Chapter 5 – [Part 3]
5 years ago.
That day, Saye, who had been caught and beaten by some of the concubines, ran away to the library. No one taught her how to write, but the caretaker in charge of the library felt pity on her and told her the basics of the alphabet. She could only stutter through the letters as she read them. It was at that time when Saye discovered a secret place that even the caretaker of the library did not know.
She had been looking for a book at the bottom of the bookshelf at the west end of the library, but when she took out all the books below, there was a space where she could crawl inside. Because it was a remote place, the dust piled up as if it had been a long time since the caretaker touched it. There was enough space for even an adult man to enter if he crouched down. Whenever the bullying was severe, Saye secretly hid here and put the books back from inside. This was because the mischievous women who were doing nothing in the harem sometimes followed her to the library and tormented her.
It was the same that day.
All that was left was the sound of harsh breathing that resonated inside.
She pondered dozens of times whether to go outside or not. The breathing was getting closer and closer.
She wondered if someone had come to find her, but then shook her head. No one will find her in this palace. She fell asleep here while reading the book, but the caretaker didn’t know that and locked the door of the library and went away, so she stayed there for a whole day.
“Haa… Haa…”
Saye took courage and pulled the book from the inside and poked her head through the bookshelf because the rough breathing she heard sounded so pained. A few steps away, there was a young man leaning against the wall, breathing heavily.
His face was all covered in blood and he was unrecognizable. The wounded young man found her, and because she was frightened by the blood gushing from his chest, she tried to hide again under the bookshelf.
“Who is it?”
“Ah, well…”
It was a child, all pale.
Upon discovering her, Kainer thought he might have already died. How could there be such a pale and small person in the world? She might even be a fairy. Thinking of such unrealistic ideas, he laughed to himself.
“I-I’ll call someone!”
Saye, who had completely come out of the bookshelf, trembled.
“More than that, I need a place to hide.”
It was noisy outside. What should she do? Saye, who had been contemplating, could not ignore the young man after seeing his resigned eyes, and so she pulled out all the books under the bookshelf where she came out.
“Go in!”
“What?”
“Here, crawl in… I’ll put the books back from outside.”
The young man glanced at her for a moment as he could not understand what he had heard, but as the commotion drew near, he did not say a word and crawled into the bookshelf as Saye instructed. When a man entered, it was obviously going to be very cramped. Saye, who was quick to put the books back in place, called the young man from outside.
“Excuse me…”
“What?”
“The blanket inside, please.”
Her little hand stretched inside. In an instant, Kainer almost grabbed her hand. The small hand reached out towards himself.
“I have to wipe the bloodstains.”
“Ah….”
As soon as Kainer gave the blanket, her hand disappeared. And then she wiped away the traces of the blood he had shed. Shortly thereafter, a blood-stained blanket was tucked in beside him. And soon, a quick hand put the books in, it became a secret place that could not be completely seen from the outside.
“Look carefully!”
Soon after, the people who stormed into the library started looking for him.
Kainer pressed the lower part of his chest with force. His sister stabbed him in the chest. He had let his guard down and his sister just stabbed her brother’s chest.
The first time he saw his sister in fifteen years after he was born, he thought she was just a fragile person who he had to protect. He poured out immeasurable love and affection because she was the only one who was born from the same womb and blood as him.
In the end, this was the price of that misplaced affection.
His sister should have been beheaded on the spot. He killed all the assassins who rushed in, but he had no intention of going after his sister, who ran away after seeing him covered in blood.
“Who are you!”
“I-I am the Sultan’s concubine.”
The voices of those pursuing him could be heard through the little girl’s books. She hadn’t left yet. When the voice of the girl whom he had thought had left this place soon came from a short distance, Kainer gripped the handle of the sword on his waist.
“Why is a concubine here? This is not the place for concubines!”
“I-it’s close to the harem, so concubines sometimes use it.”
She was trembling to the point of pity, but the girl still said what she had to say.
“Hmm… have you seen a suspicious person around here? He’s probably covered in blood.”
“No. I’ve been reading here all the time… I haven’t seen anyone.”
Kainer clenched his teeth. His sister, who was his own blood, was about to kill him, but this stranger he had seen for the first time, who didn’t even know his name, was risking her life to protect him.
“If you see someone suspicious, call us immediately.”
“Yes.”
Although she was a concubine from the harem, she was just a scatterbrained little girl who didn’t even need to be polite to them. The man who was interested because of her unique hair color and skin color looked more closely at Saye. As if she felt the gaze, Saye’s head turned downward. He knew there were all sorts of oddities in the Sultan’s harem, and because he feared that he would be punished for mingling with her any longer, the man let it go.
Soon after, the men confirmed that there was no one in the library except Saye, and they hurriedly left.
“It seems that my father has lost his grip.”
Kainer sneered coldly. It would have been impossible for them to wander around the Imperial Palace without the tacit consent of the Sultan.
“Hey, are you okay?”
The little girl asked from beyond the books.
“Fine.”
“I’ll get you some clean cloth when it gets dark.”
“Clean cloth?”
“Yes. We have to bind the wound with a clean piece of cloth.”
Kainer forgot the situation for a moment and let out a small laugh. It was because the voice of the child who was talking outside was more serious than the one who was attacked.
“Where did you learn that?”
The bleeding was so great that his head felt numb and his consciousness was about to fade. At this rate, he might really die. Before he started smelling like a rotting corpse, he thought no one would probably ever find him here, and he felt better.
“It was in the book.”
“That’s right. Concubines can’t come out in the evening, don’t they?”
“I’m fine. I guess I don’t look like a concubine.”
Well, she was too small to receive the Sultan. Perhaps the eunuchs guarding the concubine are giving her some freedom because she was a child.
“Right.”
After answering that, he did not speak for a moment, and then Saye hurriedly spoke.
“You can’t lose consciousness.”
“Is that in your book too?”
“Yes. The book said that the person who bled a lot shouldn’t lose consciousness, and that I need to keep talking to them.”
“It’s a good book.”
Saye continued to speak to him. Many times, he would lose consciousness, but he’d come back to his senses again after a moment. When she left, claiming to bring back food and clean clothes, Kainer had already collapsed.