Chapter 57
‘Oh, miss! Be careful… Ooof!’
Even before encountering Lione, Riina had nearly tripped over a stone, but Becky had displayed incredible reflexes and barely prevented her forehead from cracking.
That was everyday life, so setting that aside, afterwards the men who bumped shoulders with her passed by without comment, she didn’t encounter any pickpockets, and she wasn’t hit by a sudden flying tomato that ruined her clothes or step in filth.
“I think I would have preferred those trivial things…”
Riina sighed as she glanced at Becky’s back standing in front of her.
When had they moved to the front? Lione at the very front and Becky behind him.
Realistically, it wasn’t a composition that would help resolve this situation at all.
Their intentions were all too transparent, weren’t they?
Protecting Riina Bolshevik.
A vivid smile blossomed on Riina’s lips without her realizing as she looked at their backs overflowing with solemnity.
Of course, reality was as cold as the depths of winter – the possibility of Lione and Becky protecting Riina was infinitely slim, and the foreign mercenaries knew this fact very well.
“Come on, dragging this out will just be troublesome and tiring for everyone. Let’s wrap this up quickly and go our separate ways.”
“Yeah! Well said!”
“That’s right! Let’s finish this and go have a drink!”
The group that had been noisily chattering among themselves suddenly clamped their mouths shut and glared at Riina’s party with piercing eyes.
In an instant, the air around them swelled up, pressing against Lione, but he stood firm.
He already knew from experience that you can’t kill people with glares, after all.
‘Don’t look at me like that. If you look at me like that, I feel like I’m going to die!’
Someone who had said that on a certain day in the past didn’t end up dying in the end.
Moreover, even though he clearly knew they were more skilled and vastly outnumbered him, for some reason he didn’t feel particularly in danger.
“Hmm, I thought you’d run away with your tail between your legs. Do you have guts? Or are you just failing to grasp the situation?”
The man standing at the front of the group licked his upper lip as he looked Becky and Riina up and down.
“It doesn’t matter. Wallets, jewelry, anything of value – hand it all over. You, get lost. The women stay.”
It was a very blatant demand without any attempt to mince words.
“Do you know who this person is? How dare you! You’re the ones who should back off!”
Lione warned them, stating only the facts.
Though he himself was merely of the bloodline, not the heir to the Bartorio County, Riina was the heir to the Bolsheviks, wasn’t she?
But the response was very different from what he had expected.
“Ooh, who is it? Who? Is this person really so great?”
“Hey, they’re saying we have a very important person here!”
“Looks like we hit the jackpot today!”
As they snickered among themselves and took a threatening step closer, one of them suddenly stopped.
“No, wait guys. If they’re really that important, it could be dangerous.”
As soon as he spoke, the others began to hunch their shoulders and make a fuss.
“Ah! Is that so?”
“Now that you mention it, that’s true!”
“In that case.”
The man closest to Lione lowered his voice significantly, and those behind him crouched down as if on cue.
“In that case?”
“We should erase all evidence and traces before something big happens!”
A grating laughter spread behind the man who shouted with glittering eyes.
“Wahahaha!”
“That’s right!”
“Bwahahaha! Well said!”
Riina stared blankly at the men laughing and carrying on amongst themselves, finding who knows what so funny, when a familiar guard’s voice rang in her ear.
“Miss.”
Riina frowned at the guard’s low call.
“When I give the signal, run straight to the main street. Don’t look back and run with all your might.”
She didn’t like the content conveyed in that voice, barely audible to her alone.
The guard had already quickly warned her when these guys started sneaking around them.
A few minutes ago:
‘Miss, when I tell you, you must do exactly as I say.’
The guard, who had been moving as if invisible until now, suddenly whispered to Riina.
‘Can’t you handle it?’
Due to incidents and accidents following her with every step, the guards protecting her were people who had been through all sorts of trials.
For there to be a threat in this alley, which could hardly be called a back alley, that warranted a warning from the guard…
‘If they back down quietly, we could let it pass, but their numbers are considerable and their skills…’
‘You’re saying two aren’t enough?’
‘Yes.’
The guard’s resolute answer was extremely reliable.
They never make beautiful promises about sacrificing their lives to protect her.
They only suggest ways to minimize damage realistically.
And Riina was the same.
Glancing at Becky walking beside her, Riina answered.
‘Alright.’
And now.
As the guard had said, Riina keenly surveyed her surroundings, picking out an escape route.
It was true that the direction one of the two guards was subtly pointing to with his finger was the best, but wouldn’t Becky need an escape route too?
No matter how realistically she thought about fleeing without looking back, she had no intention of leaving Becky to die.
Riina made eye contact once with the guard, and once with Becky.
Understanding Riina’s unspoken order to take care of Becky, the guard nodded slightly, and soon pointed to another direction.
Indeed, the Bolshevik guards were capable, weren’t they?
They had secured not just one, but at least two escape routes.
‘Well done.’
Riina praised them with just her lips, and the guards couldn’t hide their pleased expressions even in this situation.
“Becky.”
She tapped Becky’s shoulder with her voice lowered as much as possible, but Becky didn’t turn to look at her.
“Miss, I will protect you no matter what.”
She was so solemn that she seemed ready to single-handedly crush those foreign mercenaries blocking their way for Riina’s sake.
“No…”
“Ah, this is purely for my future success. If I save you, the reward will be enormous.”
As soon as Riina opened her mouth, Becky poured out her words in a rush.
Worried that Riina might push her aside and step forward, she insisted there should be no misunderstanding…
‘I absolutely won’t do anything for your sake, miss! It’s all for myself! Because that will make my future comfortable!’
Riina was reminded of what Becky had said in the past, pounding her chest. She had to squeeze her eyes shut to hold back the laughter that was about to burst out.
Taking a deep breath, Riina nodded and said:
“Right. If you save me, you’ll get an incredible reward. And if you do as I say, you’ll get something even more amazing.”
Like your life, or something as valuable as life.
Without voicing the last part, Riina took Becky’s hand and personally pointed out the direction to escape, when suddenly:
“You won’t be able to lay a finger on this person!”
Lione shouted, stepping forward with the solemnity of a general facing a million-strong army alone.
In normal circumstances, his words would have been followed by the mockery of the foreign mercenaries.
But there are exceptions everywhere, aren’t there?
From behind him, a dry voice echoed loudly off the alley walls.
“No, what an idiot.”
It was truly an unconscious, honest reaction.
Riina couldn’t even catch her escaping common sense.
And her voice was not quiet…
-Idiot, idiot, idiot.
Riina’s words echoed strangely between the walls of the alley.
Then, silence fell over the surroundings.
Who could say anything?
Even Riina was at a loss for how to recover from her unconscious outburst.
How much time had passed, with each second feeling as slow as a thousand autumns?
Lione, who had been opening and closing his mouth several times, finally managed to speak.
“D-Did you just say that… to me?”
He blinked in disbelief, and Riina coolly ignored him.
If it was unbelievable, it would be better not to believe it.
As Lione spoke, as if time had started moving again, sighs of exasperation and disbelief flowed from here and there.
“An i-idiot? Did that woman just call him what? How can this be…”
Just as one of the foreign mercenaries, with an expression that seemed to represent everyone’s feelings, was about to open his mouth:
“Ah, really. You always exceed expectations.”
A figure emerged from behind the mercenaries.
“Who’s there!”
“Who is it!”
Several mercenaries turned around, gripping their weapons menacingly, and before them stood Einar, sighing with a face that anyone could see had just come from laughing hard.
Rubbing his side that ached from laughing too much, he smiled widely at Riina, whom he had spotted at a glance among all these people.
“Is this also an event brought on by misfortune?”
“It would be painful to say it twice. I think I would have preferred tripping on a stone and cracking the back of my head.”
As soon as Riina finished her answer, Einar shook his head.
