I’m okay. I have light.
My situation was different from Rosemary’s imprisonment. Without a doubt, I would have the chance to escape. During the final days of my past life, I’d given up hope of being rescued.
“But I’m not Rosemary anymore.”
My false accusation and imprisonment were both in the past.
Get your head together, I chided myself.
Finally, I regained my composure. With tension racking my body, I re-gripped the candlestick and looked around. My surroundings were dim and cramped, but one sound made my ears perk up. Faintly, something resembled groaning. At first, it terrified me even more, but as I reconsidered the matter with a cool head, I recognized the sound. It reminded me of the wind blowing through the old wood of my home in Edigma.
“Could there be a path out of here?” I wondered aloud.
There were a few escape routes in the palace in case of an assault on the royal family. I didn’t know where they were, but I couldn’t dismiss the possibility of one being nearby. Gradually, I approached the groaning sound. When I located its source, I sensed the faint breath of wind.
“This must be the spot,” I murmured. “I can hear the wind from here.”
I pressed on the wall where the sound originated, but there was no response. When I shone my candlelight on the area in search of some contraption, muffled footsteps came from the other side of the wall. For one instant, I considered calling for help, but I changed my mind.
Would anyone arriving with such perfect timing be here to rescue me? The worse my premonitions are, the more likely they are to be right.
“Is this the place?” one of the approaching voices asked.
The speaker was a man, and he seemed to be searching for something close to the wall. However, there were two voices, and both of them had accents. Neither worked in the castle.
Snuffing out my candlelight, I hid behind a covering near the wall. From the other side, I heard at least two men continuing to search for something.
“Do you have the queen’s note?” one of them asked.
“Oh, this must be it.”
My heart leapt into my throat upon hearing the word queen. I clapped my hands over my mouth to cover my gasp.
Did I just hear what I think I did?
If I had, Queen Tia was one of their conspirators.
Also, they know about this secret passageway because she escaped from here!
On the day of Reynaldo’s coup, Queen Tia vanished. No matter where anyone looked in the castle, they couldn’t find her. She must have sneaked out through this secret passageway. Now, these two suspicious men were using the same means to enter the castle.
The wall opened slowly. Apparently, the two men had found the contraption.
One way or another, I need to get out of here.
No sooner had I been imprisoned in the storage room than these two men appeared. In that case, I was probably their target. Even if I didn’t know why they were after me, that much seemed obvious. Preparing to make my escape, I hid while facing the wall. After spotting an exit beyond the slightly open portal, I cleared my mind of any distractions.
With a dull sound, the hidden door finished opening. As I’d expected, the men appeared from the other side. I could make out their faces because of their candles, but I didn’t recognize them. They were dressed in light garb reminiscent of merchants, but they held ropes and burlap sacks in their hands.
Could Liella have invited them in here…? No, I doubt that.
I dismissed this thought based on how she’d looked the moment before imprisoning me. More importantly, I doubted she knew about the hidden door. Yet, in the last moment, she’d worn a frightened expression, as if trapping me in here required a great deal of resolve. Someone else was pulling the strings, and that person told these men about this secret passageway. In all likelihood, they’d been ordered to capture me.
If I had to guess, Queen Tia was the one behind this.
But why me? I wondered.
I didn’t consider myself valuable. The only possibilities that sprang to mind were my connections to Rosemary and Reynaldo. This timing matched perfectly with the moving of Rosemary’s coffin. Perhaps this involved Reynaldo in some way.
First things first, I need to escape.
Contemplating the matter wouldn’t help me right now. I watched and waited for the two men to enter the depths of the storage room. If possible, I wanted to escape through the secret passageway without being caught. However, if the men discovered me before then, my plan would come to nothing. As I watched for the right moment, I inched toward the door leading to the secret passageway.
“Did you find her?” one of the men asked.
“Nope, she’s not here,” the other man replied. “It’s too dark to see anything.”
That settled it. They were looking for me.
I can’t just stand here—I need to go now!
After mentally giving myself the signal, I dashed into the secret passageway. Despite having no idea where this path led, I had no choice but to bet all my cards on it.
“Wait!” one of the men shouted, spotting me.
I sprinted down the passageway. There was a small door at the end of the gloomy, one-way corridor. After opening it, I came out onto an even smaller storage shed. I didn’t recognize this place, but stopping my pursuers came first. There was a shelf among the miscellaneous items, and I pushed it in front of the door, blocking the entryway. When my pursuers caught up to the door, they pounded on the wood, unable to open it.
Stop trembling with fear and look for an exit, I scolded myself.
There was only one door leading to the larger, underground storage room. I couldn’t leave through there, since I’d blocked the entryway with a shelf. All the while, the sound of two men ramming their bodies against the door in an attempt to open it echoed in my ears.
I searched for a way outside and finally located a small window. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t budge. The old, creaky window appeared to be locked. I snatched a small object from nearby and pounded it against the window.
The glass cracked with a shrill ring. Unflinchingly, I broke a large enough hole in the window for one person to slip through and started clambering outside. During my climb, fragments of glass cut my skin, but perhaps due to nerves, I didn’t feel any pain. Thankfully, there was solid ground right outside the window. I leapt out and scanned the area.
“Am I outside the castle…?”
I never would have imagined there being a passageway leading to a place like this. Castle walls towered all around me. As I took off, I searched for any place I might recognize.
So, the castle walls and this wooded area—both of which are deserted—hide a secret passageway, I thought. That makes sense. You could definitely escape from here in an emergency.
There probably wasn’t a door on the outside to prevent intruders from sneaking in this way. From the outside, the storage shed looked like a small box. It didn’t seem like the sort of place people could enter and exit.
Anyway, I need to get out of here, I thought while running like a madwoman. There wasn’t a single soul in sight.
If I can at least make it to the castle gates, someone will be there.
Unfortunately, my prayers fell on deaf ears. The trapped men escaped from the building and were chasing after me.
Someone, please help me…!
I almost collapsed from sheer agony but mustered enough strength to continue racing forward. Even so, I couldn’t outpace them. My pursuers caught up to me. One of them grabbed my arm in the middle of my run. I let out a piercing scream. If someone heard me, they might come to my rescue.
“Shut up!” the man roared while covering my mouth.
Though I resisted, the man used the rope he’d been carrying to bind my arms. As I thrashed about, the men held me in place, attempting to forcefully lift me onto their shoulders. My body trembled with fear. Tears of frustration welled in my eyes. Regardless, I never stopped thinking about what I could do to save myself.
Take…this!
I swung one of my still unbound feet upwards, kicking one of the men between the legs.
“Augh!” he shrieked.
As his grip on me loosened, I ran away again with my hands still bound. The other man chased after me, leaving behind his companion, who was curled up on the ground.
I’m almost there… Just a little bit farther!
I couldn’t let myself be captured. I had to hold out until I reached the gate. Yet, once again, my prayers fell on deaf ears. Gasping for breath, my pursuer caught me around the waist and pinned me to the ground.
“You bitch!” he growled.
I closed my eyes, preparing for him to hit me. However, the pain never struck. Instead, the man let out a terrible howl and collapsed next to me.
An arrow stuck out from his back.
Trembling, I looked where the arrow had come from. I stood up to seek help, and upon seeing my rescuer, tears streamed from my eyes. Albert was racing towards me from a distance, carrying a bow. Relief washed over me, and I started blubbering.