***
For a moment, Brianne felt dizzy in front of her eyes. It wasn’t just a matter of children that Oscar had abandoned the Prince and fled.
Brianne hurriedly covered Oscar’s mouth and looked around to see if the horseman would hear it. And she asked in a low voice as much as possible.
“So you abandoned the Prince and ran away!”
Oscar nodded, as he was about to burst into tears.
Brianne huffed and patted her chest. If this incident gets bigger, not only she and Oscar but also the envoys of the Delta Kingdom will not be able to return safely.
Brianne grabbed my head and squeezed her eyes shut. She had to think fast to keep her mind from going blank.
She opened her eyes and told Oscar.
“Do not ever mention this to anyone. Do you understand?”
Oscar’s tears trickled down his face, as if he was even more frightened by her harsh gaze. Brianne, however, seemed to have no time to accept the child’s tears.
“Answer me, Oscar!”
Eventually, the child nodded his head.
Brianne had to somehow rethink the situation while going to the clothing store. She began to search for a way out, listening to Oscar talk about the situation.
***
Earlier.
Theodore and Prince Oscar left the dessert café and were walking down the street.
Theodore had a bad day with Prince Oscar the day before, so his expression was not good.
‘I want to play with mother…….’
He just bowed his head and didn’t even look at Oscar next to him properly. In the end, Oscar broke the silence and spoke first.
“I’m sorry about yesterday……..”
At the sudden apology, Theodor raised his head and looked at Oscar.
‘Mother told me that when someone apologizes, I should accept it.’
Theodore recalled Liv’s words. He quickly nodded towards Oscar and said.
‘’It’s okay.”
Then Oscar’s eyes lit up.
“Then you will forgive me?”
Theodore smiled instead of answering. Oscar also smiled, looking relieved.
At that moment, not too far away, they began to hear people cheering.
The children hurried to their feet and found the stage with the performance. Everyone was applauding at how good the play was.
Next to it, there was a merchant baking and selling warm pies. People were lining up to buy the pies.
When Theodore turned his attention to the pie stand, Jane, who had noticed this, spoke.
“Your Highness, I’ll get some pies. You can stay and watch the play.”
“Okay.”
While Jane waited in line, Theodore and Oscar moved to watch the play.
But when they were too short to see it with all the tall adults in front of them, Oscar hurriedly looked around for a seat and soon spotted one.
“If we stand over there, I think we can see better.”
When they climbed up and looked down, their field of vision became much wider.
Soon, the host of the play shouted cheerfully.
“If you want to know what the next performance will be, please concentrate again now!”
As more people gathered, the two children climbed up on the rocks and even stood on their toes to watch the performance. Their concentration, however, was short-lived due to the harsh voice coming from behind them.
“What is it? That’s our seat!”
Theodore and Oscar were oblivious to their call, concentrating only on the play. Soon after, they heard another shout.
“Are you deaf? Get out of the way!”
When Oscar looked back, ten people were staring at them with grim expressions. They were boys, about eight to ten years old.
Oscar scanned their appearance. They were children of the lower and middle classes. Oscar lifted his lips at an angle and held his head up arrogantly.
“How dare you!”
Theodore, who had been so engrossed in the play, turned back at Oscar’s shout. Then he flinched. Soon, someone’s voice was heard among the crowd.
“Everyone, stop!”
The owner of the commanding voice stepped forward, splitting the crowd. He was an agile-looking kid with dark gray hair and dark skin. He lifted his narrow eyes glancing at the two Princes.
“I told you not to pick a fight without checking. He looks like a son of a noble.”
He probably assessed the status by looking at the uniform Oscar was wearing. The big boy wasn’t keen on that word.
“Leader, but still, that was our seat earlier!”
“Noisy. The last time I touched one of the nobleman’s sons, I got whipped and the wound hasn’t even healed.”
When he showed his arm, there were rather hideous marks on it, as if it had been cut thickly with a whip. The leader took a quick look at Oscar and Theodore. Then he laughed viciously.
“A nobleman’s son and his servant. They look pretty good together.”
He thought the nobleman’s son was Oscar, and the servant was Theodore, who was dressed in plain clothes.
“Come on, let’s go somewhere else.”
The leader turned around and walked away, and the kids squirmed and followed him. Oscar stared at them and immediately began to smile broadly.
“You should bet on the person you want to pick a fight with! It’s stupid!”
Oscar shouted with increasing enthusiasm.
“If I see you again in the future, you will get a double whip on your arm. Do you understand?”
The leader clenched his fists and bit his lip at the sound that pierced his ears. The big boy next to him spoke angrily.
“Leader!”
“Shut up. Let’s go.”
Oscar rolled up the edge of his lips as if he had won. Then he picked up a small stone from the floor and threw it at the back of the leader’s head.
“Ah!”
The boy leader hurriedly touched the back of her head. There was blood on his hand.
“You!”
He quickly turned around and glared at Oscar with a steely gaze. Then he recited in a low voice.
“That’s why we can’t have nobles like him………….”
The leader bit his lip tightly. He seemed to think about it for a moment, and then smiled crookedly at his mates.
“I guess we should tell the kid what the price of teasing us is.”
The group approached Oscar and Theodore, gritting their teeth. They held their hands tightly so that they could not run away and began to drag them somewhere.
They screamed mercilessly, but their voices buried in the cheers of the crowd around them, even Jane, who was standing in line to buy pies, didn’t notice.
“Let go! How dare you! Do you know who I am!?”
But there was no one to prove his identity. The big boy covered Oscar’s mouth and threatened him.
“If you want to live, shut up, unless you don’t want your legs.”
Oscar’s face turned white and he trembled at the words.
When they came to a deserted alleyway, Oscar was so scared and began to think of running away alone. As they slowly reached a dead end, the vigilance of the children who were holding their arms tightly from the side became loose.
”I have to live, too!”
Oscar, both fists clenched, eventually pushed the children around him away and scurried off.
“Catch him!”
The big kid ran over at once and snatched Oscar by his collar. Oscar squeezed his eyes shut.
‘It’s over……….’
When Oscar gave up all motivation, Theodore grabbed the big kid’s hand tightly and stretched it.
“Ah!”
As the children were trying to separate Theodore from the big kid, Oscar managed to run away with the little time he had. After shaking off the kids, Theodore ran after Oscar, but he was quickly caught and fell down. Theodore looked up and shouted as he stared at Oscar who was moving away.
“Please help me…!”
But ignoring the desperate voice calling for help, Oscar ran away without looking back. Theodore, who had only seen Oscar’s back, was grabbed by the neck by the big kid. The boy leader was watching the situation from behind and quickly clicked his tongue.
“See? The aristocrats are not that loyal. I can’t believe he just ran away leaving his servant behind.”
He laughed and mocked Oscar. Then he averted his gaze and looked at Theodore.
“I don’t suppose your master will be coming to your rescue.”
The big kid smiled crookedly at Theodore and asked the leader.
“Leader, what are we going to do with him?”
The leader recited lowly in response to the big kid’s question.
“It’s his sin to serve the wrong master. So he’ll be punished instead.”
The leader made Theodore get down on his knees. Then he slowly examined Theodore. The child’s stern gaze immediately went to Theodore’s necklace. He muttered.
“What is this? It looks expensive.”
When the leader tried to touch the necklace, Theodore shook his upper body violently. When the leader signaled with his chin, the children around him held down Theodore.
At that moment, Theodore’s blue eyes began to turn purple. Theodore spoke in a cold tone.
“Don’t.”
Theodore’s lips quivered, and the leader seemed interested.
The leader approached and touched the necklace again. At the same time, Theodore’s words caught his ear.
“Don’t touch it………”
There was a moment of silence as Theodore’s words came through clenched teeth.
The leader showed interest in Theodore’s eyes. It was a moment when he looked at those mysterious eyes and approached curiously.
swoosh!
An arrow flew from somewhere and hit the leader’s head perfectly and bounced off.
The arrow was made of wood and had a round tip, so even if it had hit him, it would only have given him a shock, and it would not have pierced his skin. How strong the arrow was, the leader fell backwards.
“Where did it come from?!”
On the hills of the highlands across from the group, the bow with the wooden arrow was drawn again.
Shortly, the arrow hit the big kid in the thigh.