“Princess, do you really not want to go outside?” the nanny asked me sweetly.
She seemed to still be influenced by the things Ray said a while ago.
Moreover, after Ray officially started attending Episteme, the number of times he visited me had significantly decreased, so the nanny was very concerned about him.
In her eyes, Ray was my best friend, who looked like he was abandoning me like everyone else. Since he was probably the only one to visit the Conberta Palace, I suppose the nanny’s concerns were understandable.
But I’m glad that Ray is busy.
It’s comfortable and quiet when he was not around.
“If you go out, you will feel refreshed,” the nanny said again, trying to persuade me.
It’s been a week since she started to talk about going out whenever she had time.
“You might find something that you like. There are so many amazing things outside!”
I know, and I’m not curious.
She wanted me to see and learn more, saying that I could not know the real world by living in this narrow palace.
She’s been whining for days that having more experience will make me a better person, so in the end, I surrendered.
I decided to do it. It was a little weird that I was nine years old and never got out of the palace anyway.
I was not one of those cursed fairy tale princesses, who were locked away in a castle.
“Okay, nanny.”
There was no reason to refuse to go out even though I didn’t particularly want to go.
The nanny, on the other hand, was very happy with my positive answer, and prepared for my outing.
“But to be safe, we’ll only stay for an hour or two. Just enough for you to look around,” she said while putting a cape around my shoulders.
That was the starting point.
* * *
“Okay, you did properly communicate the terms to that woman, didn’t you?”
“Five big ones. At the Red Well a week from today.”
Blindfolded, I overheard voices coming from somewhere.
I could feel the rough straw on the floor and smell the dry air wrapped in dry dust and sand with every breath I took.
This…
“She looked like a pretty rich girl.”
Was I kidnapped?
Did I really encounter such an unfortunate incident on my first outing?
As my mind cleared up, I recalled walking on the street with the nanny. I remembered she collapsed with a terrifying popping when we were passing through a deserted street.
After that, a handkerchief covered my mouth while spomene hit me from behind, and I lost consciousness.
The criminals seemed to have brought us here, then sent the nanny back to bring the ransom money back. It didn’t sound like they knew that I was a princess yet.
Although I was conscious to a certain extent, perhaps because of the drug they used, I felt weak and drowsy. So, while focusing on what they were saying, I left my collapsed body as it was.
And unaware that came back to my senses, the kidnappers kept talking.
“She originally didn’t want to leave the girl behind, and made a fuss about how she would die. So I was like, ‘Would you like me to kill both of you right now then? If you really want to save the kid, bring me the money.’ Then, she ran away, crying. But now, I’m thinking that I should just sell the girl to the highest bidder.”
I could hear the kidnappers giggle among themselves.
Seriously, if you want life to be dirty, it can get dirty somehow.
I was more angry than scared. I wanted to live a good life, but why was everyone so hell bent on making it hard for me to do so?
“So, when are you going to kill her?” one of them suddenly asked.
“Once we have the money is in our hands. Before that, we might find some use for her.”
“It’s crazy to see a little girl wear clothes that are more expensive than our house.”
“Of course they are. Those unlucky ones deserve to be burned to death.”
I couldn’t believe that I, who was once the Reigning Empress, was in a situation like this.
The fact that a member of the royal family had been kidnapped by these amateurs was absolutely ridiculous.
But, honestly, I was an easy target.
There was no escort assigned to me. My safety rested solely on the single guard guarding my palace’s front door.
Moreover, I only planned to go out just for a while, so I thought there was no need to bring anyone.
I believed I was safe since I never received any death threats or something similar. No one ever threatened me, and no one even knew what the princess looked like except for the nobles who routinely frequented the imperial palace.
I acknowledged my and the imperial family’s complacency, but I was livid by my lack of strength to defeat those kidnappers myself.
I was only nine years old, so I couldn’t possibly defeat an adult man in direct combat.
Besides, I haven’t even sharpened my swordsmanship ever since I came back.
Before the return, I could wield a sword well enough to be called the incarnation of war, but after it happened, I purposely avoided anything related to swordsmanship.
I was afraid that I might use it to do something bad.
And because of that, I was now a girl who was as inconvinient as a white student.
I completely miscalculated.
I believed that I could handle some risks well since I knew the future.
But If you think about it, I didn’t have any skills capable of handling anything right now.
It doesn’t matter if I die young, but at least I don’t want to die at the hand of these guys.
I didn’t wish to live forever, but I didn’t picture my second life ending like this.
Even if it’s the same wretched, loveless life–since it’s my second chance, I wanted to go peacefully and normally.
I shook my head, hoping to shake off the daze a little bit.
Is there a chance for me to escape?
“It has been three days since that woman left, but there is still no news.”
“Well, It will take some time to prepare the money and get to the Red Well.”
Three days? I had been asleep for three days?
Somehow, I felt so weak and thirsty.
I could vaguely remember them giving me water at some point.
Was it drugged? That would explain why I felt so weird.
After thinking for a long time, I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t just lay down like this.
I need a plan.
First, I should act like an ordinary and weak girl so that they wouldn’t be vigilant.
I knew that having a smart mouth would only dig my own grave.
“Wow…”
I pretended to rub my eyes over the thing covering them, I then acted surprised to find the eyepatch there, before trying to take it off.
Fortunately, my hands and feet were free.
I guess after starving for three days, the probability of me beating two grown men and escaping was close to zero, hence why they didn’t tie me up.
“Hold on, I think she is awake.”
“Hey, kid, are you awake?”
A voice saying hello passed through my ears.
“Wow, I..I can’t see…”
I heard someone approaching, and I removed the eyepatch that covered my eyes.
I was put in a dark and shabby room, so dark that there was no dazzling feeling even though my eyes had been closed for a long time.
There were no windows, so I couldn’t tell where I was, or whether it was night or day.
Where is the other kidnapper? Didn’t I hear two people?
I analyzed the situation while pretending to open my eyes sullenly.
One was playing cards alone on one side, and the other was killing time sitting in the chair next to me.
The person sitting next to me had a long scar on his forehead, and a sword around his waist.
From the looks of it, they didn’t seem like they were from a big organization; they looked like some street thugs.
Was I really taken away by these guys?
My self-esteem might not recover from this.
“Hello, kid.”
I made eye contact, and he smirked, but his smile looked dull rather than sweet.
Nevertheless, I happily accepted his greeting.
“Hello.”
Not only was he not scary, but I needed time to understand how the function, so I had no choice but to act cute.
It seemed like things were going to work out somehow since my nanny was able to report the incident, but there was something I was worried about.
Carnan might decide to not rescue me.
He might think it’s better to throw someone like me away rather than paying the ransom money.
Maybe he even found it fortunate that I got kidnapped.
I can’t just wait, and trust in Carnan’s father instinct.
One of the men said that three days had already passed since that day, so this meant that the imperial family had not been able to find amateurs like them even after those three days.
If I were to stay here for a week, I didn’t know what these two would do to me.
* * *
Carnan’s credibility was about to rot underground bedrock water and lava through the floor, so I couldn’t just wait for his salvation.
But there was one problem.
My body’s condition.
I had no energy because I was drugged and starved for several days.
“Who are you?”
Left with no choice, I decided to pretend to be an innocent child; taking Ray for example.
I opened my eyes wide and when I asked the question, the man stared at me for a moment before smiling.
“You are a cute little girl. I am Tutu.”
“Is Uncle Tutu the new nanny?”
“Nanny? no. Not a nanny.”
“Then are you my Daddy’s friend?” I asked, smiling brightly like an idiot who couldn’t understand the situation she was in.
If anyone could see The Dorothea Milanaire acting like this, they would laugh while holding their belly.
I was pissed that I had to act contrary to my personality because I had no other choice than win their favor.
“Yeah, I’m your dad’s friend.”
Perhaps because of my smile, Tutu’s face suddenly loosened up, seemingly charmed by my innocent act.
“Then can I call you Uncle Tutu?”
“Uncle Tutu? Huh, yes, Uncle Tutu is fine, ”he smiled, very happy with his new title.
“Uncle,” I repeated.
“Because you are from a noble family, you look pretty like a doll.”
And I forced a smile as he stared at me.
Come on, this is nothing. This used to be something a certain blunt-spoken man said to me almost every day.
‘If Your Majesty could smile at me, I would do anything. So, your Majesty, please smile for me just once.’
Aside from the credibility of those words, people used to say I was beautiful even before I became the Emperor
Even during Ray’s opening ceremony a few months ago, Everyone said that I looked just like Empress Alice.
My mother, Alice, who had already passed away, was so beautiful that Crown Prince Carnan fell in love with her at first sight.
She was the woman who stole his heart to the extent where he did not remarry until he died.
Even after my mother’s death, the nobles still talked about her beauty.
So, despite my personal dissatisfaction with my appearance, in the eyes of others, I looked splendid.
“But where are we?” I asked, shaking off my thoughts.
“This is your uncle’s house.”
Lies. No matter how poor they were, this place showed no signs that anyone was leaving here.
However, I had no choice but to pretend that I believed him.
I needed to stall for time until I could devise an escape plan.
“Wow, but what’s that on uncle’s face? It looks so cool!”
I smiled broadly, pointing out the scar on his forehead.
Swiftly, i showered him with compliments, not giving him the chance to get angry.
And Tutu scratched his head with a pleased expression on his face.
“Huh, This uncle once had a 17 to 1 fight with some scary people…”
“17 in 1? Did you fight against 17 people on your own?”
“That’s right. Uncle defeated 17 people single-handedly!”
“Wow! My uncle is the strongest in the world!”
Clapping with my tiny hands, I encouraged his blatant lies.
If he won a 17 on 1 fight with a body like his, he must have fought ants?
“We originally promised to fight with our bare hands, but one of them pulled a knife out.”
Yeah, right.
“He was aiming at my heart, and I got this wound trying to avoid it.”
Though I couldn’t comprehend how someone would get a scar on their forehead while trying to avoid a knife aimed at their heart, unless their execution was remarkably stupid.
“It must have hurt,” I said, feigning compassion.
“This is nothing.”
And before Tutu knew it, he completely forgot that I was a hostage and transformed into a typical uncle narrating his heroic adventures to his lovely niece.
* * *
