I slowly took her hand in mine and caressed it.
I knew that if I continued to handle things with anger and screaming like I always did, the situation would only get worse. When she realized my caress, she looked at me and gave a sad smile.
"I'm sorry, it seems Angela is not feeling well. I'll take her outside for some fresh air."
I looked at her with grief.
'It's okay for you to use me as an excuse to leave this gathering...'
"First you're distracted by your rude behavior in front of the princess. Now you want to leave without apologing?"
"There's no need for a arguing, everybody. Just as Lady Arina said, the atmosphere here was a little big heavy for her sister. It's her first time attending such an important event anyway."
Her mocking smile returned to her face and she stared at us with pride. As if not just a few seconds ago she had been interrogating Arina.
"So if you'll excuse me."
Arina got up from her seat and moved away from the gazebo against its intended purpose. after I make sure that we weren't in there sight, I looked up at Arina's shoulder and stuck my tongue out. then calmly turned towards Arina and stared at her sad face.
I gave Esmeralda the right, but Arina's face made my heart ache. She leaned against a tree and watched the gazebo from afar. With sorrow or perhaps... envy...
'Why are you so sad, Arina? We have a family now, we live in the palace, and we eat meals other than mashed potatoes. So what's the problem? Why aren't you satisfied with this situation?'
Arina sighed and started talking to herself.
"A noble family, the Bazz family... Father, surely you're looking down on me from up there."
She raised her head towards the sky.
"I want to be your heir and wield the sword in your and The Bazz name. But what if Duke Manson takes over your name and reputation? I don't want to be Manson's daughter. I want to be Grand Knight Arina Bazz, just like you were, Father.'
I looked up at the sky; it was full of stars that were twinkling...
"Angela, do you see those stars? Legends say that our true souls are not inside our bodies; they reside within those stars themselves. Each of those stars holds our true essence within them. That's why humans always lose their way. And that's why those stars guide us. That's why whenever I feel lost, I look up at the sky."
i stared at her with a poker face.
'This girl believes in myths in this world too...'
Suddenly, from out of the darkness, a hand tightly gripped Arina's mouth. I wanted to scream but I couldn't even open my mouth. It was like if someone was covering over my mouth with an Invisible hand.
'Damn it I cry over everything Unconsciously but this time,is it because of fear?'
"God damn it! Wasn't she supposed to be alone? Then what is this baby saying in her arms?" The leather gloves he was wearing didn't allow me to breathe easily. Arina struggled with all her might while the stranger exerted force on her. "Stay calm so that I don't spill your blood on the ground."
Arina stopped struggling and stared at me with fear.
The man carefully pulled us towards the dark area.
"good job, just like this" he whispered beside her ear.
Even though Arina wouldn't resist، she wouldn't keep up with him، dragging her feet to the ground. When he saw that Arina didn't react, he said with frustration
"Stop being so stubborn and move on."
When he saw that Arina had no reaction he said with anger
"What do you waiting for? Come and take her by the legs."
After finishing his sentence, a man appeared in front of us. He was wearing completely black and had a black cloth covering his face. He wore a black robe that didn't allow me to see his clothes. He grabbed Arina's legs and lifted her up...
I couldn't turn my head to see what the man behind us looked like because my head was firmly attached to Arina's chest by his hand, but I guessed tgat because they were a team they wore the same kind of uniform. They moved so quickly that it made me nauseous. There were no more small decorative plants or flowers, and our tent had completely disappeared from sight. The surroundings were filled with dense trees that didn't let any light pass through them.
I took deep breaths with fear and looked around. It had been about 5 minutes since they were taking us hostage in the opposite direction of the mansion when suddenly they unexpectedly threw Arina onto a pile of hay . Arina screamed,
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?"
she held me tightly in her arms so that I wouldn't get hurt while falling. My gaze fell on three men dressed in black in front of me. They weren't particularly large in stature, but compared to a baby like me, they seemed like giants. Realizing this fact made my body tremble involuntarily... Arina screamed again,
"YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!"
One of them sat in front of Arina and firmly held her chin with one hand, saying,
"No matter how much you scream, it won't get you anywhere except for hurting your throat. These trees not only block the light but also prevent any sound from entering or leaving..."
Suddenly he fell silent and looked at Arina with surprise on his face. He turned Arina's face left and right as if the pressure from his hands caused her pain and she winced in response. This scene hurts my heart. I shouted into the man's ear, "LEAVE HER ALONE!"
he snapped out of it and angrily let go of Arina's face.
"She is not the princess," he said angrily
he kicked one of them in the stomach, causing him to curl up in pain.
"You were supposed to bring the princess. Are you so incompetent that you can't even identify her? You dipshits"
The person who was kicked in the stomach replied with gurl and pain, "Ouch...you gave us the description and we brought her. Golden hair down to the shoulders, height appropriate for age and gender, fair and shiny skin, and...
"and fu**ing blue eyes."
he smirked and gestured towards Arina.
"Are her eyes blue?"
Then he grabbed The man in black's collar tightly and shook him. "Did you go colorblind?"
The other person in black, who had been silently observing their argument until now, spoke up.
"It doesn't matter what happened now. calm down."
"Calm? What calm? You two idiots brought me an crab instead of princess!"
"We can still extort money from this girl's family. After all, she is of noble birth."
"I don't give a damn about her noble birth. It's obvious from her clothes that their financial situation is dire. I think we might have more money than them..."
I carefully looked around. There was a ruin next to us that seemed to have been a stable before. Since we hadn't passed through any fences, it's likely that we were still inside the mansion. Until now, we had been moving towards the south of the mansion, and the stable should be in front of us. So we needed to go in the opposite direction of the stable, which is north, to reach the garden. But these informations are not enough. I frowned and closed my eyes in thought.
'Think! Think damn it!'
With Arina moving i came into my Sense, she stood up slowly while having her eyes on those three men who were arguing with each other.
'what? she think she can run away like this just because those 3 are arguing?'
At first, her steps were small and against the direction of those three men. One of them noticed our departure and shouted,
"That girl is trying to escape!"
Arina ran with all her might. Fearfully, I looked ahead at where she was going - southward - which meant a big mistake.
"YOU'RE GOING AT THE WRONG DIRECTION!"
She didn't pay attention to my scream at all and increased her speed even more. She extended her arms around my body as if trying to protect me while tears streamed down her terrified eyes. Annoyed and frustrated by what was happening behind us, I looked over her shoulder at them. Her Afraid and aimless running was pointless.They were two meters away from us And with one leap they could easily catch us.
One of them took a step forward and threw himself onto Arina. Due to the heavy weight that fell on her body, she couldn't maintain her balance and crashed onto the ground while screaming in a terrifying manner. One of my hands got stuck under my body as well as I groaned from intense pain.