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Chapter 6
The Tuntera Empire had fallen.
With all the imperial family members dying to the magic of a ruthless archmage, its destruction was absolute.
‘Or so they think, right? That I’m a ruthless archmage.’
Rayna was lost in thought as she stared at the semi-transparent window floating before her.
“Rayna.”
Amidst her thoughts, a child’s voice calling her made her turn her head to the side.
“Does it… not taste good?”
Only then did Rayna realize she was currently eating on a bench in the detached palace’s garden.
She also remembered that the sandwich in her hand was the half Kebeniark had cut and shared with her himself.
His blue eyes looked up at her with concern, worried he might have given her something unpalatable.
“No, it’s delicious.”
As she quickly took a bite of the sandwich, the child’s face brightened up instantly.
Though she ate as if it were delicious, Rayna couldn’t really taste the sandwich properly.
A single dust-covered potato. Sprouts that hadn’t even been cut away were visible.
It was Tiernan’s food allowance for today.
Tiernan Fargan.
The male protagonist of The Garden of Betuzenia and the last remaining royalty of the Tuntera Empire on earth.
He was a character enduring a childhood just as tragic as Kebeniark’s.
‘Are you telling me to interfere with the male lead’s backstory now, too?’
She couldn’t do that.
She had already deeply involved herself in Kebeniark’s childhood.
If she tampered with the male lead’s storyline as well, the original plot set 14 years in the future that she knew so well would be torn to shreds, becoming completely unpredictable—just like the messy sandwich in her hands with its fillings falling apart.
‘Not a chance.’
Rayna swallowed the sandwich that felt rough in her mouth and hardened her resolve.
“It’s a good thing the Tuntera royal family all kicked the bucket.”
In the first basement level.
In front of an iron-barred cage filling one side of the wall, slave traders were playing poker under the light of a few lanterns.
“Even if they were alive, wouldn’t it just be humiliating? Every survivor of the Tuntera Empire is becoming a slave anyway.”
The people of the Tuntera Empire had lost their nation and their homes.
The laws of the Betuzenia Empire failed to fully protect them.
As the empire’s territory expanded, so did the places beyond its reach.
Seeing their chance, slave traders pillaged and kidnapped Tuntera refugees.
“Khehe. The world’s gotten real nice. Let’s take this chance to get rich ourselves.”
“I’ll be getting rich before you do. Full house! What are you waiting for? Hand over the money!”
The boisterous laughter of a slave trader echoed through the underground space.
Inside the iron-barred cage.
Dozens of captured Tuntera citizens heard the noise, yet not a single one stirred.
Having lost all will to resist, they merely curled up or lay on the floor, abandoning life entirely.
“…”
Ten-year-old Tiernan was no different.
Sitting in a corner of the cage, he stared blankly into the empty air with hollow eyes.
“Run away, Your Highness!”
“No! Nanny! I…!”
“You must survive. You are the only royalty left now.”
It had already been over a month ago.
The last royal of the Tuntera Empire.
Pushed by his nanny, Tiernan had fled, leaving behind the burning imperial palace.
Though he survived, he did not know what to do on his own.
Yet, he had nowhere to return to either.
The streets were harsh. Starvation, cold, drowsiness, and exhaustion followed the boy everywhere.
Desperately roaming the streets just to survive, Tiernan had been caught by passing slave traders while digging through trash cans and ended up here.
‘I am…’
No one knew that he was the prince of the Tuntera Empire.
It might be better if it stayed unknown forever—unless he wanted to spend his entire life as a spectacle, a slave prince.
Thump. Thump.
The sound of knocking on the door rang out. The people inside the cage shrank back.
The knock was a signal. Soon, someone was going to be sold off as a slave.
“Yeah, coming—!”
One of the slave traders went up the stairs.
A moment later, he returned with a customer who was thoroughly hidden beneath a long robe, stopping in front of the iron bars.
“Take your pick.”
The customer looked around inside the cage before raising an arm.
A finger hidden beneath the sleeve pointed at a single boy in the corner.
“That one’s too young to be of much use for hard labor.”
The slave trader said, rubbing his chin.
He intended to recommend a stronger slave since they fetched a higher price.
However, at the pouch of gold coins silently handed over by the customer, his face instantly split into a wide grin. He pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked the cage door.
“Young ones are nice, though. Lasts longer, and they listen well, right?”
Creak. The rusty iron bars made a chilling sound.
Entering the cage, the slave trader overpowered the struggling boy with brute force, hoisted him over his shoulder, and carried him outside.
“Let go of me!”
Forced to his knees on the floor, Tiernan thrashed frantically.
Having witnessed it several times, he knew.
He knew what these men were about to do to him.
Two slave traders stuffed a dirty cloth into Tiernan’s mouth and pinned his shoulders down.
His small, forcibly bent back was turned upward.
“Hold still. It’ll be over soon.”
Another slave trader approached holding a long branding iron.
At its tip, red-hot iron reached toward Tiernan’s back.
Scorching heat could be felt right through his clothes. In an instant, cold sweat poured like rain.
Expecting the burning pain that would soon tear through his skin, Tiernan squeezed his eyes tightly shut.
“Ah, that’s enough.”
A dry, indifferent woman’s voice stopped the slave trader.
Was it a female customer?
If things went well, she might buy another item.
Lifting the branding iron upward, the greedy slave trader asked,
“Are you not going to mark him with a slave brand?”
“I’m taking him to brand him with my family crest.”
Tsk. A noble, huh?
Smacking his lips in disappointment, the slave trader signaled to the ones holding Tiernan down.
“Take him away. Here is the key to the restraint, take it with you.”
A restraint. It referred to a collar with a small orb attached to it, fastened around a slave’s neck.
Each restraint had a matching key, which could control the orb to induce pain or unlock the collar.
The customer accepted the key.
“Thanks for your work.”
With that, she grabbed the rope binding Tiernan’s wrists and walked outside.
Outside was a village that had been a battlefield until just a few months ago.
Because the villagers who fled had not yet returned, the surroundings were completely desolate.
Tiernan closed his green eyes—resembling a lush forest—as he felt the outside air for the first time in a long while.
A breeze blew from somewhere, gently fluttering his silver hair as it passed.
“You know.”
Upon reaching the edge of the village, the woman who had been walking ahead at a moderate pace stopped.
“Don’t you think it’s way too petty to mess with people using food?”
What on earth was she talking about?
Stopping in his tracks as well, Tiernan stared blankly at her back as she uttered those out-of-nowhere words.
She spat out a brief curse toward the sky, then turned around to face Tiernan.
He wondered if he could see her face, but the large hood covered half of it, leaving only her chin visible.
Pearl-white skin. Other than that, no features of the woman could be distinguished.
“My kid is incredibly cute, you know? But he grew up unable to eat proper food.”
“Just saying.”
After uttering those incomprehensible words, the woman let out a short sigh and reached her hand toward Tiernan’s neck.
With a small click, the restraint unlocked.
“You eat well, too.”
Tossing the restraint onto the ground, the woman pressed a palm-sized bag and a single sword into Tiernan’s hands.
Tiernan looked at the items in his hands with bewildered eyes.
“What is this?”
“Freedom.”
“Inside the bag, there’s an ID proving you’re a Betuzenia citizen, along with money. The bag is enchanted with sub-space magic, so there are other daily necessities inside as well—check it later. You know how to use a sword, right?”
An identity document of a Betuzenia citizen.
Tiernan’s face crumpled involuntarily.
‘Is she telling me to use the identity of my enemies?’
He couldn’t accept it.
Dying was better than living as a citizen of the Betuzenia Empire. Living as a slave was better.
Just as his mind was going blank with rage, the woman patted his head.
“If you have an ID, you won’t get caught as a slave. It’ll also make finding a job in a few years much easier.”
Tiernan slapped her hand away and shouted,
“…I don’t need garbage like this!”
“An ID of the ones who destroyed your country? Are you saying you won’t accept help from an enemy?”
“That’s right!”
The woman’s eyes, shadowed under the hood, stared down at Tiernan.
“Then use it. Don’t think of it as help. And survive.”
“Who are you to say such things to me?”
“The person who bought you.”
His fists clenched tightly. He was furious, but he couldn’t refute her words.
“Survive.”
“There’s someone you need to meet in a few years, isn’t there?”
How did she know that? A faint glint of surprise appeared in Tiernan’s eyes.
There was a girl he had promised to meet again. A girl whose smiling face was so pretty it made his heart flutter.
The woman let a small smile touch the lips visible beneath her hood as she spoke:
“Live the life you want to live. You are free now, Tiernan.”
“Who… who are you?!”
A shocked cry burst from Tiernan’s mouth.
To think she called him by his name—the prince of the Tuntera Empire.
He frantically tried to grab the woman, but a sudden gust of wind blocked his vision.
When the wind died down, Tiernan was alone.
He stared at the spot where the woman had vanished for a very long time.
A light of resolve was seeping into his green eyes, which had been completely hollow until now.
“…I will find you no matter what.”
He had to find that woman who knew that he, the prince, was alive.
He had to find her and demand to know how she knew him.
Until then, he couldn’t die.
Tiernan sheathed the sword at his waist and slung the bag over his shoulder. Then, he began walking forward.
“Aaaaahkk!”
“W-We’re gonna die…!”
The slave traders were trapped inside a whirlwind filling one side of the basement, unable to break free.
It was a wind that blew in right while they were sharing the money after selling off a kid for a high price.
It had been going on for tens of minutes already.
In the meantime, the slaves who had come out of the cage broken by the wind unlocked their restraints and every single one of them fled.
