The alleyway was narrow and gloomy, but the sight of trash and piles of woods that were thrown made it a hundred times worse. If I was careless, I could accidentally step on a puddle filled with smelly and filthy waters. Felicity's words shook me up as my mind wandered around.
"Miss Anna, the house with the sunflowers is my house.
The house right at the end of this alleyway hanged a beautiful sunflower on its door. Although the surroundings were rather gloomy, the house felt very welcoming. I wonder how it would look like if this place were nicely cleaned.
Suddenly, a person stood behind me with a sword on my back. His words brought shivers to my bones. I stood there quietly trembling with fear. I wished Felicity could run away, but how to distract him.
"Move and I kill you."
Felicity went inside and after a foot in she turned towards me. She was shocked and her face turned pale.
"Felicity, lock the door!"
I shouted at Felicity and then continued talking with the man behind me.
"What do you want? Please let the girl go. I'll give whatever you want, just leave the girl alone."
I pleaded to the man. I thought to myself, am I going to die here. I am scared, but I have to protect her.
"Let her go, you evil man! Let her go!"
Felicity shouted to the man as hard as she could. She looked so strong, but her tears kept on falling as it was telling her to be brave. The man who was behind me just now moved a bit backward and the swords that he was pointed at me before were drawn. I rushed forward and turned to look at the man. I realized that it was not a sword, but merely a scabbard. I felt like he didn't intend to hurt me but just threatened. I couldn't see his face clearly due to his cloak, but I could see his blazing red eyes looked straight at me as he was trying to grasp the situation.
"What do you want?"
Although it was still frightening, I tried to stand strong for Felicity.
"Why did you protect her? Didn't she try to kidnap you?"
He ignored me and asked Felicity while pointing at me.
"Miss Anna is the one protecting me."
Felicity, who couldn't stop sniffling, told the man forcefully, as her words were more powerful than the man in front of her. She walked forward and held my hand tightly.
"Then why did she bring you to this place?"
"This is my house. My mother is sick, so she just came to pay a visit."
Felicity told that man, who was clearly misunderstood the situation. Then a woman in her late thirties, with a pale and tired-looking face appeared by the door.
"Felicity."
Her mother called her softly. She looks weak to the point of collapsing any minute.
"Mom, this is Miss Anna, she is the one I told you last time."
Felicity ran to her mother and held her arm as she introduced me. Her mother smiled at me warmly.
"Thank you for saving my daughter. I am her mother, but I couldn't even protect her."
Her mother looked sad as she felt she couldn't do much for her child. She has to look after her child by herself as her husband passed away last year. She always didn't have enough money, as she had to support her little brother as well. Her brother lost his legs during the last war, and his wife and children just left him as he couldn't work anymore to support the family.
"It is fine, I didn't do much. The men who came at that time were the ones who helped them. I am glad she's alright. You are a good mother. Felicity became so brave and responsible because of the way you teach her. "
I didn't like it when she talked badly about herself. She didn't give herself enough credit.
After that, I asked Felicity's mother if she would like to rest, as her complexion doesn't look good. She apologized as she felt she couldn't entertain her guest. On my way out, I saw a sack of sweet potatoes by the door.
"Felicity, what is this sweet potato for?"
I asked Felicity curiously, as it seemed a lot for a family of three to eat.
"I sold it during the morning with the sunflowers."
"Can I buy about two dozen of this?"
I gave her more than the price of two dozen cost. I couldn't do much for them. Her mother, the source of income for this family, fell ill. Now Felicity, who was not more than 12 years old, was the one who had to work day and night to support the family. Though with the hardship each day, she always smiled as she tried to comfort herself.
I was thinking I could cook something with the sweet potato that I bought, and if it's good enough, I could bring it and share the recipes with the townspeople here. Since many didn't know how to cook with sweet potatoes besides roasting or boiled them, I felt like I have to let them taste the joy this sweet potato could bring to this town. After I bought the sweet potatoes, I bid farewell to Felicity and her mother.
As I walked out the door, the man who threatened me before was still there like he was waiting for me. I ignored him and walked past him like I didn't see him. At first, I thought he was just trying to get out from this alleyway, and since there was only one way, there's no other way but this. However, even after we went out of the alleyway he was still behind me. I stopped and turned towards him. I walked briskly as I felt annoyed with the situation that happened before. How could he just accuse a person without proper investigating?
"Stop following me," I told him.
"I didn't," he said.
Beside him was a stall that sold roasted sweet potatoes.
"Excuse me, can I have one of these?" he asked the seller.
He turned towards me as he seemed pleased with himself.
Then I just walked away and ignored him. However, he was still behind me, eating his sweet potato. This has to stop—I walked towards him to make him stop following me. It was so annoying.
"Stop following me," I told him again.
"I didn't, I'm just enjoying my walk. It's a nice day today," he smiled, cunningly.
"Don't play with me. Is this one way of you trying to say sorry for being a jerk and accused me? Or are you still suspicious of me?" I said.
"I'm sorry for that. It's not like I am following you, I was just trying to make sure you are safe. There are a lot of robbers in this area."
He could see that I was annoyed at him. At first, he thought he could tease me, but as I got angry, he felt like he didn't want me to be angry at him. He was one of the men who saved the children at that time, when the children begged to save the woman, he was surprised that a woman would stand up for a child, despite being weak themselves. Now that woman stood tall in front of him with confidence and bravery. He then became curious about her. He wanted to know more about her.
"Do you think I look that weak for you to follow me like a dog?"
He apologized, but the annoyance in me grew as I am talking with him. I turned around and walked as fast as I could as I didn't want to be swept by anger. I didn't like this feeling. Then I saw a few of the children that I met just now playing in front of me.
"Did you see the man in a black cloak behind me? He kept on following me, can you help me stall him so I can run away?"
I asked quietly to the group of children. Everyone agreed without any hesitation. Before I walked away, I expressed my gratitude and promised them that I would bring more desserts for them.
All the children moved towards the man and blocked his way. Every time he tried to get past, there must be someone in front of him. I turned around and smiled with pride that it's working. Then I continued to run out of the town and walked back home. What a hectic but pleasant day. I achieved my objective for today.
At the same time, the man who was trying to break through the obstacle stood still for a split second as he saw the woman smiled brightly. He felt like he was captivated by her smile. Then he walked back and forth, looking for the woman he desired. He didn't know why he wanted to look for her, but his feet kept on moving. Then a sound of someone calling him could be heard a mile away.
"Leon! Leon! Leon, wait!" he shouted.
Prince Leon heard he called but pretended not to.
"Why did you never listen? I told you at least bring someone with you. What if something happened?"
Sir Felix looked tired as he felt like he had to babysit the prince.
"Don't worry Felix. I am just walking around. Even if something happened, do you think I could be overthrown?"
He's talking to Sir Felix, but anyone could see that his mind was elsewhere.
"Whatever, I don't want to argue with you anymore. Do whatever you want."
Sir Felix couldn't bother arguing as he knew Prince Leon never listened. He always puts the people of this country first. Hence, he would try to make this country better each day. He would walk around the town twice or even thrice a week. He always told Sir Felix that never to look only on the surface as everything where hidden down in the bottom. It was the same for people—you may always saw them smiling in front of you, but who knows what they did behind our backs. The kingdom of Quirinus is defined as one of the strong and powerful kingdoms in the eye of others, but it hides many hideous and treacherous cases one would never imagine.
"I'm sorry. Next time I tell you first, okay?" Prince Leon said.
"Whatever. Now tell me, what are the real reasons you're doing here, Leon?"
Sir Felix knew that Prince Leon never did anything without a reason. 'Leisure walk', there was no such thing in his dictionary.
"You caught me, I am just looking around for clues on the children's slavery, but there's nothing."
"We have been looking for more than a year. There were no clues whatsoever. The only thing that we got was the children's cold bodies."
Sir Felix looked and talked seriously with concern. He was somewhat desperate to solve this case, but nothing came up.
"That's why I have to work harder. I didn't want to see it anymore."
Prince Leon clenched his fist and his face turned red with anger. All the children's bodies that were found have signs of abuse, with cuts, bruises, or even burned. The children who were laughing and playing happily before, now only a cold, lifeless body. As they were from a poor family, there was no proper identification. They died without a name and no one could ever know whether they will be remembered or not.