The Solitude of an Emperor [TO BE UNPUBLISHED]

8 : The Innocent Young Girl

"Wake up, you brat!" A man splashed water on a young girl's face to wake her up.

Startled, the young girl opened her eyes feeling so cold with the water all over her clothes. She was confused.

"Go fetch water and put the luggage in the carriage! We are going to leave!" The fat man kicked her legs making her groan in pain.

She was about to speak for herself but ended up hearing a crack on her voice like something just pulled her tongue. She covered her mouth only to realize that she could not speak well. She immediately stood up to look for a mirror but she stopped upon seeing the place where she was sleeping a while ago.

It was in a stable where horses were taken care of. She was now sitting on dirty grass and her clothes were old and torn apart. Her body was so thin and light and she could feel hunger. She looked for somewhere she could look at herself and found a pail with water. There she saw the face of a young innocent girl, thin and malnourished. Her hair was messy and short like a man. She looks dirty and messed up.

"Hey! Can't you hear me?!" The fat man suddenly raged. "You should go to work!"

Startled by how loud the man's voice was, she found herself running outside the stable to work. Along the way, she saw some people carrying luggage to a carriage so she abruptly walked there thinking that it might be the work the man was talking about.

"Hey, kid! Come here!" Another man called her as she was given two pails. "Go fetch water there and feed it to the horses of each carriage."

She could not say anything and just did as she was told. She even had a hard time looking where she would fetch water until she saw a clear lake meters away behind the stable.

While fetching water to the pail, she sensed some people coming towards her. Before they could come close, she stood up and turned to face them as she saw a group of Largoth knights in their uniforms standing behind her.

"A young girl?" One of the Imperial knights scratched his head as he turned to look at his leader. "Are you sure to negotiate with this young girl?" He asked their leader.

A tall mature man started walking towards her. She was so short that she was just up to his waist. He has silver hair as it covers his eyes. Although she could not see his eyes, she can feel that this man is strong and powerful just by standing in front of her. Judging by his uniform that is different from the others, he must be the captain.

"You," the deep voice of the man echoed in her ears as her eyes went wide after recognizing it.

This was the voice of the man in the banquet hall before!

"Do you know that the mercenary you were in was planning on involving themselves in a war?"

Her eyes expanded. War? Is the Empire having a war? Who is the Emperor and how many years has passed after she woke up in a different body?!

"You seemed to have knowledge about it so I am going to tell you-

"Captain, you could not just trust a young girl!"

"Stop, Leon." He commanded his subordinate before looking at the eyes of the young girl.

He bent down his knees to reach her short height. "Listen, young girl," he clasped his hand, looking serious to explain.

"The mercenary you were in was paid by the neighbouring kingdom to fool us by driving us to go to the Hapra Forest."

Hapra forest, she knew very well that it was the forest where wild boars live. It was the borderline between the Largoth Empire and Corstan Kingdom. It was a deadly forest where no one would leave alive after coming there.