Chapter 17: The Portrait

Zeana.

I hastily looked back at the merchant, who was packing all the items. He doesn't seem to care about us and is incredibly focused on his task.

So who called me?

And why does it have the merchant's voice?

Or am I just hallucinating or something?

Am I really that stressed to hallucinate things?

"Well, probably..." I murmured to myself and chose to ignore that. Maybe I'm just mistaken. I'm probably only paranoid because I am suspicious of that store owner.

So I choose to forget those things and proceed to look around the stores in there. While looking around at the imported textiles, I couldn't help but listen to the conversation of the owner of the store and the other merchants.

"This kingdom is doomed. I can't believe that royalties are dying one by one."

"And to think the crown prince isn't doing anything. What kind of leader would he become if he continued to ignore this matter?"

"Well, have you heard? The criminal who killed the illegitimate princess has escaped the prison!"

"Just what are those knights doing? We aren't paying them with taxes just to laze around!"

"Now that the current king was ill, there's no one who could properly run this kingdom. That's why we are speculating that it's doomed."

"That's why my brother and I planned to leave this kingdom as early as possible. We could no longer earn profit as taxes continued to increase and the number of customers kept on decreasing."

"That's also our plan. However, we can't recklessly leave this place since the knights are imprisoning us in this place. They knew that once we left, there'd be no more hope for this kingdom."

I took a subtle glance at the duke. He was wearing a nonchalant expression, but I know he's listening to them. Because he isn't the leader of the information guild for nothing.

In short, he also loves gossip, but in a high-class manner.

Though, I'm certain that he already knew about the concerns of the merchants. However, he can't do anything about it since he isn't a noble in the capital but in the north.

"So, how are you going to escape from this prison called kingdom?" the other one chuckled, but it isn't laced with mockery but with hatred.

"Shht! There's a knight!"

After hearing those words, the group of merchants scattered and headed to their designated stalls.

Just like the boy mentioned earlier, a knight did pass by. He's fully armored, and there's a smug look on his face.

Then he stopped at the merchant that was stationed right in front of me. I felt like my heart jumped up. Now that my issue was still not resolved, I am scared that these knights might recognize me and drag me towards the guillotine.

And there's no way I can escape that!

"Did you see this woman?" he inquired without any respect in his tone. Note that he was speaking with an elderly person, so what kind of attitude is that?

Does becoming a knight really mean that much? To act with such arrogance and disrespect?

"I'm sorry... But we don't," the old man answered in the most civilized tone.

To think that merchants know the basic etiquette but a knight from the palace doesn't? How ridiculous.

However, I was stunned when he suddenly caused a ruckus in the stall.

Holy fucking sheet of paper. What kind of attitude is this?

Are this knight sick in their heads?

"You really didn't see this woman?" he shouted, and the calm elder from earlier was now trembling in fear. More and more bystanders have begun to get curious about the situation. And I guess the knight enjoyed the attention, especially when a smirk formed on his face.

"So you're going to keep lying, huh? Do you want to see your stall end up in ruin?" he roared, and the face of the old guy beside me is becoming paler and paler. He even grabbed my arms for support. As of the duke, he chose not to interfere, but he was prepared to defend us if this knight decided to attack us.

The guy showed the paper in his hands once more. "Now, look at this properly this time."

Out of curiosity, I peeked at the paper that he showed. It was a drawing of a woman with long hair, a rounded face, and a very thin body. It was smiling creepily, and her hands are amazingly straight. Though she's wearing a simple skirt that is shaped eccentrically. But what caught my attention was the black shaded hair of hers and those golden eyes.

Is that me? But why does it look so weird? Is this how a portrait looks in this world? That doesn't resemble me one bit!

Just what kind of drawing is that? And do you expect that someone would recognize that right after they see those pics?

Then if there is. Maybe they have a problem with their eyes?

Well, whatever. I'm certain there's no one, since they haven't seen me personally. Even this knight probably hasn't seen me even once; that's why he can't recognize that I'm right in front of him.

And what about the drawing? I don't know what to say.

Even I, myself, had a hard time distinguishing who that person was. So what about this old person with poor eyesight?

Since the guy was unable to receive an answer, he shouted at the bystanders.

"Do you know about this woman?" he showed the picture to everyone, but all of them shook their heads with a restrained laughter. Well, I can't blame them. The drawing was absolutely hilarious.

Even the duke beside me had his lips twitching the entire time. He's probably holding back by pretending to be cold and stern but failing to do so.

"The woman in here was a killer! It was she who killed two princesses in the palace!" he declared, and I was dumbfounded.

Since when did I kill two princesses? Maybe I pretended to kill the other one, but first princess to die? I'm innocent in that matter. So how dare he blame that sin on me? Did the royal family give up on investigating a princess's death and just blame whoever they wanted?

Damn. This kingdom is really on the verge of destruction. To have this kind of leader is absolutely the worst.

Indeed, the merchants were right. This kingdom has no hope ahead.

Then I heard a panic murmur amongst the bystanders. I guess they were fooled by his lies as they began speculating with themselves. And the knight might've seen this as an opportunity to get everyone's attention and even planned to let these people comply with his bidding.

"Now! Help the imperial knights in searching for this woman! She might be everywhere, wondering who to target next! To ensure your safety, just send help to us, knights. That way, you'll have a contribution in this kingdom!" he proudly declared, and the bystanders left one by one. They ignored this unruly guy and headed back to what they were doing before he caused a ruckus.

Then, the knight's face has gradually turned red, burning with humiliation and rage. Without hesitation, he pulled his sword and swung recklessly at everyone else.

Fear is etched on everyone, and they run for their lives. The only ones left are the three of us. The old man who was shivering and grasping at my arms tightly, me, who was overthinking countless scenarios of what's going to happen to this guy's life, and Duke, who remained nonchalant but alert.

When he aimed his sword towards us, I didn't even flinch as I saw how the duke countered his sword perfectly. In just a minute, the arrogant knight was rendered immobile, and the duke's people brought them to a place that I'll never want to go.

Everything happens so fast. The next thing I knew is that the old man beside me was thanking us nonstop and even said that we could take whatever we wanted in his shop. But since I don't want to take advantage of him, I stated that he doesn't need to repay us. But due to his insistence, I had no choice but to pick the plain-looking one amongst his products. That might be the cheapest one amongst here.

"I'll take this," I said awkwardly while holding on to a golden hairpin. Maybe this one is cheap since it doesn't have any attached jewels.

But the next words of the duke stunned me. "To think you'll choose the most expensive..." he whispered. That's why I hastily returned it back to its case.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I thought it was the cheapest one..." I mumbled. But due to embarrassment, I ran away from that place while pulling the duke.

Because it would be embarrassing to take the most expensive one just because I was told to choose anything. And I won't take advantage of a poor guy just to acquire something.

After a minute, we're already gone quite far, so I lessened our pace.

Then our next stop was something I didn't expect to see here.

"A tarot cafe..." I read the name of the store.

Without hesitation, I grabbed Xior's hand and went inside unceremoniously.