Psyche was running through the dark forest.
She regretted her decision to go out into the scary forest alone.
She should have followed the prince.
The decision I had made so optimistically had collapsed mercilessly.
But since she couldn't turn back time, she kept running forward.
The sky was completely black, and the forest was even darker.
“Haha, haha...”
However, she hoped that this fear would end soon, and was running around waiting to see what would happen. She had been feeling a strange liquid between her legs for a while, but she had no chance of stopping it.
If you stop, you may die instantly. That's what I thought.
“Ha! Ha!”
The sound of her breathing returning to her ears was very raspy.
Psyche was about to faint. I felt something strange. Ringing in her ears, her body temperature rising to its limits.
And the night air was such a complete contrast to it all.
She felt that her whole body was hot, and her vision was spinning.
Her mind was a mess, even the feeling in her legs had disappeared.
She felt like she had fallen into an abyss.
I resisted the urge to sit down and cry right away
If she stopped running now, she felt like someone might kill her, so she couldn't stop or rest.
With every step, her strength was diminishing, and she felt as if her heart was beating harder against the ground.
She escaped death, but instead of saving her life, she felt like she was going to die instantly.
“Haha. Haha.”
Bat tak!
“…….!”
There were definitely people chasing her at a speed faster than her.
How many? Two? Three?
The fact that someone was chasing her was probably a stroke of luck as the mountain was silent and quiet.
She couldn't shake the chaotic thoughts that had prevailed throughout her run.
“Who on earth is this person? Did the Duke make preparations in advance!”
“It was like they were waiting for me to come out!”
Moments of despair that were suffocating her breath were constantly gripping her ankles, but she struggled not to give in to anxiety.
Just a little running, just a little running!
The place where she promised to meet the prince is near.
Just a little more!
Psyche continued to run, carrying her seemingly dying body.
But a problem arose during her run not long after.
Suddenly she felt severe pain in her stomach.
"damn it!"
Words came out of her lips that she couldn't normally say.
Psyche couldn't stop despite her curses.
She felt that if she stopped here, the stalker would catch her and kill her.
It was truly a matter of life and death.
She bit her lips.
"Yes…!"
Mixed screams and wails.
Sweat pours down like rain.
She regretted not saving more energy with having a baby, but now that thought was useless.
“If eating a large amount of food at once is uncomfortable, what about eating a small amount repeatedly?”
Was this in the early stages of pregnancy? She remembered the advice the Duke had given her so fondly. Why did this advice come to her mind now of all times?
“Why don’t you have anything you want to eat? I will prepare everything.”
That memory made her even more miserable.
She couldn't understand why her eyes suddenly filled with tears, remembering the time when he was so gentle and warm.
How about singing a lullaby to the baby every night?
Clint's face looked a little red when he said those words. In response to the childish question, she burst into laughter.
But she politely declined his offer, saying she didn't mind him not coming into her bedroom every day.
She only promised to sing beautiful songs every night, and going to bed early was too exhausting.
But the Duke did not give up, and later during the meal, he raised the subject again.
"After a certain time, the baby should be able to hear everything. It's important for the baby to know his father's voice, so what if you read him bedtime stories every night?"
In response, Saiki laughed again.
Although she felt the weight of these words at the time, deep down, they seemed endearing. At such moments, all kinds of thoughts would come to her mind.
She felt like she was about to cry with a strange feeling of despair.
She longed to return to the warm, quiet and comfortable past.
What made her even more desperate was that the Duke was always part of the happy scenes she imagined.
"my darling!"
Now she was running and crying.
As Psyche ran through the trees, she raised her head high to avoid thinking about the Duke.
"Yes!"
While she was running, Saiki did not notice the large rock in front of her and tripped over it.
She tried to muffle the screams with one hand, while, as she fell, she used the other hand to protect her stomach.
Persistent pain has been a cause for concern for some time.
She felt like she should ask for a doctor when she met the prince.
It stuck to the scratched area when it fell.
Her legs were covered in blood, and there was a strange liquid flowing between them. It was a complete mess.
“Oh…oh…oh…”
When she reached the ground, the pain in her stomach was so severe, and her posture was so bad that she couldn't help but shed tears.
Beating and trauma.
But this was not the time to sit and cry.
The pursuers were still intent on pursuing them.
For fear of revealing her location, she bit down on her clothes to stifle her sobs.
“Oh…”
When she got up, she held her stomach.
She couldn't bear to lose the baby.
“Honey, please, be safe, wait!”
With all the strength she had left, she started running again.
She felt like she had superpowers even for her. The thought of needing to survive dominated her mind.
If she lost her mind or gave up here, she wouldn't be able to save the child.
She could never stop or give up.
“Just a little more, just a little more!”
With every step, her vision became blurry and then clear again and again.
She realized her body was approaching its limits, but she couldn't stop.
A faint glint of light seemed to appear before us.
“Just a little more…!”
She bit her lip hard, and ran with all her might, not knowing how hard she bit.
She thought that if she moved forward a little, she would be able to leave the forest. She mustered the last of her strength to raise her feet.
She didn't know now whether she was walking or running, but she had to keep moving forward.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…”
The sound of her breathing, constantly pounding in her ears, was harsh.
It was still cold outside, and every breath she took created a fleeting white mist that appeared and disappeared like a mirage.
With every step she took, her breath formed a cloud, then materialized, then dissipated.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…”
Her heart was hurting from running so much.
And there was probably no part of her that didn't hurt.
However, the thought of reaching her destination soon gave her the strength to keep running.
The prince was supposed to wait there.
Hoping that if she reached the agreed upon location she would be safe, she summoned the last of her remaining strength.
Gradually, the shadows of the trees began to diminish, and at times, light seemed to appear.
Finally, she thought she would survive.
While the shadows of the dense forest disappeared, there was strangely no sign of the pursuers.
She could no longer run, and felt as if her body was about to collapse. She dragged her legs as she walked.
The forest was completely gone by this time.
“Here... I must meet the prince...”
It was strange.
She stopped slowly, scanning her surroundings for the prince.
There was an eerie silence surrounding her.
“What's going on? This is weird...”
As she stood there alone, she felt like she was about to lose her mind when she realized that the prince she had promised to meet was not there.
She breathed hard, clutching tightly to her dwindling consciousness. She suppressed her crying.
“How long has it been?”
After being nervous, she couldn't stand still for much longer and suddenly sat down.
It seemed as if a long time had passed. She had spent more than an hour carefully leaving the Duke's estate, and the time she spent moving through the forest was almost the same.
At this point, the Duke's people probably knew she was missing, so they might have started looking for her. There was no way back if she was caught. She bit her lips.
You wasted a lot of time!
She was in trouble if she didn't meet the prince soon.
But why?
‘Why.’
Why didn't he come out?
Could he have… cheated on her?
In her haste, she bit her lip so hard that she didn't notice that she was bleeding.
From the beginning, it was strange that he would agree to such an unreasonable request.
“Oh, did you trust someone so naively again?”
trust? That's a deal. The price he paid was a lifelong debt to me. But how…
Saiki felt tears streaming but clenched her jaw to stop them.
I heard the sound of movement from the direction of the forest again.
'Darn.'
It looked like they were the Duke's knights this time. The familiar sound of their armor echoed from a distance…
No one was able to catch her and bring her back after she escaped.
But now it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep her wits about her.
Her power has reached its limit.
The sky was spinning.
“No...not like this.”
And here it happened.
“Saiki!”
When someone approached, someone quickly called out to her.
Before she could recognize the person's identity, she instantly lost consciousness.