Distant past (1)

From then on, nothing else happened in the stone tower where Chizuru and Baru were trapped until evening, and the sun began to set.

The small, heavy wooden door was covered with iron plating which could not be broken by two people without tools. There seemed to be a few guards surrounding the area, as they roughly threw some tasteless food, similar to porridge, through a hole in the door that looked like a hidden window.

When she protested that she needed to go to the bathroom, they just threw a rusty tin-like bowl at her through the same hole. And when she shamelessly told them that she was menstruating, they threw in a dirty, worn-out piece of cloth.

Chizuru was fed up with it all and exhausted, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not fall asleep.

Perhaps it was his quiet nature, but Baru, who seemed to be disappointed, did not make much of an attempt to converse. If Chizuru asked him a question, he would mumble a short but polite answer, and he would maintain a distance between him and Chizuru as much as possible in the small room.

She wondered if he feared Lukrov that much.

Or was he so fed up with all the trouble Chizuru has caused him that he didn’t want to be around her anymore?

Honestly, Chizuru didn’t really care which reason he had.

Every time she took a breath, the thought of Lukrov made her heart ache. Every time she blinked, an after-image of Lukrov would appear in her mind, and she would burst into tears.

How could she get out of here? .... If she did get out, how could she get back to Lukrov?

That’s all she could think about.

And when night fell, the same porridge was offered again, and Chizuru ate it. It was the only way to keep herself alive.

She could hear the distant hooting of an owl, and the occasional rustling of dead leaves struck her ears as if the guards were setting up a campfire outside.

In the darkness, with the only source of light being the pale moonlight leaking in through the small window, Chizuru finally began to drift off and leaned her back against the wall, wrapping the dirty cloth she had been given around her shoulders.

The dress was still the same one she had worn when she was kidnapped. It was a beautiful black dress, tailored to match the Lukrov’s flag.

It was already dirty, though.

As she touched the embroidered sleeves with her fingers, Chizuru lowered her eyes and remembered the books she had borrowed from Mai before she returned here. Those books were a tale of fantasy, after all. In reality, if you wander into a medieval world, what awaits you was a cold reality. With no bath, no lights, and no decent food.

Chizuru tried to stay as positive as she could, but it was hard to say she succeeded.

Surely by now, Lukrov’s furious, faced with the fact that Chizuru and Baru had disappeared in his absence together. Chizuru was well aware of how Lukrov acted when he was really angry.

I wonder if Arde will be okay? Would Nadal be in trouble?

She was not sure how much help Roan could be, but she was hoping that he would be able to help calm Lukrov down a bit. The fact that Baru was Roan’s subordinate and had disappeared was hard to dismiss, and how long this fact could be hidden was a mystery.

Once revealed, it might become like pouring oil on the fire.

Chizuru was staring at the floor with her teeth clenched as crying here would be like admitting defeat.

It’s okay. I’m sure Lukrov will believe in me.

He will believe in me, and he will be searching for me.

She told herself that over and over again and waited for the passage of time.