TLDH~39

Chapter 39

Fell pointed inside the narrow alley.

I gulped dryly as I looked at the space between the walls, which seemed even more shabby and gloomy because it was night. The men who had been leaning against the stone wall turned their bodies unsteadily.

“What.”

Then they looked me and Fell up and down, made a *kyaak*- sound, and spat.

‘Yuck, disgusting.’

I frowned and raised my head. Since it was covered by the hood, I had to tilt my head back a lot to see the man’s face.

But he was grimacing while looking at Fell, not me.

“What brings you here? This ain’t no place for a pretty little lady to come with a kid.”

It seemed Fell, who was wearing fairly clean and neat clothes to match the time for returning to the mansion, looked like a lower-class noble.

His eyes wide open, he stood blocking the alley and stood in front of Fell.

“The clothing store is down that way.”

But-

“We came for the auction.”

I was the one who responded to the man who spoke with a chin gesture.

“So move aside.”

“……What?”

And the man also, as if finding the voice he heard from below—not from Fell—absurd, laughed and lowered his head.

“What did you say?”

“I said I came to buy something, so move.”

“Hah, this little runt.”

Perhaps offended by my short way of speaking, I moved my head to the right to avoid the man’s finger trying to poke my forehead.

“Is it wrong to come to a place that sells things to buy things?”

“I have mo…ney…….”

I opened the jingling pouch and showed him.

He looked at the pouch containing about thirty gold coins, then alternately at me and Fell, before straightening his body which had been slightly bent forward.

“Good enough?”

“Sure.”

If I had money, there was no particular reason to stop a kid.

“Go on in.”

He twisted his body to make way.

As I strode in, tightly closing the pouch opening after showing him, he laughed *pik* and followed behind me.

“So, is this like a field trip for you noble sirs?”

“No.”

“Then, is it like those crazy Eshear guys, a rite of passage to inherit the family?”

‘Those crazy Eshear guys?’

I stopped at the irritating words coming from the man’s mouth and turned my head sharply.

“Pardon?”

“You don’t know? Those Eshear guys come to Oneh saying they’re nobles or whatever, and then go on about learning about the commoners’ lives and such, bothering the hell out of people around them?”

‘I know that one all too well.’

They pretend not to be nobles, but then come out basically saying, “I’m too, like, totally a real, genuine direct descendant of Eshear,” and bother a bunch of people before going back.

“Well, I hear not all of them are like that…… but anyway, if it’s not that, then what?”

“None of your business.”

“Such bad manners.”

“Watch your tongue.”

As Fell frowned, the man pouted his lips as if saying ‘alright’ and opened the auction house door.

It looked like a wall.

As I entered the space that opened like a door, an atmosphere completely different from the quiet outside unfolded.

It was somewhat noisy too.

Bang bang- Baaang!

“Sold!”

I took a deep breath in the rowdy atmosphere and turbid air.

‘Let’s finish this quickly and get out.’

First, to see if that dagger had appeared.

So I shook my head and looked around to find an employee here.

“Little Miss.”

“Call me Lesha. If we get caught, I won’t answer.”

“Ah.”

At my words, whispered softly with my index finger to my lips, Fell reluctantly nodded.

“Lesha, are you looking for something?”

“An employee.”

“To check if the item has come up?”

This sister, perhaps because she’s a twin, is really sharp.

“Yep.”

“I’ll go ask. Please wait here for a moment.”

“Okay.”

After stationing me against the wall where there were the fewest people, I followed Fell’s retreating back with my eyes as she disappeared into the crowd, then soon turned my head.

This auction house, divided by thick walls within a rectangular space, was trading goods on the left and slaves on the right, based on where I was looking.

From Isha’s 21st-century values, it was something unimaginable, and from Letitia’s current world values, it was something that could happen.

In this discomfort, tangled up so complexly—

‘Let’s just not look.’

The moment I tried to turn my head away—

“Well, I don’t know how happy I am to be able to introduce these precious items to you all today.”

Behind the man who exaggeratedly bowed his head, placing his hat over his chest, men chained in iron shackles filed in. Roughly between 8 and 14 years old. The children, who looked no older than that, seemed to be of very diverse nationalities.

There were those with white skin and silver hair, and those with black skin and black hair. There were those with moderately tanned faces and black hair, and blondes too. There was one with a body tanned enough to be called bronze and red ha…ir…

‘Red hair?’

Instantly, a memory flashed by and I raised my head.

But to my eyes, a mere kid among adults, all I could see were their hair and eyes on the stage.

‘I want to see his face.’

Even if I jumped up and down enough for my hood to fall off, it seemed I wouldn’t be able to see what was in front without stepping on something.

‘I wish there was a chair or something.’

As I turned my head, looking around,

“Need help?”

I heard the voice of a boy, a male child.

At the question from a child who seemed as out of place here as I was, I raised my head.

I shook my head at the brown eyes of the boy with tousled black hair.

“It’s oka…y…”

“Aren’t you curious about what’s up front?”

Well, that was true.

But I wasn’t curious enough to accept help from someone I didn’t even know.

It wasn’t like he was the only one with red hair either.

It was just that, because it resembled the narrative I read in the novel, I briefly wondered if it might be him.

Slave auction, immigrants from Tounia, bronze skin, red hair. Excellent swordsmanship.

All these were words that described Jaiden, who becomes Ryan’s closest guard.

And—

‘His horrible slave days.’

Jaiden, sold to a noble who sexually abused the boys he bought, had to struggle in pain every night for over a year without ever seeing sunlight.

‘This novel’s narratives for the male characters are too harsh.’

I shook my head vigorously.

Of course, he eventually manages to escape, risking his life, and meets Ryan.

The story is that Ryan drags Jaiden, who collapsed in front of his house, inside, hides him, treats him, and they grow close.

But still, wasn’t that one year just too horrible?

I let out a long breath at that setting, too cruel for a mere 12-year-old child to bear.

‘It’s suffering he didn’t need to go through.’

That suffering doesn’t even lead to discovering some hidden power; being tormented by lifelong trauma and not being able to sleep properly due to nightmares—

‘It’s cruel.’

Remembering how I viciously cursed the author the entire time I read the novel back in my Isha days, I turned my head to the right—

“Little Mis… no, Lesha.”

Fell, who called me awkwardly, approached, pushing through the crowd just like when she left.

“They said the dagger hasn’t come out yet. They said it will probably come out after the shield that’s up now ends, maybe the next one or the one after.”

“Good.”

I was worried it might have already passed.

‘Lucky.’

I smiled brightly at Fell and turned my head.

“Now then…… huh?”

I was about to tell the black-haired boy, who had been offering to help me, that it was okay.

But he was gone.

I turned my head, trying to find the boy who had disappeared like smoke, as if he was never there. But whether he had entered the crowd or left this place, I couldn’t find a trace of the boy.

‘Weird. Was it another dream?’

I tilted my head at these events that felt like I was bewitched, just like the pig doll a few days ago.

Then Fell approached closely.

“Why? Is there something else you’re looking for?”

“……No, nothing.”

Worried that I might be about to cause another accident, I shook my head to reassure Fell, who was filled with concern.

“I think I just saw wrong.”

But—

“Now, this item is a tribal child I personally procured from Tounia. Age twelve!”

Just as I was about to turn my head to wait for Dad’s item, a description that perfectly matched the child from my memory came from the right slave market.

“Look at this smooth bronze skin and red hair. And look at this muscle tone! And this tattoo covering his left forearm, isn’t it magnificent? What does it say, anyway?”

“…….”

But at the boy’s refusal to answer, keeping his mouth tightly shut, the man laughed *haha-* awkwardly and poked the boy’s head with his finger.

“What does it say?”

At that sight, the people gathered in front laughed.

“You’re all insane.”

I closed my eyes tightly—

“I’ll ask again. What does it say?”

The man took a breath and asked again.

“If you don’t answer this time ei……”

“Kyatuna.”

“What?”

God of War.

“God of War.”

At the boy’s voice saying the exact word I had thought of, I raised my head.

Is it really Jaiden?

I had to confirm this situation that was fitting together almost unbelievably.

But I was still short, so I needed to find something to step on.

‘A chair, a chair.’

As I turned my head, looking for a chair or a wooden box, I saw a chair placed nearby that I didn’t know was there. Wondering if I had just missed something placed right beside me, I *ggungcha-* stepped onto the chair. I had to stand on my tiptoes a bit, but it was enough to see the stage.

‘My head, just a little more.’

Putting strength into my toes and raising my head, I saw hair with a deep red hue and bronze skin.

And the tattoo covering the exposed left arm on his upper body, and the brown eyes glaring straight ahead.

‘You, just get lost. Stop bothering my Master.’

‘Why don’t you play with me instead.’

Jaiden, who would cling to Ryan’s side and then be pulled off, who would intimidate me…… He did everything to protect Ryan except hit me.

Those fierce, rebellious eyes.

It’s really Jaiden.

Jaiden, who hasn’t yet been submerged in suffering, who doesn’t have nightmares.

The 12-year-old Jaiden was right before my eyes.