Chapter 176
“I heard everything in the carriage. That they fed you well, that they raised you with care… that they cherished you…”
The small body trembled with anger.
“It was all lies!”
Ibi wiped her tears with her sleeve and continued.
“In the winter, even when the water froze, they threw blankets at me and ordered me to wash them… If I didn’t finish cleaning the stables before dawn, they wouldn’t even give me the rotten potatoes they usually fed me in the morning… And if the kitchen ran out of ingredients, they would accuse me of stealing and stab me with sticks…”
Her good memory preserved every painful detail clearly in her mind.
Ibi stared down at her own hands. When she lived at the inn, she had not once been able to open and close her hands comfortably.
Her hands, always washing dishes, doing laundry, cleaning, were constantly chapped and raw.
Each knuckle had cracked open and bled, and sometimes dirt got into the wounds, swelling them until pus oozed out.
When she couldn’t even hold a rag anymore, they screamed that if she couldn’t even do that, she was useless and should get out of the inn immediately.
Back then, the inn was Ibi’s whole world.
Anywhere else was only the forest swarming with wolves.
During the day it was bearable, but at night, the wolves would chase her.
So to Ibi, being thrown out of the inn was the most terrifying thing in the world.
When she fell at their feet, begging for forgiveness, they would laugh drunkenly, amused.
And when she didn’t cry, they mocked her, calling her a cold-hearted brat who wasn’t really scared at all.
Ibi told every story slowly, one by one.
Whenever she spoke, Liden beside her confirmed that this was all exactly what he’d heard from them too.
The kneeling innkeepers couldn’t even breathe loudly, listening to their own past spill from Ibi’s mouth.
Her testimony went on for a long time. The list of what they did was endless.
The expressions of the Imperial knights listening beside her twisted with horror.
If they looked like that, then Cloise’s expression was beyond words.
He had burned with anger, then was stunned, and finally sank into bottomless sadness.
How had a child survived such a hell alone?
When Ibi mentioned that the innkeepers had sent her into the forest at night more than thirty times on a bet, Cloise clenched his fist without realizing it.
These people had thrown a child toward death every night for a few coins.
“I… the forest… hic… I was so scared. The wolves always followed me…”
Cloise took Ibi’s hand.
The mark remained clearly visible now, no longer fading.
This was the power that had protected its master from the wolves until the very last moment.
If not for it… Ibi would no longer be in this world.
After a long time, Ibi finally finished speaking.
The people kneeling felt a chill run down their spines.
Anyone could see that what they had done to the princess was unforgivable.
The husband crawled forward first and threw himself flat in front of Ibi.
“Your Highness! I was wrong! I did not know you were a noble person. Had I known you were the Princess, I would never—never have done such things!”
“That’s right! We didn’t recognize you…”
His wife rushed forward and fell beside him, begging the same.
Ibi stared at them clinging to her for a long moment.
Then she spoke.
“If I weren’t a princess… then you wouldn’t be sorry, right?”
“……!”
The innkeepers froze.
Cloise squeezed Ibi’s hand tightly.
The child was right.
Their actions were not wrong because she was a princess.
Even if she had been an ordinary child, what they did was monstrous.
“N-No, that’s not what we meant…”
They tried to scramble for excuses, but there were none.
Ibi looked down at the people kneeling in front of her.
When she was younger, they were pure terror.
But to survive, she had to beg them, cling to them, plead with them.
Now they seemed so small and pathetic.
Ibi looked at Cloise holding her hand.
“Dad…”
When she called him, Cloise nodded with a bitter smile and squeezed her hand gently.
They were still taller and stronger than her.
But she wasn’t afraid anymore—because her dad would protect her.
And not just her dad. Her friends, her teachers, and many others.
Now, there were people who believed in her—people who would protect her.
So there was no reason to fear those who did terrible things anymore.
“Rommel. Hilde. Read their crimes.”
The two knights took out the documents they had received from Duke Kailer and read the list of crimes and the expected sentences.
“Since you claim you did not know she was of royal blood, the special law regarding harming royalty is being omitted. Yet even without it, there are far too many crimes.”
After the war, Cloise had created a special law for children.
Anyone who kidnapped or unlawfully confined a child would face severe punishment.
With the added charges of falsifying a child’s records, violence, and forced labor, their sentence was nearly equivalent to life imprisonment.
“Execution of the sentence will be carried out in the capital. Take them.”
As soon as Rommel finished speaking, the knights seized them and forced them into the prison carriage.
“Please spare us! Please, please spare us!”
“We were wrong, Your Highness!”
Their belated screams of regret echoed in front of the inn.
Ibi turned away without listening.
They would be punished by imperial law.
That was all Ibi wanted.
Not punished for abusing a princess—punished for abusing a child.
“Ibi, let’s go back now,” Cloise said gently.
Staying here any longer would only hurt the child.
But Ibi stared at the inn for a long moment.
Then suddenly, she ran toward the back of it.
“Ibi!”
Cloise shouted in surprise, but Ibi didn’t look back.
“Haa…!”
Soon, the old barn behind the inn came into view.
A door, tightly locked from the outside so no one could enter—or leave.
Ibi grabbed it and struggled until it opened.
Creeeak—
The rusted hinge groaned painfully.
“Ugh!”
The moment the door opened, a foul stench spilled out.
Ibi recognized it. The smell of rotten trash and filth—just like when she lived in this barn.
She stepped inside.
The barn was full of straw for feeding horses.
And then…
“…Ah.”
Ibi let out a breath without realizing it.
Beside a pile of straw, a very small child sat curled up, wearing clothes no better than rags.
The child slowly lifted their head and looked at Ibi.
Hollow eyes. Sunken cheeks. Arms and legs like twigs.
…and wounds covering their thin body.
Ibi walked toward the child, slowly, gently.
Then she knelt down.
“…Hi.”
The child looked puzzled—as if asking whether someone was truly greeting them.
Of course.
No one here would ever greet this child.
They would only shout: “Hey, you! Brat! Useless thing!”
Ibi smiled softly and held out her hand.
“Do you want to come with me?”
The child’s lips trembled.
“C-Can I… go out?”
A voice filled with disbelief.
As if they thought it was natural to spend their entire life here.
Ibi nodded.
“Of course. Let’s go eat something delicious until we’re full. Wear warm clothes… sleep under a soft blanket…”
Her voice trembled.
She knew this feeling.
Because she once sat right here, just like this.
She could still see a smaller version of herself curled up beside that straw.
Back then, she used to stare at the tightly closed door all day.
Hoping someone—anyone—would walk in.
And take her away from this place.
Ibi took the child’s hand.
“Come with me.”
The child’s face twisted, overwhelmed.
And Ibi whispered gently, as someone who understood better than anyone:
“And… it’s okay to cry now.”
At those words, the child’s eyes turned red, tears welling up until they spilled over.
Then the child burst into loud sobs.
Ibi wrapped her arms around them.
Sunlight poured through the open door, bright and warm.
Ibi had saved the child’s future—and rescued her own past from the darkness.
Now, they were somewhere where tears were allowed.
