Run Away
“There are so many of those things I don’t know which one you’re talking about.”
Coco’s cheeks reddened. Not being honest! She looks like she’s dying to brag though. Ruman seems to have noticed too. But he skillfully swallowed his laughter. What, you’re really good at hiding your expression? Then hold back your laughter a bit when you’re with me too. Tsk.
“The place where Lacus is.”
‘Lacus? What’s that?’
When I didn’t understand, Ruman looked at me.
“Hmm. Lacus is a term that refers to ‘a beautiful lake’ considered a scenic view.”
“Wh-who asked you?!”
“Because I like showing off.”
Ruman who said that annoyingly smiled…….
Aah, I know too! Ruman is saying it like that because he’s worried I’ll be embarrassed! But that makes it more embarrassing……. Hating myself for getting worked up for no reason, I just fidgeted with my bowl.
“Well.”
Princess Coco shrugged as if no explanation was needed.
“That villa happens to be near here, doesn’t it?”
“That’s more of a castle than a villa. Sure it’s close in words… but it’s hard to get to unless you’re the family’s mage or using a designated route.”
Coco wrinkled her face sharply.
“……Everyone would have headed to the capital at the news of the death, so there won’t be anyone there. If they were trying to rescue me… wouldn’t they have at least sent people?”
Coco laughed cynically.
“I see.”
“I understand. How frightening assassins must be.”
Ruman only nodded. He seemed to have no particular emotion about Coco’s words. He was just curious about ‘Lacus’ it seems.
I didn’t really understand what they were talking about… so, Coco is being chased right now, and there’s a castle owned by Duke Ganien near here, right?
But because of Duke Ganien’s death, there won’t be people in the castle…… if they were going to rescue her, they would have sent people already, is that the story?
Staring blankly while trying to understand her words, my head throbbed.
Actually, it’s not my head…… my chest felt stuffy.
“Heem!”
“……?”
“Pfft.”
Ack! I just opened my mouth to speak and my voice cracked!
My neck is hot. But if I clear my throat it’ll seem funnier, so I just continued speaking.
“…Even so! Since it’s close, wouldn’t it be better to go there?”
“Didn’t you hear me? There’s no point going. I don’t know how many people are even there.”
Far from getting help, we might bring the attackers there and only see more innocent bloodshed. Coco added irritably.
I see. No, you could just explain, why the irritation!?
But instead of fighting back, I thought hard about other things.
It’s definitely not because I don’t want to eat the soup in my hand and I’m playing dumb.
“Doesn’t that castle have something like an ‘artifact’?”
“……!”
My pronunciation of ‘artifact’ was a bit strange and awkward.
How would I know what that is! I just vaguely remembered what Coco said and tried saying it. But Coco’s expression was strange. She looked surprised, then her darkened gaze briefly glanced at Del.
“Haha. Ren doesn’t know well.”
Del interjected with a gentle voice.
“What doesn’t Ren know?”
Ruman asked back instead of me.
“That although artifacts are useful, there are actually still safety issues. Hero-nim knows this, don’t you.”
“Ah.”
What! You’re agreeing just like that?
“It’s difficult to go with this number of people. It’s close, but that’s also close ‘compared to’ the capital. Not only is there risk of accidents because the road is rough…… I don’t know the geography there well, so we’ll be even more vulnerable to attacks. Moreover…… it would be difficult to ask the Hero-nims to accompany us.”
“True. The princess’s castle where ‘Lacus’ is located is in a different direction from the capital. We’d have to take a detour.”
Ruman kindly explained for me who didn’t understand.
“Can’t we just steal the artifact?”
“Steal, Ren.”
Ruman chuckled with laughter.
At my muttering, Del made a surprised expression.
“That could work! But I don’t have such skills…….”
Del looked at Ruman. Following Del’s gaze to look at him, he swept back his hair.
“When Ren looks at me like that, I have no choice but to tell you.”
“The Hero’s younger brother doesn’t know?”
‘What!? What don’t I know!’
My irritation surged! When I raised my eyebrows, Ruman calmed me down saying he’d tell me.
“Heroes can’t use their abilities except for missions.”
“…What kind of secret is that?”
I pouted for no reason. I vaguely felt like he might have told me something like that when we left the village.
“It’s a dangerous secret though.”
Ruman scratched his cheek.
“Then shouldn’t you not tell me?!”
I snapped quietly at Ruman.
“Is it okay to tell that man?”
“He already knew. Looking at the Hero’s behavior so far, well, everyone who would know already knows. It’s not special information.”
Ruman snickered. What’s so good that you’re laughing! I don’t like Del either. Why does he know all about other people’s private matters?!
“Ren.”
“Mm?”
I was glaring at Ruman for a while when hyung called me. It was quite a stern voice.
Hyung had been completely out of our conversation, but looking now, he might have been monitoring me! Hyung’s eyes were stuck firmly on my soup bowl!
I picked it up reluctantly, and I didn’t want to eat it so I delayed it…… did I get caught?
Just eat it, if you eat it!
“…….”
Argh……! I squeezed my eyes shut and put the soup in my mouth. Del also watched me as if curious about the food evaluation.
Mm…. Mm? Mm…!
I slowly opened my eyes wide.
What? It tastes completely different from before?! It’s much more, delicious, isn’t it? My stomach isn’t bad either!
When I opened my eyes round, Del smiled brightly.
“Is it delicious?”
His gentle eyes folded sharply creating an affectionate smile.
Isn’t his personality too gentle to be a guard?! Anyway, perhaps because Princess Coco herself is unique, she’s attached quite an unusual person as a guard!
“The seasoning seems right today. Eat a lot.”
“Don’t eat too much since you might get indigestion.”
Ruman helped from the side.
I ate three bowls of the soup Del gave me!
“Shall we depart again then?”
Ruman sent a friendly smile to Del who was cleaning up and standing.
“You’re quite attentive.”
“Because I have to attend to the princess.”
We got back into the carriage.
“Ren!”
“What??”
“Don’t fight with the princess. The road is steep, so if you even get into a physical fight, it’ll be serious.”
“……I said I won’t fight!”
I got slightly irritated and slammed the door shut with a thud!
“Pfft.”
“Don’t laugh.”
When I glared and spoke, Coco shrugged.
The carriage ran down the slope without rest.
We all didn’t say it, but we could tell this was a dangerous section.
Because the road was narrow and the side was a cliff, it seemed like a good place for enemies who had been watching from somewhere in the trees to make a surprise attack. And somehow Coco also seemed tense. She fidgeted with her hair as if plucking it with eyes mixed with faint irritation and anxiety.
“Hey. Coco.”
“…What.”
“We’ll go down soon. The village is nearby too.”
“Are you comforting me right now?”
“Well. If you don’t like it, never mind.”
How embarrassing. I pulled one string of the tightly tied wrapping cloth as Coco taught me to untie it, and played dumb while chewing the tea leaves. Ugh, bitter. Could the motion sickness be because of these herbs?? After eating the herbs, my stomach bubbled and boiled again.
Why is this really. Is it motion sickness. Should I just starve instead?
Ah. If I ask to stop saying I want to throw up, it’d be a nuisance…. I can endure it, right? Endure! I can endure! Fighting!
Moving around busily by myself, I looked at Coco, and she kept looking at me.
With an expression without laughter or irritation, Coco looked at me intently.
“Why are you staring like that??”
Her violet eyes trembled as if wanting to say something.
That’s when it happened.
Clatter.
As if the carriage wheel got caught on something, it shook greatly back and forth and stopped.
Neeeigh!
I heard the sound of the horse that stopped urgently dragging its hooves.
“Ren.”
Coco quietly called my name.
“What’s happening?”
“A protruding rock seems to be stuck.”
“We’ll probably have to lift it and move it?”
Outside, I could hear sounds of discussing what to do with the stopped carriage.
“What’s wrong, suddenly?”
“…Run away.”
“……? What are you talking about?? Run away?”
“Princess. You need to get out.”
The door opened. The pitch-black night poured in, instantly darkening my vision.
No. What poured in wasn’t darkness… my vision had flickered. Coco grabbed my arm.
“It’s dark.”
Before I could thank her, Coco spoke primly and let go of my arm. Thanks to her, the other companions didn’t look at me.
“We have to move the carriage, so step away. And be careful where you step.”
When we got off the carriage, the wind shook us mercilessly. Looking at Princess Coco’s fluttering violet hair, I looked down at the pitch-black cliff below and my body flinched.
Wow, if I just misstep a little, I’ll fall right down.
Glancing at the bottom of the cliff, I moved far away from the carriage with Coco at Del’s shout.
Saying they had to lift the carriage, Ruman and hyung split to the front and back. Hyung seemed to be muttering something but I couldn’t hear it. Somehow hyung looks dazed? Del held the horse’s reins and distanced himself from the carriage.
Snort. Whinny.
Is it anxious? The horse kept neighing as if it wanted to get out of here.
I was watching the troubled smile on Del’s face holding the reins, when Coco came right up close.
“Ren. You remember what I just said, right?”
My body that had stiffened in surprise relaxed at Coco’s words.
