❈
❈
❈
Four Years Ago
2nd Hour Under The Twin Full Moons
18th Day of the 11th Month
26th Year of the Augustinian Calendar
Only then, she slowly untangled his arms on his waist and sheets. The space between her thighs felt moist and strange. She also ached all over, but Diana could securely tie the pouch of gold to her waist and wore her gown, with the prince's inner shirt as her coat to cover her exposed skin. There were servants outside, like all the other VIP suites. Additionally, Niccolus' men were also waiting on standby on her report and to take her to a house while waiting for her pregnancy.
Pregnancy. She paused at the word. What if she will get pregnant? She didn't drink the contraceptives distributed in the brothel, fearing that it might affect her health. She steeled herself to accept the consequences of she got pregnant by the client. She can just hide the child until after she meets Xander four years later and help him become king. She had everything planned, but not this—not his child.
She shook her head, realized that she was staring at him for a while. She will think of a solution later—her escape matters for now. Diana opened the window and stepped on the narrow ledge. Good thing it was still dark outside, and the brothel activity mellowed down.
She treaded on the narrow brick ledge outside her window, protruding across the suites, just below the windows. The wind howled, her thin gown and hair danced along. Her knees almost gave out, but Diana gripped the upper ledges. She never looked down, and prayed to whoever gods, that no one would pass by the alley below her and notice.
By the next room's open window, Diana paused at a cry and scream from a female voice. "Help!"
She continued her steps, ignoring the cries. But as she passed by their window, Diana made out two figures from the lamp glow. A man was on top of a woman; then there was the sound of ripped clothes and a slap. Another cry for help reached Diana's ears.
She also has problems of her own, and she was running out of time, but Diana found herself quietly climbing up the window and picking up the bottle of liquor by the bedside. Then she hit the man on his nape with all the strength she can muster, twice, until the man fell on the carpet. Thankfully, he was thin, and the bottle didn't break. The servants may be deaf to the screams of women, but not to the screams of the customers.
"Shh..." She covered the girl's mouth. And the latter nodded.
Diana took her hands away, and the girl, in a whisper, began explaining her situation. She was a daughter of a small bar owner and was abducted to be sold.
Diana took her hand towards the window with a short, "We have no time." They treaded the ledge until they reached the corner alley where the narrow pipes are and climbed down. Until finally, they jumped to a pile of trash, disturbing the felines scavenging the heap of garbage.
They ran through the shadows. This time, the other girl was the one leading the way, alleys to alleys.
"I'm Avelyn," she said midrun.
"...Pamela," Diana replied, using her alias in the brothel.
The girl paused and squeezed her a hug. "Thank you. Stay with us for a while. I will do everything to repay you. Father will make sure of it."
Diana thought for a moment but then shook her head. "I only need a carriage to take me somewhere. And if you can... please ask someone to go back and wake up the sleeping man in the room next to yours. And if he's still asleep, tie him so he won't make a ruckus and bring him back here.
Take care of him until he sobers up and tell him this:
The 'first one' put aphrodisiac in your drink to sleep with a prostitute and be pregnant with your child. Nothing happened, and the prostitute does not wish to be involved. She does not wish to be found."
Avelyn blinked but then said, "I could not say it word by word, but the message will pass."
They continued running until they reached a backdoor of the bar, and Avelyn knocked with her fist. "Father! It's me–!" The door opened, and a big man embraced her. "Where's father?"
A man screamed from the inside, and steps were approaching. "My Lylyn, is that you?! Where have you been?!"
Diana concealed herself at the shadowed corner and covered her face with Xander's shirt.
"That's not important right now!" Avelyn screamed and began retelling Diana's request. Just by the statement, "She saved me!", her father, the short, plump man, nodded and barked orders to the bulkier man beside him.
Based on what she heard, Diana concluded that they were still in the Peduha Slums, and Avelyn's father was somehow a man of influence, although she was not sure how big.
As Diana refused to enter the bar she heard was called 'The Short Barrel' while waiting for the carriage, Avelyn stayed with her, with their hands intertwined. It was funny that she found comfort to a stranger that she hesitated to help at first.
But somehow, Diana felt lighter.
They may never meet again, but she engraved the petite girl in her memory. Brown eyes and hair, and a fierce look at first glance, but one could see the moisture at the corner of her eyes. She must have been afraid too. Diana wiped them away, nevermind Avelyn's father who introduced himself as Bludis, watching them in silence.
The carriage finally arrived, and Diana still covering her face, came into the light. She whispered to Avelyn, who was the only one to see her face earlier. "Don't tell that man anything about me. But please... help him in any way you can."
She felt the girl nod. Bludis bowed and repeated his daughter's word of thanks. He then assured that his men are on their way to sneak to the brothel. "They will pay for what they did to my Lynlyn," he added.
After requesting Bludis with the last request of 'Please spread the news that I have been killed,' Diana muttered a short, "Thank you and farewell." Shen then entered the carriage.
Through the peephole, she told the coachman where to go. The carriage moved. Only then, in a single lamp oil lit interior of the ride, she found a set of clothes, a pouch of silvers and golds, and a short letter of thank you.
They didn't have to, but she welcomed the things. The carriage left Peduha slums to the public square. She exited with a new gown of simple gray and money hidden in her thighs. When the carriage was far enough for the coachman to see her, she ran to the nearest pension house where she temporarily stayed.
Diana told the drunk night watch her room and a simple spoken password given to the guests. She then dashed up the stairs to the second floor and fervently knocked. Her maid, Calenta, opened.
"My Lady, where have you b—?"
"—Pack our things, we're leaving the first thing in the morning."
"But the ship to the island will not come until the sixth day. We still have two days, My Lady."
"It's fine. We'll change inns. But first, cut my hair."
The ginger maid blinked, worry spread all over her face. "Did something happen with your tutoring job? You are still on a trial week, yes?"
Diana clamped her mouth. When she overheard the brothel recruitment, it was on her way home, after she was rejected by the wealthy merchant looking for his son's tutor. Although there were also rumors that the brothel abducts women their elite clients fancy, Diana volunteered in desperation.
"I got the money." She lifted her skirt, unbefitting a noble, and untied the two pouch of Grand Gold from Niccolus and the uncounted pouch of silver ang gold from helping Avelyn.
Calenta, who had been her maid and friend ever since she was in Alcotta, did not say anything, but nodded.
"Yes, My Lady." Her voice shook. She bit her lip, stopping herself from crying as if she had a vague idea, based in the smudged color of cheap cosmetics on Diana's face.
Yet, when they faced the mirror, Calenta's tears fell faster than Diana's hair falling after the first snip. The maid sobbed, even after her finishing the shoulder length haircut.
But Diana didn't. She saw a tired woman in the reflection.
Woman.
Girls do the deed at an earlier age. But they were as per Gran Dacchian tradition of early marriages. But she was neither married nor betrothed. She was even paid for it, and to the man who was drugged.
She closed her eyes for a deep, shaky breath. No one will know of her sins tonight. She will keep the secret to her graveyard.
❈
❈
❈