Chapter 123
But as James lay dead, the child ran away.
Walking endlessly through deep ditches where water reached his chest, spending nights in the mountains where wild beasts howled, the child barely shook off the hunters.
During those hellish three days, he didn’t think of anything.
Just surviving.
Just running because he was told to run.
The child vaguely understood that his torn life wasn’t worth much.
“Find him! He went this way!”
“I’ll take this alley, you go that way!”
The voices of the hunters grew closer.
The child hunched even tighter.
His hands clutching his knees grew cold.
The footsteps approached right in front of him.
He was about to be discovered.
Bad premonitions always come true.
Look.
With a rustling sound, light seeped into where the child was hiding.
Lifting his pale face, what he saw was,
“Awesis, foun yew.” (Alexis, found you.)
…a tiny little girl.
* * *
Just when I was thinking ‘Has he soared to the sky or sunk to the ground,’ a lightbulb flashed in my head.
‘Could he have sunk to the ground…?’
From last year to this year, the Astra estate had faced various disasters.
Landslides.
Drought.
Floods.
The most severe was the flood.
It affected up to 25 percent of the estate’s income, even reaching the shopping district.
That’s why, after the flood, stormwater pits were installed all over the streets.
‘And a stormwater pit could fit a child!’
Han Ji-hyuk spoke.
“They’re coming.”
I quickly reached out to Alexis and said,
“Twake my han.”
“……”
As Alexis hesitated, I crouched and reached out my hand.
My dress got all dusty and messed up.
“Awesis.”
“……”
“Wes go.”
After a moment of hesitation, Alexis took my hand.
His hand was sweaty, wet, and very cold.
I could tell how much he had been trembling.
As I struggled to lift Alexis, who was about my size, Han Ji-hyuk rushed over and hoisted up both me and Alexis.
I put my hat on the head of Alexis, who had been brought up to the ground.
Then I took off the worn coat Alexis was wearing and stared pointedly at Han Ji-hyuk.
“Tayoff youw cawdigun.” (Take off your cardigan.)
“What, why? It’s cold?”
“Now.”
Han Ji-hyuk grumbled as he took off his cardigan and handed it to me.
I wrapped it around Alexis like a skirt and tied it tightly, then put my coat over it.
At a glance, it looked like a girl wearing a coat over a dress.
Han Ji-hyuk said to me,
“We’re going to the carriage now, right?”
“Yeah.”
I answered and reached out to Alexis. But he slapped my hand away.
Seeing this, Han Ji-hyuk frowned.
“After all the trouble to save him…”
Alexis’s expression was hardened with wariness towards strangers.
Like a wounded cat, he backed away a little every time I approached.
“Awesis.”
“……”
“Is owkay. I gonna pwotecc you now.” (It’s okay. I’m gonna protect you now.)
The child flinched and stared at me.
Until Dahlia arrives, until you become an adult and meet her.
‘So you must repay this kindness.’
At that moment,
An adult man turned the corner and walked towards us.
Dressed in plain clothes, but the scars on his hands let me instantly know he was a hunter.
I gripped Alexis’s hand tightly.
“Wait.”
The hunter, seeing Alexis, narrowed his eyes and blocked our path.
The makeshift clothes couldn’t completely avoid suspicion.
“Hey, you. Take off the hat.”
The hunter took a step closer.
Alexis’s hand tightened.
This child is still too young.
He hasn’t committed any crime.
He has been chased all his life just because he was born as the emperor’s eldest son.
Learning fear at such a young age.
I blocked the hunter’s path.
“Gow away.”
“Don’t interfere…”
“I said gow away─!!”
As I yelled, the hunter flinched.
Then he scrutinized me from head to toe.
The precious dress provided by the palace.
At a glance, it must look expensive.
“A noble… However, I am acting under orders from someone high up. Just let me check the face of your companion─”
“Who ah yew dawing to command?” (Who are you daring to command?)
“What?”
I looked the hunter straight in the face, hiding Alexis behind me.
“I’m thew gwandottow of thwe gweat Kwonus Astwa, and thwe dottow of Daymun Astwa.” (I am the granddaughter of the great Chronos Astra, and the daughter of Daymond Astra.)
“……!”
“I am a mastuh of thwis essate.” (I am a master of this estate.)
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