It Was Me, Not You

I shuddered to think it was a thief, but luckily the man was soliciting us as if he were the owner of a candy shop.

Leah let out a short sigh and held out a small copper-colored coin to the man.

“Give me one to feed the child.” 

“Yes!”

The man put a long cookie on a stick and handed it to Diana.

“Pretty girl, enjoy your meal.”

“Thank you.”

Diana took the stick in her hand, and Leah hastened her steps again.

Chasing after her as she walked at her brisk pace, Diana couldn’t taste her sweets she was holding.

She was just glad she didn’t drop it.

Again, where to go, Leah hastened her steps with a pretty impatient face.  Then she abruptly stopped in a square with a fountain.

And she had a young face that was bewildered by something.

“Oh my gosh! I left your bag behind!”

 ‘Bag?’

Diana glanced at Leah’s other hand.  Then she saw her hand holding nothing. When she left the house, Leah had come with the small handbag.

It was as if she had left it in the clothing store. Leah looked back at me, ruffling her hair in annoyance.

“You. Come here.”

Leah took Diana’s hand and led her to the fountain in the square. In front of the fountain, there were chairs to rest. Leah sat Diana there and said.

“Since we don’t have time, you sit here and wait patiently. I’ll get my bag.”

“Am I alone?”

Hearing that she was leaving her alone, Diana reflexively grabbed Leah’s hem. Leag opened her mouth wide as if to shout at her, and then bit her mouth as if being aware of the people around her.

After that, Leah took a deep breath as if holding back her anger, and lowered her body by bending her knees.

She grabbed Diana’s shoulder and forced her to smile.

“I don’t think taking you back and forth costs twice as much time. The Grand Duke’s carriage comes at noon, so I don’t have much time. Wouldn’t it be better for me to run quickly and get my bag in order to get home on time? Do you want to wander around here?”

“…No, but alone…” 

Leah’s power, which was gripping her shoulders more and more tightly, made Diana’s words blurry. Leah gently called out Diana’s name.

“Diana, won’t U get mad at you if you keep doing this? If you don’t want to go home and be beaten, just wait patiently here.”

Contrary to her soft voice, Diana shook her head and shook her head at Leah’s harsh words.

“Time is running out anyway.”

Leah looked at the tall clock tower in the square. As she followed her gaze and turned her head to her clock tower, it was really close to noon.

‘Yeah, I know where the wagon is coming from, but it doesn’t make sense to leave me here.’ 

And it’s true that Leah left her bag behind.

Diana let go of Leah’s clothes she was holding. Leah got up, smiling brightly as if she was satisfied just then.

“Please wait patiently here. I’ll be back soon.”

 “Yes.”

Perhaps it was not a lie that she said that she would come quickly, Leah looked ahead and walked toward the clothing store.

Diana looked at her until Leah’s back was no longer visible until she looked away, only when she disappeared.

“It’s okay, it’ll be okay.”

I knew where the carriage was coming, but when I was left alone in an unfamiliar place, I got scared.

Diana comforted herself and held her hands tightly. To shake off her fear, she deliberately looked around the square.

Because it was a warm morning when the cold had subsided, there were many people in the square.

There were also children running around with parents and others who brought their children, lovers, and peers.

Seeing them look peaceful, my anxiety gradually subsided.

‘Your Majesty has been away for a long time, but the state seems to have had no problems.’

Looking back, I remembered what the maids used to say.

They said as if they were proud that the estate of the Grand Duke was the wealthiest manor in the empire.

“Hey there, sister.”

Diana stopped her thoughts at the sudden sound of the voice. Turning her head, she saw a small child.

The boy looked one or two years younger than Diana.

Diana tilted her head as she looked at her boy’s shabby attire. She was dressed very differently from the children running around the square.

For some reason, Diana had a hard time taking her eyes off the child’s thin clothes.

She knows how cold it can be to spend the winter in that outfit.

The boy stared at Diana and opened his mouth again.

“Is your sister’s name Diana?”

“Huh? How did you know my name?”

“Someone named Leah sent me an errand.”

 “Errand…?”

The child took out two small copper-colored coins and a scarf and showed them to her.

The scarf was something none other than Leah wore today.

 ‘I guess my mother really sent him. ‘

The boy looked at Diana and said.

“The carriage time is up, so she told me to come right there. If you go over there, there is a shortcut, so go through the alley and come quickly.”

Diana looked at the clock tower. As time passed, there were only ten minutes left until noon.

She turned her gaze back to the boy.

‘It wouldn’t be a lie…?’

Diana looked back at the shawl, which her boy was holding, with narrowed eyes. Then the boy held out her scarf to Diana.

“Here. I’m sorry I’m late. I didn’t mean to have anything like that.”

“Yes…?”

The boy seemed to have misunderstood Diana’s gaze. The kid looked at Diana with desperate eyes as if it were real.

Just like when Diana begs Leah for her fault,

Diana straightened her slender eyes and smiled at her boy.

“I know. I just looked closely because it looked like there was dust on the scarf here.”

As he handed her the shawl and pretended to brush off the unstained dust, she loosened her face as if the boy was relieved just then.

The boy said as Diana got up from the chair.

 “I’ll take you to the alley.”

 “Yes, thank you.”

Diana hurried her steps with the boy as the time was running out. As she almost ran, when she arrived at the front of the alley, she stopped in a dark alley, unlike the bright one.

She looked around there, but strangely, there were no people there.

Although the entrance to the alley was only one block away from the market, this place felt like a secluded place completely separated from the city ‘market.’

‘Something doesn’t feel right.’

 When Diana hesitated to enter the alley, the boy said.

“If you’re scared, can I go with you? I go here often, so it’s okay.”

“Huh? Oh, will you please?”

Diana did not have time to hesitate at the boy’s courageous words, so he asked.

‘Would it be less scary if we went together?’ 

Diana took the boy’s hand as she nodded and walked into the alley.

Maybe she walked half way down the alley.  The sound of heavy footsteps was heard from behind.

But strangely, the sound of footsteps felt like following a puppet.

‘No, it can’t be. Since there is only one road, they are probably just people walking on the same road.’

Still, worried about something, the moment I glanced back, the man whose eyes met as if he had been waiting, revealed his teeth and smiled.

With that smile, a noise erupted from Diana’s body.

A red-haired man with long cuts on his face wearing dirty leather armor.

‘That person… Dangerous.’

And as if Diana’s premonition was right, he giggled and opened his mouth.

“This, something good has caught on.”

Diana grabbed the boy’s hand tightly.  For a moment, the boy’s gaze turned to Diana. Diana whispered softly.

She said, “Run as soon as I let go.”

And the moment she turned her head to let go of the boy’s hand, she stopped at the sight of another man walking in front of her.

The man with medium and green hair waved his hand as if he was pleased with the man with red hair.

They were one

The boy’s hand trembled as if realizing that the situation had become dangerous. Diana grabbed the trembling boy’s hand and spoke to the green-haired man in front of her.

“…we don’t have anything. Please just let us go…”

But the man burst into laughter at what was so funny.

“Hahaha! You’re such a funny girl. Don’t you have anything? cute girl, your very existence is money for me.”

He had heard of servants buying and selling slaves illegally. Diana understood what the man meant, and it felt like all the blood was draining out of her body.

“Oh, it’s more flattering than I thought. Even if I can’t draw like this, I can get 100 gold?”

As soon as the red-haired man approached Diana and said something, the green-haired man smiled happily and struck back.

“Yeah, this is really a business that remains as the end of that year.”

‘Like that year…?

I felt a strange sense of incongruity in their words, but because of the two men getting closer, I couldn’t think of anything else.

“But what is this little boy? Didn’t you tell me she was the only one?”

The eyes of the red-haired man standing in front of Diana’s nose turned to the trembling boy, not to Diana.

The other man said it was annoying.

“I don’t know, what’s important. We have one thing to take care of, so get it done quickly.”

“Yeah, it’s time for the guards to patrol. I’ll take care of this guy, the captain will take care of you.”

As the green-haired man looked at Diana with a grim smile, another man drew his sword.

What they meant was the killing of the boy.

The boy’s body trembled like an aspen, realizing what was going to happen to him.

The blue eyes of the scared boy met Diana’s eyes.

Swish-.

The moment the sword was swung, Diana pushed the child’s body with all her might. As the child fell, the man’s sword cut through the air.

The moment when the two men panic.

“Run!”

Diana shouted at the child and ran down the alley.

Puck-.

“Ah!”

But Diana couldn’t run for long and fell forward at the pain she felt on her back.

“Ah, the small thing is annoying. It doesn’t hurt to listen to the uncles, right? huh? isn’t it?”

The green-haired man, holding Diana’s hair tightly, was smiling, exposing his dirty teeth.

“Ugh…”

“This must be a little scary.”

The man giggled and pulled Diana’s hair back as if it was about to break her neck. Not being able to breathe in properly, she clenched, but he further broke Diana’s neck without mercy.

‘God, I think I’m going to die…’

 “Aww!”

She heard the scream of a child next to her, but there was nothing Diana could do.

In the moment when tears flowed down through the spring in her consciousness blurred because she couldn’t breathe, the body of the man who was holding Diana’s hair flew away.

“Kek. Kek! Melancholy – ha ha ha.”

Diana slumped in front of her and caught her breath, which was clogged up.

She was even nauseous, and then the screams of a man in agony raised in the alley.

“Aaaaah! Sa, save me…aaah!”

Diana struggled and looked up to see where the scream was coming from.

A black uniform and light blue hair symbolizing the knights of the Grand Duke.

 “….. Edwin.”

 “Miss!”