Aya Ran Away - Chapter 6

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 6
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Aya woke from her dream in tears.
The sorrow wasn’t truly of this moment, but rather the lingering effect of having been so deeply immersed in the dream-self that she couldn’t help it.
It happened sometimes.
Aya thought of herself as unsentimental, yet moments like these made her wonder if perhaps she was actually quite sensitive after all—prone to sentiment in ways she didn’t care to admit.
‘I never got to thank her properly.’
Despite all her past resolve and promises, Aya still hadn’t managed to greet her benefactor as she ought.
She’d tried to investigate on her own, searching for any sign of her, but rumors found her faster than her search could catch up.
At some point, stories began circulating through the palace about a warrior from the Northern Region.
A young commander making exceptional achievements, advancing with unusual success.
The tale grew even more sensational when it became known that despite being the son of an Ensis—a lord governing an entire territory—he had thrown himself into the front lines, mixing among slaves and criminals on the battlefield.
Because everyone in the kingdom, regardless of age or sex, spoke of nothing but his deeds, his name eventually reached even the ears of Aya, secluded in a corner of Byeol Palace.
At first, Aya couldn’t believe the hero of the rumors and her benefactor were the same person.
She couldn’t reconcile the figure called “the lone moth plunging into enemy ranks” or “the madman who burns his own retreat” with the gentle person she remembered from that day.
Aya came to understand they were one and the same when he appeared at the Royal Palace for the Merit Ceremony to receive commendation.
From her seat near the king, Aya could see his face clearly.
He was larger than she remembered, darkened by the sun, but undoubtedly her benefactor.
She couldn’t forget that cold face, so at odds with the gentleness of his voice.
The fact that her benefactor was a national hero left Aya’s mind in a daze.
From that day forward, she collected every rumor that reached her.
She lingered about the palace, hoping merely to catch a glimpse of his robes.
From the day she’d nearly drowned, Aya had suffered an obsession more fevered than any illness.
‘Ah.’
Lost in such thoughts, half-aware as she lay there, a throbbing pain bloomed.
‘My head hurts.’
The medicine her nurse had given her was excellent, but the headache upon waking was severe.
On the other hand, her lighter ailments had vanished as if they’d never been, so the remedy’s efficacy was undeniable.
Aya looked down at the long scratch-like wound on her arm.
‘A nasty mark.’
A scar from when she’d been torn away—something that had caught her skin?
Groaning, she pushed herself upright and reclined at an angle, then let out a long sigh.
She reached across the table and grasped a small bell in her hand.
Just as she was about to ring it—
“Your Highness!”
The door burst open and her nurse rushed in.
Bell still in hand, Aya’s face went blank.
That woman was rarely so hasty.
“You must prepare yourself at once!”
‘For what?’
Aya stared at her nurse with a questioning look.
What preparations could possibly be needed?
A strange foreboding crept over her, making her toes curl.
“His Majesty has summoned you……!”
At the nurse’s words, Aya felt the ground give way beneath her feet.
Her mind went white with sudden dread.
‘……Why? Why?’
She asked herself these questions silently as she met her nurse’s eyes.
The nurse’s furrowed brow—a look of helplessness—made Aya’s shoulders tremble.
The king. Imrabel.
Her own father was, to her, far more terrifying than any Evil Spirit.
Aya had seen an Evil Spirit and even been harmed by one, yet she did not fear it as she feared him.
An Evil Spirit’s intentions were clear.
Fear is always diminished when there is logic, when there is context.
But the king was different.
She could see no context in him, no clear reason for anything he did.
Aya wrapped her head in her hands.
She didn’t want to see him.
‘I’ve only just recovered from being ill……’
Yet the king’s command was absolute.
Aya trembled as attendants led her this way and that, washing and dressing her.
She wished the preparations could have lasted just a little longer.
As she walked the corridor, she found herself hoping her feet would stick to the floor and refuse to move.
She was terrified of the King.
He was a nightmare made flesh—a shadow that haunted her waking hours.
She wanted to appear composed, whole, untroubled.
But she could not.
Her trembling would not cease as she walked, and fear kept her breath shallow and stuttering.
‘If I collapse here, perhaps I won’t have to face him?’
Her anxiety had reached a fever pitch.
If only she could avoid standing before the King, she felt she could collapse a hundred times over.
But the cruel King would not spare her such mercy.
He would simply drag her before him and pour cold water on her face until she woke.
“Princess.”
Hearing someone call to her, Aya suddenly realized she had stopped walking.
Though she’d gathered her wits, her feet refused to move.
“Princess.”
An attendant urged her forward, and Aya lifted her head.
The King’s Great Hall loomed before her now.
At the sight of those enormous doors, her throat tightened as if a noose had drawn around it.
Standing still, Aya stared at the flames blazing in the braziers on either side of the entrance.
It was then that the doors opened.
Two massive doors, tall enough for giants to pass through, swung wide—and a cluster of sturdy men emerged, flowing out into the corridor.
They departed in the opposite direction, guided by palace attendants.
They stood too far away to get a clear look at Aya.
She, too, was too distant to examine their faces closely.
And yet there was one man she recognized with absolute certainty.
In that instant, her feet—which had been rooted in place as if enchanted—suddenly moved.
Eager to catch even a glimpse of his retreating figure, she nearly ran.
But her pace was far too slow to close the distance between them.
In the end, she could only watch his receding form in a daze.
“Princess!”
The attendants following her called out urgently.
At their loud voices, several in the group glanced back.
Before turning the corner of the branching corridor, he looked back at her—just once.
In the dimness of the hall, she saw the gleam of his eyes.
Those golden irises, as if dusted with gold leaf.
‘Nahal.’
She breathed his name silently.
Though it never left her lips as a sound.
“Princess.”
Her governess called from behind her.
The anxiety in that voice snapped Aya back to herself.
“His Majesty awaits.”
Pulled from the dream-like happiness she’d been lost in, Aya felt herself wrenched back to harsh reality.
She turned and approached the doors.
The thick doors opened again, slowly.
From the entrance of the vast and lengthy hall, an Evil Spirit severed at the waist emerged—
Giggle-giggle—
crawling forth into view.
The Stone Hall, constructed of massive blocks, was filled with a deep chill even on warm days.
Between the columns, in the shadows, Evil Spirits writhed and coiled.
Today, for whatever reason, their numbers were fewer than usual, yet they still filled this cavernous space without a single gap.
Aya stepped into the hall.
Her footsteps echoed through the wide chamber.
Before reaching her, her steps announced her to the King.
Beyond the stairs, on an elevated platform, he sat upon a long throne and gazed down at her.
Aya knelt and bowed her head.
“I bow before Your Majesty.”
Her governess offered the greeting in Aya’s stead.
“Lift your head.”
Aya raised her head.
In Aya’s eyes, the king was not human.
But in the eyes of others, the king would appear as a man.
The nursemaid who followed behind Aya, the attendants—none of them remarked on anything unusual.
Yet to Aya’s gaze, the “king” appeared as something else entirely.
The “king” was shrouded in something dark and vast that seemed to writhe and pulse, and beside it six black wings jutted upward at jagged angles.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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