Chapter 1 Father Sold Daughter
[To all the forsaken and unforgiven you]
That night, Lena was excited to visit her father’s study room.
“Father, did you call?”
“Come in.”
At the voice over the door, Lena bit her lips and smiled.
Lena’s father, Viscount Rubel, was a wonderful person. He was always recognized for his good looks, outgoing, and outstanding abilities. It was a bit of a fault for being careless with work, but Lena loved her father, including that.3
The proud father called Lena separately. It was the first time.
‘Why did you call me? Did you know that I was praised at the violin class? Or, is it because of my birthday? ‘
Next Wednesday is Lena’s 12th birthday. Maybe he prepared a special gift. Lena swelled in anticipation and set foot in her father’s study room.
But what her father prepared was not a pretty gift, but a cold hell.
“The child is here.”
When Lena came in, her father spoke.
“Is that her?” Then, a strange voice was heard.
Lena was shocked and turned. The first person she saw was sitting on her father’s chair. He was a beautiful man like an angel in the torch.
“It’s a pretty child. Is it really okay? It looks a little too much to use as a sacrifice.” The man looked at her and asked.
“Make a careful decision. It’s going to be hard to even hold a funeral because there won’t be even her dead body.”
Lena doubted her ear. Dead body? Funeral?
Lena looked at the man with confused eyes, and her father grabbed Lena’s shoulder.
“The decision has already been made.”
“…Father?”
Lena was puzzled by the adult jokes. So she looked up at her father but it didn’t work. The face of her father, Viscount Rubel, was serious without a smile.
“She’s 10 years old and healthy, she hasn’t even had a minor illness. It will definitely help Your Majesty.” The Viscount said as he pushed Lena.
Lena’s expression was blank due to the situation. She couldn’t understand what this was. It felt like a dream. Her father’s words echoed in her thoughts as she was distracted.
—I’m ten years old.
—Healthy.
—I’ve never had an illness.
Nothing was right.
Little Lena was weak enough to cough even with a cold breeze. For this reason, as the day got colder, the servants would limp ginger and made cotton clothes for her.
But this was only a minor misunderstanding, there was a real problem.
His daughter was 12, not 10.6
Lena stared blankly at her father, who didn’t know her age, not even her birthday.
However, the Viscount didn’t see Lena but pressed her daughter’s small shoulder down. His stiff touch awakened Lena. She couldn’t believe it.
His father sold her, his daughter.
That night, Lena was abandoned. From the father whom she loved more than anyone else.
It was already six years ago.
***
Humans are valuable.
The younger, the more beautiful, the more expensive it’s.
It was a common and disillusioned human trafficking trend in the empire that became a burglary. In the empire, it’s not uncommon for people to disappear, so neither woman nor children traveled the streets.
So, a beautiful lady sitting alone on the square was a strange sight for the citizens.
“Miss!”
A loud voice rang in the square. Who shouted was a child in a maid’s uniform.
“Miss, are you hungry? Have some.” A ten-year-old maid ran and offered a sandwich.
The lady who sat on the bench smiled gently. People were refreshed by her unusual beauty, but the lady seemed to be ignorant of it. She looked at the sandwich brought by the maid and asked with a smile.
“Why only one? What about Yuni?”
“I’m OK.”
“Have you run out of money?”
“Well, unfortunately, yes.”
In response to Yuni, the face of the lady was stiff. So Yuni more bravely brought out the sandwich that she bought from the stall to the lady.
“So, please eat this. I’m small, so I don’t have to eat.”
“Because you’re small, so you should eat better. It’s not enough, but we have to share it.”
The lady smiled tenderly, she divided the sandwich in half and returned the larger one to Yuni who accepted it with a big smile.
“I will enjoy this food!”
“Yes, me too.”
The beautiful lady and the cute child sat side by side and started eating. But even on the occasion, people’s eyes were on them negatively.
“What are the kids doing?”
“Are there no guards?”
“They’re trying to make things worse…”
It was mostly worry and criticism. The people started to attack her with their tongues. Then they urged to walk with their daughter or sister.
“Is she a noble?”
“Hey, is there a noblewoman doing that?”
“Wouldn’t you try to ask them?”
While the boys with chores at work were busy with each other. Though everyone seemed completely free of anger, they appeared to be pacing each other due to their irrational goals.
And a young and tallest man standing at the entrance of the square was also one of the observers of the lady.
It was then.
While everyone was watching, a man in a uniform talked to the lady.
“Would you show me your ID?”
The young lady raised her head in the shadow of the strange voice. A stranger came over and was looking down at them. His appearance seemed to be the city’s guard.
“What do you want to do with my ID?”
“We’ve received reports of suspicious activities. Please show me your ID.”
“I don’t have it right now….”
The girl was scared by the report, but she ended up talking. Then the guard began to notice.
“Where do you live?”
“We are not from this city.”
“The visitor? Are there parties? Why did you visit our city?”
“There is no party, and this is just a short trip….”
“Only both of you?”
The young lady replied with all her heart, but the guard seemed suspicious and crossed his arms. Then he asked interrogatively.
“What is your status?”
“I’m a northern Marquis’…..”
“The Marquis’ lady walks around the square with only her maid? You’re talking nonsense.”
The security guard interrupted the lady and laughed. The girl’s face turned white.
“No, I….”
“We will conduct an investigation until unknown people, noble deaths, and suspicions are resolved. Follow me!”
The security guard grabbed the lady’s wrist.
“What are you doing?”
“Yuni, it’s okay.”
“Miss…!”
“It’s okay, it will be okay. We just need to be investigated.”
The lady picked up the child and got up after the guard. Yuni, who was angry, closed her mouth. Then, the guards dragged the innocent lady and child. There were many people in the square, but all of them seemed to be familiar with that situation and avoided their eyes.
***
The place where the guards led the lady was not a guard building, but a rare alleyway.
There he laughed for the first time.
“Is this too easy?”
Then, other guards exposed themselves unexpectedly.
“Hey, where did this come from?”
“Look at her face. She is a real woman.”
As the ugly men approached, the young lady looked around the guard with a frightened face.
“Aren’t you the city guard?”
“Yes, that’s right, but my salary is low, so I sometimes work.”
“Then…”
“So why were you walking alone without fear? It’s dangerous.”
The guys giggled pretending to be worried, and the bad attitude crippled her shoulders.
Then a man murmured, “Hey, but isn’t this a trap?”
The mature lady is too gentle. Indeed, it seemed like the daughter of a rich man raised in gilt leaves.
But the guards laughed at the man’s fear.
“You must have gone without a guardian.”
“You could’ve gone out secretly, right?”
“Well, if we sell them out, it’s over.”
The guard stiffly reached out his hand to the young lady. Then Yuni shouted.
“You bastard! Don’t touch my Miss!”
“Ha ha ha!”
The guards burst into laughter as she yelled.5
“This will sell well. Perverts will love it.”
“Don’t do this. Please let me go!”
Yuni clenched her teeth in that lewd manner of the guards. The girl begged. It was worse. Their trembling voice fuelled their distorted mind. The guys laughed like a swamp, reaching out as if they were trying to snatch the young lady.
It was then.
BANG!
The man who blocked the alley unexpectedly turned upside down. Everyone was surprised and turned their heads at the same time.
At the end of the alley, a man stood behind the sunset. It’s a tall man who covered his face with a mask and wore a cloak. And under his foot, the man who had been looking badly fell down.
“What the hell!” The man shouted at him.
But the man didn’t answer and stepped on the head of the man who fell under his foot. There was a sound of a broken bone, the man had fainted and he couldn’t move.
“Sir. Oh…!”
Another less powerful man rushed and tried to give him a punch. The man avoided shallowly and grabbed the arm of the man and broke it.1
“Argh!”
The man sat down with the sound of broken bone again. Then, as if waiting. he lowered his jaw and kicked it with his knee.
“Kkeuk…!”2
The man’s body was numbed by brutal violence. When their colleagues collapsed one after another, the rest of the guys tried to attack as well. Then, the suspicious person shook one of the man’s shoulders with great intensity.
They didn’t know when he was moving, but he was standing right up there and he was like, ‘I’m so big’. In addition, the eyes revealed through the mask stood as if it were going to kill. With the overwhelming physique and sharp gaze, the men paused and shook.
“Damn!”
Like a frightened dog, they ran away. And soon, the alley quickly became quiet.
However, the lady and the maid still hugged each other tightly. Just like the guards, the man in the cloak looked dangerous.
Soon after that, the man got out of the shadow and approached the young lady and her maid. Then he quietly asked the lady and the maid who swallowed their dry saliva.
“Are you OK?”
It was an ordinary kind of voice. When the young lady was surprised by the unexpected voice, the man put down his mask.
“Ah…”
The young lady was amazed at the face that was soon revealed.
