Chapter 172 – Awkward Position (1)
The box looked large, but it didn’t feel that way once I was inside. I hugged my knees and thought to myself ‘What on earth am I doing now?’ No matter how one looked at this situation, I wasn’t a queen, but a fugitive.
The carriage rode smoothly, but the box was located near the wheels. Every small b.u.mp jolted my body, causing my head to hit the top of the box, followed by my rear and legs on the floor. After several painful impacts, I managed to find a position that subjected me to slightly less abuse.
“Queen, are you alright?”
From time to time, Heinley would speak rea.s.suringly to me.
“Queen, we’ll cross the border soon.”
Instead of speaking, I knocked on the wall of the box in reply.
I knew my voice sounded weird coming out of the box. The first time Heinley had said, “Are you alright?” I had replied, “I’m fine.” I heard Duke Elgy break out into giggles, and I blushed in embarra.s.sment.
However, even the knocking seemed to entertain Duke Elgy. I heard him laugh again, followed by Heinley snapping at him to stop. It didn’t help, and I bit my lip.
“What? You’re smiling too. The only difference is that you’re not making a sound.”
Because of Duke Elgy, their conversation seemed to suddenly stop, but I knew that Heinley must be silently arguing with him.
‘Haaah…’
I sighed and closed my eyes tightly.
I’d rather go to sleep. Time would fly quicker that way.
***
I guess my mind was more tired than I thought. I remembered closing my eyes and thinking of sleep. When the box lid opened and I blinked dazedly at the rush of fresh air, I realized that I really must have dozed off. Heinley was smiling at me from above, and I smiled back sheepishly.
“It’s like a scene from a myth. As soon as she opened her eyes and looked at me, I felt my heart pounding.”
I flushed at his compliment. I was grateful for it, of course, but the words were over the top for my taste. I unfolded my knees and shakily got to my feet.
“Ah. Carefully now.”
Heinley held out a hand to help me up.
“It’s bad for you to stay in one position, so quickly now, Queen.”
After I drew myself to full height, I brushed down my wrinkled dress and smiled back at him. I spoke before he could give me any more embarra.s.sing compliments.
“Have we arrived?”
“No. This is a border town.”
“But the guards…”
“I don’t think they’ve received any orders just yet.”
Despite his words, he gave a cautious glance outside the carriage.
“We’ll be there soon.”
I climbed out of the box completely, took Heinley’s hand, and stepped down the carriage. Duke Elgy was talking to the carriage driver with a serious face. When he saw me, he smiled and waved at my slightly disheveled self.
In the meantime, I turned around to take in our surroundings. The border towns were all important places in our country, and I had visited all of them at least once. My own brother had also been exiled to a border town.
‘Ah. This must be Lux.’
Though this was not the border town where my brother stayed.
‘I was asleep this whole time we traveled here?’
I blinked my eyes in surprise, and Duke Elgy finished speaking to Heinley and approached me.
“This is as far as I can accompany you.”
“Thank you, Duke Elgy.”
“I also had fun too, Queen.”
It wasn’t lost on me that he called me “Queen”, as in the Troby mansion he had called me “former empress”. I suddenly felt conscious about Heinley’s reaction, and I glanced over to him. He was smiling lightly.
“Ah. It’s annoying. That happy face.”
Heinley looked relaxed as he listened to Duke Elgy tease him. In fact…Heinley and Duke Elgy seemed quite friendly. They wouldn’t talk so casually otherwise.
Duke Elgy clicked his tongue.
“I can’t say if this is a good merchant group, but I’m certain they’re a reliable one. They’re waiting for you, and you can go there and meet them, Your Majesty.”
“Heinley…?”
Did they talk to each other while I was sleeping? Heinley turned towards me, but he didn’t look surprised.
“If we go together, we’ll look suspicious.”
“Will you use another merchant group? Or a mercenary?”
“Well…not really. I’m going alone.”
“That’s dangerous. We should go together.”
It was unlikely that Sovieshu would try to capture Heinley again, but the lone king couldn’t cross the border by himself. This place wasn’t often frequented, but there could be bandits like the Eternal Thousand, and he might even be robbed!
Heinley, however, gave me a confident smile and said he would be fine, and Duke Elgy made a similar comment in agreement.
“Heinley is swift and elusive, so don’t worry about him.”
I wanted to protest and say that it was dangerous, but I held my tongue. I had seen Heinley come to Wirwol by himself, and he had even entered the Eastern Empire palace undetected. While my concern did not go away, I nodded in a.s.sent. If Heinley really was skilled at moving alone undetected, then my presence may only endanger him.
“So then, Heinley. I’ll go too. Queen, be safe.”
Duke Elgy departed in the black carriage that brought us here, and Heinley and I walked into an ordinary-looking inn. A woman approached and looked alternately between us.
“Which person am I transporting?”
I raised my hand, but my heart was throbbing fast in my chest. A few days had pa.s.sed since my divorce, and I was sure that my face was spread all over posters in the empire. Rumors of the divorced and remarried empress would have reached even to the most isolated of border towns.
My long cloak and hood concealed my face, but if she asked me to take it off…
“Let’s go.”
The woman didn’t ask anything, and turned around and left.
‘Am I going just like that?’
I looked at Heinley, seeking rea.s.surance, and he smiled at me.
“Don’t worry. I’ve worked with them a few times—ah, and they didn’t know that I was a prince. Anyway, they’re perfect for this job.”
Well, if that’s what Heinley said. I nodded at him in return and followed the woman.
Heinley followed me at some distance, then watched me climb into another carriage. He was there until the carriage started. The woman spoke to me, so I looked at the other side for a moment, and then looked out the window. He was gone.
I heard a bird’s cry overhead.