Chapter 10 The Innocent Beggar

“How dare you speak ill towards the Emperor! Do you know that it is punishable to speak ill towards the Emperor?!” Crown Prince Lorenzo started shaking Amara aggressively, making her even lose her mind.

“Why? Please tell me if it is not punishable by Imperial law to have the former Emperor be killed by the current Emperor?!”

Upon hearing her statement, Crown Prince Lorenzo froze. “Your father literally killed Emperor Darya because of his greed. Because he wants you to become the next Emperor! Your father married the clueless Emperor Darya because he wants you and your mother to ascend to the throne! Tell me if I have said words wrong! Tell me I have told such lies!”

That night, with his pride hurt, the Crown Prince could only stop Lady Amara from speaking after knocking her down. After catching the unconscious lady, he looked at his trembling father whom he knew was still guilty of what he did before.

“How did she know about that?” He asked his father about how Lady Amara knows everything about what happened to the former Emperor.

Judging by how the Emperor could not speak, the Crown Prince could only sigh. “I will take care of this woman. I will make sure that no one would know, father.”

Crown Prince Lorenzo carried Lady Amara’s body and announced about her ‘accident’. They took her to the infirmary while she was being watched by Count Sebastian and Silla. Because they were so worried about her, they took her back to the Count’s estate and minimized their activities for a while.

After two days of being unconscious, Amara finally opened her eyes as she was immediately examined by the doctors.

“Can you hear me, Lady Amara?” A doctor asked to examine her senses.

There was a few seconds of silence before she slowly opened her mouth, lifelessly. “He… killed…”

“Lady Amara?”

“He… killed me…”

Upon hearing that, Silla gasped, immediately realizing the truth. She might have known that Emperor Darya got transmigrated to the body of Lady Amara but she never knew that she was actually killed by Emperor Esteban.

With the current mental condition of Lady Amara, the Imperial family intently asked the doctors to tell Count Sebastian that it would be best for Lady Amara to be sent to the monastery. Thinking that it was the best choice, Count Sebastian made a foolish decision.

Lady Amara was sent to the monastery and Silla extremely despised the Crown Prince’s plan after hearing that. It is because Silla knows that it was never a good idea to send a sane woman there. However, along her way to take Lady Amara out of the monastery, Silla was killed by an assassin without even stepping foot to the said place. Later, Lady Amara was announced to have fallen in the staircase, causing her life in despair.

“Wake up, you brat!” A man splashed water on a young girl’s face to wake her up.

Startled, the young girl opened her eyes, feeling so cold with the water all over her clothes. She was confused.

“Go fetch water and put the luggage in the carriage! We are going to leave!” The fat man kicked her legs, making her groan in pain, silently.

She was about to speak for herself but ended up hearing a crack on her voice like something just pulled her tongue. She covered her mouth only to realize that she could not speak well. She immediately stood up to look for a mirror but she stopped upon seeing the place where she was sleeping a while ago.

It was in a stable where horses were taken care of. She was now sitting on dirty grass and her clothes were old and torn apart. Her body was so thin and light and she could feel hunger. She looked for somewhere she could look at herself and found a pail with water. There she saw the face of a young innocent girl, thin and malnourished. Her hair was messy and short like a man. She looks dirty and messed up.

“Hey! Can’t you hear me?!” The fat man suddenly raged. “You should go to work!”

Startled by how loud the man’s voice was, she found herself running outside the stable to work. Along the way, she saw some people carrying luggage to a carriage so she abruptly walked there thinking that it might be the work the man was talking about.

“Hey, kid! Come here!” Another man called her as she was given two pails. “Go fetch water there and feed it to the horses of each carriage.”

She could not say anything and just did as she was told. She even had a hard time looking where she would fetch water until she saw a clear lake meters away behind the stable.

While fetching water to the pail, she sensed some people coming towards her. Before they could come close, she stood up and turned to face them as she saw a group of Largoth knights in their uniforms standing behind her.

“A young girl?” One of the Imperial knights scratched his head as he turned to look at his leader. “Are you sure to negotiate with this young girl?” He asked their leader.

A tall mature man started walking towards her. She was so short that she was just up to his waist. He has silver hair as it covers his eyes. Although she could not see his eyes, she can feel that this man is strong and powerful just by standing in front of her. Judging by his uniform that is different from the others, he must be the captain.

“You,” the deep voice of the man echoed in her ears as her eyes went wide after recognizing it.

This was the voice of the man in the banquet before! He was the man who told her to leave the portraits!

“Do you know that the mercenary you were in, was planning on involving themselves in the war?”

Her eyes expanded. War? Is the Empire having a war? Who is the Emperor and how many years has passed after she woke up in a different body?!

“You seemed to have knowledge about it so I am going to tell you-

“Captain, you could not just trust a young girl!”

“Stop, Leon.” He commanded his subordinate before looking at the eyes of the young girl. He bent down his knees to reach her short height. “Listen, young girl,” he clasped his hand, looking serious to explain.

“The mercenary you were in, was paid by the neighbouring kingdom to fool the imperial knights by driving us to go to the Hapra Forest.”

Hapra forest, she knew very well that it was the forest where wild boars live. It was the borderline between the Largoth Empire and Corstan Kingdom. It was a deadly forest where no one would leave alive after coming there.