Ask Away, Your Majesty - Chapter 19
Lorienne had never forgotten his promise of coming back for her. However, over six years had passed, and her brother remained a slave in Rixir.
On the days when Marmo visited, thoughts of Elrond weighed even heavier on her mind. The thought of her brother being sold, his value increasing with each sale, was insane in itself. Yet, the tales of the households that bought slaves, mistreating and starving them, left Lorienne breathless.
The incidents that befell Elrond were probably more, not less, than what Lorienne could imagine. She was aware that there were stories Marmo couldn’t bring himself to tell her. The young eyes relaying news often wandered and seemed to resign themselves to silence.
“He should have come off that ship with me back then…”
Lorienne knew well why Elrond hadn’t disembarked with her. It was evident what fate awaited her as the cherished ward of the Kreutz family if she were sold into slavery.
In cases where a prominent family faced downfall due to egregious crimes, the wife and daughters were often sold into slavery as part of the repercussions. The lives they led as slaves were so tragic and horrifying that she could barely speak of them as a woman.
Whenever she thought of Elrond, regrets about not disembarking together from that ship flooded her mind. She wished to turn back time, but the conclusion was always the same.
Elrond would never have disembarked with her. Lorienne imagined if they had both leaped into the sea, the ship’s captain would have assumed the siblings had escaped together. Clony would have undoubtedly ordered to retrieve their bodies, believing they had perished.
Eventually, they would have lived the life of escaped slaves, chased endlessly, only to meet their deaths at the hands of pursuers on some unknown street. In Rixir, fugitive slaves were pursued relentlessly.
As Elrond remained on the ship, people merely believed Lorienne had thrown herself into the sea, ending her life. Consequently, Lorienne was etched into the minds of Rixir’s people as a pitiful and tragic figure of House Kreutz.
“No, I won’t give up. Elrond is hanging in there too. I will bring him back.”
Lorienne swiped a hand across her wet face and pushed herself up from the chair. She let out a loud breath, shaking with tears, and clenched her fists.
Hurrying inside, Lorienne changed her clothes, pulled her loose hair back into a tight braid, and retrieved the ‘Closed’ sign from the door. Unfolding a received order, she confirmed the necessary magical ingredients for the potion she needed to concoct.
Satisfied that she had enough ingredients, Lorienne looked at the spellbook and took a deep breath.
“Making five bottles of the fake Archduke’s requested potion at once is impossible. I should start by making just two bottles first. There’s no time to laze around like this.”
As Lorienne prepared to concoct the potion that could turn one into a dog, thoughts of Kyle naturally surfaced in her mind. He was a man taller and more handsome than any she had seen before. Lorienne had been pondering the help she received from him a few days ago.
At the time when the young nobleman, Kyle, had sought her favor, she had dismissed his help out of misplaced pride. However, now that some time had passed, she was certain that had Kyle simply walked away then, she might have faced a considerably dangerous situation.
To think the first person to offer help to me upon arriving in Astum was a fake Archduke…
Lorienne let out a heavy sigh. He was the first customer who’s been that condescending towards her, but he’s also the first customer she’s ever had who paid that large an amount of gold for medicine. He was also the first person from Astum who’s ever offered to help her.
For the past six years, Lorienne had been entirely on her own. There was no one who reached out to her in her secluded life in Loftis, and she had never sought help from anyone. Lorienne found that to be much more comfortable.
“Because nothing in this world is free…”
