Apparently, I'm the Infamous Earl's Legendary Bride

Book 1: A Girl in Another World - Chapter 35

It had been over one month since he, his men, and a small group of elves and mountain dwarves who had been kind enough to offer supplies to aid Norsewood had been captured, and despite their dire circumstances, Juan wasn't going to give up hope.

Hope. That was the only thing he had.

He shifted his gaze from the pile of dirt before him to his hands holding the pickaxe, noting the raw and bleeding of his skin. His fingers felt numb. The freezing cold was penetrating his bones, and it wouldn't be long until the digits became too stiff to move properly.

This—the mining work—they had forced on him. No, not just him, but everyone, men, women, and even children, citizens of Norsewood as well as those from other towns and cities, and even other countries and species, the dwarves, elves, and the one-horned demons.

Who were they? he wondered yet again. Were they Athol's citizens? From their speech, it certainly indicated so. The other question that plagued Juan's mind was... Where exactly was this place? That, he didn't know simply because he, as well as his men and the elves and dwarves, had been knocked unconscious at the time of their capture.

Escape! He needed to get out of this place and return to Norsewood. Aldric, his dearest brother, would have returned home by now. If he could just get to Aldric and the Norsewood warriors, then these people would be saved.

The sound of a bell ringing reverberated across the space, the loud noise piercing his eardrums. Everyone around him moved, heading toward the exit. Juan turned on his heel and started in that direction, too. After dropping off his pickaxe, he joined the line of hundreds of others heading back toward their imprisonment of a dungeon that was their shelter from the snowstorm at night.

It was freezing cold outside, and he raised his gaze to the sky, which was, as expected, dark and gloomy.

Ah, he'd do anything to have a warm bowl of hot soup, he thought. He wouldn't even mind that it'd be bland and tasteless. He'd do anything to have a warm bed to sleep in, but alas, it'd be the cold stone floor tonight.

"Get moving, kid!" a man shouted.

Juan lifted his gaze and saw a watchman swinging his whip at a little girl, who cried out as she fell to the ground.

Briming with rage, Juan rushed forward and stood in front of the girl. He said, "Leave her be!"

"Move, rat!" the watchman shouted, raising the whip once more.

As the whip came toward him, Juan caught it in midair. He had the urge to tug it forward and haul the man along with it, but he knew he shouldn't cause any scene and draw unnecessary attention to himself. Hence, he tossed the whip aside and said, "Leave the child be."

The watchman got up and growled, "You!"

"Hey, stop it!" another shouted. "Stop whipping the captured. If they're dead and can't work, it'll be on us. You want your head to roll?"

The watchman grumbled, and after giving Juan a glare, he finally turned away. Now that they were left alone, Juan turned his attention to the little girl and got down on his knees. It was only then that he saw she was a one-horned demon.

He gently touched her head and said, "Are you all right?"

The little girl looked up at him, her large eyes brimming with tears.

"Can you walk, do you think?" he asked.

She wiped the back of her hand over her eyes and then struggled to her feet. He watched as she collapsed again to the ground.

There was no helping it, he thought, and picked her up in his arms.

Inside the dungeon prison, there were throngs of the enslaved, huddling close to one another, working on keeping themselves warm. Food would be distributed soon, and it'd be nothing but hard rye bread like usual.