CH 143

Rescue, The Revealed Truth (3)

‘No! I won’t get caught!’

She couldn’t hold back those who were already coming to save her. That sort of desperation eventually gave Roelin the strength that was beyond her limits.

Roelin then bolted with all her might. Blood seeped from the scratched up and stabbed arms from the branches and her clothes that she was currently wearing were also torn.

She didn’t realize when her shoes had fallen off, but her feet were all covered with wounds as well. Still, she kept on running regardless of the pain.

Even though her poisoned body was not fit for all of this—no—even if she was fine, she knew that her physical strength would never be enough at all.

Since she was so utterly desperate.

‘Please…’

“Argh!”

However, heaven indifferently turned its head away from Roelin’s earnest heart. She eventually fell flat on her feet amidst the throbbing pain too.

“Ugh, ughh…”

Roelin’s mouth started to groan. She curled up, while biting her lips tightly. She could already see a broken branch sticking up through the top of her foot even in the dark.

“Oh, my…”

Tears began welling up in her eyes. The attack that was caused by poison had also implicated a great pain, but this current pain was much terrible as it had been.

Roelin scratched the ground before clenching her hands tightly. Her body trembled and convulsed in the face of great pain.

She couldn’t be getting caught at all.

She needed to get back to Kergel.

So, she had to get up—get up and move at that instant. Roelin grumbled and murmured silently as she tugged on herself. Her fingernails that were scratching the ground in order to overcome the pain had all been broken and her soft flesh was scraped off, but it didn’t matter at that moment. After taking a huge breath, she straightened her legs and raised herself once more.

She did not pull out the branch that had penetrated her foot. It was because she thought that if she were to pull out that particular branch, more blood would flow out and instead, help out those who were already chasing after her.

However, it was never easy to walk with branches that had pierced in oneself. Roelin moved one step before another step and another while trembling without the thought of even stopping her teeth from ramming against each other because of the pain.

Tears welled up once more and eventually trickled down to her cheeks. She wiped her tears away with her hands and gritted her teeth.

‘Let’s get it together. At the very least, until someone comes to my rescue—I absolutely have to hold out until then.’

She was sure that someone would come to her rescue. She kept her head together and looked around carefully while ignoring the pain entirely.

She had to admit that there was a limit to running away in such a reckless manner. Moreover, it would have been all the more so since one of her feet was now injured.

In such a situation, it would have been much a better way for her to hide away from the eyes of those who kidnapped her rather than running away hastily.

Roelin organized her thoughts in her head and began to look at the surrounding terrain once again.

Just then, the sight of a big tree came into her eyes. Subsequently, a gap could be seen through the grain of that very tree. It was a rift that could be buried in the dark as it looked just like a normal shade.

‘—there!’

Roelin hurried to the tree. Then, she immediately squeezed herself into the empty fissure. Her small, slender body went through as if the space had been all tailored to herself.

At the same time, the sound of tromping footsteps seemed to be getting louder and she could eventually hear the voices of men who were already near the tree itself.

“Damn! I’m sure that I already came all the way here, but where did it disappear?”

The man’s harsh voice made her hold her breath while covering both her mouth and nose with her hands. Her blue eyes then trembled with an uneasy glow.

Roelin closed her eyes as she forcibly restrained herself from the tension that felt as if her heart would burst at any moment.

It was such a close call. If she hadn’t found the empty crack inside the tree, if she had just insisted on running away in haste, she would have already been in their hands by now.

‘Please…’

Roelin murmured eagerly inside while realizing that her fingertips were all cold with tension.

Hopefully, the darkness would continue to conceal herself at any cost.

In fact, they should just walk past the empty crevice in the tree without anyone noticing it.

“……wait a minute. Here, there’s some bloodstain.”

Nevertheless, her earnest desire was once again shunned completely. The voice of one of the men clearly penetrated her ear.

Bloodstain.

Color immediately drained from Roelin’s face. She didn’t even know what the bloodstain had meant.

It would bring the meaning that blood had oozed out of her foot that got pierced by stepping on the wrong branch just a little while ago.

She didn’t even pull out the branches on purpose because she was worried that a lot of blood would flow out in return……

Roelin’s shoulders jolted along with her closed mouth in fear that her breathing might leak out unexpectedly.

Crunch. Crunch.

The sound of stepping on the fallen leaves on the ground bothered her ears and the sounds began to grow even louder than before.

At the same time as Roelin’s face turned blue, the man’s laughing voice could be heard.

“Oh, my… you’re cutely hiding right here.”

The man’s large hand sprang into the space where Roelin was currently hiding. Then, he immediately grabbed a hold of Roelin’s hair.

“Argh!”

As a result, Roelin was dragged out with her hair all held tight. Resistance was already meaningless. The man didn’t care about Roelin’s struggle as he dragged her down before throwing her on the ground.

“How dare you actually fool us and run away?”

The man continued in a harsh tone that made her wonder when he had ever respected her at all.