Run Away, From Me -R15 - Chapter 4. Second Encounter

*The past continued.

 

Her mother was warm and she wanted to do whatever Daphne wanted, but she was sometimes strict.

 

“You shouldn’t be a laughing stock when you go to the Imperial Palace later.”

 

Daphne learned everything she could learn from her childhood.

 

What she liked the most was painting. Drawing fruits and teacups on a pure white canvas produced quite a plausible shape.

 

Despite her teacher’s praise of her amazing talent, her mother stopped her by shaking her head.

 

“Stop learning to draw.”

 

Daphne said she didn’t like it, but once her mother made up her mind, she hardly ever changed. Daphne, who was complaining, cried and fell asleep.

 

On such days, at night her mother would come and stroke her hair all night long. That day was the same.

 

“You don’t need his legacy.”

 

To Daphne, who was sobbing in her sleep, her mother whispered with a tender touch. Her mother was an unknown person.

 

A small mansion with a pretty red roof. When she was tired of studying, her mother baked her snacks, and when she was too tired, she skipped a day’s class and went on a picnic together.

 

A world full of love and happiness without lack. A world complete with only her mother.

 

Occasionally the emperor came as an uninvited guest and separated her from her mother.

 

Of course, it wasn’t that the emperor didn’t give Daphne love.

 

Her mother was a well-loved mistress, and the emperor tried to make it all happen. It was only natural that their daughter, Daphne, was loved.

 

Daphne was quick witted, and she knew that the love she had received was false for deceiving the emperor, but she was ignorant of the problems.

 

It was Daphne’s fault. She was protected by her mother, Beatrice’s supreme love, but after her mother’s death, she lost all of her protection.

 

“Daphne, the Imperial Palace… your father…”

 

Spitting out blood, her mother told Daphne to follow ‘Father’ until the very end. The emperor sent his lovely lover away in tears, who was suddenly dying of illness.

 

“Your majesty, my daughter, please, my daughter…”

 

The emperor said, reassured her that he would take care of Daphne, the fruit of their love.

 

Her mother died. Her world was dead. Greedy but not clever, Beatrice tried to bring her daughter to the palace, but she was unsuccessful and died suddenly of an illness.

 

A sad loss, the emperor decided to take care of his daughter. It could have been a beautiful picture, even if everyone pointed at it.

 

However, the girl’s world without a shield was too fragile and collapsed easily.

 

Daphne drew and painted the mother who did not come, sniffing from her mother’s bed. If she cried like this she wondered if her mother would show up at night and stroke her hair.

 

Before the pain of loss could be healed, a destroyer appeared and broke the world.

 

 

“You tricked me!”

 

Hearing the emperor’s roar, Daphne trembled in her closet. The emperor was destroying everything. The vase rolled with a crashing sound. There was a clunking sound as something blunt struck.

 

Then there was the sound of something clashing. Daphne covered her ears with her hands, and hoped this situation would quickly end.

 

“You dirty thing! Me, how dare you!”

 

Puck puck puck puck! Again, another sound was heard.

 

“You liked that idiot, but you said his seeds were my seeds! Wicked thing! A fox!”

 

The shouts of the emperor’s evil filled the quiet house. There was a time when she thought this house was so quiet that she couldn’t stand it after her mother passed away.

 

However, she never wanted to be filled with such terrifying sounds.

 

Daphne put her legs together and bowed down. Little Daphne realized in an instant.

 

Everything was discovered.

 

At one time she actually hoped. She hoped that the emperor was her real father. But it wasn’t so.

 

Her mother lied to her ‘father’. Her real father was someone else. That lie has been exposed.

 

But her mother who could be held responsible for the lie was already dead. So little Daphne had to face the wrath of the emperor head on.

 

Thump. The door to her closet opened. She could see the emperor’s bright red eyes through the hanging clothes.

 

As a faint ray of light entered her eyes, her eyes ached for a moment. At the same time as the emperor’s face frowned, Daphne’s slender and small wrists were forcibly dragged and gripped.

 

Daphne looked up with a tearful face. This man who once stroked her hair tenderly. She couldn’t understand why this caring man threw her like a bag.

 

Even though she was more mature than her age, a young child of ten could not understand the malice, anger, and all.

 

Daphne looked around her. She saw the bodies of those who worked in her house. She remembered the horrific screams of those who had been struggling to vow for their innocence. Her trembling pupils made eye contact with the butler’s corpse.

 

She couldn’t even scream. She just knew she would be killed if she yelled.

 

The moment she realized what the emperor was holding, she knew she would be like that too. Still, she wanted to live. She didn’t want to be like that.

 

“Oh, uh, father.”

 

She said with a trembling voice. Father, no, the emperor looked at the little girl, grinned bitterly, and removed her necklace from her neck.

 

“Father?”

 

The emperor raised the corners of his lips.

 

Daphne’s eyes turned blue. She was named ‘Daphne’ because she had green eyes like laurel trees, but even that was false. The emperor raised his big hand and clenched her face.

 

“Ugh!”

 

“Father? Father? Who is your father?!”

 

“…”

 

“Look at your blue eyes! You have been hiding this from me?!”

 

Her face clasped in his hand shook to and fro. Daphne murmured “I’m sorry” in a voice the size of a mosquito with tears in her eyes.

 

The emperor huffed and puffed. Eyes full of anger had gone crazy in an instant. Daphne opened her eyes and looked at the emperor and said.

 

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Your Majesty!”

 

Daphne trembled with her pale face and begged. She didn’t want to die. No, she was afraid to die. Still, she was very envious of her mother, who went to the forest of death.

 

She was scared. She couldn’t stand the fear. And the emperor was watching her. He looked into Daphne’s eyes, and after a while, he grinned as if he thought of something.

 

“Yeah, I’ll keep her will.”

 

“…..”

 

“Still, it’s the Emperor’s promise.”

 

It was a cruel face. With the face of a sadist, determined to inflict all the humiliation and pain in the world, he looked at the last traces of the woman he loved.

 

“Let’s go to the Imperial Palace.”

 

Throwing away the father’s figure, the emperor smiled.

 

It was the end of Daphne’s peaceful and lovely world.

 

In the world, there were those in which innocence and ignorance were permitted, and there were those in which they were not. Daphne was the latter.

 

In fact, she was guilty not only of that ignorance, but also of her breathing. That’s what the world said. It was natural. It was because she was the daughter of Beatrice, the lowly woman who dared to deceive the emperor and tried to take over the position of the Empress.

 

***

 

“Hey, get some water!”

 

A bucket flew and struck young Daphne’s body. It was about half her size. Daphne quietly lifted the handle.

 

“Isn’t that too harsh?”

 

“It’s because you can’t do anything.”

 

Giggles were heard from behind. Under her mother’s warm affection, Daphne had lived a beautiful life without even getting water on her hands.

 

However, as if they had been waiting for her to enter the Imperial Palace, everyone in the world crushed Daphne. Her agony was the only plaything left in this harsh place.

 

Although she was a young girl, she was a clever girl who dared to pretend to be the royal family. Also, the hatred for Daphne, who had never done any chores, stimulated their strange inferiority complex that they had in their precious people.

 

How dare a filthy duckling like them imitate a swan?

 

So they punished such a person. People rationalized their twisted sadism as condemnation. That was exactly what the emperor intended.

 

Daphne barely got the water and dragged it. No one helped her with that.

 

Water poured down and created a waterway.

 

“Hey! You!”

 

Bad luck. She knew that voice. Thomas the servant, famous for having a bad personality even in the Imperial Palace. As Daphne turned her back, a blunt shock hit her head. Thomas punched Daphne’s head with his huge fist.

 

It hurt so much, and when Daphne looked at him with tears in her eyes, Thomas shouted.

 

“You made the hallway like that when I’ve been cleaning up to this level!”

 

“….”

 

“Oh, you are that cuckoo chick!”

 

Everyone giggled and laughed at Thomas’ words.

 

“A cuckoo chick?”

 

At Daphne’s words, the servant lowered his head and said,

 

“Don’t you know? You call it a cuckoo because it’s a dirty bird that pushes its young into another bird’s nest. Because what your dead mother did was what the cuckoo did.”

 

“….”

 

“How dare you say you’re His Majesty’s child. Your mother wouldn’t have died beautifully.”

 

Daphne shook her head. She didn’t want to hear that her mother didn’t die well. Still, she was her mother, no matter how bad she was.

 

“You don’t know? She may be playing tricks in front of the god of death….”

 

“No!”

 

Daphne clenched her teeth and shouted. They giggled more and started to laugh. It was such a great insult. Why, why were these people tormenting her? Why insult a dead mother?

 

‘Mother did nothing wrong to you!’

 

She tried to scream, but she couldn’t. Because cold water was poured on her. A steel bucket was placed over her head. Her whole body was wet.

 

Laughter and gossip were heard. There was also the sound of muttering ‘Poor thing’ like a red flag. The covered bucket blocked her view. His breath rumbled in her ears.

 

A roar of laughter was heard in the distance. She wanted to run away. But she couldn’t see ahead.

 

Dressed in her water soaked maid uniform, she tried to take the bucket off. However, her chin was caught on the handle and did not come off.

 

Bang!

 

At that moment, there was a loud bang as if someone had tossed something and hit her bucket head.

 

The laughter grew louder. Daphne wanted to die. She wanted to get away from this place. With tears in her eyes, she struggled to find a place to hide. As she desperately ran away, she bumped into someone. At the same time, the bucket came off.

 

There was only the sound of quiet breathing, as if a mouse had died. Daphne looked at the man standing in front of her. To her surprise, it was a boy standing in front of her.

 

The boy’s white shirt was wet with water.

 

The green-eyed boy with that black hair. Asherad was looking down at her. It was the kind boy she met at the Imperial Palace a while ago.

 

As Daphne opened her eyes wide, she heard her voice from somewhere.

 

“Ha, Your Highness the Prince.”

 

Your Highness?

 

Daphne suddenly came to her senses. For a moment, the boy’s bored gaze turned to her, who was wet.

 

At the end of his observing gaze, his eyes widened.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

A friendly voice resounded as if he had cut the stillness with a knife.