Episode 3. The Duke's Daughter's Escapade
Episode 3. The Duke's Daughter's Escapade
Based on the knowledge from his past life, Mir earned a lot of money and began practicing swordsmanship.
"Mom, Mir has finally gone crazy!"
Mikhail said.
"I told you not to bully Mir, Mikhail! Why would Mir go crazy? He's always been a proper boy who only reads books!"
With that, the mother and son arrived at a hut where Mir was practicing his swordsmanship and found him there.
"...Mir?"
"Ah, Ajumma, you're here?"
"What are you doing right now?"
"I was practicing swordsmanship."
[Warak]
"I'm sorry, Mir... It's this Ajumma's fault for not taking better care of you..."
Suddenly, Mikhail's mother hugged Mir.
"It's not like that, Ajumma."
Mir replied.
"...It's not like what?"
"After watching the duel with Mikhail the other day, I decided to become a dueling proxy."
[Kkwang]
"Keok."
Mikhail ended up getting a honey chestnut on his head.
"Mikhail! Because of you, the only hope of our village has been tainted with strange ideas!"
"No, Mom, why is that my fault?! And I'm going to become a cool swordsman too!"
Mikhail vented his grievances after being scolded, but Mikhail's mother ignored him and asked.
"But Mir, where did you buy that sword?"
"I invested the money I earned from the fruit shop, and that investment was a great success."
Mir replied.
After that bit of commotion, once Mikhail and his mother left, Mir began practicing his swordsmanship again.
The time was when the Young Lady was 8 years old, before her eyes had turned red.
"Young Lady-nim, please wake up!"
The Young Lady's maid, Roselyn, went to wake her up.
However, there was only a single letter left on the Young Lady's bed.
I'm going out to find my knight!!!
_Sincerely, Elena
"..? What is this..."
The Duke's household, realizing late that the Young Lady had run away(?), was in a state of chaos for a while.
In fact, this wasn't the first time the Young Lady had acted out.
She would pour tea on the flower beds, worrying the plants might be thirsty,
Or burn down the kitchen while trying to help with the cooking,
And one day, she even almost got seriously hurt while playing with a sword, claiming she would become a swordsman.
However, this runaway could be seen as expected in a way.
"Mother, in my dream, I'm accused of being a witch and burned to death!"
Elena said.
"Is that so, my daughter? But isn't it time for you to go to your lessons now?"
"Heok, that's right!"
Elena told her mother, and also her father.
"Father! My eyes are being dyed red!"
"Hoho, it seems our daughter had a dream. Red eyes are eyes that only witches can possess. You aren't a witch, are you, my daughter?"
And to her brother.
"Orabeoni! In my dream, when no one is on my side, only one person becomes my knight! Who do you think that knight is?"
"Haha, Elena, isn't it probably this Orabi?"
"That's not it, Orabeoni."
Elena said with a dead serious expression.
"..."
Elena even told her brother about her dreams.
Elena's dreams became clearer with each passing day,
And one day, Elena had a certain dream.
"Elena-nim, it is time for lunch."
It was a dream where she was confined in a very old mansion.
Elena spoke with a cracking voice.
"What about Father...? And what about ##?"
"##-nim has gone to the battlefield now."
"What...? Why did ## go to the battlefield?"
"...I don't know the details either, but it was likely the Duke-nim's order."
"..Father's order?"
Strangely, the Young Lady in the dream seemed to have no other family.
"Stop it already! Enough! Mother, Orabeoni, and now even Mir... how much more do you have to take from me to be satisfied?"
Elena said while shedding tears.
[Kkiiing]
Then, a dog as large as a wolf approached Elena.
The dog looked as if it were comforting Elena.
"Yes, Unni is sorry..."
Still, the fortunate thing was that it seemed one family member still remained for the Young Lady.
However, the dream was far too cruel.
"Kill that dog."
The Duke ordered.
"..! No, Father! Absolutely not ###!"
With those words, the Young Lady—no, Elena—began to run away with the dog.
"The witch is escaping with her familiar!"
A knight of the Duke's household shouted.
In the dream, Elena was already being treated as a witch rather than a Young Lady, even within the Duke's household.
"Let's run away, ##! We'll run away and find ##!"
"Meong!"
Elena and the dog, who had fled into the forest, began to pick up speed, but,
"That's enough."
As if he knew, the Duke appeared and blocked the two.
"Grrr..."
"Let's run, ##!"
Elena tried to continue her escape, but the Duke's sword pointed at her.
"Because of you, my wife and son died."
"..Father, I am also Father's daughter..."
[Jjak]
The Duke's palm struck the Young Lady's cheek.
"Shut up! I have never had a witch like you as a daughter."
"......"
"If you return now, I will at least spare your life."
"I can't go back..! Because ## is the only family I have left..! I can't let him die!"
Elena tried her best to quickly dodge the Duke's sword and flee, but at that moment, the Duke's sword aimed for the Young Lady's leg and attacked.
However,
[Kwak]
The dog bit the Duke's arm to save the Young Lady.
"You bastard dog!"
The Duke cut the dog down with a single stroke, and the dog collapsed, bleeding out.
"No... No, ##... Please, don't you leave me too..."
Elena spoke through her tears.
[Kkiiing]
The dog licked the Young Lady's eyes and looked at Elena as if to say it wasn't her fault.
"Father, I'll follow Father. So please, please save ##."
"I cannot spare a bastard dog that bit its master."
The Duke said.
"Please, Father... No, I won't call you Father anymore. So please, please just save ##."
"......"
The Duke had no intention of saving the dog, and so the dog died while bleeding out.
"Ha... You... You...!"
"We found the witch!"
Afterward, the knights of the Duke's household swarmed in to capture Elena.
Surrounded by the Duke's knights, Elena was dragged away to prison.
"If you are not a witch, you will be able to survive the trial."
The Duke said with a cold gaze.
"......"
"Still, the Duke's dueling proxy will participate in the trial. Though, of course, it will be impossible to defeat the Empire's Knight Commander."
"Where is ##?"
"He's probably on the battlefield by now."
"......"
A few days passed in the dream, and it was the day of the Young Lady's trial.
"I forfeit."
Not long after the duel began, the Duke's dueling proxy declared surrender, as if wishing for Elena to be branded a witch and die.
The judge opened his mouth to pronounce Elena's end.
"Then, the witch Elena shall be burned at the st—"
"Wait."
Before Elena's burning was sentenced, the man named ##, whom the Young Lady had been looking for, appeared.
"I am the Young Lady's knight."
"..That man is!"
It seemed the man in the dream had achieved great merit in the war, and the people seemed greatly shocked by the knight's appearance.
"If the Young Lady is truly a witch! Then God will grant me defeat!"
"Woooooooah!"
Cheers erupted from the spectator seats.
"..It's been a long time, Young Lady-nim."
"##!"
"Let the duel begin!"
With those words, Elena woke up from the nightmare.
After having the nightmare, Elena desperately wanted to find the knight she saw in her dream.
"The knight-nim must be nearby! Because he's my knight!"
"The knight-nim who appeared so coolly when no one else could stay by my side!"
And so, the Young Lady's deviation began.
Originally, the security of the Duke's household was so thorough that not even a mouse could enter, but unfortunately, the Duke's household's adorable youngest daughter was close with the household staff and knew the secrets of the Duke's household just as well.
"I'm sure there was a mouse hole around here."
What the Young Lady was looking for now was the mouse hole that the Duke's knights frequently used when they were slacking off.
"Here it is!"
Through that mouse hole, the Young Lady went to the village and began to look around using her emergency funds.
"Wow."
Since Elena had never once stepped outside the Duke's household since she was born, everything outside was simply fascinating to her.
"Ajumma, what is this flower?"
"Ajumma? Little lady, try saying Nuna."
"Ajumma, what is this Nuna?"
"....."
It was a case of far too much pure malice.
As she continued to wander the village, Elena retraced her memories of the dream and thought about the appearance of the knight from her dream.
"Mmm, I'm sure he had black hair and black eyes?"
She searched through the village alleys, and,
"Ajusshi, do you happen to know a knight-nim with black hair and black eyes?"
"..A knight-nim? The only people with black eyes and black hair in our village are beggars."
"Hing."
Elena searched for her knight while asking the villagers.
Then one day, she suddenly discovered a hut at the edge of the village, and at that hut, she found her knight—though he was smaller than the one she saw in her dream.
"Black hair and black eyes! I found him, my knight!"
Seeing Mir, the Young Lady approached with a beaming smile, and Mir was flustered by the Young Lady's sudden appearance.