Chapter 124 "Why don't you consider being with me..."
It was almost dawn, and I was tired, so I decided to call it a day.
"Wait!" He suddenly spoke just as I was about to put down the branding iron.
"What," I sneered, brandishing the branding iron in my hand, "you want to try this?"
“No,” he said quickly, “I have a suggestion.”
"You have more suggestions?" I sneered, my voice growing even colder.
Why won't you consider marrying me?!
I was stunned. In my rage, I was about to brand him with a hot iron. He struggled desperately, trying to get away from me, "No, no, let me finish."
"What good things can you possibly say with that filthy mouth of yours?!" I roared, scalding his arm with hot oil. He cried out in agony, "That's really a great idea!"
"What a load of rubbish!" I cursed.
One or two of them have ill intentions; they either want me to be their mistress or force me to get married! The Elf King is one thing, at least he's handsome, but this scumbag has no right to!
“I’m serious,” the scum said between sobs. “If you marry me and help me reclaim the throne of the West, you will be the queen, and no one will dare to question you. Because I married you when I was down on my luck, the nobles have no choice but to accept it.”
"You think I want to be your queen?!" I said fiercely.
“Didn’t you want to go back to your place? Di Ya Ruo said you came from another continent. We in the Western Region have a precious book that is said to contain the secret of traveling to other worlds. However, this book is kept in the most important treasure vault, and only the king and queen can enter it. Moreover, they can only read it inside and cannot take it out. If they take it out, the book will turn to ashes.”
I pointed the branding iron at his neck. "Are you telling the truth or lying?"
“It’s true, it’s all true,” he cried as the branding iron was only 0.1 meters away from his neck. “It’s all true.”
I coldly put down the branding iron and stared at him even colder.
To be honest, marrying him would come at too high a price; I'd even have to help him seize the throne. Leaving aside whether he'd actually get the throne, even if he did, that scoundrel doesn't deserve to be king. If he were king, the people would suffer.
“I need to verify whether what you’re saying is true or not first,” I said with a sneer. “The rest can be discussed later.”
The next day, I told the young woman that I was going out with this scumbag for a while and I wasn't sure when I would be back, so I would leave the inn to her for the time being.
“I bought another pass,” I said, placing a green pass in her hand. “You can keep this one for now.”
The young woman was extremely grateful. After giving her a few words of advice, I left with Haiya.
Haiya and I walked one after the other. Haiya was wearing handcuffs and leg irons, so he walked slower. When I got impatient, I pulled on the rope holding his handcuffs, and he walked faster.
My behavior with him was unremarkable; it was just a typical slave-master relationship.
The master held the slave's handcuffs in front, and the slave staggered behind, a sight common in the desert.
I plan to go to the vicinity of the Western Capital and see if I can find out about the book. If it really matches what Hya said, then I'll try to sneak into the capital and the palace, step by step.
Following Haiya's directions, after walking for most of the day, we arrived at an old underground railway track.
The platform was packed with people, men, women, young and old, densely packed together.
“This is a train built by a wealthy man in the Western Region, specifically for the common people,” Hya told me. “It connects directly to the nearest royal city to the Western Region’s capital and has been running for over a decade.”
"Are the tickets expensive?" I asked.
"It's free. But if you want to enter the royal city after getting off the train, you have to pay a cleaning fee. Because your arrival makes the royal city crowded, you have to pay a certain fee. But many people hitchhike to visit relatives or work in other villages and towns and don't enter the royal city, so they don't consider this fee."
In other words, everyone on the train was poor. Looking around, everyone was indeed dressed in rags and looked malnourished. Although Haiya and I were also dressed in shabby clothes and looked slovenly, we still looked "richer" than the others because our clothes had fewer patches, while everyone else's clothes were covered in patches.
"Why is your western border so poor?" I asked Haiya.
“It’s all because of King Midian,” Hya said. “If you take him down, the West won’t be poor anymore.”
I chuckled and said, "No matter who's in power, as long as you hold fewer balls, the poor will still have food to eat."
“That’s impossible,” Hya scoffed. “The ball is a must.”
The sound of a steam train came from afar, and the crowd began to stir. The moment the train pulled into the station, before it had even come to a complete stop, a large group of people rushed forward. Regardless of age or gender, they all climbed, scrambled, jumped, leaped, and crawled onto the train as if possessed by Spider-Man, scrambling to get on.
The train wasn't long, and the carriages weren't big either; if you didn't scramble, you simply couldn't get on.
The carriage was packed with people, the roof was covered with people lying down, sitting, and crammed together, a dense mass as far as the eye could see; even by the windows, people were clinging tightly to the windowsills, their feet pressed against the recessed edges of the carriage walls, struggling to survive.
It's comparable to a train scene in India!
When the train started moving, some people who hadn't managed to squeeze on even chased after it, leaping onto it in a flash or a sprint, refusing to get off despite being punched and kicked by people near the windows. Others were lucky enough to climb onto the roof, dangling like gymnasts for a few seconds before painstakingly climbing up little by little through the gaps between the carriages.
I stared, dumbfounded, at the person squeezed into a paper-thin shape in the corner of the car window.
I was lucky enough to get on the train, but not by myself. I was pushed on by a large group of people. The spot where I was standing was right where a door was open. Before I could even react, I was pushed in by the surging crowd.
Haya was squeezed into another corner, but remained in the same carriage as me. We exchanged a glance, and he was quickly "surrounded" by the new people who squeezed in.
The carriage was unbearably stuffy, filled with various sounds of breathing, arguing, children crying, adults yelling, burping, and farting, mixed with several strange food smells, making one want to vomit.
I curled up in a ball with my eyes closed, wanting to fall asleep, but I just couldn't.
The train moved very slowly, swaying and rattling, with the occasional screeching sound of its wheels hitting the tracks, a sound that sent chills down one's spine.
I miss Princess Yanni's luxurious train so much. I didn't realize how happy I was back then, but now that I think about it, I realize it was like heaven.
The train journey took a full day and night before we finally reached our destination, and I was nearly exhausted. I hadn't eaten or drunk anything, couldn't sleep, and had to endure constant arguments, fights, and the smell of excrement. My head was spinning. When the throng of people pushed me off the train, I almost fainted.
Fortunately, the fresh air and breeze saved me. A cool breeze blew by, suppressing the discomfort in my stomach, and I let out a heavy sigh.
I sat in a quiet corner outside the station for a long time before I caught my breath.
Haiya looked even worse off than me. Despite his years of wandering and exile, this must have been his first time on a train like this, as he was completely collapsed on the ground.
He collapsed as soon as he stepped out of the station. His face was deathly pale, his eyes were closed, and his body was stiff. If he hadn't been breathing, I would have thought he was dead.
He woke up in the middle of the night. I was sitting in the corner eating a sesame seed cake, and I had filled my old kettle with hot water by asking the old lady who sold the sesame seed cakes to do it for me.
His eyes were green with hunger, staring at me like a wolf that hadn't eaten for three days.
I tossed him a small piece of sesame seed cake and then tossed him the kettle for a little while. He ate and drank heartily, looking at me with tears of gratitude in his eyes.
I just gave him a half-smile—this must be Goedsholm syndrome. Although I usually tormented him, I would give him some benefits and he would be extremely grateful.
At daybreak, I pulled myself along the rope that bound Haiya's handcuffs and headed towards the nearby villages and towns. I wouldn't rashly enter the royal city; I planned to first scout out the situation inside.
I spent a little money to check into a small hotel in town. After taking a shower, I felt much better. Haiya was also allowed to shower, but he still had to wear handcuffs and shackles.
As I sat by the second-floor window, hesitating whether or not to give Haiya a good beating, a commotion suddenly broke out outside.
I peeked out and saw a group of guards searching around, while another group of guards stormed into the small hotel. People were scattered and in complete chaos on the street, trying to escape.
With a bang, my bedroom door was kicked open. I panicked. Haiya happened to be coming back from the bathroom and thought he was there to catch him. He was so scared that he almost peed his pants and immediately knelt down in the hallway outside.
The guards didn't waste any words with me and started searching right away. They searched inside and out, even turning the old wardrobe and the space under the wooden bed upside down. I don't know which fugitive they were looking for.
They finally left, and I was still shaken. I patted my chest, when suddenly a black rat appeared out of nowhere and shot towards the bottom of my robe like an arrow. I screamed, "Ah, a rat!"
I'm terrified of mice, especially long-tailed mice, they're absolutely terrifying.
I stamped my feet, terrified, and cried out, "Rat, rat, hurry and help me get rid of the rat!"
Haiya took two steps back, his eyes filled with terror, trembling as if he too was afraid of rats.
The guards glanced back at us, sneered a few times, and then went to search the next room.
I was so frightened that I jumped onto the table and tried to shoo the mouse away, but it scurried under my robe. I cried and screamed, but no one paid any attention to me.
Just as I picked up the candle on the table, struck a match, and prepared to use fire to attack the rat, it suddenly crawled out from under my robe and rushed under the bed.
Just as I was filled with fear and dread, something even more terrifying happened. A disheveled and wretched person crawled out from under the bed. Before I could scream, I quickly covered my mouth, because I had seen the person in front of me clearly—it was Di Yaruo.
I almost thought it was a female ghost and was about to burst into tears.
Haiya was too frightened to speak, but she reacted faster than me and immediately tried to run out the door, but Diya Ruo closed the door even faster.
The guards who had been searching had left, and the house suddenly became quiet.
“I had been running for two blocks, and just when they were about to catch me, the spell finally took effect and I turned into a rat,” she said. “I never expected to run into you guys.”
"Who's arresting you? And why are you here?" I asked in a trembling voice, still reeling from the fear.
“My uncle,” she said calmly, “of course I’m here. I’m going to reclaim my throne.”
As she spoke, she turned her gaze to Haiya, "This time you won't escape. After reclaiming my throne, I'm going to seize the throne of the Western Region."
"I want to become the master of the entire Western Region."
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Author's Note: Please support my novels "Cinderella Wants a Thrilling Novel Script," "All the Male Gods in the World Are Dating Me," and "A Love of Ice and Fire"!! Actually, "My Girlfriend is a Genius" is also good, but it's almost finished~~ Mwah~~
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