PSTB 22

~Chapter 22~

The carriage door that we used to go in and out was now pointing at the sky. The carriage had tipped onto its side.

Does this even make sense?

Thanks to Etienne catching me, I wasn’t hurt, but I was in shock. I could hear screams outside.

Etienne spoke in a calm voice.

“Don’t come out.”

Then, like someone chasing away bees, he jumped quickly out of the carriage. More screams followed outside.

The carriage didn’t block sound very well, so all kinds of noises echoed around me. I heard the wind slicing through the air, and people moaning as they died. I squeezed my dress in my hand. I was nervous.

Who attacked the carriage? Was Etienne okay?

If the story followed the original novel, he shouldn’t die for a long time. But so much has already changed. They say a butterfly’s wings can cause a typhoon on the other side of the world… What if the things I changed in the story made everything different?

I crouched for a long time, and finally the sounds outside faded.

Then I heard footsteps coming closer.

Etienne?

Or… what if it’s not him? What should I do if it’s someone else?

I was scared.

No, I’d seen it before—Etienne is super strong. He probably beat everyone up again.

The upside-down carriage door above my head opened. I was too scared to look up, so I just stared at the moonlight on my skirt.

“Come out.”

It was a familiar and welcome voice. I looked up.

“Etienne!”

His face was in shadow as he leaned down toward me. I jumped up and checked on him. He had blood all over his clothes.

“A-arm, you have your arm, your leg, and your hand too, show me.”

One, two, three, four, five. All five fingers were there. I looked up at his face, relieved. Instead of saying he was okay, he just gave a faint smile.

“What happened? Is it safe for me to come out?”

“You don’t have to come out, unless you plan to live here forever.”

“That’s a terrible thing to say!”

I tried to get out of the carriage, but since the door was up to my chest, it wasn’t easy to climb out by myself. After watching me slip a few times, Etienne reached out his hand.

When I grabbed his hand, he pulled me up firmly.

“Ouch, my shoulder!”

He laughed at my whining and then put his arm around my waist. My body floated up. The cold forest air wrapped around me.

I didn’t know I could be lifted so easily, like a feather.

Once I was safely out, I fell right into his arms. Maybe because I was relieved to be alive, his arms felt warm, like a mother hen’s.

Handsome, rich, good at fighting—you really are perfect. And you’re my boy.

His low voice echoed in my ear.

“Are you going to let go now?”

I jumped away from him.

“I wasn’t trying to stay in your arms! I was just surprised…”

As I tried to explain, I stepped on something soft under my foot.

Ugh. I had a bad feeling.

A shiver ran over my whole body.

Now that I noticed, the air smelled like blood. I could still remember the screams from earlier.

“E-Etienne.”

I kept my eyes fixed on him as I called his name.

“What?”

“What’s under my foot? No, wait, don’t tell me. Maybe I don’t want to know.”

Etienne glanced at my feet, then looked back at my face.

“…”

See… he’s not saying anything. I must be standing on…?

My neck tingled. I was too scared to move my foot, forward or backward. If I took another step, I might step on something else. Ugh.

My imagination was making me dizzy.

Seeing me like this, Etienne grabbed my arm and pulled me away from whatever it was, so I was standing right in front of his chest. Etienne put his hand over my eyes. His warm hand covered everything, and I couldn’t see a thing.

If he’s covering my eyes, then I must have stepped on a dead body.

The creepy feeling from before made me shiver.

“I’ll explain when we get out of here. Just follow me and don’t say anything.”

He led me slowly forward. When I followed his directions, all I felt under my feet was grass and dirt. Sometimes, a twig snapped under my shoe, but soon I started to calm down.

His warm hand and his steady scent helped a lot.

Etienne moved around busily. I clung to his arm as we walked here and there. I guessed he was checking if the guards were alive or dead.

But I didn’t hear any other voices.

That meant, except for us, no one else was alive.

I felt heavy-hearted. I didn’t know those people, but Etienne must have known them for a long time. Who would do something like this…?

A creepy smile popped into my mind.

“Was this Veseth’s doing?”

I asked with Etienne’s big hand still covering my face.

“Veseth?”

Etienne stopped walking. I stopped, too.

“Uh… Wasn’t it?”

Oh no, did I say something wrong? I quickly added,

“It’s normal for brothers to fight over the throne, right?”

I gave an awkward laugh. After a moment, Etienne answered.

“It was the Empress.”

“The Crown Prince’s mother? How do you know?”

Even though he answered, I couldn’t let go of my doubts about Veseth. The strange letter he sent me, the way he tried to kiss me—it all felt off.

At that moment, I touched something in my hand.

It was a long stick with a sharp metal tip. I felt along its length. I couldn’t see it, but I could feel some kind of engraved pattern.

“It’s an arrow with the Empress’s mark. It’s just a warning for me, so there’s no reason to hide it.”

“A warning…?”

“To Her Majesty, my existence is a disaster. She wants to remind me of my place.”

His voice was calm, and I didn’t know what to say.

It was a short answer, but as someone who’d read the original story, I understood.

Etienne wasn’t the Empress’s son. He was the son of the Emperor’s favorite concubine. Just for that, the Empress disliked him. But Etienne was better than Veseth at everything.

Even the Emperor favored Etienne more than the Empress’s own son, Veseth.

So that’s why the Empress hated him so much—even enough to attack him like this. That’s too much. Etienne did nothing wrong—he just existed. How could an adult try to kill someone young enough to be her own son…?

Thinking about Etienne, who’d faced threats to his life since childhood, my heart ached.

When I read it as a novel, the Empress was just an annoying villain mother-in-law. But now I realized she was truly a terrible person.

“What a bad person… Should I get revenge for you? If you want, I can go pull her hair… Maybe that’s too dangerous. How about sneaking in and shaving her eyebrows while she’s sleeping? Imagine how embarrassing that would be—everyone would talk about the Empress waking up with no eyebrows! I really can do it, you know. Just say the word.”

I knew it sounded silly, but I just wanted to comfort him. Sometimes, simple and silly words can help.

But Etienne didn’t say anything.

“Are you listening? Don’t you trust me? I really mean it.”

My eyes rolled under his hand. I could feel him looking at me, but he stayed silent. Was I being too disrespectful?

I hesitated, then gently pulled his big hand away from my face. He let me.

After being in the darkness so long, the light hurt my eyes. I squinted. Soon, I could make out his silhouette.

Behind Etienne, the sunset turned the sky red. Even his hair looked a bit red. He stared at me, his blue eyes moving like waves.

“That’s unnecessary.”

He didn’t finish his sentence and closed his mouth. After a pause, he put his hand over my eyes again. His voice was now calm, like the deep sea.

“Don’t say unnecessary things.”

My heart thumped for no reason.

“So… is everything finished? Let’s go.”

“Yeah. Keep your eyes closed.”

I closed my eyes, and Etienne moved away. I took a deep breath. Cold air filled my lungs and cooled my heated body.

“Why is the mood suddenly like this… making me so tense.”

Soon, I heard the sound of horses’ hooves.

“The carriage is wrecked, so we’ll have to ride a horse. You can ride, right?”

I felt around for the horse. The short hair felt rough under my palm.

“…I can’t ride.”

I answered while waving my hand in the direction of Etienne’s voice.

“What are you doing?”

I grabbed some smooth fabric, and his surprised voice came.

“I’m holding on so you don’t leave me behind.”

Even with my eyes still closed, I smiled. He wrapped his hand over mine.

“Do you know what you’re grabbing?”

“…Where is it?”

When he said that, I realized I might be grabbing a place I shouldn’t.

I let go of his collar, and my hand hung awkwardly in the air. Then Etienne tucked his arm under my armpit and lifted me up, just like when he pulled me out of the carriage.

“Ack! Warn me first! Are we on the horse now? My heart can’t take surprises like this! Horses scare me. I even fell off one before…”

I trembled with fear, and Etienne jumped up behind me.

My body, which had just been complaining, went completely stiff.

This is close. Way too close. Really, really close.

Like a broken record, that thought kept running through my head.