When I opened my eyes, the first thing that entered my sight was a dirty window.
“Whe-?” Unknowingly I let out a weird voice.
This was a different view to what I usually saw when I woke up in the morning.
“You’ve finally opened your eyes.”
I moved my sight towards the source of the voice, “Eh? Louie, why are you here?”
“It’s not ‘why are you here’, okay? You and I both were attacked by thugs and we’re now locked in here.”
“Huh?” I looked around me once again; it was a very shabby room. Rather than a room, a hut?
Inside a narrow hut, there was only Louie and I.
I tried to trace my memories. There was a man in red at the guard house. And then suddenly a large number of thugs came attacking.
“Jil, Trois, Arlo…”
Because they followed me to the guardhouse, they fell victim to the attack. The thugs clearly only targeted me. Even then, they protected me; they prioritized me over themselves.
With my own eyes, I saw Trois and Arlo lying on the ground. It was only an instant, but at where they lay, I could also see flowing blood.
*trickles* A drop of tears fell on Fania’s cheek.
But, that was the only thing I saw. Surely they didn’t die. I haven’t thanked them yet. I’ll meet them, thank them and nurse them until they feel stuffy. Therefore, they can’t die yet. Fania strongly clutched his own chest and closed his eyes as if offering a prayer.
“Hey, how long has passed since we were brought here?”
“Um, not that long. A short while after we were brought here, Fania woke up. So we can say that this hut we’re kept in is not that far from the academy. I was carried personally by that man, I could sense that he only traveled on foot.” Louie answered Fania’s question, and he thought for a while before he continued.
“I commute to school on foot, so I’m familiar about the area around the academy; but there isn’t any hut like this by the road from the academy to the royal capital. On the other hand, behind the school is the wide woods, and people rarely go in there. Most probably, we’re somewhere there. I was blindfolded, so I’m not exactly sure though.”
Louie talked as he stretched out his feet for a bit. They were shackled and the chain made a rattling sound as he moved.
“Those thugs really came prepared. They also properly have things like this.”
Fania and Louie’s feet were chained with the other end tied to a pillar. The chain was not that thick but it was clearly impossible to be severed with brute force.
“I’m sorry…”
“Haa, why is Fania apologizing? It’s not like Fania asked them to abduct me, did you?”
“Um, but the thugs were targeting me, and Louie just got caught up in it.”
“Then all the more reason Fania doesn’t need to apologize.”
“Thanks.”
“No need for thanks too.”
Louie looked the other way, but I could sense that he was slightly trembling.
It was no surprise. To be abducted and feet chained, it was impossible to escape. It was also unknown what we would be subjected to. For Louie who had been leading a life as a commoner, he would’ve never thought that he would experience something like this.
“I couldn’t protect you, sorry Louie.”
After I recalled the memories from my past life, I did a lot of things to try avoiding the BL game. I also trained my body, but maybe it simply was due to my body constitution or the genetics at work, I remained small and slender. If only I could take advantage when the thugs were not alert and somehow escape.
“Haaa~ it’s okay even if I’m not protected by you. Just what is a ‘chibi’1 like you talking about? But Fania, you are really calm… Haaa~ I’m so not cool, to be trembling like this.” Louie clenched his trembling fist.
“Hey, what’s with the ‘chibi’? Louie, you’re not that different from me. We’re almost the same size.”
Our heights were not that different too. Maybe I was even 1 cm taller than him.
“Until now, I thought Fania was someone who was only pampered and protected… Seems like I was wrong. It’s true when they say we can discover people’s real nature during critical moments. Urm, Fania, why is it at a time like this, you can still be considerate of other people?”
“Huh? What are you saying?” I was surprised by Louie’s question, my voice screeched.
“Isn’t that you? You got caught up in this because of me, being abducted for no reason, yet you didn’t complain and you even praised me.”
“Eh? I never praised you.” Louie instantly looked to the other side.
What a typical tsun2.
“Hehe, thank you. I, you know, am truly cherished by Al and the others. So you were right about me only being protected all the time. In my plan, I was supposed to be a buff man.” I tried saying it like a joke.
Louie smiled a bit, and it seemed like he calmed down for now.
*SLAMMM*!!
The door suddenly opened with a bang. The loud sound startled us, Louie and I ended up hugging each other.
“Well, well, to be so scared to the point of hugging each other, that’s so cute.”
The one appearing from the other side of the door was Lucrecia Den Haag—the villainous noble daughter from the otome game.