Ch. 5: Caught
They were all 20 something-year-olds chuckling with one another and laughing. The royal guards’ uniforms were wrinkled and their cheeks were cherry red. Within the cramped office, one whiff quickly informed me what their condition was. Hangover. The Empire indulged in a lot of sweet wine and Bianca frequently kept her good bottles in a dark corner of my room so they wouldn’t get warm. The scent of the cloying sweetness was thick like they’d bathed in it, the way Bianca bathes in her perfumes.
The large guard’s eyes, as expected, settled on the beautiful woman in the room giving me the distraction I needed to bury my face under the covers so only my white hair was visible. Hopefully, it would just blend into the white sheets.
“Oh, ho! What do we have here?” someone said, probably from noticing Bianca. Her face had long lost its charm in my eyes since I saw the ugly side of her personality every day, but in reality, my aunt is a real head-turner.
A thwack against flesh echoed through the room followed by a cool, “Look but don’t touch, boys.”
I stiffened at his words. Without a doubt, that was the voice of the leader of this little group.
“W-Welcome gentlemen!” Dr. Strobum stuttered out. “How can I-”
“These men are all indisposed. Give me something to treat them with.” the leader ordered in the tone of someone accustomed to being obeyed to the letter. Yup, I wasn’t mistaken, he was definitely in charge.
“My little clinic only has ginger tea to treat hangovers.” There was a rustling as Dr. Strobum went to go grab what the soldiers wanted. I’d barely seen anything in the capital, but it seemed already that royal guards had the autonomy to enter any business as they pleased. As Dr. Strobum ran around his little office to get the tea ready, I tried my best to stay especially still as this would be the time those vigilant guard’s eyes would case the room.
.....
“So what are you doing here, pretty lady?” a guard asked. Another thwack rang through the room.
“Sorry, I meant miss,” the guard quickly corrected as the leader presumably hit him for the second time. A weird chuffing sound came out of my mouth. A laugh? I hadn’t laughed in so long, I forgot what it felt like. Unfortunately, this was the wrong time for me to rediscover my ability to laugh.
“Who’s that under the cover,” the leader said, his steely voice leaving me trembling under the covers.
“That’s my daughter,” Bianca quickly said with a sweet smile, covering for me. “She’s still young and a little shy, please excuse her gentlemen.”
Bianca sure had a way with words when it came to men.
“Oh, don’t worry about it.”
“How cute! I hope she takes after you, Miss.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. The rest of the guards visit went by uneventfully, with a hitting sound filling the air every time a guard goofed with his words or actions. The front door of the clinic banged shut and I stuck my head out of the covers into the cool air. I breathed a sigh of relief and opened my eyes to meet another’s discerning gaze just outside the window of the clinic. Oh, what to do!
There was no question about who the character standing outside the window was. With a gruesome slash running down his forehead and over his left eye and shock of red hair, staring right back at her was Wolfgang Amarelius. The Mad Dog, head captain of the royal guards, head of the noble Amarelius family, and most concerningly, closest companion of Emperor Helio.
I sucked in a breath, my gaze transfixed on his as realized my fate had changed once more. To his credit, Wolfgang’s face did not change much. He just looked at me with half-lidded, disinterested eyes and moved on. I waited a couple of seconds for the guards to bust in the clinic once more, swords blazing, but nothing of the sort happened.
Bianca had been standing with her back turned to the window so she didn’t notice the life-shattering moment that had occurred. Seeing me so transfixed by the ordinary window, she looked back at me confused. I didn’t bother to elaborate on what had happened. Wolfgang had been standing a good distance away from the window, I recalled in an attempt to reassure myself, he probably just didn’t notice the gold of my eyes.
I felt a bit better, but also a little down as the minutes ticked by. Dr. Strobum had found an apple for me to eat and the crunchy fruit was delicious, a luxury she hadn’t appreciated in her past life. Once I’d eaten the entire fruit, core and all, as well as spat out all the seeds, I looked up to see an audience. Dr. Strobum had a pleased expression on his face, as if he had just fed an animal at the petting zoo and Bianca looked like she wanted to run back to our home as fast as she could.
The doctor brought me a trashcan to dispose of what remained and a napkin to clean my hands and mouth. Embarrassingly, I finally noticed that I’m still wearing my nightgown, but Bianca doesn’t give me much time to dwell as she grabs my hand and drags me towards the door.
“Thank you,” I call out to Dr. Strobum. Weird man or not, he had saved my life. He smiled at me, just before Bianca slammed the door shut behind us.
My aunt glared down at me with a venomous expression, not at all paying mind to how difficult it was for me to keep up with her after my illness.
“Why did you have to go and get sick like that, huh? Did you want to get taken by the guards?” she barked at me as we navigated through the streets.
“Sorry,” I muttered, distracted by the world around me. This was all so new after being cooped up in my tiny room for my entire life. The world felt so big and uncharted. Had the sky always been this blue? Was everyone always this tall? I was experiencing sensory overload at the loud sounds and bright colors.
“Exotic pineapples from east of the Empire! 2 copper coins a piece!” a street merchant cried, his wares in a basket hung around his neck. I looked down at me and smiled and I smiled back, in a better mood than I had been in a while. Perhaps noticing me respond to him, he bent down to better interact with me. Gosh, being this small was annoying. I was about 5’9″ in my past life and rarely had to look up at people.
“Try some fruit, young miss!” he said, sticking a toothpick with a pineapple on the end in my face. I accepted happily, munching down on the snack. Today was turning out to be a nice day. First a peppermint, then an apple, and now a pineapple.
“We can’t afford this, sir. Keep peddling your wares.” Bianca said sullenly, dragging me along. I barely had a moment to wave goodbye to the friendly fruit seller before we were swallowed up in the crowd once more. Outside the house was so bright and beautiful, I wished it would never end. It was the first time I was seeing the nice side of Radovalsk that gave it the title “Jewel of the Empire”.
My new world looked nothing the US cities I was used to. Clouds looked like cotton balls in the clear, smog-free air of the capital. There were European style architecture and tall buildings made with brick and wood. There was a comfortable hum of wheels over cobblestone and a soft toll as the nearby clocktower struck 10. Shiny awnings covered the entrance of nice stores and I felt foolish in my nightgown amongst the impeccably dressed citizens of the Empire. Loveliest of all were the tall spires I could see in the distance. The palace!
Considering how the US has no royalty, the concept of nobility was exciting even though it was ultimately the cause of my death in the storyline. But I suppose that was how power works. It looks beautiful on the outside, but only when you are caught up within do you realize the ugliness beneath the surface. Ever so slowly, the lively streets full of pedestrians dwindled, replaced with duller colors and less excited faces.
A man spit on the ground right before the unpaved road my barefoot was about to step on. My weary legs were forced to jump to avoid the nasty green substance. Home, I thought to myself. We are getting closer to home. The streets were quieter and more crowded. Trash became a constant obstacle for me to dodge and Bianca held me tighter and closer to her body. The entire time I had been admiring the capital, her head had been swiveling left to right looking for anyone suspicious. Her nerves were high, considering our close encounter with the royal guard.
At long last, we arrived at our little house. It was the first time I had seen it from outside and I let go of Bianca’s tight grip to walk around the shack I’ve been living in since I came to. Home sweet home. My little cubicle room was the same as it had always been. A few of my favorite toys, a Rubix cube a client once left behind and a small rag doll were in their usual spots on the wall. My window was closed and the small space felt stuffy as well as smaller than usual.
Well, I had just had my first foray in this strange world. Of course my little room would now feel too small. I sat down sideways in my crib, my legs hanging over the side, and a tear slid down my face. As soon I was old enough, I would go to the furthest corners of this Empire, far away from the guards and the Emperor and my horrible storyline, and just disappear.
I stayed like this until slivers of light stopped slipping in through the cracks of the window and Bianca lit the single candle mounted on the wall of my room. She seemed sad too. The circumstances had to be hard for her as well, which was why even though she treated me like garbage I couldn’t bring myself to hate her.
The webnovel never gave her backstory, but as a prostitute in the slums, Bianca did not make a lot of money. I’ve peeked under her floorboard before and there is but a small pile of mostly copper coins with the occasional silver or gold one. She had a beloved sister she’d lost and instead got an expensive baby to replace that void. Days like today, where she had to dip into her secret saving probably made her question why she had bothered to raise me in the first place.
I looked down at my little body. Grow up fast so you can leave and spread your wings, I pleaded. I’d been delirious with illness for 3 days and now felt even thinner than I usual. I knew I was much smaller than other children my age, given that I don’t eat nearly enough. It would take me a while to be large enough to move around on my own. And even then...
My thoughts trailed off as someone knocked on the door. Bianca’s first client was already here. Time is difficult to keep track of without a watch but I’ve gotten pretty good at guessing the time. And it was only around 7 right now.
“Coming,” I heard her say in a sultry voice. There was the sound of the door opening and a surprised yelp from my aunt. It seemed that today’s client was a little too excited. I turned around to pick up my doll on the floor, a personal creation named Doll that I had forged out of scraps of Bianca’s old dress. Yes, a very original name.
The sound of heavy boots filled Bianca’s room, concerning me quickly. This was not the usual bedroom noise I was accustomed to hearing. Heavy boots such as these were too many men for her to entertain at once. Were we being robbed?
A great sense of fear filled me. The robbers were quick and silent. Bianca cried out once and then I never heard her again. It would be best for me to hide before they realize there is another room in our little house. There were rare occasions Bianca would speak to me, on the rare night she wasn’t servicing someone. She would get plastered, drinking her special collection of wine and sit inside my room with a dazed look, the fire’s light dancing across her fluttering eyes.
Those were the times she would yell the most. But sometimes she would also just sit and cry, big fat tears tumbling down her cheeks. Rarest of all, she would speak to me, not like a pesky pet, but like another person. I always like those days best. It was on such a day that she had told me where to hide if a client or a robber got into the little back room I was tucked away in. And then with a shaky hand still wrapped around the neck of the bottle, she had pointed to her small dress cabinet.
Still dressed in the same nightgown from that morning and clutching Doll to my chest, I climbed into Bianca’s clothing cupboard that she had instructed me to hide in. But I was short and the cabinet was a tough reach, requiring me to stand on my water bucket in order to reach it. Unceremoniously dumping the dirty water on the floor, I climbed up my upended bucket and then gently kicked it away so it wouldn’t be apparent that I had just used it.
I was moving as quickly as I could, even though I still felt weak from my illness. My legs still felt sore as I tucked them under me and closed the dress cabinet. I was instantly shrouded in blackness. Good thing I was used to being in my dark, little room.
“Pay attention, men. Find the girl.” I looked with a jolt, even though I couldn’t see anything.
That voice, I knew it!