âPrincess, donât you really want to go outside?â
The nanny asked me quietly.
The nanny seemed to be still interested in Rayâs words a while ago.
Moreover, after Ray officially started attending Episteme, the number of visits to me has significantly decreased, and the nanny is very concerned about him.
Ray was my best friend to me, but that too disappeared or something. Ray was almost the only visitor to the Conberta Palace, so it was not that the nannyâs concerns were not understood.
âBut Iâm thankful that Ray was busy.â
Itâs comfortable and quiet.
âWhen you go out, you will feel refreshed.â
The nanny continued to persuade me. Itâs been a week since she talked about going out whenever she had time.
âYou might find something that the princess likes outside. There are so many amazing things!â
I know. Iâm not curious.
But the nanny wanted me to see and learn more, saying that I could not see the real world by living in this narrow palace.
Iâve been whining for a few days that more experience will make me a better person. Eventually, I surrendered.
Iâm going to do it. It was a little too much not to go out of the palace until I was nine years old. I am not the princess in a fairy tale who is cursed and locked in a castle.
âOkay, nanny.â
There was no reason to refuse to go out even though I was stubborn.
The nanny was happy to see that my answer was the beginning of a positive change for the nanny and prepared for my outing.
âBut, just in case you donât know, Iâll give you an hour or two to look around.â
The nanny put a cape around me and said, So that was the starting point.
* * *
âOkay, you must have properly communicated the terms to that woman, didnât you?â
âFive big ones. To the Red Well in a week.â
I was overhearing the conversation with my eyes covered with a towel or something.
I could feel the rough straw on the floor and the dry air wrapped in dry dust and sand with every breath I took.
So thisâŚ
âShe looked like a pretty rich girl.â
kidnapping children.
On my first outing, I encountered such a formidable incident.
While walking on the street, the nanny collapsed with a terrifying popping sound as soon as she stepped on a deserted street for a while.
After that, a handkerchief covered my mouth and hit me from behind, and I lost consciousness.
They seem to have brought me here and kept the nanny until she came to her senses, and sent her to bring the money. They didnât even seem to know that I was a princess yet.
I was awake to a certain extent, but perhaps because of the medicinal energy, I was dazed and drowsy, and I left my collapsed body as it was. The kidnappers kept talking, whether they thought I hadnât come to my senses yet.
âIf you leave the girl behind, she makes a fuss that she will die. So I was like, âWould you like me to kill both of you here? If you want to save the girl, bring the money,â and she goes away crying. Oh, I thought Iâd just take her along and sell her.â
I could hear the kidnappers giggle among themselves.
Seriously, if you want life to be dirty, it can get dirty somehow.
I was more angry than scared. I wanted to live a good life, but why is everyone so anxious that they canât touch me?
âWhen are you going to kill her?â
âOnce we are certain that the money is in our hands. Before that, there might be some use for it.â
âItâs crazy to see a little girl wearing clothes that are more expensive than our house price.â
âSure. Those unlucky ones deserve to be burned to death.â
A spit was heard nearby. I canât believe Iâm like this, who once was even an emperor.
The fact that I had just been kidnapped by that frivolous kidnapper caused ridicule.
it was easy.
There was usually no escort assigned to me. My safety was sufficiently guarded even with a guard guarding the imperial palace.
So, itâs about going out for a while, so I thought there was no need to bring an escort.
Because I never received death threats, no one threatened me, and no one knew that I was a princess except for the nobles who frequented the imperial palace.
I acknowledged my and the imperial complacency. But what upsets me is that I donât have the strength to fight them.
I am nine years old. The physical condition of dealing with an adult man was miserable.
Besides, I didnât even sharpen my swordsmanship.
Before the return, I used to use a sword enough to be called the incarnation of war, but after the return, I purposely avoided the sword.
I was afraid that I might use the sword for something bad.
Because of that, I am now a girl who is inconvenient enough to be said to be a white student.
I misunderstood the subject for a while. Because of the memories before the return, I believed that I could handle some risks well.
I donât have any skills right now.
âIt doesnât matter if I die early, but at least I donât want to die from these guys.â
I donât have a dream of eternal life, but I donât want to end my second life by being caught and killed by a kidnapper.
Even if itâs an unlovable life, since itâs the second time, I want to die gracefully and normally.
I shook my head, waiting for it to clear up a bit.
can I get out?
âIt has been three days since she left, and there is still no news.â
âIt will take some time to prepare and get to the Red Well.â
three days? Iâve been asleep for three days?
Somehow, I felt so weak and thirsty.
I found water when I woke up in the middle, and I also remember that they gave me water.
Was it the drugged water?
After thinking for a long time, I have come to the conclusion that I canât just lie down like this.
First of all, Plan A is to appeal to me as an ordinary and weak girl so that they can be vigilant.
I knew that being smart would only dig my own grave.
âWowâŚâ
I tried to rub my eyes over the eyepatch that covered my eyes, but the eyepatch bothered me, and tried to pretend I was about to take it off.
Fortunately, my hands and feet were free.
After starving for three days, the probability of defeating the grown men and escaping was close to zero, so they didnât seem to have tied them up either.
âI think she is awake.â
âKid, are you awake?â
A voice saying hello passed through my ears.
âWow, I canât see thisâŚâ
âuntie me.â
I heard someone approaching, and I removed the eyepatch that covered my eyes.
In a dark and shabby room, there was no dazzling feeling even when the eyes that had been closed for a long time were opened.
There were no windows, so I couldnât tell where I was, whether it was night or day.
âOnce the kidnapperâŚDo I see two people?â
I checked the situation while pretending to open my eyes sullenly.
One was playing cards alone on one side, and the other was killing time sitting in the chair next to me.
The person sitting in the chair next to me had a long scar on his forehead and a sword around his waist.
From the looks of it, they didnât seem like a great organization, but they looked like government gangs from the streets.
âDid I just get hurt by these guys?â
Iâm losing my self-esteem.
âHello, kid.â
The guy sitting next to me made eye contact with me and smirked. But that smile looked dull rather than sweet.
âHello.â
I happily accepted his greeting.
Not only is it not scary, but first of all, it takes time to understand them, so I have no choice but to get a crush on them.
It seemed like things were going to work out somehow because they sent my nanny, but there is something Iâm worried about.
âCarnan might give up on me.â
He may think itâs better to use it as a card to throw away things like me than to give money.
Maybe he thinks itâs good.
âI canât just trust Carnon.â
He said three days had already passed. This means that the imperial family has not been able to find such a thief-like kidnapper for three days.
After a week, I didnât know what they would do to me.
* * *
The credibility of Karnan was about to rot underground bedrock water and lava through the floor, so I could just trust and wait for his salvation.
If there was a problem, it was the condition of my body. I starved for several days and had no energy because I had taken medicine.
âWho are you?â
Helpless, I decided to pretend to be an innocent child. Fool Ray for example.
I opened my eyes wide and when I asked, he looked at me for a moment and then smiled.
âYou are a cute little girl. I am Tutu.â
âIs Uncle Tutu the new nanny?â
âNanny? no. Not a nanny.â
âThen are you Daddyâs friend?â
I smiled brightly. Like an idiot who canât understand the situation without notice.
âIf anyone had seen Dorothea Milanaire like this, they would laugh at their belly button.â
I was angry at my situation where I had to win their favor of them even with a smile that didnât fit my personality, but I had to put up with it.
âYeah, Iâm your dadâs friend.â
Perhaps because of my smile, Tutuâs face suddenly loosened, responding to my innocent act.
âThen can I call you Uncle Tutu?â
âUncle Tutu? Huh, yes, Uncle Tutu.â
Tutu smiled as if he liked the expression âuncleâ.
âBecause you are Noble family, you look pretty like a doll.â
Tutu looked me in the eye and muttered, and I forced a smile on my face.
Come on, there used to be a thing a certain blunt-spoken man said to me almost every day.
âIf Your Majesty can smile, I can do anything. So, your Majesty, please smile just once.â
Aside from the credibility of those words, people used to say I was beautiful even before I became emperor.
As it was during Rayâs opening ceremony, people said that I looked just like Empress Alice. My mother, Alice, who had already passed away, was so beautiful that Crown Prince Carnan fell in love at first sight.
Furthermore, it was the woman who stole his heart to the extent that he would not remarry until the time of her death. Even after my motherâs death, the nobles occasionally talked about her beauty.
I donât like the look in my eyes, but it doesnât look terrible in other peopleâs eyes.
âBut where are we?â
I asked, shaking off my thoughts.
âThis is my uncleâs house.â
Lies. No matter how poor the house was, there were few signs of human habitation.
But there was no other way than to believe it.
I had to buy some time until I figured out the situation.
âWow, but whatâs that on uncleâs face? cool!â
I smiled broadly, pointing to the scar on his forehead.
There was no time to get angry or intimidated, and when compliments came in, Tutu scratched his head in favor of it.
âHuh, This uncle once had a 17 to 1 fight with scary peopleâŚâ
â17 to 1? Did you fight with 17 people by yourself?â
Iâll be bluffing in moderation.
âThatâs right. Uncle alone fought with 17 people!â
âWow! My uncle is the strongest in the world!â
I responded to the ostentatious bluff and clapped with small hands.
If itâs 17 to 1 with a body like his, maybe He is fighting an ant?
âThe fight was originally a fight we promised to fight with our bare hands. But some man pulled a knife from the inside of his clothes.â
Oh, thatâs right. It seemed like it.
âHe was aiming at my heart. Itâs a wound from avoiding it.â
I donât know why he got such a scar on his forehead while avoiding a knife that was aimed at his heart, but he seems to have avoided it very loudly.
âIt must hurt.â
âThis is nothing.â
Before he knew it, he forgot that he had kidnapped me and became an uncle who told his nephew the hero story of the past.