Novel The Villainess Will Work Hard For A Good Life After Her Broken Engagement!

First, I wonder what the prince's reaction was when he realized Liliana was missing......its the kind of thing that would prompt one to either put a tracker on the missing party just in case, stick to them 24/7 or never take them out again........

 

hurm lucky the heroin is not two face bicth but over optimism is ....... seem.... dangerous tooo

 

Chapter 10 - The Magician’s Goal

Spoiler

“I have not eaten anything since the morning, so I am probably just famished. Hehe.”

After ending the sentence with embarrassed laughter, the ashen girl in front of me closed her eyes and her head rolled to her side limply.

You have to be kidding me!

“Hey! Don’t faint on me like this!” I hollered as I tapped on her shoulders with greater strength than before. However, there was no longer any response from the girl.

My heartbeat quickened and immediately placed a finger below her nose and pressed my ear on her chest. The warmth of her breath on my finger, as well as the sound of her beating heart, assured me that she was still alive.

I heaved a sigh of relief and sat straight again. My eyes ran through the dim and dingy room filled with black magical beasts hopping around aimlessly. The beasts had already stopped entering the room and were twitching their noses nonchalantly as they milled around. The whole floor, all the way out to the corridor, looked as if it was covered with a black furry carpet. How were many thousands of them were there? Where on earth did all of them come from? Not to say that it was really weird as they were shy creatures that hardly showed themselves in front of humans.

Unless… Was it the doing of the girl? I furrowed my brows as I turned my eyes towards the unconscious girl.

From the conversations I overheard while the men were doing their planning for the kidnapping, Liliana was a magician, and she had also admitted. But magic that can attract magical beasts? Was there something like that? In the first place, it should not be possible for any magic to be cast in the cage.

“What on earth is the situation now?” I tousled my hair in frustration as I tried to make sense of what had happened.

“Pue!”

Just then, the ears of the beasts picked up all at once and they started to get more agitated with some hopping through the door again.

“All I told you to do is to look after the kids, and you can still mess it up?!” A furious voice shouted as the sound of people stomping through the corridor resounded. It seems like the men have finally returned.

Shrill shrieks were accompanied by dull grunts from exerting force. From the sound of it, they were attempting to kill off the magical beasts. But there was way too many for them to clear it just by brute force.

“These critters just fell out from the ceiling on their own. I had nothing to do with it!” the man with a raspy voice argued back.

“If you didn’t do anything they wouldn’t have fell down from the ceiling! Who told you to mess with the girls? Shit, there’s one up my back! Give me the torch!” I recognised that voice as the one belonging to a man in his late twenties with brown hair filled with blonde streaks. Although not well-respected, he was the leader of this team of slave traders.

“Oi, are ya still not done yet? We need to move out now!” a deep voice bellowed out from a place further away. That should be the giant of the group, a balding man nearing 2 metres in height. From the sound of it, he should be standing somewhere near the staircase that leads out of the basement.

“Tsk. We will have to use the sleeping gas then.”

There was a sound of footsteps heading away from the room before a door slammed shut. Soon enough, a mild pungent scent wafted into the room. I immediately held Liliana up and covered both our noses with my hand. Even with the precaution, I started feeling dizzy. However, I pinched myself on my thigh to keep myself awake using the pain. After being exposed to so many kinds of sleeping gases, I should have developed some immunity to it, right?

With a combination of self-depreciating thoughts and pain, I managed to resist the effect long enough to watch the movement of the magical beasts slowly dull before stopping completely. After the scent completely faded, there was a faint sound of a door opening before the footsteps of the men climbing down the stairs echoed.

“Good riddance.”

I immediately lay on the cold metal floor and closed my eyes as I adjusted my breathing to make it seem as if I was sleeping.

In the hazy darkness, the floor trembled slightly as the footsteps of multiple people entered the room. With each step, there was the sound of bones cracking together with the squeak from stepping on something mushy. After a while, it turned into the sound of shoes stepping on sand.

“Oh, the brats are all asleep?” a raspy voice asked. I forced myself to remain still as my heartbeat quickened from the nearness of his voice.

“We used sleeping gas. What else do you expect?” the leader snapped back.

There was silence before the leader continued in a tight voice, “Where is the silver-haired one?”

“Uh? Huh! Is she not around? Shit! There are some cut ropes here. She must have escaped!”

There was a deep sigh before the sound of a fist making contact with a human body was heard.

As someone groaned in pain, the sound of footsteps echoed through the room again.

“Hmph. She must have run into the hole.”

“Do ya wanna go after her?” a deep voice boomed.

“No, that is not necessary. We have what we want here. She was just something extra we captured,” the leader replied indifferently.

As I suspected, Valeria was just caught up in the kidnapping of Liliana. Unlike Liliana, Valeria was most likely just a normal person with unique hair-colour as she was left outside the cage. She was frightened and crying when she first woke up, but after knowing what had happened, she was quick to calm down. While wiping tears and snot from her face with her sleeves, she had agreed to work together with me to escape and said that she will do her best to return to her mother.

Was this the power of having a family to return to? I don’t even know if my family was still alive, much less how to return to them.

“Quick, move the cage out now. Nai has already prepared the caravan. We need to get out of this place before they come,” the leader instructed.

“Yes, sir,” the men grunted before I felt the cage shaking slightly as it got lifted up.

As I continued to lie still, my brain went into overdrive with the new information. ‘They’? Who was the ‘they’ that they were talking about? The red-haired girl looked to be wealthy with her good quality clothes and smooth hands, but these guys were experts and well-versed with the trade from how brazen they were to kidnap children in broad daylight. Even the town mayor was unable to catch them.

Or it could even be that the mayor was in cahoots.

After the cage was placed on the floor again, it was the raspy-voiced man who asked the first question.

“So which gate do we take?”

“None. We will go by the underground tunnel from the cemetery.”

“Huh? Why? Isn’t that for emergencies?”

There was a sound of knuckles cracking before the leader finally hissed out, “Because this is an emergency.”

A chirpy and younger male voice spoke up, “It’s ‘cause we have been had. This girl was with the Prince of Lorzelea. While we kidnapped her, there was another group of men who were trying to capture the Prince in the store.”

I recognised it as the voice belonging to a teenager around 14-year-old with moss green hair and the youngest member of the four-person group. I initially thought that he would be the easiest to trick, but he was surprisingly the most difficult and the most annoying.

“What?! Why is the Prince here in such a small town?”

“Who knows? Anyway, the informant must have known about this when he told the Boss about the girl so this is definitely a trap. The Prince managed to escape but we have royal guards after us now and they are closing down all the exits so we need to move out as soon as possible.”

“Does Boss know about this?”

“Everyone knows about this except for you. Maybe if you weren’t so busy messing things up here and causing trouble, we could have left faster,” the leader snapped again. There was another deep sigh before he continued, “Anyway, we are going to move out now. You go with Nai. I will go with Igor to make a decoy.”

A while later, the floor started to tremble and the sound of hooves clopping on the sound followed.

I opened my eyes slightly and found myself shrouded in darkness at the back of a caravan filled with sacks and wooden boxes stacked on top of each other. Slowly and trying not to make a sound, I sat up.

Ha, it seems like the slave traders had been brought into a scheme much bigger than they had anticipated. I couldn’t help but let out a wide grin. With how things are going, there may be a chance for me to finally escape.

I gripped my pants tightly and looked down at the girl lying beside me. Strands of her red hair that reminded me of the setting sun had escaped from her hairdo and messily framed her small face. It was too dark for me to see her face properly, but I was sure her face and lips were still the same shade of white as before. Mental exhaustion and hunger were most likely the factors that had caused her to faint. I had to get them to give her medicine and food the next time we stopped.

If what they say was true and a royalty was involved, she must be someone even more important that a daughter of a wealthy man. It would not be too bad to sell her a favour if that was the case.

“Oya. You’re awake. Can’t sleep from the anticipation of meeting your new owner?” A cheery voice said as the front flap of the caravan opened and a gaunt face with moss green hair peeked in. Although it vexed me, I had to admit his senses were very good. His deep green eyes narrowed to become a crescent moon as he continued, “It seems like the owner this time round is going to be pretty great. Rich and kind, I hear!”

I snorted. “A person who buys slaves is kind? Don’t joke with me.”

“It’s Lorzelea after all. I heard they treat magicians like treasure here. A better life awaits you, my friend!” the teenager chortled before the flap closed again.

Magicians are treated like treasure? That was a new concept. He was obviously trying to stir me up with a sarcastic lie. Even though I was said to be an extraordinarily strong magician and an abnormality for having awakened my charge early, I had never once felt ‘treasured’.

As I once again sat in the darkness, I punched the metal floor.

“A better life my foot.”

“Brat, don’t make any noise or we will have to drug you again. You know how nasty that thing is, yeah?” a raspy voice hissed from beyond the flap.

I heard the sound of the teenager sniggering and clenched my fists.

Ever since I had been discovered to be a magician over a year ago, my life had been a series of shuffling between ‘owners’. The first was a wealthy merchant who first discovered my power. The second was a nobleman who later fell into ruin. The third was a noblewoman who had many male servants serving her. My time with her was the longest, and thanks to her, I managed to learn how to use magic. However, in the end, I was still sold off by her. Right before I was carried off in the cage, she stood outside with a fan covering the bottom of her face and said, “I don’t like boys prettier than me.”

How stupid.

But was my life before that any better?

Memories of my family and that village flashed through my mind.

Was a life of hunger better than a life without freedom?

I gave a bitter smile.

In this world, power and wealth were what matters. Even if I am finally able to escape this time round, it would still be thanks to the ‘power’ and ‘wealth’ behind the girl.

My eyes heated up and I raised an arm to wipe away the tears that ran down my face. Even though I had been betrayed so many times, why am I still unable to stop the tears of frustration at my own powerlessness?

“How laughable…” I chuckled softly as I slowly regained control of my emotions and my tears dried up.

Because, in this cruel world, I will absolutely not let out anything other than laughter.

*****

It was difficult for me to determine how much time had passed in the darkness of the caravan, but after what seemed to be around an hour, the caravan slowed before coming to a stop and the voice of an unknown man called out, “What business do you have here?”

“The body for burying, good sir,” the teenager replied cheerily.

“Hah… Body? In this caravan?” What seemed likely to be the gatekeeper of the cemetery exhaled noisily as he paused. Should I scream now and disclose my location? As I toyed around with the notion, my thoughts were shot down with his next words.

“It’s that, isn’t it? Go on ahead then. I did not see anybody pass by here,” the man said in a dismissive tone that sounded like he had lost his interest.

“Thank you, sir,” the teenager replied cheerfully and soon the caravan moved off.

My heart grew cold. The gatekeeper must be in cahoots or have been bribed so it wouldn’t have a difference if I had shouted. In fact, it would have just earned me mockery and then drugged.

As the caravan rocked side to side on the uneven ground, I watched the faint light that shone in from the flap that occasionally peeked open turned from orange to red and finally turned completely dark.

Even though it was already dark, the caravan showed no sign of stopping. Were they planning on going forward through the night?

“Hey. Do you sense anything?”

“… Let’s just keep going. We need to send them to the Boss before the day comes.”

The pair who had been silent suddenly started to talk with tense voices. I sat up straighter and tried to put more focus on my ears. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and I rubbed my arms from the unfamiliar sensation.

“Shit! Did you hear the rustle of the bushes?” The raspy-voiced man cried out in fear.

However, as the cloth covering the caravan was too thick, I was unable to hear the rustling he spoke of.

“Shut up and stop getting freaked out. It was probably a rabbit or something,” the teenager hissed as he tried to suppress the panic in his voice.

The speed of the caravan started to increase and the sound of hooves clopping on the floor increased in pace.

“Ngh…”

Beside my feet, Liliana let out a slight groan. My eyes lighted up. Was she finally waking up?

“Hey. You okay?” I asked in a lowered voice.

“Hah... Ngh. Stop...”

Was she sleep-talking? I stretched a hand towards her with the intention of waking her up. However, the moment I touched her bare arms, my hand shrank back from the unnatural heat radiating from her body.

She is burning up!

I twisted my head towards the flap to the head of the caravan and asked loudly, “Hey! The girl is having a fever, do you have any medicine?”

The flap opened to reveal the irritated face of the stout man. “Didn’t I tell you not to make a sound?”

“But she is sick. Isn’t she important to you guys?” I retorted back as I held her up. Her whole body was hot and now that there was faint moonlight flowing in, I could see that her face was an even ghastlier shade of white compared to before with sweat droplets forming on her forehead. Her pale lips trembled as she took in quick shallow breaths.

Seeing her condition, the two men quieted down. “Shit. Nai, you go and get the medicine,” the man with the raspy voice said as he jerked his head.

“Alright, alright,” the teenager replied flippantly as he started to crawl in. However, he stopped in his tracks as his green eyes widened in fear.

“Crap!” Without saying anything else, he jumped off the caravan.

What was that? Before I was able to understand what happened, a dark figure jumped onto the horse. With an anguished neigh, the horse immediately veered off the road right into a ditch.

“Shit! Did that kid just ran away on his own?!” The raspy-voice man cursed as the caravan toppled sideways.

I held Liliana’s head in my arms tightly and closed my eyes as I braced myself for the impact.

My body knocked against the side of the cage as it rolled a few rounds before finally coming to a stop. The scent of moist earth and the prickly touch of grass on my face prompted me to open my eyes. I sat up slowly as my head continued to swirl from the tumble.

As I looked around to get my bearing, I realised that we had rolled out of the caravan onto the grass at the side of the road. The bottom of the cage had flipped to the side, and the side of the cage with the door was now overhead. The caravan had also completely flipped to the side with a visibly cracked back wheel.

Just then, a glint on the grass made my eyes shine.

It was the keys to the cage! I had seen it before when they unlocked the cage for me to eat and stretch. It must have dropped off from somewhere when the caravan flipped. I immediately stretched my arms to grab hold of the keys.

“The keyhole… It should be here?” I fiddled around the keys with unsteady hands as my heart raced from the excitement of having the chance to finally escape.

“Ow… I am going to kill that kid when I see him the next time!”

My shoulders jumped from the voice nearby and I immediately hid the keys in my pockets.

I quickly spotted the stout man getting up from the grass floor. Luckily, he did not seem to have seen me with the keys. He rubbed his head as his face scrunched up. With unsteady feet, he stood up and started to look around.

“So what was that animal that attacked? I am going to beat the shit out of it for ruining my pla-”

The man never got the chance to finish his words as his head disappeared.

I froze as I watched the headless body sway before toppling on the ground limply.

What has just happened?

From the spot where there should have been a neck connecting to the head, blood poured out profusely, staining the earth to become a dull red colour. The scent of iron in the air convinced me that the scene in front of my eyes was real.

“W-Why is there a magical beast here?” a shaky voice called out from behind.

My eyes were finally able to tear away from the body and turn towards the spot where a dark silhouette stood.

True enough, a cat-like beast with charcoal black fur and black translucent aura stood in the middle of the dirt path as it rolled a circular object around with its paws. With a height of around 1 metre and muscles rippling under its sleek fur, it circled around its ‘toy’.

Magical beasts were not well-understood creatures. Although most of them took on similar shapes to common animals, they are very different from normal creatures as they survived by absorbing magic in the air or from killing other magical beasts. Perhaps it was due to the magic in their body, they also had much higher stamina and strength than normal animals.

Although researchers have been trying to find out more, it was notoriously hard as they tend to live in difficult to reach places and avoid human contact. And the most intriguing thing about them was how they turn into stone when they die and break down to a sand-like substance.

But, why was one of these elusive creatures right in front of me again?

“My head hurts… What happened?” The girl in my arms stirred and mumbled softly.

The ears of the cat-like beast immediately twitched and its head turned in our direction.

Now that it was facing us properly, I could see that its light green eyes that shone eerily in the dark resembled Liliana’s. As I met its eyes unflinchingly, the beast continued to stare at us while tilting its head slightly, as if pondering over something puzzling.

And then finally, as its tail swung from side to side, it stepped towards us with silent steps.

“Heee!”

All of a sudden, the teenager screamed and ran off in a scramble as he kicked up dust.

The cat-like beast stared at his direction and its ears twitched before it too, leapt off in his direction.

“Liliana! Wake up, we need to go now!” I shouted as I shook the girl in my arms. This wasn’t the time to be gentle because it was our best chance to run away when the magical beast was still distracted.

“Mnngh? What is happening?” Liliana rubbed her eyes blearily before looking around the cage blankly in a daze.

Good, at least she’s awake now. It will make my job easier. I took a deep breath to calm myself down before patting her shoulders to get her attention again.

“The slave traders have just been attacked. We need to get out now while they are busy. Can you walk?” I asked urgently as I unlocked the cage and stood up.

The girl’s light green eyes widened but her demeanour was calm. “Ah, so it has reached that part already? It feels like I just missed a big chunk of a movie after falling asleep,” she murmured as she placed a hand under her chin thoughtfully.

What is she talking about? I ignored her delirious mutterings and tried to pull her up by holding onto her arms.

“Can you stand up on your own?”

Liliana stood up but quickly winced and her body trembled before she sat back down unsteadily. She tilted her face up and gave an apologetic smile. “Sorry, but I don’t think I can walk.”

From the look of it, it was even difficult from her to stand, much less climb out of the cage and run away.

“But we need to get out now,” I replied as my voice rose with desperation.

“I know. Its wild beasts, right?” the girl mumbled as she rubbed her eyes again. “Don’t worry. We are going to be fine.”

“What do you mean?” I stared at the girl in disbelief. There was no way we were going to be fine if the cat-like beast returns.

“It’s okay. If it’s you, you can definitely do it. Sui is a strong magician after all. With a rain of ice lances, you are going to kill off the wild beasts....” the girl continued to mumble with a smile as her body swayed lightly.

“It’s no good. Your fever is too high for you to think clearly,” I muttered as I pushed her to lie down. The girl made no effort to resist and lay on the floor again.

Even if I am a magician, there was no way for me to fend off the cat-like beast on my own. I swallowed a lump in my throat as I glanced at the lifeless body lying on the ground. I am not stupid enough to think that I can kill a magical beast that is able to one-hit kill a full grown man.

Should I just leave her here and run away then?

The freedom that I had been hoping for was just right in front of me. All I had to do was jump out of the cage and run into the forest. Granted that this was an unfamiliar place, but it was a hundred times better than sitting here and waiting for the cat-like beast to come back and become sitting ducks.

“It will be alright… Don’t worry…” Even though her eyes were already closed the girl still mumbled incomprehensible words. Where on earth did she get her confidence from?

“Ah!” The girl’s sudden exclamation made me jump as well.

I crouched down to her eye level and asked apprehensively, “What is it?”

Was she hurting somewhere? I quickly gave her a once over but found no additional injuries.

She tried to sit up once before falling back clumsily. Giving up, she tilted up her chin instead and looked at me with wide eyes. “I do not have my charge yet so you can’t use your magic properly. D-Did I mess it up?” she stammered.

My head felt as if a pail of cold water had been splashed on it.

“Do you know the situation we are in?” I asked frostily as I balled up my fists and stood up. While I was seriously thinking of how to escape, she had been muttering nothing but nonsense. Even though I knew that most of it were because of her fever, I was unable to stop the ire and irritation in my heart.

“In the first place, why should I save you when I can just run away and save myself?”

Before I knew it, piercing words had already spilled out from my mouth.

Now we were in the middle of a forest with no help nearby. Someone had just died in front of us, another was probably going to die soon, after which the cat-like beast will return. If I was to leave her here, what were her chances of survival?

The girl that lay in my shadow blinked blankly before she lowered her head and fell silent.

Of course, it was this kind of reaction.

I turned around and climbed out of the cage nimbly. Luckily, my period of inactivity from being stuck in the cage had not affected my mobility much. I gave a good stretch with my back towards the cage before taking a deep breath of the cool forest air.

It wasn’t the time to dwindle. If I wanted to do something, I had to do it now. The problem was, what was it?

“Then…” From behind me, the girl finally opened her mouth. “Do you want a better life?”

I turned around slowly and met her eyes. She had somehow managed to sit up and was looking at me directly with unblinking light green eyes.

“Sui have been through some pretty tough times, right?” she continued to ask before giving a good-natured smile that did not fit the situation. “Even though I look like this, my family is pretty rich and influential. My family will definitely reward you handsomely if you save me. If you like, you can join even join my household! Although my father is strict and tends to overwork people, he is definitely a fair person.”

It was a word of concern and a simple offer to help. It reminded me of how I had often imagined an angel swooping down to rescue me after I was found to be a magician. However, there was definitely still a gap between dreams and reality because the pale and sick girl in front of me was far from an angel.

“I really have no idea how to deal with you,” I replied in exasperation as I squatted down and ruffled my hair roughly. Should I laugh at the girl’s naivety or myself for getting moved by her words?

“Alright then,” I said decisively as I stood up again. I gave the girl a pointed look before I said, “I don’t intend on jumping from one cage to another, but your family better give me a very good reward later.”

The girl’s face brightened up and gave a dazzling smile. “Yes, definitely!” she replied as she nodded her head vigorously.

Where on earth was she getting her energy from when she was so ill?

I reached through the bars of the cage to grab her forehead. Before she could make a protest, I quickly recited, “O Goddess, please grant respite to this daughter of the land.”

The warmth from my hand transmitted over to her forehead, and gradually, I felt the heat going down to a more natural temperature.

“Was that a healing spell?” Liliana asked as she placed her hand on her forehead. Her face colour had turned slightly better, but I knew that it was only a temporary effect. The healing spell I had cast was just an elementary spell to reduce pain and discomfort, so she will still need to take the proper medicine and get sufficient rest for her body to recover.

“You are annoying. Go and sleep first. Don’t push yourself and make yourself sicker than this,” I replied before flicking her forehead. The girl scrunched up her face and rubbed her forehead unhappily before laying down obediently.

“Magic... Spells… What should I cast?” I muttered under my breath as I looked around for something usable.

Ah, that. My eyes caught sight of something that stuck out from the waist of the dead man unnaturally. I ran towards him and held my breath before I reached to pull out a longsword that was almost my height. He would not need this anymore after all.

Then, I ransacked his waist pouch to take out a smaller knife.

“This will do.”

I ran back to the cage holding on to the sword. While dragging the sword behind me, I circled around the cage, leaving a gouge on the ground. After I had completed the circle, I inserted the sword into the ground such that it was standing upright.

Alright, which symbol should I use? I closed my eyes as I tried to recall what I had been taught before.

Spells could be invoked using two ways, spoken words and written words. Because of the requirement for magicians of opposite charges to have physical contact in order for spells to be cast properly, casting spells using spoken words was the more popular choice even though written words gave a better effect.

Furthermore, the symbols used for the written words were said to be from an ancient language that nobody knows anymore, hence it was difficult for magicians to memorise. However, as my situation now was without a magician of an opposite charge, it was the only way to increase the power of my magic.

My eyes snapped open as I felt a tingling feeling run up my back. It was similar to the one I had felt before the cat-like beast jumped onto the horse.

It was coming back!

With the smaller knife, I made a small slice on the fleshy part of my palm. The pain made me wince, but I resisted and dipped my finger in the blood that flowed out. With my finger stained with blood, I hastily drew the symbol for ‘protection’ and ‘flame’ on the flat blade of the sword.

“Barrier, activate!” I shouted as I raised an arm. From my fingertips, a sensation of something warm and water-like flowed out towards the barrier. It was the usual sensation I felt whenever I used magic hence I was not panicked. Almost immediately, from the hilt of the sword, orange-red flames spread out in a dome shape over the cage. The gouge I had made on the ground served as a guide on where the barrier built up from.

Just in time, a dark silhouette stepped out from the shadows of the trees and peered at us as its tail flicked from side to side. The black tendrils surrounding it curled and uncurled like an extension of its body while it approached the barrier. However, it never came close enough to touch it, most likely aware that it was going to burn.

“Go away! We are not going to harm you!” I shouted loudly in an attempt to intimidate the beast. However, the cat-like beast only flicked its ears and continued to prowl around the barrier.

I slowly backed away from the barrier to move closer to the cage while I continued to hold my arm up to feed a continuous stream of magic into the barrier.

Now, who was going to give up first?

Is my magic going to run out first, or is the beast going to get bored and leave first?

I cast a glance at the girl behind me. From a time unknown to me, she had already fallen asleep, with her chest rising and falling peacefully.

“There’s no way my magic can run out first,” I declared fearlessly as I gave a wide grin.

“Because I’m going to get a better life after this.”

Back to the Table of Contents

 

aigoo I felt touch with sui determination to live a better life snif snif

 

I'm not really sure if this will be helpful so you can consider what I wrote here as more of suggestions since I myself is a new author (But best regards!).

I won't rate the story for now since it's a little early, but I'll try what I can in re-phrasing stuff.
Anyway, I re-read the first chapter in RRL and tried to point a few stuff.

Spoiler: spoiler

= refers to my comment.
- refers to the text from RRL.
> my suggested sentence.

=This felt a bit too long for a sentence(at least to me), so I guess adding a comma can serve as a breather. Plus it was said that they were inside the palace so removing the 'royal' word is also viable.
-A maid wearing the signature blue uniform of the Royal Palace bowed before placing two cups of lightly steaming red tea on the table.
>Dressed in the Palace's signature blue uniform, a maid bowed before placing two cups of steaming red tea on the table.

=The space was doubled between 'sudden' and 'announcement'. (from RRL)
-My body jerked at the sudden announcement by the guards outside.

=I tried re-phrasing this one.
-The boy was blessed with angelic looks but he was too young be my type.
>Though blessed with angelic looks, the boy was too young to be my type.

=I think 'huge' can be removed here since influx already refers to large volume, but I guess it's fine to leave it.
-It had been three years since I suddenly recovered memories of a girl who lived in a vastly different place and time due to a tumble down the stairs. Although I was confused at first due to the huge influx of information, I had plenty of time to sort out my thoughts while being stuck in bed for two weeks.

=I'm not sure if this applies here, but using words like who, which, when, where, and while creates loose sentences. (I'm not sure what they actually meant by that, but replacing those words made the sentences a bit natural. Of course, sometimes using those words can't be avoided. Even I can't construct a chapter without those...)

-Unfortunately, this girl had her life ended prematurely at age 16 when she was crossing the road and a white light suddenly filled the side of her vision.
>Unfortunately, her life ended prematurely at the age of 16. During the time that she crossed the road, the side of her vision was consumed by a white light.

I recommend copy-pasting the chapter on Grammarly before posting so you can reduce the minor errors and such. Then again, that's how I do it to check some errors. Libre Office with language tool add-on also helps.

Though I can try, I'll try to check it now and then.

 

Really appreciate the suggestions! They really make the sentences sound better. I just bought grammerly premium so I intend to run all the chapters through it after I finish the first arc. Hopefully my writing will improve in the long run.

 

Warning though, not all of Grammarly's suggestions are correct. (But I'm using the free one.)
Like for example, if a character says 'yaknow' or some sort of shortened words due to their personality and other reasons, Grammarly will point it out.

But don't worry, your writing is a good start, at least far better from when I started. Though some people suggested that it's better to keep writing than fall into an endless pit of editing/re-writing.

Though it really hurts re-reading your own writing once you get more experience. You'll eventually notice your own mistakes as you get used to it (Once, you get to that point, then you can say that's the sign you've improved. Well, that's how I look at it anyway). Really, it pains to see your own written chaps once you get more experienced, but the amount of time for editing/re-writing might kill the drive in writing more chapters. But I guess that's better than the story being dropped.

Although mine wasn't good enough to be hosted at webfictionguide, you can try creating a thread there for a review request. Some may respond, and most of the ones that will respond, have way more experience than I do (On the other end, the review there might be harsh.).

 

I'm so sorry for the long wait! I'll do my best to give more regular updates!

Chapter 11 - The Prince’s Necklace

Spoiler

My shoes made sharp clicks on the polished wooden floor as I made my way across the long gallery. Oil paintings of different hues lined both sides of the hallway, displaying pictures from the wild, unexplored peaks of the mountains to the slices of life of the Royal family. Starting from the founding monarch, King Gavienus, to the current King, my father, they and their close families were all enshrined in portraits along the gallery. I was not amongst the paintings, but I was certain there will come a day where my portrait will be in the long gallery as well.

Just as I was nearing the exit at the other end, my feet paused. I turned my head to the left to look up at a particular painting that had caught my attention.

It was a woman in her late teens with rich, chestnut brown hair braided up neatly, and a pair of warm hazel eyes that curved down slightly as she smiled pleasantly. With her hands clasped below her chest in a regal manner, she sat on an olive-green armchair made of gold-painted wood. While not exceptionally beautiful, there was a calming and gentle aura around her that could make even the viewers of her portrait relaxed.

And that was my mother - the former Queen.

I heard that she passed away soon after giving birth to me due to illness. Hence, I had never met her in person. Even so, I heard from the old retainers that she was a dignified and gentle person who was kind to everyone. She was from Breusia, a neighbouring country that was around the same size as the Lorzelea Kingdom. Just like how my engagement with Lady Liliana was an arranged marriage, her marriage with father was arranged as well. Political marriages amongst royalty were not hard to hear of, but many couples did not have a happy marriage with each spouse ending up having affairs outside. However, I heard that she had a good relationship with my father, and she was well-liked by the people of Lorzelea Kingdom.

“It would be nice if Lady Liliana and I can get along as well,” I murmured hopefully.

“Charles! I was looking for you!” a voice called out energetically to me.

I turned my head back to see a boy taller than me with wavy chocolate brown hair gesturing wildly as he ran towards me. It was no other than my childhood friend, Aedus Lev Swenson, the son of the current Knight Commander of Lorzelea Kingdom’s Royal Knight Order. As our fathers were close friends, we had grown up together as well.

“Hey Aedus, you’re here,” I greeted in return with a smile. “You’re looking for me for something?”

“Yeah!” he replied as he skidded to a stop in front of me.

Then, with two palms together, he bowed.

“I’m so sorry for what happened the other day! I didn’t know she was your fiancée!”

I could not help but give a smile at his exaggerated actions. Although Aedus looked frivolous, he was actually an earnest person. But it was not enough to stop his butler running after him and lecturing him on the proper behaviour of a Duke’s son.

“Ah, so it was about that. Your butler dragged you away so quickly I was not able to talk to you about it.” His butler had ran into the room in a huff after hearing about the trouble his young master had caused. As they had to leave the Palace immediately due to a prior appointment, Aedus was dragged away by the back of his collar while being severely lectured. He definitely had a hard time after that.

“Don't worry. Lady Liliana was fine when she left the Royal Palace yesterday. As long as you understand how dangerous it is to run in the Palace’s grounds now. But, shouldn’t you be apologising to her instead of me?” I asked.

“Uh, yes, I will definitely apologise to her in person, ” he answered after a slight pause. “But that was not what I meant!” he exclaimed.

“I mean, she’s your fiancée, right? Even though I was caught up in the moment, I, uh, still did something like, k-kissing her hand…” His face turned red as he said his final sentence with his eyes wandering around.

I was unable to understand his reaction.

“Hand-kissing is a gesture of respect, isn’t it? Although it is hardly used nowadays and more romanticised,” I mused as I looked up thoughtfully. “Well, even if you did that, it should not be serious enough for you to be scolded. Did something happen?”

Aedus looked perplexed at my reply. “No, nothing happened to me,” he replied quickly before turning sideways to mutter something under his breath. “Have I been overthinking? Hmmm… I guess if it is alright with him…?”

In the first place, what was there about it to be disagreeable with me? I only gave a puzzled look in return.

“Anyway, where are you going to?” he continued lightly.

“I am on my way to the library. There was something unclear during my lesson, so I wanted to further look into it. Do you want to come with me?” I invited.

Aedus dropped his jaws comically. “You’ve just finished your lesson, and you are going to study again?”

“Not study, it’s just reading up on something.”

“I don’t see a difference in that…” Aedus muttered as he furrowed his brows.

I gave a wry smile. Even though Aedus was not awful in his studies, he was a person who preferred to move his body instead of reading books.

“I heard that there are some new books on biology. And it seems like they are from a faraway country. Do you want to take a look?”

Aedus’s eyes sparkled. “Yeah! A faraway place? Maybe they will have a sample of never seen before flowers!”

“Let’s go then,” I said with a grin.

As we walked down the corridors to the library, we chatted about how our day went. Aedus had been into gardening recently, so thanks to him, my knowledge of the plants in our garden had increased as well. The way his eyes shone and how his actions become exaggerated while describing what happened reminded me a little of Lady Liliana as she ate sweets. She was the first person I had seen who gave the happiest expression as she sampled sweet after sweet.

All of a sudden, a thought came to me. I waited for a break in Aedus’s story before I asked, “By the way, you said that you are visiting Lady Liliana soon?”

“Yeah! Why?”

“Can you find out for me her likes and dislikes? Although I tried to find out during our meeting, she was quite reserved so she might have answered some things to suit me.” I asked.

“And you should try to be gentler to her, I think you scared her the previous time,” I said as I recalled how she had hid behind her maid’s dress after talking with Aedus.

“Sure! Leave it to me!” he replied energetically as he gave a bow with his hand over his heart.

“Leave what to you? Are you up to something?” A mature woman’s voice carried powerfully to us.

Aedus and I looked up to see a woman wearing a fitting indigo gown that empathised her waist with wine-coloured hair grinning with an arm on her hip. Her long hair swayed as she stepped towards us with two maids in tow; a pair of twins looking to be around 14-year-old with light blue hair.

“Even though she is a married woman, the charm of a mature woman in her late twenties is the ultimate weapon that can make any men fall - and my negotiations go easier,” my father had said before he was hit on the head with a fist by the very person he was describing. Although I am not old enough to fully understand his words, I could comprehend that my stepmother was an exceedingly beautiful woman.

“Good afternoon, Queen Alena,” the both of us chorused as we bowed.

When Aedus raised his head again, he took a half step back at the closeness of her face as she had bent down to his eye level.

“So what is Aedus up to now? I heard that you pushed a girl into a pond while trying to steal one of my roses?” she asked as her lilac eyes twinkled.

Aedus looked down at the floor with a pale face. “I-I’m sorry. I won’t do that again…” he quickly apologised.

Queen Alena straightened her back and gave a tired smile. “Sorry sorry, was I too fierce? I didn’t come here to make you apologise to me. But if you ever want a rose just ask me, alright? I don’t want you to go around doing dangerous things again.”

Aedus nodded vigorously. “I won’t do that again!”

“That’s great,” one of the maids spoke up. It was a girl with neatly trimmed short bob hair. Her grey eyes revealed no emotions as she spoke. “You don’t need to have your hands chopped off.”

“Or your legs tied together and hang upside down,” another girl with her hair braided into two plaits added in a tone like she was talking about the weather.

“Oh, hanging upside down is the worst. You will throw up until there is nothing left in your belly and your head will feel like it is being crushed from the blood pressure,” the first girl replied as she looked at her twin.

Her twin nodded. “But at least it is better than losing your limbs!”

Aedus widened his eyes at their words and looked as if he believed them with his face turning a paler shade of white.

“Kori, Ame. You are taking the joke a bit too far. And Aedus is the son of a Duke, this is not an appropriate way to talk to him,” Queen Alena noticed Aedus’s discomfort and quickly lectured her two maids.

The two girls immediately lowered their heads and placed both hands together in front of them with one hand clasped over the other.

“We apologise for our impudence,” they apologised with crystal-like voices.

From what I knew, the both of them grew up in Breusia and were recently brought into the Palace to serve Queen Alena as her maids for two years. After that, they were to attend the Academy for three years before returning back to their country. They were said to be strong magicians from a reasonably distinguished family in Breusia and were sent here as a special diplomatic effort between the two countries. I have not interacted with them much, but I could tell that they were the type that was tough for me to handle.

“Ahem,” Queen Alena gave a dry cough to clear the atmosphere. “We went off the topic just now. So what were the both of you talking about earlier? What is Aedus helping with?” she asked curiously.

“Aedus is going to visit Lady Liliana soon, so I asked him to find out her likes and dislikes for me,” I explained.

“So that’s how it is,” Queen Alena nodded as she replied. “Since Lady Liliana’s birthday is coming up in 3 months, it is good to start getting some ideas of what to get.”

Ah, was that so?

“When is her birthday?”

Queen Alena looked surprised. “Aren’t you trying to find out her likes and dislikes for her birthday present?”

I shook my head. “I did not know her birthday was coming up. I just thought it would be good to find out more about her since she is my fiancée.”

Queen Alena placed a hand on her forehead and shook her head. “Is it that the men in the Lorzelea family have no romance in their bloodline?”

“Hahaha… Sorry, I have not read enough on that,” I gave an awkward laughter and rubbed the back of my head.

“If it’s romance, I know a thing or two about it!” Aedus suddenly exclaimed. “Girls like cute things and flowers, right? I heard about it from Mr Gardener. He also told me that knowing more about flowers will make a person popular with the ladies.”

“Wouldn’t jewellery be a better gift? It retains its value over time and can be sold in times of need,” I questioned.

Queen Alena gave a wry smile. “The both of you are not wrong, but your thoughts are too shallow!” she declared as she shook a finger. “Just appealing to their taste is not enough, meaningfulness is important as well.”

“Ah, I have a good idea!” she suddenly exclaimed. “Why don’t you make a magic crystal for her?”

“Magic crystal?” Aedus asked blankly.

He probably had not heard about it since he was not a magician, so I started to explain, “Magic crystals are made by flowing magic into a bowl of salt water solution as you grow the crystal. The resulting crystal will have high magical property and a unique colour depending on the creator.”

“But it takes a long time, and the resulting crystals are usually really fragile. Will that really be a good gift for Lady Liliana?” I asked as I looked at Queen Alena puzzledly.

She gave a firm nod. “You still have some time from now until her birthday. It is not impossible to grow something that is strong enough to be made into an accessory. Plenty of time for you to trial and error,” she said as she gave an evil grin.

“And as an added bonus, I will help you to insert a protection spell into the crystal. Not a bad deal, right?”

“That is the reason why she is your fiancée,” father’s ominous words echoed in my head. The scene of Lady Liliana lying on the bed limply while magical beasts attacked the Palace flashed through my mind. Queen Alena was one of the most potent magicians in the country; her protection spell was definitely going to be very powerful.

“Alright. I’ll do it,” I said resolutely.

“Mmm, and just in case anything happens to her, there is another attribute about the magic crystal that will help you as well.”

“Another attribute?”

Queen Alena gave a mysterious smile. “That is -”

*****​

“She, hah, she is this way!”

In between huffs, I raised my voice as I ran alongside a group of men in different types of commoner clothes. The stomps of boots hitting ground echoed off the brick walls in the small alleyways as we sped past bustling streets into the maze-like back alleys. I understood how eye-catching our group was with a large group of over a dozen men with a young boy amidst them. In fact, there were many curious onlookers fiercely whispering as we raced past them. However, there was nothing we could do at this point apart from ignoring them.

“Your Highness, are you sure it is this way?” one of the men asked with a tense face. He was a person in his late twenties and the unit commander of the unit of Royal Guards that was in charge of my protection this time. Although Lord Remington had said to leave the security to him, my father had sent a group of Royal Guards in plainclothes to follow me secretly.

“Hah, hah… Yes, I am sure!” I replied as I panted heavily.

Like an invisible string, something was drawing me in a specific direction. And there was no way could that be fake.

I clutched the cloth over my heart as I continued to run.

I could feel that she was near. Maybe around this corner? Or the next?

Even though she seemed to be moving further away from us, I was glad. If she was running, then it must mean that she was still alive.

Unlike the guards surrounding me, I was already panting heavily, and my legs felt as if they were going to break anytime. Even then, I forced my legs to continue running because I was the only one who could tell where Lady Liliana’s location was.

The other attribute that magic crystals had was the creator having the ability to locate it. No matter how far, it was still possible to sense the general direction of the magic crystal. Could it be that Queen Alena suggested that because she predicted something like this might happen?

“Your Highness, let us stop for a while,” the unit commander who had been running beside me suddenly announced. Before I could say anything, he stopped in his tracks, and the men behind immediately did the same.

“I need a few men to go ahead to check how things are, another to go back to the mansion to receive updates. The rest stand by for further instructions.”

“Yes!” the men shouted back as they gave a salute.

Very soon, the men split up the job scope and ran off in the respective directions.

“Hah… Hah... Why are we stopping?” I asked as I bent over trying to catch my breath.

The unit commander raised his hand to give a salute before replying, “This is to organise our manpower and gather information. Currently, our resources are stretched from closing down the three exits, going after the escaped assailants and guarding the prisoners. There might have been new developments while we are chasing after the signal from the magic crystal.”

My brows knitted together. “But I lost the signal from Lady Liliana’s magic crystal earlier. If we do not chase after her now, what if we lose the signal again?”

“Are you still feeling the signal from her magic crystal?” he asked tersely.

I closed my eyes and took deep breaths as I felt the magic coursing through my veins. Magic was said to be a kind of energy that only selected people can use. Although it existed in the air and in the bodies of all living creatures, just people with a particular aptitude are able to sense it and use it.

The magic crystal that Lady Liliana has was previously a part of me. Therefore, when I concentrated enough, I was able to sense its general direction.

“Yes. I can still feel it, and Lady Liliana seems to be moving slower now.”

“Good. I have checked the map, although this area is complicated, there are not too many places for a girl to hide. The men that I have sent are highly trained trackers, so we should be able to find traces of her soon.”

“I hope so,” I replied as I gave a tired smile. “What you said was true. There are too many strange things about this incident. We need to get as much information while we can.”

The unit commander gave a wry smile.

“Please take the chance to catch your breath, Your Highness. We need you to be in good shape to lead us to the girl.”

Leaving that sentence behind, he lifted up a hand to excuse himself before approaching one of his men.

“Nathan, I need to discuss something with you. The map that we were given…”

As their voices blended into the background, I took a step back to lean on the wall.

“Hah,” I heaved a deep sigh as I lowered my head. It frustrated me to know that I was a burden in their operation.

The other guards who were waiting for the next point of action started to discuss amongst themselves.

“I’ll say that they have underestimated us by trying to kidnap His Highness!” a guard wearing a brown cap said agitatedly.

“But don’t you think that it is suspicious? Having a bunch of armed men hidden inside the shop like this. It definitely had to be planned,” another guard said. “And the only other person who will be well-informed of the Prince’s whereabouts will be from the Remington family.”

“So you are saying that the person behind this is Lord Remington? I thought it was suspicious how he wasn’t around to greet His Highness this morning! And even though he said he would arrange for security, not only was there was no security at all, there was even an ambush!”

“I don’t think Lord Remington has anything to do with this,” a guard with short dark grey hair said. He placed his hand under his chin before he continued, “When the masked attacked came out of their hiding places to attack the Prince and the footman, the footman said, ‘So the Lord’s hunch was right. How dare that bastard does this!’ It sounds like it was something he had not expected either.”

“But he is a servant in the Remington Household. His words might not be trustworthy,” a guard added doubtfully.

“Now that you say this, the girl that we are going after now is also a member of the Remington Household, right? If they are not trustworthy, could this be a trick as well?”

There was silence as the members looked at each other with uneasiness in their eyes. We were now in a dark and narrow place and the sun going down soon. If it really was a trick to lure us into a trap, this site was a good chance for them to strike again.

“Mmm.” The one who broke the silence was the unit commander. “I understand where you guys are coming from, but it is unlikely Lord Remington is the perpetrator. Firstly, he has no benefit in kidnapping the Prince, and there is no way he can get away with that. Secondly, his daughter was drugged and kidnapped.”

‘Drugged and kidnapped’. That was what we had discovered after we had overcome the assailants and ran out of the shop. The coachman was trembling and rambling as he tried to explain what had happened and there were only a hat and an overturned basket of bread left on the sidewalk as evidence.

“However, it is worrying that we have not been able to contact him until now. Perhaps he is not completely void of involvement in this incident.”

“Ah… How complicated, if only our watchman had managed to go after the black carriage…” one of the guards sighed, and a few of his comrades immediately followed with nods.

“Well, he did try to follow them, but he was stopped by two hooded men. He was alone so it might have gotten dangerous if he insisted on getting involved. Plus, our priority is still His Highness’s safety,” one of the men answered matter-of-factly as he put his arms behind his head.

My heart felt as if someone had squeezed it tightly. Even though I should be happy that the guards were all loyal to me, there was something about their words that just didn’t sit well with me.

What will my father say in such a situation? If it were him, he would definitely say something to encourage everyone while placating their fears. But what about me? What can I say?

I clenched my fists.

“I believe that Lord Remington is a person who treasures his daughter. He will never place her in danger,” I said with conviction. “But there is too much we do not know right now. Let us try and find out Lady Liliana’s whereabouts first. She is just a child and innocent after all.”

I took a deep breath before I continued, “And if Lord Remington is really the one behind this, the King will grant him the appropriate punishment.”

The guards looked at each other with smiles before saluting.

“Yes, Your Highness!”

I guess this was okay? I heaved a silent sigh of relief.

Suddenly the sound of footsteps rushing towards us echoed off the walls.

“Commander! We are back!”

“How did it go?”

The guards looked at each other before looking back at him with grim faces.

“There is something that you should see!”

*****​

We were brought deeper into the alley. Around a 10 minutes’ walk later, the two guards who had gone ahead stopped in their tracks.

“This is the place. We heard some scuttling noises coming from under the manhole cover,” one of the guards said as he pointed at a round metal cover on the floor right in front of a brick wall. “It stopped when we called out, so we find it very suspicious.”

“Lady Liliana should be nearby. The magic crystal feels to be very near,” I added on breathlessly. We had been searching the area for such a long time but were not able to find any of her tracks, could it be that it was because the answer was beneath our feet all these time?

The unit commander studied the buildings surrounding us. They were all around three to four storey high with closed windows.

“So it was underground?” he muttered to himself.

Then, he bent down and knocked on the manhole cover.

“Is there anyone down there?” he shouted. “Answer me if there is someone down there.”

There was silence for a while before the unit commander stood up again.

“Does anyone have a stick sturdy enough to open up the manhole cover?”

“Is this enough?” a guard offered out a retractable metal baton around one thumb’s width.

“Isn’t this the first weapon every guard trainee is taught how to use? You still have this?” one of the guards asked in astonishment.

“Isn’t this fine? It comes into good use now after all,” the other guard replied defensively.

“You guys, stop playing around,” the unit commander said as he approached the guard and took the baton from him.

“Yes, this should be fine,” he said as he examined the baton while bending it slightly.

“Hey, if there is anyone down there, stay clear of the manhole cover!”

He inserted the baton into the hole and lifted it open with a grunt. The other guards immediately went forward to support and lift the manhole cover aside.

“Commander, the lamp,” a guard handed over a handheld lamp.

Taking the lamp, the commander waved it over the dark manhole. From the dim light, I could see that the ground was not too far from the entrance. There was dry ground at the sides of the waterway, with a shallow stream of water flowing through in the middle.

He bent slightly to get a better view and murmured, “There’s a metal fence extending from where the brick wall is. Did the girl try to escape from the manhole because the road is blocked?”

“Commander! There! There are some wet footsteps!” a guard pointed out excitedly.

True enough, there were some wet prints on the sides of the waterway.

“So, Lady Liliana is really below? We need to go down and help her then!” I said excitedly.

“Your Highness, please wait,” the unit commander said.

I looked at him puzzledly.

“Please let me handle this.”

He cleared his throat before shouting, “I am Heath Kinnison, a unit commander of the Royal Guards. We are here to help you. If you can hear me, can you come towards us?”

Why was he being reserved?

There was silence for a while, and just as I was getting impatient, a faint female voice answered, “Are you really able to help me?”

A look of relief flashed across everyone’s faces.

“Yes. We will not harm you. You have my word as a unit commander of the Royal Guards,” the unit commander answered confidently.

After a while, the sound of something walking through water echoed. However, the face that peered up from the bottom of the manhole was not the one I had imagined.

A girl around Lady Liliana’s age with silver hair tied in a messy braid and her short-sleeved dress stained and crumpled. With her amethyst eyes brimming with tears, she tilted her head up to look at the circle of men surrounding the manhole.

“Hic… Please. Hic… Please help us…” she sniffed as she wiped tears from her eyes with her darkened hands.

“Hurry! Help her up!” the unit commander shouted.

The other guards who had also been stunned by the scene jumped into action immediately.

It was not Lady Liliana? Then what about her? Where was Lady Liliana? A thousand questions run through my mind as I stood back silently.

When the girl was finally on the ground, I noticed something in her hands that stopped my heart.

“The necklace! Why is it with you?” I questioned as I rushed forward to grab her hand that was holding onto a gold chain with a pale yellow crystal attached at the end.

It was unmistakably the necklace I had given to Lady Liliana. But why was it not with Lady Liliana?

“Your Highness, you are scaring the young lady,” the unit commander warned as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

Ah, he’s right. The girl had stiffened up and shrunk away from me with her round amethyst eyes tearing up again.

This was bad. I should apologise for being so aggressive with her– Just as I thought of that, the girl grabbed my hands back in return instead, startling me.

“You know this necklace? Then do you know who is Miss Liliana?” she asked frantically.

I was so surprised by her words I was only able to nod my head.

“P-please save her! Miss Liliana has been taken away by the bad men! And, uh, uh, and Sui as well! They were both locked up, but for some reason, I wasn’t. And then the creatures suddenly flooded the room, and then I ran away…” the girl started to ramble incorrigibly as she began to recount what had happened.

The unit commander stepped in between us and kneeled down as he placed a hand on her shoulders.

“Can you tell us what has happened from the top? Have you met a girl named Liliana? Can you describe how she looks like?” he asked calmly.

The girl paused and nodded. “I met her on the streets while I was delivering bread because she called out to me. She had red hair and a pair of beautiful green eyes that looked like Pepper. But w-we were captured by bad men and brought to a dark room-”

“Just out of curiosity, but who is Pepper?”

“Ah, he’s a calico cat that lived in my village,” the girl replied as her eyes lighted up.

“I see. It must have been a lovely cat then,” the unit commander said as he nodded. “So what happened after you were brought into the dark room?”

The girl frowned as she tried to recall the events. “After that… We were left alone by the men. Miss Liliana was locked up in a cage, but I was just left outside. They kept complaining about getting hurt when touching Miss Liliana as well,” she answered.

That was probably the effect of the protection spell Queen Alena had cast on the crystal. The girl also seemed to be calmer now and was no longer crying.

“And then Miss Liliana woke up and a bad man came into the room. There were black rabbits that dropped out of the ceiling after that, and Sui helped me to cut away the ropes on my wrists.”

“Who is Sui? Is he also a captured person?”

“Yep. Sui was locked up in the cage with Miss Liliana, but he was captured for a longer time than us, so he knew a lot of things. And he was really courageous as well even though he is smaller than me.”

“I see,” the unit commander answered. His eyes wavered at the silver hair of the young girl. “Hmm... A slave trading ring?” he murmured as the crease between his brows deepened.

My heart skipped a beat at his words. Slavery was forbidden in the Lorzelea Kingdom since the founding of the nation. However, slavery was still rampant in Breusia even though their current King had set laws to stop slavery as well. The name of the boy captured along with them was unmistakably Breusian. Could it be that the perpetrator behind this incident was from Breusia?

“And how did you come to have the necklace on your hands?” the unit commander asked as he pointed at the magic crystal.

“It was given to me by Miss Liliana. I wanted to help all of them escape, but Sui said that the cage’s key was with the bad men and he cannot use magic in the cage, so I was asked to get help. And then Miss Liliana passed this to me because she says that it can protect me.”

The unit commander’s face turned dark at her words, but he remained composed as he asked, “I see. And you have been running through the sewers after that? Why didn’t you climb out to get help?”

“Um, because Sui asked me to hide in the sewers for a while so I ran a fast as I could away from the room. When I finally ran into a dead end, I thought that it should be safe enough to come out. However, the cover was heavier than I thought. As I was struggling, I heard voices, so I stopped.”

The unit commander nodded. “Is it okay if you pass the necklace to us? We will return it to La- Miss Liliana. Do not worry, my men and I will protect you in its stead,” he said gently as he looked into her eyes.

The girl hesitated for a moment before placing it in his hands.

“Please save Miss Liliana and return it to her!”

He placed a hand on her head. “Not to worry, we will. But before we can do that we need to find out her location. Do you remember anything about the place you came from?”

“I was just running away as fast as I could, and the sewers were dark so I cannot remember the place I came from… But Sui said that they were going to move out soon so they might not be there anymore. I’m sorry I don’t know anything helpful...” the girl’s face fell as she replied.

“It is alright. You have provided handy information,” the unit commander said gently. “And just as a final question, how big was the cage that Miss Liliana and the boy were in?”

“It was around this tall.” The girl lifted her hand to her cheeks.

“I see. Thank you for your help. We will get you to safety first. Can you follow the man over there?” He stood up and pointed at one of the guards.

As the back of the girl and the guard grew further, the unit commander turned to face me before holding out the necklace to me silently.

“Thank you,” I said as I gripped the pale yellow crystal in my hand. It was one step forward but two steps back. If the magic crystal was with the girl, then there was no way for us to track Lady Liliana down now.

Was she lying out cold somewhere with steel bars surrounding her? Or could she have been attacked by magical beasts already just like that night in the Palace? How could it be that the girl that was just smiling with me on the carriage a few hours ago have disappeared so suddenly?

Waves of uneasiness swamped my heart, threatening to drown me. Despite fighting against the current, it felt as if there was no way for me to break above the water level again. For a moment, the ground felt as if it was moving.

“Your Highness, are you okay?”

The unit commander placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it lightly as if trying to give me courage.

“Yes, I am fine. Thank you,” I replied as I lifted my head up again.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down. This was not the time to wallow in negative feelings. It was still too early for me to give up.

“Shall we head back to the town hall first? There is something I want to confirm.”

I gave a firm nod. “Alright.”

As the men around me busied themselves, my eyes went to the pale yellow crystal in my hands again.

"I will definitely save you, so please wait for a while more...!"

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Yay! Thank you for the chapter! This was a traumatizing experience for poor Charles too wasn't it....

 

Thanks for the update! Take your time on them, I'm sure no one minds the wait. It was a really enjoyable chapter. Thank you again!~

 

I'm really happy to see that people are still reading my story after a 3 weeks break!

I think that 1 chapter per week is a bit tight for me so I will be going for a biweekly schedule posted on weekends. Hopefully that will work out better!

 

Calling all fans of this story: Chapter 12 is on Royal Road!

 

Link plz

 

Ooo just read the first chapter, this is really good! Gotta read the rest after work

 

@misminor
Link to Chapter 12 and the RoyalRoad story page!

 

Thank you

 

interesting it like The Duke daughter which I am very interested in.

 

Is this still being continued

 

Aaaa I like this story a lot , Im sad its on RR its said hiatus
//Camping here hoping for next chp

 

Ehhhhh??? No more chapies?? Please continue, I really really like this story. Well hopefully the author gets well and finally gets time again. Take care