Crossed Hearts | Stray Kids Royal AU Fanfic

Isolde

Zolan = Chan
Isolde = Chaeryeong
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Atorvenna, 1224

"It wasn't my fault. It wasn't my fault. It wasn't... It wasn't." a soft sob caught Zolan's attention.

He walked through the hay bales, all the way to the stable and behind the scale where the chickens were sleeping. He peeked through the barrels of water and found a little girl weeping in her burned palms.

Her ravishing black hair spread on her back like a web. She was thin, all bones wrapped in a mesh of pale skin and one of sack, chopped messily. Her features were well-defines, with a long high bridged nose and upturned green eyes. The corner of her big mouth twitched as she tried to say something. However, her voice got stuck in her throat the more she felt the need to cry.

"Who are you?" little Zolan asked fully unprepared for an uninvited guest hiding with the horses.

The girl didn't answer. She stared at him, hoping that he would leave even for a second.

"I'm Zolan. What's your name?" he insisted, making one step ahead and two behind every time she would flinch.

"I..."

"You?" the boy tilted his head.

"I didn't do it. I didn't kill him. It wasn't my fault!" she squinted her eyes as she kept hitting herself with the heels of her palms.

Zolan grabbed her by the wrists to stop her.

"Don't do that! You will injure yourself." He scolded her in a manner that looking from outside you could have sworn those two knew each other beforehand.

"I deserve it... I deserve to be punished."

"You do not. You said it wasn't your fault. Why should you suffer then?" he locked her shaking hand between his owns and kept the eye contact until she stopped shedding tears. "Are you hungry? Mother won't notice a few eggs missing."

"I miss him..." she whispered.

"Who?"

"My father." She replied with a trembling bottom lip while hugging her scraped knees. "I should have died instead of him."

"Is that why you ran? Your family must be worried." He helped her step outside of the stable.

"They blame me. They hate me. I was left to die." She sobbed harder in Zolan's sleeve.

"Zolan? It's cold outside, son. You will freeze to death." Hugo shouted from the kitchen.

"Come with me! They won't hurt you. Please!" Zolan reached his hand towards the girl and waited patiently for her to take it.

It was a cold night of December and Zolan could see his breath escaping his lungs. He could feel his legs becoming numb, buried in the tick merciless snow. The blood climbed to his cheeks, turning his white face into a rosy shade. The ice ornaments dangling from the golden strains of hair were nothing more but frozen sweat. He was one minute away from turning into a snowman. He couldn't care less. He waited for her to willingly take his hand and put her trust in him.

As they stepped inside the house, Zolan grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Zolan? Boy, you have to be careful outside..."

Hugo stopped talking and stared at the child in front of him.

"Isn't it a bit early for you to bring a lady home?" he shrugged off the shock with a joke. "Hugo Woodsworth at your service, my lady." He kneeled in front of her and kissed her hand.