25 Disposed (2)

Step by step, I treaded backward to the door, tilting my head towards the outside while fighting to keep the corpse in the corner of my vision at all times. Although I initially wanted to hear for any cues, all that sounded for seemingly eternity was my drumming heartbeat.

And when the faintest notions of soft footsteps actually sounded, nearly indiscernible from the background, I couldn't tell if they were my hallucinations projecting onto reality.

"Fourth princess, it's me," the maid whispered as if expecting for me to be listening at the door, giving me a moment to dodge away before slipping back in.

"Your Humble Servant found no guards posted along the entire way," she reassured. "A group of them are slumped at the door, but none seem to be fully conscious."

In a single fluid motion, she set the bundle of clothes onto the table and immediately began to help me put on a new guise. But my hands were quicker, undoing the gown and moving as fast as they possibly could.

Yet, in the heat of the moment, much to my frustration, a few strands of my hair caught in the knots. Already frazzled from before, they screamed in protest as any last notions of order were cast out.

When unknotting proved to be too time-consuming, there was a time when I wanted to forcibly yank them out. Only, I realized that the maid stood in the corner, watching the scene unfold, and a thought spontaneously arose.

"Can you help unknot this while I dress?" I asked, no longer minding my awkward position of seeming power. "If possible, change it to the hairdo that matches yours as best as you could." As she immediately set to work, I too continued to make every second last like two.

The fabric of this light blue gown was much coarser than the elaborate dresses fit for a princess, but it embodied a sense of familiarity. The knots were obvious, and the design was more simple. As if muscle memory from years of wearing similar clothes kicked in, a surprising sense of calmness rushed over me.

I tied the last knot.

"Let's go," I spoke, a faked but moving confidence edged into my voice. When the words slipped out, even I was momentarily convinced of the success of the mission by the voice that did not sound like mine. "As soon as we're out of sight, we run. If anyone asks, we are simply doing laundry for 'Fourth princess.'"

Yes, I avoided the obvious flaws in my logic. Now was not the time to plan for our failure, only to draft a quick backup plan. Nodding, she acknowledged our shared understanding—there could be no failure.

Taking a deep breath, I set my hands on one end of the corpse. "Lead the way," I gestured towards the other side. She met me with a firm nod and a small smile.

You're just holding an ordinary piece of cargo, I whispered inside, the voice shrieking for me to stop overthinking.

"Three. Two. One. Lift," when the last syllable sounded, I channeled all of the energy I had within me, my teeth clamping together in concentration to the point I thought they would shatter.

She too furrowed her brows, but her expression didn't gnarl into a mess. If we were to escape undetected, I had to find her background, I silently vowed. There was no way she was a simple servant.

In a heave, we lifted the body into the air and tiptoed out the door, casting sideways glances every few moments and otherwise keeping our heads down low. As she had said, the corridor was empty, surprisingly so as if someone was waiting to spring a trap onto us. If anything, the gaping desolation made me fear more than the guards themselves as every soft footstep seemed to echo on into infinity.

We tried to stick by the walls and best avoid attention, pretending to blend into the background.

She was walking backward, and with every turn, I mumbled to her reminders. Luckily, she never hit a single wall, looking behind ever so often on top of my suggestions.

The reed sheets wrapped around the corpse made it easier to grip, but stiff rods bit into my flesh with every step, the bristles jabbing into my skin at every odd angle.

Don't drop him, I had to mentally remind myself every few moments.

Seeing there was no one around to catch us, we were walking as fast as we could, but before we were near the door of the inn, my arms already screamed in protest. Each muscle was sore, and sweat dampened my palms, making the body harder and harder to hold. The distance wasn't that far, only about a hundred steps at best, but the path was never-ending.

She was doing much better, her unnatural strength and physical ability sustaining our entire way. If she had not been steadying at the helm or had not been here altogether, I don't know if I would have managed to take a single step.

Biting into my bottom lips, I pushed myself onward.

Before we had vision of the door, we heard the unmistakably drunken words of the posted soldiers.

"Drrrrr….drink!" a soldier chanted.

"No, youuuuuu," another slurred voice chimed in. "Youuuuuu drink!"

It became silent, and we exchanged quick glances before lowering our gazes once more.

We turned the corner.

From my limited field of vision, I could make out two bodies, one slumped next to the door and another half-sprawled against the floor.

Don't notice us, I prayed a hundred times over.

Using her elbows, the maid inched toward the door and attempted to nudge it open. She was but a sliver away.

"Waittttt" A voice stopped us dead in our tracks, and every part of my body jolted to a stop. Subconsciously, I gripped the reed mat tighter than before. And if the corpse's weight was too much to bear already, the sudden stop made it all the harder to carry.

"Whattttt are you girls—" one soldier hiccuped. "Doing?"

But before we responded, his head rolled back, and he began chuckling to himself. "Ha, I see spirits."

We took the moment to rush out the door, and I backed into it to close it behind us. Even so, I couldn't take a single breath without fear.

Outside, the crisp night air chilled my bones, and a shiver rushed through my spine. Was it this cold when you died as well? I couldn't help but wonder.

After taking a few more steps, the maid signaled for a path in the brush, and we bolted into the forestry. Surveying the surroundings to make sure that there was no one around, I let the last breath catch up to me.

"Four—" she began whispering, but I immediately shook my head no. This was not the time for formalities. "Do you want to take a break?" Her voice was also weak, and I noticed the line of cold sweat dripping down the side of her face.

Only then did I realize that there was not an ounce of strength left in my body. My hands were simply frozen in place, glued to the corpse in this position as if a statue. There was no more pain in my hands as it had long numbed.

If we stopped now, we would never have the energy to pick him up again.

"We push on," I reminded, shaking my head to keep my consciousness. Black dots were beginning to dance around my vision, but I was unaware whether that was from fatigue or the darkness alone.

I suppose we could have dragged the body along the floor now that there were no guards, but a trail of crushed grass in the width of a human might have caused unnecessary complications.

I gave her an encouraging look, but amidst the darkness, I doubt she could have seen it anyways.

The lush treetops shielded out the outside world, and only patches of moonlight slipped between the leaves, casting sickly patterns onto us. From behind every bush, it seemed as if people would jump at us. Or perhaps, wild beasts were waiting to tear us to pieces.

In the distance, I could make out the faint glimmer of moonlight cast onto a river. If it wasn't for the circumstances now, it would have been a scene from a poem.

We were so close. No, I needed to focus.

But suddenly, I felt the weight all shift onto my side as the maid stumbled and let go. Slipping between my fingers as well, the corpse crashed into the bushes in a rustle.

"Who's there?" A man's voice sounded.