Chapter 73 – Guests are coming to the prison (6)
Translator: SKAIS Editor: Dict Groiler
Eventually they steered off the topic of roses, and rather delved into something much more similar to that of a history lesson. I mentally sighed, whatever they were talking about were no longer crucial to the book’s story.
They continued to share story after story, about the empire, and everything else. They talked until eventually, the break ended, and soon, it was time for everyone to go back to their respective cells, up until the time dinner rolled by and they could come back out once more.
As everyone was busy moving back, I stayed in my place, waiting as they all piled out, until I was the last to leave, and made my way to the guard.
I stopped right in front of him, and the guard raised a brow towards me.
“To the cellar?” I asked with a little hesitancy. The guard only sighed quietly before nodding.
“Miss Iana, last to leave, I see.”
“Yes, that’s right because I’m trying to go somewhere else,” I told him, “By myself.” I added for good measure, “There’s no particular reason, I just thought that’s a good idea.” I shrugged.
The guard and I then prepared to leave for the cellar, but just as we were about to move, I could hear footsteps coming towards us in urgency. Someone was coming towards us.
“Aha! There you are!” a man remarked as soon as he reached us.
“Aha.” It was when we were about to leave the empty lounge together.
Tadadak.
He wore the same clothes as the person beside me, a mid-level guard of the prison. The guard’s face hardened as he whispered something to his colleague, his voice soft that I couldn’t hear what he had said. His gaze shifted to the hallway, and then to me.
When he finally stopped, he looked at me with a grave expression.
“Miss Iana, I apologize, but may you go to the cellar?” he asked, and when I looked at the other guard, he continued, “Alone?”
Usually it would be absurd to even leave a prisoner on their own, but as someone with a n.o.ble status especially because of my brother, even in prison I was free to do what I wanted. But not everything.
Ricdorian’s cell was off-limits, especially since a senior guard was tasked in keeping it. Eventually I nodded to the guard’s request.
Immediately, the guard in charge bowed his head before leaving swiftly.
What was going on?
Soon enough, I found myself walking along the empty corridor, curiosity thrumming beneath my skin. Despite the corridor being vacated at every hour of the day, this time, it seemed more isolated than usual.
Like the calm before the storm.
Slowly I trudged downwards the spiral staircase, thinking I was alone but…
“h.e.l.lo, Miss Iana.”
I stifled gasps as I whipped my head around. I had been startled to hear someone greet me, but wherever I looked, no one was there.
At least, no one was visible for me to see.
“Here you go.” the voice continued and I fought hard to keep myself from stuttering…
“…here?” I asked in confusion.
“The arm.” Arm? “Your arm.”
I lowered my line of sight, and stared in shock at the slight glow that surrounded my arm.
It was the bracelet. The one Jair gave me from before, and I had worn it every day since. Once more I looked up to see if anyone was there, but still I remained alone in the corridor. That was good.
Breathing out a sigh of relief, I looked back down on the bracelet, and brought it up to my lips.
“Mr. Jair? Is that you? What is it?” I asked in quick succession.
“Yes. That’s right. I’m glad you remembered me.”
“Is this the right time to talk about that? Anyway, how were you able to do this…” I asked with great wonder. I was going to ask if I could use magic as well, but before I could, a laughter echoed in the hall. His voice was full of embarra.s.sment.
“My apologies, Miss Iana, but I’m running out of time right now. Is there anyone nearby?”
“Yes.”
“Then can we go to a place where there’s only a few people? As quick as possible. A more private place where we could talk.”
Jair’s tone was impatient, which in turn made him seem quite suspicious, but I decided to listen and follow his request anyway. Besides, I was hoping to be able to contact Jair, too.
“By the way, I didn’t know we could get in touch quickly like this. You must be very curious about what happened to the prisoner.”
“Hahaha. I’m sorry. This is a matter…” he trailed off.
I completely understood where he was coming from. After all, the purpose of him blending in as one of the ordinary prisoners was so he could hide in plain sight. I continued further down towards the first floor, pa.s.sed through an open area, and into the garden, to the plot area filled with radishes.
I couldn’t see any guard nearby as I was walking around, and deemed it empty enough for the conversation. It was easy enough getting inside the garden, and thankfully for Jair, he kept me relaxed enough as he continued to talk to me despite my caution to get here.
Although perhaps he was also checking the range of our communication.
I could easily deduce this wasn’t a place where any of the guards would allow the prisoners to wander in. It was no wonder there were no guards after all. Doing a last sweep of my surroundings, I raised the bracelet up to my lips once more.
“Alright, I’m clear.”
Strangely enough, Mr. Jair was silent.
Why wasn’t he talking?
It was then I realized the bracelet was no longer glowing.
“h.e.l.lo?” I tried again, was the signal lost, or something? “Mr. Jair?” I pulled the bracelet away and looked at it with a frown.
Did we lose our means of communication?
I dropped my arm back to my side and sighed in dismay.
What was I supposed to do now? Should I leave? Should I wait for Mr. Jair to come back? Or, did I jostle the bracelet too much? Hit it against some concrete or something without knowing about it and destroyed the communication?
I was just about to jostle the bracelet like a maracas, when I felt my stomach drop and the hairs at the back of my head stand up…
And just like that, everything went black.
“Wait, wait, wait, what!?” I gasped in surprise.I couldn’t see anything. Why couldn’t I see anything in front of me!?
The more I struggled against my sudden blindness, the more I could tell someone was covering my eyes. I could feel the warmth emanating from its palms, warmer than the normal body temperature of a person.
I quickly grabbed the hand covering my eyes, trying to yank it off, when I heard some shushing sounds right beside my ear, my struggling eased up as I heard his voice…
“Shh, shh, Iana, relax. It’s all right.” his sweet voice was like honey, almost melting away my fear and panic. “It’s just me Iana, just me.”
His voice reminded me of springfields. The flowers are blooming after the cold winter, the cool breeze fluttering about, hitting my skin gently.
I’ve never heard his voice before in my life, but it felt like I knew him…
“How are you, my little sister?” he asked me. And I felt my breath hitch in my throat.
It was my brother.
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