The Villainess Will Not Bring Dishonor To Her Family

73 - Honor And Shame - Part 3

In the original story, Claire and Soleil were held captive in a small house in the capital for a  while to avoid detection.

Second thing off... we were taken outside the capital.

They actually rushed us out of the capital and out to a slum area, where we were carried in the cloth bags into a wooden storehouse with barred windows.

How did I know it was the slums?

The sounds.

Every general sort of neighborhood has its own sound... and the sound of the slums has hints of anger and fear.

Honestly, this place was much more well chosen that the city house in the novel.

Three nobles walking through a slum area while being unarmed? It was like begging for trouble.

I curled together as I felt myself dropped to the ground and waited patiently to see if they, as in the story, would let us out of the bags now... and almost unexpectedly, they did.

My eyes clear to the sight of Claire being unpacked by one of our kidnappers... and a bloody and beaten up Soleil leaned against the wall. His breath was raspy... wasn't he... a bit too injured?

I glance to the kidnappers. Their goal in the novel had never been cleared, but I always thought they wanted Soleil's family and spell knowledge, so that they could make Claire use it. Claire had been an extremely naive girl in the novel, so they would likely have threatened her with the life of a child, and made her heal people...

However, Claire now might be better at magic, but they must have taken him for a reason... to let him be injured to this extent was unreasonable.

"Soleil-sama!" Claire calls out as her gag is removed, and she rushes to his side.

All of our hands are bound with cursed cuffs that prevent us from using mana. Claire can't heal him.

I shift into seiza and glance to the kidnappers that leave in a rush.

"Soleil-sama!" She gently shakes him with her cuffed hands while her eyes tear up...

I was about to get up and get a closer look at his injuries when out beloved Heroine ripped off a stripe of her long socks and immediately began bandaging him. Meanwhile Soleil woke up from the pain with a groggy look.

"...Claire?"

His eyes were swimming.

"...by god..." Soleil realized everything in an instant. He began to struggle immediately and tried to get up onto his feet.

"You mustn't! You are much too hurt!" Claire scolded him, and carefully tried to make him lay down instead.

Soleil frowned at her words.

"I can't... I must get you out."

She bit her lip, but didn't retort recklessly.

"You have not found a way out till now. You need to rest for a while."

Soleil stared up at her with light frustration, and took her hand.

"I must protect you, if not then I've failed everything!"

He raised his voice a bit more than I expected, but the guards I assumed were outside the door didn't do anything.

"I... I must protect you. I couldn't take the place by Alstair's side as his light mage. I failed him, and I failed my family. I... I'm weak at fire magic no matter how much I train, and my sword skills are below average at best... I'm merely another branch of shame for a crumbling family. At the very least I must keep you alive and out of their hands."