Wife of The Demon Prince
Chapter 297: Lost

Chapter 297: Lost

The sun began to set behind the horizon, leaving behind it’s orange hue in the evening sky. Winter was approaching pretty fast, and In the main city of Findara, where the celebration of the kingdom’s victory was still bustling. The people all wore colorful thick fur cloaks as the night life was approaching.

The city was vibrant and lively. However, in the middle of the night market, a young lady was seen wandering around the city, she was covered in mud from head to toe and dirt that stuck to her face and hair. She looked haggard as she sluggishly wandered around, the people in the market tried not to bump shoulders with the dirty lady as they all avoided her.

The young lady was none other than, princess Eadlin, who had managed to flee from the Boxton mansion despite the soldiers guarding the premises. Since Henry wouldn’t allow her leave, she had left before he arrived. She didn’t want to be a burden to any of the Boxton’s, not even her half brother.

Henry had already done a lot for her, and she wouldn’t let him marry her due to guilt and pity. When he had asked her to be his wife, she had seen it in his expression, and everytime he looked at her, all she saw was the guilt, and not the feelings of affection she could have hoped for.

She would just be a burden to whoever ended up marrying her, and she wouldn’t let Henry be the one to carry that burden on his shoulders. Though she liked him, she wasn’t selfish enough to have him wed her because he felt guilty for being the reason she currently had one arm. Eadlin didn’t blame him for the misfortune that had befallen her that led to her now having a single arm, it was the retribution for her mother’s sinful deeds.

A lot of things had already happened, and now that things had become this way, she no longer hoped for anything out of her life, she would rather go and be a nun and live the rest of her life serving at some old temple.

However, Eadlin had escaped from the Boxton mansion since yesterday, she still didn’t know where she was heading to. And to make things worst, some stupid carriage had almost hit her and while trying to avoid being hit, she ended up falling into a pool of mud on the side of the road, making her hair and clothes dirty to look like a beggar. The coachman didn’t even stop to apologise to her and left her face down in the puddle.

’...Aiya, I’m really starving. If I knew it would be this hard, I would have eaten before escaping.’ She thought as her stomach made a rumbling noise.

"Buy hot baked bread, baked potatoes here! It’s tasty and delicious!" A man called the people walking on the streets to his stall, on the stall, were various baked breads and potatoes. The aroma whiffed towards Eadlin’s nostrils, it made her swallow hard at the sight of it. Although, she had never eaten something like that, but with her current condition, she was willing to eat anything. The bread and potatoes on display made her salivate.

As the cold breeze blew towards Eadlin, she crossed her good arm around her body to shield herself from the cold, while her eyes were still glued on the bread as she walked. Not watching where she was going, she bumped into a woman while looking at the bread on the stall.

As Eadlin bumped into the woman, she lost her footing and was about to fall, but unknowingly grabbed the woman’s dress to balance herself. However, a ripping sound followed immediately after as the woman’s dress got torn.

Eadlin eyes widened at the sound of the torn fabric, she had been alarmed when she felt herself falling, which made her reach out to grab whatever she could, she hadn’t even known she would rip someone’s dress. Eadlin quickly rose to her feet to apologise, but a hard slap suddenly landed squarely on her right cheek,

"You low life beggar! How dare you bump into me and grab my dress?!" The woman rebuked loudly, and all the people’s attention in the area turned towards them.

Eadlin pressed her left hand to her burning cheek, she knew it was her fault as she wasn’t looking where she was going in the first place, thus she quickly bowed to the waist to apologise, "I-i am sorry, my lady. I didn’t mean to grab your dress, I was going to fall and_"

"You dare lie to my face, you low life beggar?! Do you have any idea how much this dress costs? Even if you sell all your life’s fortunes, you would never be able to afford it!"

Eadlin’s eyes unintentionally swept across the woman’s dress at her words. Though she didn’t know much about dresses since she was a princess and all her clothing were handled by the royal seamstress and the maids, but she wasn’t that ignorant not to identify an expensive dress. She could tell this woman was just some arrogant middle class noble, and the dress wasn’t as expensive as she made it sound like.

Even the current dress Eadlin was wearing was more expensive than the dress the woman claimed she couldn’t afford. But due to the mud covering her from head to toe, nobody could identify her as an elite, but then, who was she to claim to be an elite when her mother’s evil deeds had reduced her to nothing?

Even a beggar had more status than the daughter of a treasonous queen. It would be best for the people to view her as a beggar than a traitor. She mused.

"You’ve got the nerves, beggar! How dare you look me in the eye!" The woman rebuked again as Eadlin was blankly staring at her, "Since you can’t afford my dress, I will report you to the royal council, and you will be punished for disrespecting an important figure!"

Hearing the woman’s words, Eadlin snapped back to her sense and quickly went on her knees, "Please don’t report me to the royal council...I will do anything to repay your torn dress." She pleaded in desperation, if she was to be taken to the royal council, they might recognize her as the daughter of the treasonous queen, and would be banished from Findara for good. She had no where to return to, she knew if she went to Hamon, he would protect her without a second thought, but she was too ashamed to face him as well after what her mother and brother had done.

Tears rolled down her eyes, and Eadlin quickly wiped it off with the back of her hand, however it wiped away the mud on one side of her face, revealing her milky white skin.

The woman, who was about to snap at her again, immediately pressed her mouth shut as she noticed her fair skin. Her eyes roamed over Eadlin’s body, though her dress was tattered, one could tell she was a young maiden. And as if an idea flashed to her head, her expression brightened up.

The woman cleared her throat, "You said you’re willing to do anything to pay me back, right?" She asked with a raised brow.

Eadlin quickly nodded her head, "Yes, my lady. I can carry your stuff for you as you shop, I’m willing to do anything as long as you won’t report me to the royal council." Though Eadlin had been a princess who’d enjoyed a life of luxury, she had already begun to accept the life that she had now fallen to after her mother’s treachery, and having taken the step to leave the Boxton mansion, she knew her life would absolutely never be the same again.

"Fine, then come with me. I have some work for you in my house. You will work for the whole night as the payment of my dress, then you will be free to go tomorrow."

"Really? Thank you, my lady." Eadlin thanked as she stood up to her feet then bowed to the waist again. She was willing to work as long as she wouldn’t be reported, it was only an overnight work, she would cope with it and leave to continue her search for the nun house tomorrow morning. She mused in relief as she hurriedly followed behind the woman, who had already started to walk away while beckoning for her to follow, unknown to her that the woman had other motives for taking her along.