"I'm sorry, but if I have something to say, I'll do it later. I need to go to the fire brigade. Now they're not doing anything."
"The royal fire brigade may be a humble people, but they are all from aristocratic families. For the sake of strangers who say they are crazy..."
Winter, who was raising his voice, realized the answer and muttered.
"I plan to follow you to the Calibon mines."
The royal fire brigade was responsible for safety in case of damage to the royal castle due to fire or lightning, and if it was necessary to leave the royal castle, it had to be to save the royal family from an accident. This is because they existed entirely for the comfort of the royal family.
The fact that the royal fire brigade was moving meant that they had the royal family and their assets to save. Violet nodded.
"Of course you should."
"It's crazy? Why are you going there? Why do you care about those guys?"
Since Nancy was riding with her in the carriage. Violet got out of the carriage, pushing Winter, who spoke harshly, away. Winter asked with anger in his face.
"Hey, Princess. Now that you're married to me, do you feel like a stranger? These people have nothing to do with you. Of course, it doesn't matter if I come out."
"Even if I say yes, why don't you care? You're from the same clan."
"Why am I like those guys? I climbed so hard to avoid being the same. Just as not everyone from this country is like you, not everyone from the same clan is the same. We are strangers, different people."
"I think so."
"I've lived all this time trying to become someone else, but isn't that natural?"
"But what is the name of your company? What about tattoos? Why do you know so much about their culture when you've never lived among them?"
"Why is that being said here now?"
"You always call yourself lowly, but I don't think that's because you want to. I don't even think it's because you don't like it. I think this is for you too."
"No. I'm not interested in those guys!"
"I don't think so!"
Violet raised her voice like Winter. When Violet, who had never been one to make loud noises or be rude, shouted, not only Winter but also the employees around her stopped their actions. Violet continued, glaring at Winter.
"I'm going. I think of the miners of Calibon as you when you were five and I think of you as when you were twelve."
"...What kind of bullshit is that?"
"There is no need to understand. Because we don't always understand each other anyway."
Violet finished speaking and tried to get back into the carriage. Then Winter grabbed her arm again with strength.
"What does it mean?"
"It would have been nice if I had been by your side. The moment I thought that. If that had been the case, there are moments where you wonder if you wouldn't be so scarred now."
"..."
As soon as Winter's hand lost strength, Violet got into the carriage and left. Winter looked at the departing carriage for a moment and grumbled.
"...What are you saying about a topic that wasn't even born when I was five years old?"
Then he patted his ear with his finger. At the words of his stubborn wife, he heard that damn bell again for the first time in a while.
***
The fire brigade was staying inside the royal castle. As soon as he saw Violet's face standing in front of the castle for the first time in a long time, the gatekeeper opened the door, even crying with joy.
She walked inside and opened the door to the fire brigade quarters.
The fire brigade, who had nothing to do but were undecided about their future and were still drinking and killing time while receiving a salary, threw down the bottle they were holding when they heard the bell ringing at the door.
"Who is this!"
"Did you hear the door opening just now?"
They talked and drank again, and eventually, the youngest got up and headed for the door.
As soon as the door opened, he found a woman looking at him displeased.
"Who are you?"
"Call the fire brigade captain."
"No, Ma'am, who are you to call me that?"
As he said that, a firefighter who followed behind him hit the back of his head until it broke.
"Hey, you stupid bastard! How can you not recognize the Princess!"
"Yes? Ugh!"
The firefighters suddenly sobered up and ran out of the palace without any hesitation. While they were leaving to fetch Xeric, who lived near the castle, Violet frowned at the smell of alcohol and continued speaking.
"Why isn't the fire brigade chief here during the day? I understand that the captain works from 9 to 6."
"Ah, since we don't really have anything to do I'm sorry, Ma'am."
The management of the fire brigade.
This is Ash Lawrence's job. Even if the royal family disappeared, Ash should have led the knights and the fire brigade. Just because he arbitrarily eliminated the royal family did not mean that all of his responsibilities disappeared.
Anger filled Violet's eyes when she thought of Ash, who didn't even think about locking the door even though the tax money was constantly leaking out. She was no different, but Ash was even more like his father, a mess.
Not long after, the captain, Xeric, appeared. The fire brigade, which had to move quickly, was made up of young men, and even the captain was thirty-two years old.
"Ma'am, what's going on here?"
He stood in front of Violet with a crooked expression and posture, as if he had no intention of admitting his mistake.
However, Violet was living with a man who was so crooked that Xeric could not even imagine, so this appearance did not bother her that much.
"The entrance to Calibon Mine has collapsed and we need help. Please come with us."
"Are we?"
"It seems like tax money has been wasted so far, but wouldn't it be meaningful if it were used to save people's lives?"
"Well, well..."
Xeric, who was standing with his back to her, glanced at Violet and asked.
"Lord Winter has money, right?"
"We can't give more money to people who work and receive taxes."
Xeric also spoke clearly in response to her firm words.
"Then we won't go because it's none of our business."
Violet nodded at Xeric's words.
"I knew it would come out like that. So, I plan to go to Calibon with you."
"... Yes?"
"Isn't your duty to ensure the safety of the place where the Lawrence family lives? So if I go to such a dangerous place, wouldn't it be right for you to follow me?"
"Even if I follow you, I won't do anything."
When Xeric spoke with a disapproving expression, Violet nodded.
"It's up to you to figure it out."
She turned around.
And she said this to Nancy, who was so nervous that tears were streaming down her face.
"Well, now that we have the help, I'm going to go to Congress and get some financial support."
"It usually won't cost much. The entrance is completely blocked."
"Tax money isn't there to be used for that."
As Violet spoke, Xeric and the fire brigade that had prepared without realizing it followed behind. Xeric continued to sarcastically walk behind her.
"Even if we work, His Highness Ash's orders take priority, not the Princess's."
Then Violet glanced back and asked.
"Is the fire brigade something even talkative people like you can do?"
"..."
"Now I feel a bit like a firefighter."
Violet sarcastically turned around. Then she thought to herself that her husband had completely ruined himself.
***
After arriving at the National Assembly, it was 53 hours since they arrived at the train station to board the train to the north with some of the money set aside for emergency disaster purposes.
Nancy looked at Violet moving around, treating time like gold, and regretted the 48 hours they had spent wandering around. If she had come to see Violet right away, not only would she have saved two days, but she could have gotten more money from the council during that extra time.
Although the money was very little, it was better than nothing.
Violet had to use that money to take everyone to Calibon, so she bought third-class tickets for the first time.
Xeric had such a disgusted look on his face, but when he found out that Violet would be riding in third class together, he stepped forward as a representative and spoke to her as she stood on the platform.
"Madam, please at least fly second class. You are the legitimate daughter of the Lawrence family, so how can you ride third class, which is your first time to ride?"
"I can't do that. I'm afraid you might run away."
"I was just being lazy because I didn't have a mission to perform, but it's not that much of a waste."
Xeric responded awkwardly. Then he glanced at Nancy and continued his words.
"But you better not think that we will risk our lives for the sake of these strangers."
"I don't want you to risk your lives for your sense of justice. But it will help us find the safest and most accurate route to save the miners."
"I'll do that for you."
Not long after, the fastest train they had booked arrived.
Violet said to Jen, who was following her restlessly as she got into the third-class seat.
"Tell my husband that I'm going to Calibon and I'll be late."
"If you leave right away like this, he'll be very angry..."
"If he gets angry, he will follow me."
Violet said calmly.
Jen knew that Violet was a lot more stubborn than she looked and that she wouldn't be able to stop her easily. It was clear that since the couple was so stu
bborn, they would only fight with each other.
***
Calibon was a more cute town than she thought. There was a chapel in the middle of the village, a small square surrounding it, and around the square were houses where the miners' families lived.
When Violet and her group arrived, the children of the Kanik clan hid behind their mother and watched them. The сhildren seemed to have been taught to be wary of people who were not from the Kanik clan.
However, they looked at the fire brigade in black uniform and asked, as if they were amazed.
"Mom, what are those people doing?"
"Miners?"
The children asked quietly. Perhaps the children were not told that the miners were buried.
The fire brigade followed Nancy into the mine entrance with a rather unpleasant expression.
The mine entrance was completely blocked by a huge rock.
Xeric inspected the situation and spoke with the retired miners, then returned to Violet.
"I'll be honest with you. They would all have died in the first place, honestly. It's useless. But you said that if you were to do a rescue operation, let alone food, they would only have a week's worth of water inside, right? Now 65 hours have passed."
"Exactly."
"The safest way to enter the tunnel is to drill through that rock. It would take 15 of us at least five days to make a hole large enough for one person to pass through. This means that it would take an indefinite period of time to go through the hole in the rock and search the mine shaft to find the miners' location. Yes, let's say the authors use some kind of magic to survive during this time. Okay, let's see."
"So, let's see?"
"None of our firefighters would go into that tunnel to save a stranger."
Comments
Post a Comment