I Ran Away and Got Married

Chapter 4

It hadn’t been long since the Director stopped walking.

“I apologize for making you wait long.”

As he bowed toward the carriage, its door opened.

Sitting inside was the man wearing a robe.

The Director was blocking Raphia from his view, saying he couldn’t hand over Raphia until the sponsorship agreement was signed.

She looked around, continuing to search for a way to escape. Thanks to the Director standing in front of her, it was easier for her to scour her surroundings.

‘I have to go to the left.’

Raphia decided on that direction.

She didn’t know if it was because of their strict obedience or perhaps it was because Yuri didn’t want that many people knowing about Raphia, but the number of guards deployed here was minimal.

Raphia bit her lip.

‘Not yet.’

She held her breath and waited for the right moment.

“Once again, thank you very much for coming to our orphanage and supporting us with your generous donation. It comforts me to know that this child will have a happier future away from this shabby place.”

The Director bowed towards Yuri again.

He seemed to be groveling so that he’d stay in his good graces.

But Yuri didn’t seem to want to talk to him anymore.

He gingerly reached out of the carriage.

“Give me the papers.”

“Oh yes, of course. I brought it for you.”

The Director scuttled over and gave him the agreement.

“How would you like to pay for the sponsorship, sir?”

“I’ll pay you in cash. Lump sum.”

“Goodness! The full amount all in cash?”

The Director gasped, overwhelmed for a moment, but he soon nodded and handed over the quill.

It was when Yuri held up the pen.

‘Now!’

Raphia gritted her teeth and ran as fast as she could to the left.

‘It’ll be the end if I stop!’

At her sudden movement, the careless Director and the guards around him could only gape blankly at her retreating figure.

“What exactly are you doing right now?!”

At the prompting of the man’s enraged voice inside the carriage, the Director was the first one to snap out of it.

As soon as he realized that Raphia had fled, his features twisted in distortion.

“What are you doing? Bring back that wench now!”

“Wha—ah, yes!”

Raphia knew very well that no matter how fast she ran, she wouldn’t be able to outrun the two adult men on her heels.

So she tugged on an oak barrel full of food waste.

Fortunately, this alley was covered with small stones.

As food scraps spilled onto the gravel, the stinking water that came with it soaked the stones and made the floor slippery.

The men chasing Raphia struggled to balance their tilting bodies, arms floundering about.

“You stupid bastards! That girl’s getting away!”

The sound of the Director’s stomping feet could be heard far behind her.

She steadily widened her distance from the men as they continued to struggle with the food waste.

Fortunately, as she surmised, the road on the left narrowed gradually the more she went deeper.

Since it was a shabby district, the width of the alleyways was narrow and the roads were like a meandering maze with tall buildings surrounding it.

Moreover, it was incredibly dirty because garbage and waste were thrown everywhere haphazardly because of lax governance.

The men who chased after her could hardly keep up because Raphia adeptly navigated through these alleys full of garbage.

‘I need to find a sewer.’

It was much better to endure this kind of dirt rather than being thrown around like garbage herself. But then, she couldn’t find the passageway she was looking for.

Raphia gasped for breath, her teeth rattling as she heaved. She wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long.

Her shoes were long gone, but she couldn’t go back for them.

The soles of her feet burned as she ran, but not once did she stop.

‘Faster. I need to run faster. I can’t get caught.’

Growing dizzy from exertion, the sound of wind whooshing by her ears intertwined with her rough breaths.

‘If I get caught, I’ll die again.’

As her fear grew, her vision blurred because of her tears.

Raphia clenched her teeth and swiped at her eyes with a fist to wipe them away.

“Where did she go?”

“Shit, is she a rat? Why is she so fast?”

But despite running nonstop, it didn’t seem like she had gotten far. She could still hear their voices.

“Over there!”

The two men quickly chased after her.

The frightened Raphia tried to flee hurriedly, but the last opening had been blocked.

Her pursuers clicked their tongues, prowling around her as if they were cats stalking their prey.

“Ah, damn it. You’re being a nuisance to everyone. Hey, are you done? Come here while I’m still being nice.”

They continued threatening her like that.

Raphia shrank even more, biting her lip hard enough that she drew blood.

‘I need to use that power. It’s the only way.’

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, then opened them again.

The power available to her was extremely limited, which was why she had to weigh her options carefully.

In the meantime, those men came closer to surround her.

With all directions now blocked, they slowly approached her as if she were a mouse in a jar, all while threatening her and kicking the rubbish towards her.

“This goddamn kid. You think you can still get away? Just try it, huh?”

“Hey settle down, it’s just a kid,” said the taller of the two men. His voice was cautious, but with a hint of annoyance.

“You think what she’s doing is cute just because she’s a kid?!”

The man huffed and took one more step closer to Raphia.

‘Please, please let it work.’

Desperate now, she took a short breath.

Then, she opened her eyes and looked straight into the eyes of the men, one after the other.

At that moment, her crimson eyes glowed in the darkness.

“W-what?”

The moment they were faced with those vivid blood-colored eyes, the men felt an unexpected chill that slinked from the tip of their feet to the top of their heads.

Even so, they didn’t want to admit that they were afraid of a kid who wasn’t even half as tall as they were, so they didn’t stop coming closer to her.

Strangely enough, the more they got closer to Raphia, the more their hearts pounded louder.

‘What’s wrong with me? Is it because I’ve been running around chasing that wench around to death?’

Their hearts felt heavy and it felt like their stomachs were about to drop to their knees. They tried to suppress the feeling, but it wouldn’t go away.

“Oy, we don’t have time. Let’s just grab her and go.”

“Yeah, I got it.”

Raphia stepped back and felt the wall behind her. Then, she slowly opened her mouth and spoke to them.

[ Don’t come near me. ]

It was a voice that emitted a strange echo.

“Hah? W-what?”

The approaching men were confused.

At Raphia’s behest, their feet got stuck to the ground and they wondered why they couldn’t take another step forward.

It was as if her voice had ensnared the men like an invisible rope.

“Urk.”

Raphia clenched her teeth.

Pain overwhelmed her senses. This was the price for using her power over language.

“. . . Ugh.”

As Raphia endured the pain, she groaned and furrowed her brows. There was a metallic taste in her mouth.

Meanwhile, the men used their fists to hit their legs repeatedly, then pulling as hard as they could.

“What’s wrong with my legs? Ugh!”

“I can’t move either!”

No matter how much they forced it, they couldn’t move their legs.

“Shit, grab that wench first! Don’t let her get away!”

“I know!”

It was such a narrow alley that the distance between the men and Raphia was not much.

So then, they thought they could easily grab her hair if they just stretched their arms.

The moment Raphia saw the men reaching for her, she opened her mouth again.

[ Don’t touch me. ]

Right then, their arms stopped moving in the air.

“Huh? What?”

“What the hell’s going on!”

Just like their legs, they couldn’t move their arms and hands anymore.

“Is this that wench’s doing?”

“W-what? Isn’t she just a normal kid?”

“You think I know?!”

The only thing the men could move were their lips.

Like a raging waterfall, their rough words stung her ears. Raphia had half a mind to order them to stop talking, too, but she didn’t.

‘I don’t know how long it’ll last.’

Because her power was incomplete, the duration of her control was short.

If she said anything more, she would only be endangering herself.

“Two men . . .”

Raphia wouldn’t be able to keep it up.

This was why the strong urge to vomit came again from deep within her body.

“Uurk.”

Her complexion was visibly worse, too.

In the end, Raphia felt so exhausted that she stopped herself from talking more and bit her lip.

“F*ck! What the hell did you do to us!”

The men who were standing in strange positions as if they were puppets snarled menacingly.

“Make our bodies go back to normal!”

Raphia breathed slowly, their harsh words going into one ear and out the other.

Even after just two commands, the power was dissipating faster than she expected.

‘No . . . no, not yet. Please work one more time.’

With her brows furrowed once more, she concentrated as hard as she could.

Trying not to lose focus, she struggled to open her eyes.

Her red eyes made contact with the men again, and her trembling lips opened.

[ B-both of you . . . lose consciousness . . . and collapse to the ground. ]

Unlike what she said about their arms and legs, this time, her words didn’t work on the men.

The men felt a bit drowsy, but that was all. They glared at Raphia.

“The hell kind of bullshit is this wench talking about?!”

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With their rage surging because they were nervous about the limbs they still couldn’t control, the men burst out in anger.

‘I thought I could use my power three times. Did I overestimate myself?’

The fact that her last command didn’t work meant that she ran out of power.

Raphia grew anxious.

‘One more time . . . I have to do it one more time.’