Chapter 7

......How much time has passed since then?

I must have fled from my home in the Ardennes about ten days... no, perhaps two weeks have passed.

During that time, many things happened, but I don’t have the leisure to talk about them now.

“Truly... I’ve reached my limit...”

The place is far from the rural Ardennes, in a bustling metropolis, the capital city of Libertà.

On a corner of the main street, Chloe sat with her back against a building, drenched by the cold, pouring rain.

What spread before her eyes was a cityscape of brick buildings, numerous carriages and people passing by.

A scene she had never seen in her rural hometown.

Just a short while ago, after a long, long journey, Chloe arrived in Libertà.

Although the capital city was unfortunately overcast, the moment she saw the cityscape, the emotion was indescribable.

Dragging her legs, which had become like branches, with her last bit of strength, Chloe somehow made it into the capital city.

But there, her strength was exhausted.

With limited food and cold-weather gear, she had crossed fields and mountains, running and walking non-stop until she finally reached her destination, the capital city. After walking around the city for a while, she calmed down.

(…Wait, what should I do from here?)

Suddenly, the thread she had been holding onto snapped.

Her consciousness began to blur, and she couldn’t help but sit down at the edge of the road.

The rain started to fall at the worst possible time.

Even though she had moved quite far south from the Ardennes, it was still rain.

The cold droplets mercilessly stole her body heat.

Her body felt hot, but she was shivering with cold, and her heart had been beating strangely for a while.

After being overused repeatedly, Chloe’s body was clearly showing signs of abnormality.

(This... might be bad...)

She hadn’t felt such a sense of crisis since her childhood, when her sister left her in the mountains of the estate, and she had to find her way back through an animal trail.

Back then, she managed to survive, but this time the situation was different.

She had the option of relying on Shirley, who was supposed to be in the capital, but unfortunately, she didn’t know where Shirley was now.

In this big city she had visited for the first time, she had no one to rely on and no money.

Having rushed here without thinking, Chloe realized that she was in the worst possible situation.

The people passing by seemed to be interested only in themselves, or perhaps they weren’t kind enough to approach a suspicious-looking, ragged girl sitting on the ground. They glanced at Chloe but didn’t stop.

As Chloe thought that this was the end, three shadows fell on her.

“Hey, hey, taking shelter from the rain here, huh?”

A sticky voice.

When Chloe looked up, there were three men standing there, looking decidedly unsavory, with lecherous grins on their faces.