Rouge and the Rogue (Knuxouge)

Midnight

(content warning: dead body mention, some violence)

The Princess's caravan reached the next town, Polfield, at sundown. They stopped outside another inn, this one even more ramshackle than the first, and allowed the Princess to get out before driving elsewhere to park the carriages. 

Rouge surveyed her surroundings carefully. Her eyes would no longer be averted from the kingdom's problems. This town's buildings were lined up in rows, built so closely together that a cat could barely squeeze between them except for the roads. The roads were gravel, though they might not have been at one point, and were covered in rotting things. Rouge couldn't tell what those things were, and didn't want to.

But ignoring the problem, not looking at it, would be tantamount to saying it didn't exist. She was the Princess. Her kingdom's problems were hers. She stepped forward to take a closer look at the rotting thing on the street.

No sooner had she stepped forward than she stumbled back. The thing was a person. A person with barely any meat on their bones left to rot.

Rouge's legs gave out and she crumpled to the ground. A place where starved bodies littered the streets. That was the second town on her kingdom tour.

Somebody came out of the inn's doors and called to her. She was too shocked to register it fully. The innkeeper? Maybe. They ran up to her and saw the body too. The person started yelling something and grabbing at Rouge, trying to get her on her feet. Rouge threw up.

And everything went black.

When her eyes opened again, she was in a strange bed in a room made of wood. A single candle flickered beside her. Her luggage had been put in the room and her face had been cleaned up. This must be her room at the inn. Somebody had carried her to bed.

The blanket she'd been given was a quilt. It was very warm and comforting, so she tugged it over her head and started crying.

A soft knock came at her door. The guard post. So one of the soldiers could hear her sobbing. How embarrassing.

"Princess," the guard called through her door, "are you awake?"

Rouge muffled her sobs and replied "yes, I am."

The door opened. Rouge was startled, most guards wouldn't dream of entering the room without her direct permission. This guard was tall and kept his helmet on, which covered his face. He walked over to the bed.

"The innkeeper told us that you'd fainted outside the inn. Has traveling exhausted you so much?" He spoke bluntly.

"Traveling? Um, yes. That's what it was."

"Really? Not the corpse lying just outside?" This man was sharp. Unexpectedly confronted with the statement, tears silently flowed down Rouge's face again. She refused to sob in front of one of her men (again).

"Oh, there was a body? Haha. No, I didn't even see it. So there are just dead people on the streets in this town? What's up with that?" She sounded so stupid. Why couldn't she just shut up? There was a pause before the guard spoke again.

"We think it was set there on purpose. People's bodies do not usually rest in front of inns where the Princess is meant to stay. There were no others in the vicinity." The man's speaking was so matter-of-fact that Rouge couldn't tell if he was lying or not.

"That's a relief," she sighed.

"So you did see it," the guard said. Rouge jumped, but denied it again. The man changed the subject.

"If travelling has exhausted you so much, perhaps you should stay in your room while we collect the tax money tomorrow." He reached out his hand and pressed it against Rouge's forehead. She flinched at the touch, but he kept his hand there.