TFLB 09

Chapter 9

“Oh dear, I’m terribly sorry. I apologize. This child is new to the troupe, and he still isn’t very good at walking the tightrope.”

“Well, then why did you put someone who wasn’t ready up there…?!”

“I’m sorry. There are still plenty of more entertaining acts to come, so please try to cheer up.”

Yet despite apologizing to the people who were each voicing their complaints, no one from the circus troupe had any intention of taking the child down from the rope.

Even after some time passed and the crowd’s attention shifted elsewhere, I continued watching the child.

He was hanging on tightly to the rope, but it seemed he had reached his limit.

I could see the strength gradually draining from his hands because he no longer had the energy to keep himself hanging.

I quickly shouted at one of the circus performers.

“The child is about to fall!”

“Leave him. He needs to learn the hard way. If he gets a proper beating, he won’t do something that stupid again.”

“What did you just say?”

I stared at the man in disbelief and utter astonishment.

But he simply continued with his own work, paying no attention to the child whatsoever.

‘This is bad.’

If this continued for even a little longer, the child would fall into the pit of fire.

The height wasn’t enough to kill him if he fell, but the flames could cause severe burns.

I hurriedly hid my hand behind my dress, moved my fingers, and concentrated.

‘Please, I can’t be too late.’

More than anything, I had to extinguish the fire without anyone noticing, so I needed to concentrate even more intensely than usual.

I carefully released my power.

“Whoa! He’s falling!”

At someone’s cry, the child fell into the pit that should have been blazing with flames.

Fortunately, it seemed I had timed it perfectly.

The child landed with a heavy thud inside the now-extinguished pit.

As soon as the child fell, one of the circus performers approached.

“What the—why did the fire go out? Hey! The fire’s gone out here!”

“What? The fire went out?”

It was strange.

They didn’t seem concerned in the slightest about whether the child was all right.

All they cared about was the fact that the fire had gone out.

I was about to say something about their utterly irrational behavior when the child slowly began crawling out of the pit.

I hurriedly tried to ask the child if he was all right.

But suddenly, the huge man who hadn’t been visible earlier appeared out of nowhere.

With his massive hands, he grabbed the child and disappeared somewhere with him.

I no longer wanted to stay there, so I shook my head and hurriedly made my way out through the crowd.

Just as I had finally escaped the crowd and could breathe a little easier, something blocked my path.

I collided with it, and I realized it was a person when a hand caught me before I could fall backward.

“I’m sorry. Are you all right?”

I looked up after regaining my composure.

The man was tall and strikingly handsome, and even his apologetic voice was attractive, with a deep, resonant quality.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Were you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m all right.”

The man looked at me with quite a worried expression, and I felt a little uncomfortable under his concerned gaze, so I repeatedly assured him that I was fine.

Perhaps reassured by my answer, the hand holding me finally let go.

“Then… Porta Dvia.”

It was something I had heard from the owner who had been handing out skewers earlier.

This man seemed to be from the village.

“Porta Dvia…”

I repeated the words I now knew back to him.

The man gave me a slight smile before gradually walking away from my side.

I watched his back for a brief moment before continuing on my way.

The festival was becoming livelier and livelier.

But it was about time for me to return.

Thinking that Mary and William might be looking for me, I quickened my pace, leaving the busy festival streets and entering an alley.

As soon as I left the noisy area behind, everything around me became quiet.

The cool night air and the peaceful street were strangely pleasant, so I slowed my pace slightly as I walked.

That was when it happened.

I was walking through the dark alley, humming to myself and enjoying my cheerful mood, when I faintly heard a dull thud somewhere, followed by weak groans filled with pain.

‘What was that?’

I cautiously approached the direction of the sound.

It wasn’t long before I spotted two men huddled together in a secluded corner of the alley.

Looking more closely, I saw a child curled up on the ground between them, taking the brunt of their vicious kicks.

‘That child is…!’

I recognized his face.

He was the same child who had been walking the tightrope at the circus earlier.

And the men looked familiar as well.

One was the huge man who had taken the child away earlier, and the other was the short man I had briefly spoken with.

I wasn’t exactly someone overflowing with a strong sense of justice, but when it came to children, it was different.

No matter the reason, I couldn’t simply ignore several adults beating a child who wasn’t even old enough to defend himself.

I immediately strode toward them.

“What are you doing?”

At my sudden voice, the men’s attention turned toward me.

“What?”

The huge man who had dragged the child away earlier quickly looked me up and down.

Then he gave me a sinister look and spoke.

“Looks like you’re a noble young lady. Just mind your own business and go on your way.”

The man laughed unpleasantly in a flippant tone.

It was almost as if he was saying, What could you possibly do?

“Are you all right, child?”

“Hey, I said go on your way. Who are you to interfere in someone else’s business?”

“You’re the people from the circus that was performing over there earlier, aren’t you?”

“So you were one of the guests who watched our circus troupe. That’s right. Yes, that’s right. As you saw earlier, this brat was terrible at walking the tightrope, so we were disciplining him separately.”

“Isn’t that just assault under the guise of discipline?”

“Assault?! That’s going way too far!”

The short man jumped up indignantly at my words, looking offended.

But my attention was focused on the child curled up on the ground, groaning in pain.

At that moment, the child barely lifted his head, and our eyes met.

‘Ah…’

For a moment, I felt as though my breath had caught in my throat, and a surge of emotion rose inside me.

I knew that look.

It was a look only someone who had been left completely alone in the world could understand.

The child’s expression overlapped with the face I had seen every time I looked into a mirror.

Maybe that was why.

Without realizing it, the words I had only been thinking suddenly slipped out of my mouth.

“I’ll take that child.”

“What?”

“This child is a valuable asset of our circus troupe. We absolutely cannot give him up.”

“Asset?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The man who had just referred to a person as property maintained his shameless attitude and answered me.

“Who would simply hand over their own property?”

“Exactly. Unless you’re willing to pay, of course. Heh.”

The two men nodded along with each other, making it clear that they wanted money.

Buying a person with money was completely beyond my understanding.

But I knew that this was a world where slave markets existed.

That was why these men could speak so casually about buying and selling people.

“Then I’ll buy him.”

“You want to buy this child?”

Instead of answering, I simply nodded.

The moment I said I would buy the child, the men’s faces brightened.

They went off to the side and whispered among themselves about how much they should demand for the child.

Then they quickly returned to me.

“Ahem. We’ll take twenty gold coins.”

“Twenty gold coins?”

“Yes. Ahem. This child has a very promising future ahead of him, so we’re actually taking a loss by selling him. Therefore, we can’t go any lower.”

Promising future, my foot…

I had clearly seen him struggling to even walk the tightrope properly earlier, yet the man shamelessly continued to lie.

Still, I took twenty gold coins from my purse and handed them to the man.

I didn’t know exactly how much twenty gold coins were worth here.

I hadn’t bought anything particularly expensive while looking around the streets earlier, so I had no way of knowing.

But I had several times more than twenty gold coins in my purse.

More importantly, I didn’t want the child to watch them bargain over his life.

So I willingly handed the gold over to them.

I could feel their eyes fixed on my purse.

I quickly closed the purse and tucked it inside my clothes.

“So, the deal is finished, right?”

“Yes, yes. Of course. Hey! Get up! This is your new master. Show your respect.”

The huge man treated the child roughly as he tried to force him to stand.

“Stop.”

“Pardon?”

“From now on, this child belongs to me. So don’t touch even a single hair on his head.”

“What? Ah… yes.”

At my words, the men hurriedly stepped back.

I carefully approached the child.

“Can you try to get up slowly?”