North x Northwest

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When the sound of bats screeching beyond the closed door died down, Lil sighed and leaned against the cold iron. She felt the presence of everyone gathered not far away.

‘Fortunately, from here on out, there will be no guards.’

Realising this, it was only then that Lil fully extracted the balsam and allowed it to shine in front of her. The sailors watched her every move while breathing heavily.

Lil raised her finger and with a weak gesture pointed forward.

“Go straight ahead…”

A familiar face suddenly squeezed out among the rising and falling bodies, catching their breath. The man’s face was thinner than Lil remembered and he clearly hadn’t had the opportunity to shave this past month, but she had no trouble recognizing him.

“Lil Schweiz. We have no idea what you’ve been up to, and you only show up now, so… how on earth can we trust you, the person most responsible for this situation? … More importantly, why weren’t you trapped here with the rest of us when you were still alive?”

Lil muttered to herself, pressing her forehead.

‘…No wonder it was so quiet…’

“Julio.”

“The fact that we fell into the hands of the Navy is proof of your poor judgement. No, it may not have been mere judgement, perhaps it was all part of your plan…”

“So, according to you, my plan includes putting you in here only to get you out again?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what kind of dirty tricks you have left. How can we trust a pale guy?”

“Then don’t believe me. Who told you to do so?”

“You’re definitely screwing us over. This must’ve something to do with that bastard who was said to be a spy.”

She couldn’t deny what he just said. Lil herself was also frustrated as to how things had turned out this way.

‘It’s understandable that Julio has a considerable amount of doubts, but that doesn’t mean I have the luxury to explain the whole story here or give up on Julio and his group…’

“What are you going to do if you stay here? Do you know the way, do you have the keys? Just take advantage of the chance I’m giving you now and stop naively spouting around that you don’t trust me. In front of me, pretend to follow. And save all your venting of anger for behind my back. Don’t be so honest in defying me and stop arguing about anything. I don’t understand why you keep resorting to such predictable moves. Do you want me to read right through you and know all of your thoughts? Are you challenging me first because you think I have the ability to catch you off-guard and strike you at the back of your head? How great of a bastard do you think I am, that you foam at the mouth and fear me so much?”

“…”

“If your problem with me is just a matter of pride, leave it aside. There isn’t a more pathetic justification for this situation you’re causing.”

“Pride? Do you think we’re that…”contemporary romance

“Let’s just all get out and argue later…”

“…There was more than one person who saw you get injured. And the Bell Rock was seized. So how did you survive with a body like that while avoiding the eyes of the Navy?”

“I understand that there are still a lot of questions that remain unanswered. But I didn’t come here to tell you about my survival story. For now, we both, no we all have to live and see. There’s no way that I’ve locked you up here for as long as I did, and then suddenly decided to go through all this trouble just to take you outside and kill you.”

Lil walked past the sailors gathered behind Julio. Half of the men naturally followed her, while the rest only did so after a moment of hesitation. A loud argument erupted shortly after, but Lil left them alone.

‘It’s fine. We managed to enter the underground passage, so I don’t see any more problems coming our way. After all, this is a passage that was only used in the past, and currently, there’s no one using it… Nonetheless, I will be grateful when we reach the stable in the backyard and get on the wagons, maybe that will finally relieve some of this anxiety.’

As Lil started to increase her pace, the sound of the footsteps following also garnered momentum and the damp space was instantly filled with the sound of dozens of people’s footsteps.

Progressing up the slanted passage, Lil began to feel the wind… and spot the opening in the distance. As the passage hadn’t been used as an official entry point for years, the entrance had narrowed a lot. Thankfully, the gap remained large enough for people to enter and exit while lying down and the strong wind she felt blew from there.

***

Lil, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of the wagon, lowered her hat and greeted the guard.

“Good evening.”

Alain, wearing a garrison guard’s jacket turned inside out*, made an awkward expression. The fact that the clothes were too small and short on him, doubled his feeling of awkwardness. Lil faced the guard while covering Alain with her whole body so that Alain’s face was as obscured as possible.

“What’s this?”

“It’s from the grocery shop on 23rd Street.”

The guard approaching the carriage then frowned and held his nose.

“But what’s this smell?”

‘Smell? What smell?’

But unlike the puzzled Lil, Alain, who was sitting next to her, raised his arm and pressed his nose against his armpit. Only then did Lil realise that her wagon was crammed with people who hadn’t washed in months.

Lil tried to come up with something suitable to say.

“…We’re on our way back, the eggs in the wagon have rotten, so we’re unable to deliver them.”

“Eggs? Didn’t you say you were from a grocery shop?”

“W-we also run a poultry farm.”

“Really?”

After she had already said it, Lil belatedly realised her mistake.

‘Eggs are expensive… It’s no wonder that the guard looks at the carriage with interest.’

Lil stretched out her upper body from the coachman’s seat and anxiously looked at the guard heading toward the luggage compartment.

“Have you ever touched rotten eggs? Normally, if you crack one open, it’s all chewy, but if it’s rotten, it glides around like scum. It stinks like the ooze of a month-old gunshot wound. Do you recall that yellow and green ooze? And its odour is so strong that if you handle it wrong, it sticks to you and the smell won’t go away no matter how much you wash…”

Despite Lil’s efforts, the guard continued to reach for the luggage compartment while covering his nose with a handkerchief.

Lil reflexively screamed.

“Uh! Be careful!”

“What? What?!”

The guard jerked up and looked at Lil in a fit of surprise.

“I was just concerned about what would happen if you handled the crate wrong and they burst. The banquet will soon be over, and the dignitaries will come out, so if by chance the contents spill…”

“Oh, today is the day of the banquet. That’s right.”

“Yes. I wasn’t particularly in a hurry, but I just received orders to take care of this before the ladies and gentlemen come out. The manager was adamant that we shouldn’t run into them just in case…”

The guard, who was about to remove the tent covering the luggage compartment, twitched and withdrew his hand as if he had touched something dirty. Perhaps it was due to the strong stench coming out of the tent. Shortly after, he turned to the guards’ post and looked as though he had lost interest.

“Yeah. Get out of here.”

“Yes.”

As the guard waved his hand, two soldiers ran and opened the side gate of Gualtiero. Lil pulled the reins and moved the wagon, pretending to be calm. When in reality her hands shook so much that she intentionally tightened the grip on the reins. At the same time, Alain, still next to her, shrank his body as much as possible. All the attention of the surrounding guards was directed toward their carriage as both the guards on the ground and those in the watchtowers kept an eye on them. Of course, it might’ve been a superficial observation, but it felt like a persistent gaze from the perspective of the person being targeted.

The wagon slowly passed through the side gate. As soon as she confirmed that the second wagon behind them, driven by Marenzio, had also escaped completely, Lil drove her horse vigorously. She felt as if Gualtiero’s torch could light up at any moment and a call to chase them would be heard…

***

Footnote:

“ Alain, wearing a garrison guard’s jacket turned inside out, … ” = For the people who were just as confused as we first were about this particular detail. Alain is faking being a merchant, and he can’t do that looking like a prisoner nor a guard. So turning his jacket inside out, makes it look somewhat neat without exposing the fact that they stole a guard’s uniform.

done.co