3. Love Letter (5)
However, with my mouth gagged, conveying meaning was difficult. While I was feeling troubled, she shifted her position this way and that, trying to lean against the wall, but when it didn't work as she had thought, she twisted her body desperately. Then, through the gap of her disheveled thin collar, a slender cord slipped out.
I instinctively realized what it was. I also lowered my body to the floor and crawled toward her. Then, after sending a glance apologizing for the intrusion, I turned around and reached my hand toward her collar. I wriggled my fingers, pushed aside the collar, and firmly pulled the cord I felt in my hand. As I continued pulling, a decoration attached to the cord soon emerged. It was a very small knife, about a finger's length.
I rolled my body again and headed behind her. Then I carefully drew the knife from its sheath. The blade was short, only capable of inflicting minor cuts, but it was enough to sever the ropes. I gripped the handle tightly and felt along the ropes binding the woman's hands with my fingertips, beginning to cut through them.
A snipping sound echoed inside the carriage. I was afraid someone might open the carriage door and come in. Because of that, my hands cutting the ropes grew more urgent. I seemed to have accidentally cut my finger, but I didn't even have time to feel the pain. I kept my hands moving steadily.
After struggling to move like that, I felt the rope snap with a pop. When I turned my head, the woman was raising her body. Having undone the rest of the rope binding her hands, the woman took the knife from me and cut the rope tying my hands. Once my hands regained freedom, I ripped out the gag I had clenched between my teeth.
I also untied the ropes binding my legs. After freeing the woman's legs as well, when our eyes met again, she burst into tears once more. Her body trembled violently, clearly showing signs of terror. Still, she didn't make a sound and only shed tears. That felt even more heartbreaking, so I held the woman in my arms and whispered softly.
"Don't cry."
The woman hugged me tightly and trembled. That trembling seemed to transfer to me as well. Perhaps I was trembling too. I tried to stay calm. If I didn't, the situation wouldn't even have a chance to improve.
Originally, my life was far from safe. Struggling with poverty, discriminated against because of my status, ignored for being a woman, I felt threatened every moment. It was a life where even if today was peaceful, I never knew what would happen tomorrow. So I had no intention of just trembling in fear just because something suddenly happened. I always thought about what I could do.
And even now, I was pondering what I could do. First, I had to get out of here. I left the crying woman and headed toward the door. I pushed the door slightly, but as expected, it didn't open.
"Since when has the carriage been stopped?"
"I, I think it's been a while."
"Do you happen to know where we're going?"
"No, I don't know."
The woman shook her head while wiping away tears. Was it really fortunate that the carriage had stopped? Even so, there was a high possibility they were watching us from outside. It would be nice if I could see outside. I searched for even a small gap in the wall. I felt along the wall and found a crack, but it wasn't enough to see outside.
Eventually giving up and turning around, my eyes suddenly fell on the child who still hadn't moved. I approached the child and placed my finger under their nose, feeling a faint breath. Fortunately, they were breathing. But seeing their forehead drenched in sweat, their condition didn't seem good.
Is it hard for them to breathe? I reached to remove the gag from the child's mouth but then stopped. Taking it out in advance might actually be worse. So I left it for now and looked back at the woman. She was sniffling while watching my actions.
"There were five kidnappers, right?"
"I think so... I, I don't remember well... I'm sorry."
"It's fine."
I waved my hand. It was realistically impossible for two women to resist several grown men. If their purpose was only the child anyway... I thought that far, then shook my head. Even if I didn't know, I couldn't leave her behind when we were together. Moreover, I was worried about the child's poor condition as well.
"W, w, what should we do now?"
"We need to think of a way to escape."
Though nothing readily came to mind. At times like this, it would have been nice if I had brought that. I looked around the carriage. No matter how much I searched, there was nothing like my bag. The only thing usable was the knife the woman had. I looked down at the knife in my hand. It was so small that it seemed difficult to properly stab a vital point. It wasn't really suitable as a weapon to take down a grown man. Could it at least inflict a minor wound?
After pondering, I slid the knife back into its sheath for now. Using it recklessly might bring about worse results instead. I decided to save this for emergencies.
Now there was only one method.
At that moment, the wall thumped! I froze in surprise at the sudden sound. The woman jumped while seated and then trembled violently. The wall thumped! thumped! as if someone was hitting it with their hand. I approached the trembling woman, wrapped my arm around her shoulder, and watched the direction the sound came from. Thump! Thump! Thump! It rang out three more times in succession, then soon subsided. As the carriage was enveloped in tension, a clanking sound followed from the door direction.
It sounded like a lock being unlocked. I quickly seated the woman back in her original position and returned the gag and ropes to their places. For the rope, I used mine that was less cut. Then I also sat across from her, put the gag in my mouth, and loosely tied the rope around my legs. After that, I wrapped the remaining rope around my hands as if tied and hid it behind my back. Finally, after looking around the carriage once more, I tensed my body.
Soon, the door clanked open.
"Well now, you're awake?"
The man looked back and forth between me and the woman and smiled. When the man climbed in, the carriage creaked and shook under the added weight. I quickly scanned the man's appearance. With a large build and shabby clothing, he was someone who did rough work at a glance. I wondered if he was the kidnapper Ethan had mentioned.
Creaking with each step, the man approached me. I calmly met the gaze of the man who was scanning me. He licked his lips and then roughly grabbed my chin. His strong grip made me wince.
After examining my face this way and that, the man muttered a remark.
"Still, my taste goes to that side."
Then he smiled vilely while looking at the woman across from me. I could hear the woman whimpering. At that sound, the man laughed as if even more pleased. Meanwhile, I surveyed the open doorway outside. Only one person had entered the carriage, and the rest were nowhere to be seen. Had they briefly stepped away? Perhaps, since it was only a woman and a child, they might have thought one guard was sufficient.
The man roughly let go of my face and stood up. Then the direction he headed was toward the woman. She was terrified seeing the man approaching her.
"Mmm!"
The woman instinctively retreated, but it only resulted in her being driven further into the man's grasp. My expression soured seeing the man smiling with satisfaction at the woman who had lost her escape route. I wondered why he would do such a thing when he must know she was a noble lady, but then the man spilled his vile words.
"Resist as much as you want. Who's going to know if you bitches die anyway?"
Right, he had no intention of letting us live. Well, if he did, there would have been no need to kidnap us as well.
I knew what he was trying to do. The man's rough hand reached the woman. I had tied the ropes loosely enough that she could undo them, but the woman, frozen with fear, didn't even seem to recall that. The man was already paying no attention to my side anymore.
Beyond the man's shoulder, my eyes met again with her tear-soaked gaze. She looked at me desperately, as if begging to be saved. Noticing this, the man turned his head toward me following her gaze and sneered.
"What can a bitch with all her limbs tied do?"
The man was mocking our situation. He already seemed to think of himself as no different from the conqueror of this situation. Seeing the man bury his face in the woman's shoulder, I surveyed outside the carriage once more and quickly moved my feet to untie the rope. I twisted and freed the rope from both hands, removed the gag, and then quietly picked up what I had taken note of earlier. Gripping it firmly, I brought it down on the back of the man's head.
"Ugh!"
The man grabbed the back of his head, groaned, and collapsed sideways. What struck the back of his head was a glass bottle. I didn't know why it was here, but a cloth-wrapped glass bottle had been inside a box on one side. I had noticed it and remembered it before the man came in.
Shattered glass fragments scattered around. The man's pupils now held me in them.
"This is what I can do."
Regardless of his face filled with shock, I kicked him with my shoe. At times like this, a shoe makes a good weapon.
I nudged the shoulder of the man who seemed unconscious with his body limp, using the tip of my foot. Then I approached the child. The woman, who had been watching the situation, looked at the man collapsed in front of her and asked.
"I, is he dead?"
"No way."
A guy like that doesn't die easily.
The child hadn't awakened even with this commotion. Either still under the influence of the drug, or not recovered enough to wake up, it was one of the two. That sight added to my anxiety. I first cut the ropes binding the child's hands and feet and carried them on my back. Then I reached out my hand to the woman who was sitting collapsed on the ground.
"Get up. We have to go now."
"W, where to?"
"Anywhere."
Anywhere, we had to escape. If we stayed like this, nothing good would come of it. I folded and unfolded my hand once, urging her. Then the woman extended her trembling hand. Gripping tightly onto the small hand that settled in mine, I stepped out of the carriage.
The carriage was parked in the middle of thick bushes. As expected, there was no one around. This was an absolutely golden opportunity. I had to escape from here before anyone came.
With that urgency in mind, I dashed into the bushes, but unfortunately, my prediction was off. Some man was standing among the overgrown trees. He rounded his eyes upon seeing me and the woman suddenly bursting out. I could tell at a glance. That man was on the same side as the man knocked out in the carriage.
"You guys..."
The man, speaking in a chilling voice, took a step forward. I stepped back once, as if hiding the woman behind me.