill last fall.”
“What…Wait, last fall…?”
Riella had to doubt her ears.
If it was last fall, it was just before she’d left Fabian, just before she’d met Princess Greta and suffered a betrayal that hurt to think about.
“There must have been a mistake…At that time, we were dealing with bandits. Not someone like the crown prince of the empire. Even then the client…”
“What is the client? The royal family?”
Riella’s heart sank at the knight’s answer. At the same time, she was hopeful that her false accusation might finally be cleared up. However, the soldier sitting across from her just laughed at Riella with a pitiful look on his face.
“See, the sinner is sure to blame the royal family, what the princess says is just right.”
“There’s no point in pretending to be innocent. We’ve got all the testimonies from the people involved that you masterminded the assassination of the emperor.”
“What do you mean, people involved in something that didn’t happen?”
Another mocking laugh flew at Riella, who raised her head as if she still didn’t know why.
“Your colleagues. Your fellow mercenaries who were tricked by your tricks and used for crimes. and other eyewitnesses. They all pointed to you as the real culprit.”
“….”
With those words, all the questions in Riella’s mind were answered. Her eyes darkened.
Riella had only thought that she was in a tragedy where she was abandoned by her lover whose love had grown cold.
But apparently, she had been betrayed in a far more elaborate and dangerous way.
It was late at night a few days later when Riella arrived at the palace. The carriage entered the palace through the back gate, deliberately avoiding the main entrance.
‘Could Fabian be here? Will my colleagues and Princess Greta be here?’
While being taken to prison, Riella thought it funny. She practiced what expression she would show when she met them. Even if she couldn’t give them a sharp stare, at least she didn’t cry like an idiot, so she continued to breathe deeply.
But even that was a vain hope. The only person that greeted Riella as she got off her carriage was the guard, who had come to meet her and take her over.
“It will be pretty cold.”
The guard said as he threw Riella into the icy prison.
“Stay well for a few days, though. You will be comfortable after that.”
It was only a few days later that Riella learned the meaning of the word. It was through the guards’ conversation as if she were told to listen.
They talked about the fact that there were only a few days left before the emperor of the empire arrived here at the royal palace of Liotta, and the execution that would take place as soon as the emperor arrived. The main character of the execution was, of course, Riella.
in a bottomless abyss. In the cold, hunger, and fear. Riela’s consciousness blurred.
It was only her in the cold cage.
Fabian and Riella’s colleagues. Even Princess Greta didn’t show her face.
From end to end, she was complete disregard.
* * *
Spring at the Royal Palace of Liotta was beautiful. It was especially this year. The royal family had worked themselves to death landscaping in preparation for the official visit of the new Emperor of the Elshweig Empire.
It wasn’t just landscaping. From the rusted hard chips on the gates to the top of the royal palace roof, which the human eye could never reach, the people polished and polished until it shone.
There was also extensive road construction across the kingdom’s territory. From the border with the empire to the capital, all the roads that the emperor’s carriage could pass through were fixed.
The detached palace where the emperor and his entourage will stay has also been refurbished, and preparations for a grand banquet to welcome the emperor’s visit have already been made. It finished 2 weeks ago.
All the arrangements were perfect, with nothing more to do.
Nonetheless, the owner of the palace, Taran II, looked pale. Greta whispered close to the king, who was so nervous that his teeth clashed.
“Don’t worry. father. We’ll be fine.”
Princess Greta looked as confident as she was elegantly dressed.
Soon the messenger’s whistle reached high into the sky, and the gates opened with a heavy sound.
The envoys of the new emperor of the Elschweig Empire rushed into the gates like an army. Even though it was a ceremonial trip for friendship with a neighboring country, it looked as if hundreds of attendants were going to the battlefield, and it looked sober and splendid.
In the midst of a magnificent procession with no end in sight, there was an exceptionally splendid and tall horse. the new emperor of the empire. It was a horse carrying Herhan.
Greta stared at him for a moment, stunned. Although Herhan’s existence was not so pleasant.
It was fortunate that she was awakened by the sound of the fireworks fired by the palace guards at the right time. If it wasn’t for that, she would have given the emperor a stupid face.
“Ohh. A new sun on the continent. The young emperor of Elschweig.”
King Taran II spread His arms and stepped forward. Greta also followed the King with a dignified step behind him.
They practiced facial expressions, gestures, and steps to greet the Emperor over a hundred times.
“We sincerely welcome the Emperor personally visiting this place…”
“Thank you for your hospitality. king.”
But then Herhan stopped talking without making eye contact with the king. Even after he got off his horse, all he did was brush the dust from his clothes with an expressionless face.
Taran II, who had greeted Herhan with a low bow unbecoming of a king, was clearly embarrassed. Even though flowers rained in all directions, there was a strange cloud of war.
“Mmm, you must be very tired because you have come a long way.”
“That’s why my ears hurt.”
The king was appalled by Herhan’s blunt answer and ordered the military band to stop playing immediately.
When the drums stopped, the place was as silent as a battlefield.
Noticing the chilly atmosphere, the minister of protocol hurriedly moved forward. He tried to guide Herhan to a place inside the palace, but Herhan slightly shook his head to express his disapproval.
“Then would you like to tour the palace? After that, a grand welcome party is prepared…”
“But first, I’d like to confirm that I’ve agreed to accept the kingdom’s handover.”
“Ah….Do you mean the sinner…now?
“Yes.”
“Well, here… you mean?”
“….”
Herhan did not answer twice.
The Minister of Protocol was confused and did not know what to do.
The dust from the long procession has not yet settled. Even in this place where there are thousands of eyes on them, he wasn’t sure if it was okay to bring ‘that woman’ out right away. The prepared execution table was also quite far from here.
“I’ll take your orders. Your Majesty.”
At that time, it was Princess Greta’s cheerful and dignified voice that intercepted the Minister’s reply.
Greta immediately ordered the knight beside her to drag Riella this way.
“Greta. It is really okay? here…I’m sure the emperor will use his sword!”
“So it worked out rather well. Since many people are watching, the dignity of the national law will stand more upright.”
“But…”
Greta clung to his side and whispered in the ear of her trembling father.
“It would be nice to be able to get rid of her quickly.”
Soon, someone walked out with both arms held by the knights.
It looked more like a shell of someone than a person. Her skin color was fine, and she had enough energy to walk on her own, but she was as expressionless as wax, her pupils dilated as if her soul had fled.
With a satisfied face, Greta presented such a criminal in front of Herhan.
“I dedicate it to the new emperor of Elschweig. Please rule this person who has committed an irreparable sin against the blood of the noble Bielsbach.”
Puk!
Like a piece of meat thrown in front of a lion, a woman with red hair was thrown in front of Herhan.
Herhan looked at the woman who was still breathing without her slight movement.
Everyone focused on him and her with bated breath.
Even the emperor’s attendants, who had been as upright as wooden stones all along, the knight of the palace, and even the royal servants clustered together in the distance. All of them swallowed their saliva and opened their eyes.
In the midst of explosive tension, Herhan finally made a move. His large, firm-looking hand slowly turned to the sheath of his waist.
Greta smiled as if she had finally achieved her long dream, as soon as she saw the silver blade stretching out.
* * *
