The Place Where I Was Sold as a Slave Was the Imperial Palace

＜ Witch’s Medicine ＞

* * *

The beads looked solid, but as soon as they entered the mouth, they melted away like cotton candy.

At that moment, my belly button felt a little hot.

Looking down, the crest below the navel slowly disappeared.

“The witch’s medicine lasts until you can defend yourself well enough.”

The heat that started from the navel gradually spread throughout the body.

“The medicine hides the crest and black hair, so you should be able to hide your identity for a while. However, the effect disappears after a certain amount of magic power rises. According to the witch, it will usually be around the age of 20, but it could be earlier or later.”

The guard captain’s words seem to be floating in the air.

My eyes blinked, and it felt like everything in my field of vision was flickering.

I feel my body lighten up.

Her head tilted back slightly without her knowledge.

The captain of the guard respectfully held out his hand to support him.

It’s not exactly what it looks like, but I could tell.

What is this feeling?

Is it because of the beads you just ate?

I do not know.

The nanny’s chubby body was felt right behind her.

My head was hazy and my tongue was stiff.

Jung Jin-young stood with his back leaning against the nanny’s body. My body swayed and moved at will.

“Please take care of yourself.”

The captain of the guard put his mouth on Jeong Jin-young’s feet and spoke reverently.

The head is swaying toward the air, and the face of the head of the guard seems to be visible.

It’s really strange.

“My little lord, may your future be blessed.”

Koo-goo-goo-goo, the dull sound of something knocking on the double door of the office came one after another.

I’m not sure if it’s something like a log or something like a small explosive.

Anyway, the enemy was moving to destroy the door.

As if the time had come, the captain of the guard stood up and spoke to the nanny.

“Go away. We need to get as far away as possible.”

“Captain of the guard, are you…”

“I explode the magic tool after you depart. You have to make them think their little master is dead.”

“…”

Nanny nodded and quickly hugged Jinyoung.

Ah, the captain of the guard intends to die.

In a bit of a haze, I thought about that.

Jung Jin-young forced his eyes open. He fixed his face on the guard and moved his hardened tongue.

“…no…no…together…”

It seems he knew what he wanted to say.

The guard captain smiled.

“If you lay down your life for the sake of your beloved lord, what greater honor could there be than that? My little lord, please cherish life.”

After that, the nanny ran down the stairs with him in her arms.

Immediately overhead, a large square hole closed with a small sound.

What the heck, why are these people so serious? Can’t we all run away together? Why would you lay down your life for someone?

The words I couldn’t make out sounded in my heart.

For some reason, my heart is so sad.

Tears fell from Jinyoung’s eyes.

Perhaps because the body was young, it seemed that even the mind was becoming young.

The stairs were narrower and longer than expected.

The uneven walls were dotted with smaller lanterns than those seen from above.

It was the same feeling as pointing to an emergency exit, which is often seen on Earth.

The nurse cradled him and frantically ran down the stairs, finally reaching the last one.

What stretched out there was a dark, damp labyrinth.

It’s probably quite deep underground.

The long corridors were cool and cold. A chill rose from the walls and floor.

In the dark hallway, there were small lights like the one I saw when I came down the stairs.

Several thick lines were drawn on both sides of the wall in a messy manner.

red, yellow, blue… The various colors are crookedly drawn as if drawn by a child.

Nanny looked at the right wall.

A line was drawn there as well.

Among them, there was a black line that was not very noticeable.

The nanny breathed as if relieved and started running along the black line.

My mind, which was hazy at first, has now returned to some degree of normalcy.

Jung Jin-young stiffened his body as he swayed up and down, clinging to the nanny.

If I didn’t do that, I felt like I would fall off right now.

There are cobwebs everywhere.

A thin, thread-like cobweb stuck to his face several times.

I couldn’t take my hands off it, so I wiped my face on the nanny’s neck each time.

It seems that the nanny has been running for a while.

At one point, a deafening explosion rang out.

Kwak Kwa Kwa Kwam!

The whole basement shook with a loud noise.

The floor was shaking uncontrollably, and dust was falling.

It felt like being in an air-raid shelter when a nuclear bomb exploded.

The nanny stumbled and nearly collapsed.

The ceiling and walls of the hallway were dotted with wooden or steel structures.

If done wrong, they may collapse.

The vibration was big enough to think so.

However, as if she had never had such an experience, the nanny stood up and tried to move again.

I am in a hurry to get out of here.

But it shouldn’t be.

If done incorrectly, a falling object may hit the head and cause injury or death.

Jeong Jin-young shouted as he stretched out his small hand and hugged the nanny’s head.

“Pillar! Go to the pillar and get down!”

The bewildered nanny hesitated, but soon complied.

I went straight to a nearby thick pillar, pulled his small body to my chest and fell on my stomach.

At the same time, the tree that supported the ceiling in the place where the two had been before fell with a crackling sound.

If it was a little late, it would have been crushed under it.

It was close.

But the next moment, a louder explosion than before was heard.

Kwak Kwah Kwah Kwah Kwah!

Once again, the long underground passage swayed like a toy, and dust and supports broke and fell.

A little further away, part of the ceiling collapsed.

The vibration went on for a while and then stopped.

The nanny seems to have lost her back.

I sat for a while and couldn’t move.

I think killing people would be more shocking than these vibrations, but I don’t know how people in this world feel.

Jeong Jin-young reached out and rubbed the nanny’s back with her chubby and short hand, typical of a child.

“Nanny, let’s go now.”

When he said that in a short pronunciation, the nanny stood up holding him as if he had finally come to his senses.

Suddenly she murmured.

“He is indeed the master’s son. Do not be surprised by these things…”

It’s not particularly because he’s fearless.

Any man who served in the military in Korea must have experienced this situation once or twice.

Even if it doesn’t happen every day, it happens enough to make seniors laugh when they see a newcomer trembling after jumping into an air-raid shelter.

If you go through something often, you get used to it.

At first, the newcomers who jumped into the shelter whenever there was an artillery bombardment were laughing every time the next guys came in and did the same.

Jung Jin-young also got used to it that way.

If it wasn’t like being bombed like now, there’s nothing to be afraid of, just a little surprised.

Suddenly, the image of a thin woman appeared in my mind.

It was a woman with long black hair.

I sit on the bed and look up at him with a sad face.

[My sweet baby. sorry. My mother is too weak… But I love you. I love you enough to think I want to exchange my whole life with you.]

Mother, I think it was the woman who gave birth to this body.

Someone was holding him and gently lowered himself to the woman’s eyes.

The woman looked at Jung Jin-young for a while, then raised her gaze to the person holding him.

mother laughs

[Take care of this child. I was so happy to be with you.]

A thick, low voice came from right above his head.

[I was happy too.]

Perhaps, the person holding him was his father.

The two sat like that for a while.

I don’t remember anything after that. I guess I fell asleep.

At first, I thought that I might have been possessed by this body, but I vaguely knew from that memory.

He seems to have been properly born into this world.

And he probably received enough of his father’s love and mother’s affection.

Is it because a memory from childhood came back?

Suddenly, tears rolled down again.

Jeong Jin-young put her hand around the neck of the running nanny and hugged her tightly.

In one corner of the scene he remembered, there was also a nanny.

Standing at his mother’s feet, the nurse watched him anxiously.

He made an expression as if he wanted to protect him from all the suffering in this world.

The mother who gave birth to him and the father who is the head of the family would have loved this young body, but the person who stayed closest and showered him with affection 24 hours a day must have been this woman with a generous body.

Could it be that she is the mother who raised another person?

I ran for a long time in the underground corridor that collapsed in places.

In the middle of the line, there were several doors.

But the black line continues

The nanny didn’t go out the door, but continued running along the black line.

It seems like I ran a long distance for a very long time.

And finally, the black line ends and we arrive at a small door.

The labyrinth continues to lead to different paths.

But the black line was broken.

said the nurse, breathing heavily.

“There are many paths in the underground labyrinth of the castle, but many of them are connected with traps. If you go through the wrong door, you will die.”

The nanny put him down and walked around as if exploring the area around the door.

He touches the wall and puts his hand on top of the door.

“What are you doing?”

he asked, and the nanny answered, still looking around the door.

“They will be ready to flee. Because our country has been fighting with other places for a long time. Oh, I found it so that the master or the youngster could escape at any time.”

The nanny threw her disheveled hair behind her ears and tore off the wall with both hands.

I was surprised.

To tear down a wall with your hands, isn’t that a monster?

But if you look closely, it’s not a wall, it’s like a thick cloth.

No, maybe it was leather.

It was as if a thick cloth, similar to the wall, had been pasted to the wall with something like mud.

There was a small space inside the fabric, and there were several knapsack-like bags that could be carried on the back.

Some of them also have long cloth pockets with drawstrings that can be tied around the waist.

The nanny took out the bag, looked inside, and began undressing.

When you put on your underwear, the first thing you do is wrap a cloth bag around your waist.

The nanny said, tying the string at the end of the cloth bag tightly.

“Inside this is a gold ring or a small silver item. I don’t know because you’re young, but if I ever collapse, please take this. If you pull here, it will come loose easily.”

The nanny was shown to him, tying the knot.

I know what the nanny meant.

Earth’s mother also said that she was preparing for war, and whenever she could afford it, she bought a gold ring.

Units should not be too large. It’s difficult because it can’t be divided when a war really breaks out.

So what my mother collected was something like a stone ring or a pair of gold rings.

Whenever her mother bought it, she would tell him when she was young while putting it on a thick line.

[When there is a war, tie this around your waist and run away. what? see? to be stupid Of course you tie it under your clothes.]

I remember my mother squinting one eye with pride.

[In times of war, a one- or half-money gold ring can save lives. Because your grandmother actually saved us with a gold ring when she was evacuating.]

She was a strong mother.

Ah, thinking about my mother makes the tip of my nose run cold.

Jeong Jin-young sniffled and looked at the nanny’s face.

Anyway, I know what the nanny wants to say.

But let a four-year-old carry around a pile of gold rings because the nanny is dead.

Far from saving lives by it, they die because of it.

Maybe the nanny is like that too.

No matter how much I thought about it, it didn’t seem like the end would be good if she was alone without a man and even had gold.

‘I don’t know again. If I can even cross the border, I might be able to use it as a bribe.’

Involuntarily, a sigh escaped from his small lips.

＜ Witch’s Medicine ＞ End