Unable to contain her frustration, Christy returned to her room and took out her stress on the bed.
She punched the bed repeatedly, screaming into the pillow until her fiery anger finally subsided.
“…Damn it. Damn, damn it!”
Christy had been like this constantly lately. Whenever she had a moment to spare, she would curse her current situation and the people around her.
After pummeling the bed until the sheets were a mess, she collapsed onto it, casually glancing around her room.
“…What a shitty room.”
Her personal room as a live-in servant was small. It had the bare minimum of furniture, and it was kept clean, but for Christy, who had grown up surrounded by luxurious furnishings in a spacious room at her family’s home, it was far from satisfying.
Her room was cleaned by maids so that Christy, who performed intellectual tasks, could get as much rest as possible. Even though she was a slave, not having to clean her own room was a luxurious treatment, but Christy couldn’t care less.
As she scanned the room, Christy’s gaze suddenly landed on the window.
“…!”
It wasn’t locked.
Christy’s room, as someone not known for being obedient, had extra locks installed on the outside of the window to prevent her from escaping. The maids removed these locks for ventilation when cleaning, but today they had apparently forgotten to lock it back. A careless mistake typical of the country bumpkin maids.
The mansion’s main windows and doors were equipped with magical security devices that would sound an alarm if tampered with at night, but individual rooms had no such protection.
In other words, if she left through the window, she could escape.
“…”
Christy hesitated, wondering what to do.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If she missed this chance, who knew when she’d be able to escape again?
Noein’s recent attitude had also been unsettling. Perhaps he was planning to use force to control her in the future. She would never allow herself to be hurt by someone like that.
After escaping, she could head south, slip through the chaos of the conflict zones, and make her way to the Kingdom of Lancel. The slave status and slave marks only mattered in the Kingdom of Lordberg, so they wouldn’t be a problem in the neighboring kingdom. As an educated person, she could easily find work.
There was a chance she could die along the way, but that was still better than being stuck in this backwater village until she wasted away.
She couldn’t take it anymore. She had to escape. Christy made up her mind.
…
In this world, people generally went to bed early to save oil and candles, which were used for lighting. This was no different in the Arlkvist barony.
Although Noein sometimes stayed up late working in the manor, by midnight, almost no one was awake in the barony’s capital, Noeina.
Christy made her move during the dead of night.
She carefully opened the window to avoid making any noise and peeked outside. Since there were no night guards in the peaceful town of Noeina, the coast was clear.
Hoisting the cloth bag containing the bread she had saved from dinner and the valuables she had stolen from the mansion to fund her escape, Christy jumped down into the garden.
Keeping an eye on her surroundings, Christy quickly made her way off the manor grounds and followed the wooden fence that encircled Noeina.
There were guards stationed at the gates, but as long as she didn’t pass through them, she wouldn’t be caught. Besides, the fence wasn’t high enough to be a serious obstacle.
Using a conveniently placed box and some barrels as a makeshift platform, Christy climbed over the fence at a spot away from the gate and finally left Noeina behind.
She ran through the fields and concealed herself in the forest, pushing deeper into it until she reached a point where she could no longer be seen from the gates. She then emerged onto the road and started running again.
(I did it! I did it! I did it!)
Christy felt triumphant. She had escaped. She was free.
All she had to do now was get as far away as possible before morning and disappear without a trace.
The mansion had been full of gaps in security, so she had been able to steal a number of valuable decorations. She could trade those for a ride south with a merchant or traveler, and she could sell them for food and lodging along the way.
She could hide the slave mark on her neck. Lately, with the worsening political situation, runaway slaves weren’t that uncommon. Even if someone got suspicious, money could easily keep them quiet.
She could manage. Everything would work out.
Drunk on the freedom and exhilaration she hadn’t felt in so long, Christy cheerfully ran down the road—
—or at least, she tried to.
With a dull “thud,” her vision blurred, and she collapsed awkwardly to the ground. Looking down, she realized she had tripped into a dip in the road.
She tried to get up in a hurry.
“Ouch!”
A sharp pain shot through her ankle. In the dim moonlight, she couldn’t see her foot clearly, but just touching it made the pain throb. She must have twisted her ankle badly.
“No… no way…”
This couldn’t be happening. She wouldn’t give up on freedom just because of something like this.
Somehow managing to stand on one leg, Christy limped down the road, dragging her injured foot behind her.
She had to keep going. She had to make as much progress as possible before morning.
But her pace, once light and quick, had slowed to a frustrating crawl. Even so, Christy refused to stop walking.
But just then, a rustling sound came from the bushes by the roadside.
She had been spotted. Her pursuers had caught up with her.
Someone must have seen her escape. The thought struck Christy, filling her with despair.
She was now a runaway slave. If she were caught, who knew what would happen to her?
Even so, she couldn’t bear the thought of bowing her head and begging for forgiveness from that brat of a lord.
“Hmph! Even if they drag me back, I’ll never obey them!”
Trying to muster some bravado, Christy turned around.
But what she saw wasn’t a pursuer from the estate.
It was a goblin.
“Gyaaah!”
“No! Stay away!”
Terrified, Christy screamed as she tried to run, but with one leg out of commission, she only managed to stumble awkwardly and fall.
Seeing her as an easy target, the goblin let out a gleeful shriek and started closing in on her.
“Don’t come near me! No! Stay away!”
In a panic, Christy kicked at the goblin trying to grab her leg. The small goblin was knocked back, landing on its rear in surprise. But the blow wasn’t enough to do any real damage. With an angry grunt, it got back on its feet and advanced again.
The goblin raised its crude wooden club.
Christy, with no weapon to defend herself, had no choice but to block the club’s swing with her arms. A dull crack sounded, and the pain was so intense she wondered if her arm had fractured, but it was the only thing she could use to protect herself.
The goblin, using its free hand, clawed at Christy’s leg with sharp nails. She couldn’t block this, and her skirt was torn as it scratched a deep gash into her leg.
“Ow! Stop! Please, stop!”
There was no way the goblin could understand her pleas. It kept beating her with the club and clawing at her leg.
The goblin was too small to land a killing blow, so Christy’s body was covered in more and more cuts and bruises. The pain only grew worse.
She was hit. Scratched.
Hit again. Scratched again.
Sometimes, she couldn’t even block with her arms, and the club struck her face.
Christy’s body was already in shambles.
At this rate, she would be beaten to death. Yet there was no way for her to fight back.
No. She didn’t want to die. She was scared.
Someone, please help. Anybody, please help me.
As Christy desperately wished for help, a voice reached her ears.
“Well, Christy, you’re in quite the miserable state.”
It was Noein’s voice, mocking her with laughter.
