Secret Wardrobe Of The Duchess

“Oh!”

But then, he heard the exclamation of a woman who sounded surprised to see a man lying on the ground.

“Hey…”

He thought the woman would just pass by, but she came to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Then she checked his pulse, probably to see if he was still alive.

‘Now she’ll go through my pockets.’

Before, he had taken people’s hospitality for granted, but after entering the world of darkness, he learned that everything was given only in exchange for a price. Now that he was a blind man, he just wished she wouldn’t kick him when she found out he had nothing.

“Are you alright?”

He wasn’t happy about getting her attention, not at all. He didn’t like it that she was disturbing his rest, but he didn’t have enough strength left to move her hand away.

“Is it sunstroke?”

Her murmuring let him know it was daytime, and apparently his forehead was hot not because of the fever but because of the sunlight.

Soon something made of metal touched his lips. He feared it was some kind of torture and shuddered, but the thin arm that was holding him now was so firm that he couldn’t resist.

“It’s water. Drink.”

He opened his lips at hearing that. Water that was a bit salty but cold ran into his mouth. It felt so good. He forgot that he had just been seeking for eternal rest and gulped down the water.

“Um, you can’t see, can you?” The woman asked as she wiped his sweating forehead with a handkerchief. He cringed at the question.

Those who had tortured and interrogated him had often mocked him for being blind. At first, he just dismissed it as foolish things from the mouth of foolish men, but with time, it made him cringe.

However… the woman’s voice had no ill will. He couldn’t be mad or offended. That would just make him a person who got easily hurt by foolish words. He put the water bottle away and nodded slightly.

“Oh, I see.”

The woman carefully touched his eyes. He didn’t like it, but his body froze with fear whenever someone touched him. Many years ago, he wouldn’t have hesitated to swat that hand away…

He didn’t want to admit it, but he had changed. He had changed from the great man who feared nothing and turned into a fool who was afraid of everything.

“Would you like to go to the abbey I live in? Our priests will take a look at you. I think it would be better for you to recover.”

And fools were afraid of all things, even kindness. He was nothing but a vagrant on the streets, and he deserved to be treated like one. In the world he knew, kindness existed only when there was a purpose for it. Was she planning to help him recover and then force him to hard labor? However, he was blind.

“You can leave if you want after you get better.”

“Why are you being kind to me?”

“Oh! You can speak. That’s good. I was worried you might not be able to talk. Then it would have been hard to find out where and why you’re ill.”

She kept talking, but she didn’t answer his question. She carried him. He had nothing but bones and skin after starving for so long, but he wasn’t light at all. However, it didn’t bother her at all, as if she was used to carrying people.

“My name is Rubica. What’s yours?”

She was asking for his name. He almost said Edgar, but using that name wasn’t going to do him any good. He had managed to run away only barely. He had prepared for years to find out the habits and routines of his watchers and torturers before he finally escaped.

He hadn’t been captured after that, which was a miracle. Maybe they no longer cared about him now that he was useless, nevertheless, he was still afraid.

“…Arman.”

After some thinking, he picked a name among the long series of names he had had in the past.

“That’s a good name. Well, Arman, where were you going?”

He hoped telling his name might stop her talking, but she just kept twitting like a bird.

‘She has no reason to be kind to me.’

Kindness was never free. Why was she trying to know where he was going? An alarm sounded in his mind, warning him to be careful.

“Hue’s Abbey.”

But he hadn’t met such a kind person for too long. His lips, that had remained shut even at various tortures and threats, opened so easily this time. He couldn’t believe that he was such a weak person who fell for just a little bit of kindness.

“Hue’s Abbey?”

She stopped at hearing his reply. A sudden fear gripped him. Had he said something wrong? He tried to remember which god was on bad terms with Hue’s followers, but there was none. Even mightier and stronger gods didn’t want to become enemies with Hue.

The god of love was kind, but he was capable of giving the greatest pain. He didn’t know what kind of pain, but he felt he would be hurt at least that much if this kind woman abandoned him now.

“Good, because that’s where we are going now!”

Her voice was so bright, without even a speck of the world’s evil. She sounded to be twenty at most, but from the way she checked his pulse and supported him as they walked, he could feel she was a lot older than that.

“Oh, and there’s a moles’ road there. Your feet might get stuck in there. Be careful.”

Just like that, the woman who suddenly showed up in front of him led him to the abbey and described their surroundings on their way.

It made him feel what he had felt before he was trapped in darkness, which hadn’t happened for a long time. Her strangely familiar voice made him open up to her in less than an hour.

“You said you were going to pick fruits, and you picked up a man instead?”

When they arrived at the abbey, he heard an angry voice. Of course, there wasn’t a place where a useless man like him would be welcomed. He was about to be kicked out, and it was only right.

“Well, stop staring at us. Come and take his other arm.”

However, she had been through this before more than once and didn’t let the scolding get to her. Although the priest sounded unhappy, he immediately came and took the man’s other arm.

“I think he’s suffering from sunstroke. I gave him all the water I have, but it wasn’t enough.”

“I think we should let him get some rest inside and then bring him something to eat.”

They spread a blanket in the cool indoors and put the man on it. Then, Rubica got up to leave, but he grabbed her sleeve. It was a childish act only five-year-olds would do, so he blushed in embarrassment. He tried to retrieve his hand, but she grabbed both of his hands.

“Why were you trying to get here?”

She was used to starting a conversation so that awkward silence wouldn’t come. However, the man couldn’t think of a good answer. Someone had told him to go to Hue’s Abbey, but he hadn’t told him why.

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Rubica took his silence in another way. In the war that involved humans, monsters, and even dragons, Hue’s Abbey was the only refugee.

As it ministered weddings for various species and accepted funds, it had enough food. Many who were about to starve came for help.

She didn’t know what the man she saved today had been through. He was full of scars and was very afraid, but he seemed to be quite stubborn and prideful. He must have suffered a lot, to depend on her despite having such a personality. Rubica kept talking to him in her pleasant voice.

It let him slowly relax while he listened to find out what he could about the place.

‘There are more sick people here.’

He could hear some footsteps and moans. As each step echoed, the room he was in had to be quite big. Surprisingly, it seemed like they attended the poor and the wounded here.

‘A place for honoring the god of love…’

Justice had disappeared from the face of the earth long ago. It surprised him that there was still a place of generosity. Anyway, he was relieved to find out he wouldn’t be hurt here.

It naturally made his hand hold Rubica with less strength. She realized he was now relieved and asked a male friar to draw a bath for him.

The water was cold, but he was so happy to finally have a bath that he actually cried. He was tasting joy which he had taken for granted after such a long time.