Chapter 9: CH 9

Just before I asked back, “What?” Esadien’s face, which was speaking coldly, crossed my mind.

“That’s Esa… No, that’s not it!”

I couldn’t find a word to refer to Esadien and finished in a hurry.

“Anyway, what happened earlier was my fault. I’m sorry.”

By the way, did Esadien even buy this cotton ball because of that?

It was a completely different reaction from a few days ago. Even the day before she entered the Secret Garden, he warned me.

“I can’t return as much emotion as you show me.”

But just like yesterday, Esadien’s actions kept making me look forward to it.

“Would you like to walk a little?”

Look, how can you refuse such a gentle(?) invitation? In addition, it was the first suggestion Esadien made in meeting so far.

“Yes!”

I crossed my arms with Esadien without thinking twice.

Both of us looked completely different from usual, but I was familiar with the cool scent of Esadien.

“So what does this do?”

“I heard it gets bigger when you hug in bed.”

….yes?

As I stared at him, Esadien’s cheeks flushed brightly at what he meant.

“Well, my explanation was short. I heard that you can lean comfortably because it grows similar to the owner.”

“Aha. It’s a body pillow.”

There are all sorts of interesting thing.

It was a bed item because it was soft and fluffy. When I touched it, the fluff didn’t seem to be blown away as it wasn’t real cotton.

“But why are you so shy….?”

“Well, I’ve never done that.”

“Yes.”

What kind of prince of which country is who is just avoiding your gaze?

But I turned to the other side instead of biting it.

“Thank you again. Every night, No, I will hug it and sleep while thinking of you.”

“Minuelle…..”

“Isn’t that why you gave it to me?”

“Are you making fun of me?”

Oh, you finally figured it out, of course.

‘I guess the answer was to meet outside the Secret Garden.’

It was fun to watch Esadien’s various reactions that had never been seen before.

“If you’re going to keep doing that, give it back.”

“No! You can’t give it away and take it away”

I giggled mischievously, sticking out my tongue slightly. Then it was when I took a couple of steps back from Esadien.

“Argh! Run away!”

“Damn!”

A faint scream echoed in the distance. Even though I heard it vaguely, I felt the embarrassment in it.

“What’s going on?”

“Minuelle, first of all…..”

The disturbance drew near at a tremendous pace. In the short time Esadien pulled me firmly, I came from outside the square to the inside. And while we blinked, we got to where we were.

“Run away! The cows are crazy!”

“Cow- cow?”

It’s not even the Spanish Cow Festival. Suddenly? Here?

Unlike me, who was scared stiff, Esadien was cool-headed.

In a few seconds, and as soon as he heard the earth-shattering noise and dust, he pulled me to the side road between the buildings nearby.

“This way for now.”

And the very next moment.

Dugdugdug!

A herd of bulls passed by at a deliberate timing.

“Wha…..”

Had it not been for Esadien, My live would have ended here. This time for real!

“Thank you. You saved my life.”

“Didn’t you save me, too?”

“I didn’t know, but you save me in return of last time?”

I smiled sighingly as I faced Esadien.

Looking at the calm eyes, the surprise seemed to calm down a little.

“I think the walk is over by now, and I’m going to turn around…..!”

It was when I leaned my relaxed body against the wall behind my back. I could feel the wall that was supposed to be firmly holding up spinning like a revolving door.

“Ugh!”

If you’re too surprised, you can’t even scream? I fell just like that. The sensation of being thrown into gravity with no wings or parachutes was terrifying.

‘It’s a trap.’

In the midst of this, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

Why would the cows go on a rampage all of a sudden? Even if they were stung by bees as a group, is there a reason to inhale them into the square?

‘It was stupid.’

It hasn’t been long since the Secret Garden incident occurred, so I thought the party who ordered it would also halt their scheme. Also, I suddenly decided to go out, so I thought it would be okay.

But this is all just an excuse for my stupidity. I put Esadien in danger.

“Minuelle!”

This person who jumped together without a moment of hesitation and hugged me.

***

“… nuelle.”

A familiar voice came and went away.

“Minuelle.”

Once more.

“Open your eyes.”

And again.

I opened my eyes and blinked blankly.

On the dark red floor. All the furniture you see around was covered with colored cloth.

“This is…”

“Wake up, Minuelle.”

“Esadien…”

It was only then that I realized.

‘Calm down, Minuelle!’

It wasn’t the Emperor’s knights who saved me from falling into the lake at the Secret Garden. It was Esadien.

My heart was pounding.

‘How many times have you saved me….. Rather, it was me who should be thankful.’

But why can’t I just hear the voice and not see the figure?

“Minuelle.”

“Esaa…!”

Nod. I nodded my head, and I shut my mouth.

It was across from where I was that I finally found Esadien.

Esadien was doing pendulum exercises with his arms tied behind him and hanging from the ceiling. In other words, it means that he called me through the open door, going back and forth like a pendulum.

“Are you okay?”

“What are you talking about, now…..!”

I was on the verge of collapse.

“Who’s worried about whom?”

Esadien was bleeding with all his tops off.

I knew exactly what the wound was about.

“Uh, uhuhu….”

When I first met and brought Ramande back in the day, there were so many traces on his back.

“Who did this to you! Who dare!”

I said I wanted to see Esadien’s muscles, but I never wanted this look.

Her anger was so intense that her eyes were dizzy. At the same time, the heat and the smell of her blood rushed up her throat.

“Ugh….”

For the first time in a long time, Iwas unfamiliar with nausea, but I swallowed it with all his might. I pressed down on my feelings.

I couldn’t vomit and faint in this place. It wasn’t supposed to be. Never.

“I’m fine.”

“Lies, ugh, don’t.”

The desire to jump up and run to Esadien was like a chimney.

However, I couldn’t balance properly because my hands were tied behind me. Like an upside-down turtle.

“Ughh!”

It was the same no matter how many times I tried.

‘It’s like a low-quality body with no muscles at all.’

A voice that sounded sad came over.

“Stay still there. If you get the chance, you’ll escape…..”

“I do not like it!”

People… were not only allowed to move on foot. Isn’t there a thing called ‘crawl forward’?

Although what I chose was rolling.

“Eck!”

I had already guessed from the furniture covered with cloth, but it was clear that this house had not been visited for a while.

Every time I rolled it around, dust was clinging all over my body, not covering my head and face.

“Whew!”

“Didn’t I tell you to stay there…..”

It was obvious that I looked terrible.

But I had to stick with Esadien somehow.

In that alley, as soon as I felt the thought of falling back, I immediately pressed the pager I always carried with me.

What kind of pager is it all of a sudden? It’s a magic tool that calls the knights of the family knights.

‘We’re going on a date in disguise, but my family let me go without a word. That’s more suspicious.’

I don’t know what the Royal Family is like, but my parents and sisters must have attached knights to escort me secretly.

We couldn’t tell when the knights will enter, but it was natural that it would be easier for them to rescue us if we were together.

“Ugh, Acho!”

With a loud sneeze, I finally arrived in front of Esadien.

“I’m asking just in case. You can’t cut it with that rope, can you?”

In a movie I’ve seen in the past, if you’re caught like this, you’d either cut the rope or reverse the neck of the person who came to torture you.

But when Esadien heard my question, he bit his lip with a strange expression.

“I guess it’s not working.”’

I heard that Esadien was a pretty good knight, but if you look at it that it didn’t work, the movie was just a movie.

So what should I do now? It was to stand up at all costs.

“Whoa!”

This time, after a few tries, I was able to get it up.

I was extremely exhausted, but I clenched my teeth and bent my upper body toward Esadien. The necklace slipped through his collar and swung over his face.

“Minuelle?”

“I’m sorry it must be hurt, but please break this necklace.”

It was a sword-shaped pendant dangling at the end of the necklace. Sword that looks just like the symbol of the Karinen family.

In fact, it is not a regular pendant, but a magic tool that changes in size depending on the owner’s will.

“Uh.”

Esadien took a short breath and raised his upper body as it was and bit the pendant.

‘That’s great…..’

I was embarrassed to compare myself with him who didn’t even frown and rolled around and came all the way here.

But I couldn’t waste time on self-criticism. I carefully knelt down and approached Esadien’s face, which went down again.

“I’ll give you this in you hand. If you imagine a dagger, it’ll get bigger, so cut the rope with it.”

Of course, there will be inevitable cuts in the process. It was heartbreaking to hurt Esadien more here, but it was an inevitable choice.

I can’t get a sore throat because it hurts to cut my hand. However, if I caught it, it could have flown away at all, not just cut it.

“……”

Esadien didn’t say anything, but as my face got closer, I could clearly feel his breath shaking.

I didn’t know if it was because he was unhappy or because I was funny with dust. It was breathing just like yesterday, but the situation was completely different.

‘If I’m nervous, I might stab somewhere weird.’

So, without looking into Esadien’s eyes on purpose, I bit the end of the pendant as quickly as I could and lifted my head.

After that, it was a breeze.

As if he had practiced dozens of times, Esadien cut off the rope that tied him and my wrist and finally folded completely to untie the string of his ankles.

‘I thought it was some kind of foldable phone.’

For a moment in admiration, I hurriedly took off my earrings. When I turned the dangling crystal and pulled it out, the thing was smaller than my fingernail was. Pong! It became so loud that my hands were full of the sound.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a healing potion.”

It was Ramande’s holy water that contained his divine power.