I was making my way to a wig shop after I had gotten a brown cloak and pulled up its hood.

I had successfully managed to sneak out of my carriage without the knights following.

It was easy actually. I just told one of the knights that I was just soooooo hungry and I needed that tart from that shop which was located approximately 3 miles from here and insisted that them to take Seanna with them, giving them some lame excuse. And when the two of them left, I quickly and quietly sneaked out of the carriage with a few golds in my pouch.

I found the wig shop soon enough while remembering the landmarks so I could return without getting lost.

It was a small shop and it had a lot of wigs on display.

"How much is this one for?" I asked the shopkeeper pointing a long black haired wig.

"3 golds."

I took out three golds from the pouch and handed it to him as he asked.

"You are a noble, huh?" He asked me. I paused.

Wait.... How did he guess that? I'm wearing a cloak right now.

I nodded, still thinking where the loophole was.

"Why would a beautiful lady such as yourself need a wig?"

I didn't want to answer so I just replied the question with another question, "Why do you think?"

"Cause you're going bald?" The man said sarcastically and laughed.

Hahaha. Very funny.

But I needed to get away quickly before the knights return, so I replied, "Damn Right." Since I had my hood on, he couldn't get an outline of my hair.

The man looked taken aback.

"You wanna check?" I said clutching my hood as if to reveal my non-existent shiny bald scalp.

"Uh. No. That's not needed." He quickly said and handed me the wig.

I quickly took it and made my way back to the carriage, when I was a few turns away from my carriage, I removed the cloak and wrapped it around my wig so I can quickly sneak into the carriage and stuff it into one of the shopping bags.

When I was about to move on again, I heard some voices coming from a dark alley just in front of me.

"Come with me you little brat! Dammit!" A hoarse voice came, though there was something very different about the language he spoke.

I decided to quickly cross it and pretend I didn't hear anything. I can't get involved in trouble like those nosy female leads in my favourite novels.

As I was passing the alley my eyes decided to take a quick glance out of curiosity(when my brain was freaking screaming at me to not look). And I stopped dead in my tracks.

Eunah?

Was the first thing I thought after looking at the small kid. She looked unrealistically similar to my sister. Though a few years younger. Black hair and black eyes small hands which were trying to get away from the grip of the larger hands pulling her.

"Let go." she spoke and I acted on my instincts.

On my dumb, stupid and heroic instincts.

"Excuse me but the child said to let her go." I spoke sternly before I could stop myself.

The man pulling her looked at me with his sharp eyes and I nearly stopped myself from taking an about-turn and dashing off crying 'Eommma*!!'.

"Hah! And what are you going to do about it, missy?" He mocked me with a different accent and continued pulling the girl single-handedly (as he was carrying a suitcase in another hand) deeper within the alley.

I gulped. This is going to be the worst decision I've ever made in my 29 years of life but, I'm not gonna sit watch him drag her to a possible hellhole.

I strode my way towards them and took the child's other hand and said sternly, "Leave."

He looked at my grip on the kid and then back at me giving me a look that said, 'back off' and trust me I so wanted to but my kind heart just wouldn't do that.

"Hah!" He sighed, "you're really getting on my nerves now." He said and flipped open a knife from his pocket and pointed it at me. Now that action made him remove the grip he had on the child.

"Leave before I make you leave forever." He warned me shoving the knife in my face just stopping centimetres before it cut in my skin. I actually considered the offer, mentally cursing myself for even trying. I was about to loosen my grip on the girl when my eyes met her. They had tears in them and I could see her silently begging me not to leave. And her resemblance to Eunah didn't help much. It felt like I was abandoning my sister.

I decided. Let's make use of my super-genius brain and get us out of this situation. This is a novel world and follows most of the novel thingies. So if any protagonist needs to get out of such a situation, what would they do?

The answer came instantly to me.

Distraction.

I looked behind the man's shoulder to stare at nothing in particular and then I smirked as if someone was approaching us.

The man instantly snapped his head back, lowering his knife and I ran in the opposite direction, dragging the small girl with me. Fortunately, I wasn't wearing heels so it almost made no sound. Besides, today luck was with me and I wore a dress which ended five to four inches above my ankles instead of a floor-length dress.

"What are you look- HEY!!!" I heard the man scream but we were already out of the dark alley. I quickly took a left turn and continued running. Soon. Soon I'll reach the carriage.

Just as I was about to turn right, I realised the man has closed most of the distance and was just a few steps behind. I ran faster and faster and out of nowhere, my mind started playing the song 'Run' by BTS. I can't understand how my mind can still be sarcastic when a man much stronger than me is running behind me with a fucking knife.

When I turned right I could see the pink carriage with Seanna and the knights standing outside massaging his temples, probably knowing that I disappeared.

And with that, I also realised that the man was about to grab me with his outstretched hand.

"MISTER KNIGHT!!!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and that caught his attention.

As the knight ran towards me, the man trailing behind me took an about-turn and dashed off.

"CATCH HIM!!" I told (more like yelled at) the knight. I couldn't point because my hands were full holding the cloak and the child.

The knight wanted to cross me but obeyed me when he saw how serious I was. Seanna rushed towards me asking, "Are you okay, lady Adailia?"

"Yes." I huffed. Then I looked down at the kid to see if she was alright. She looked fine, but something in her eyes wasn't okay. Now, I'm not some eye reader so I can't exactly tell what was her expression was about (I don't know how the protagonist always do that), so I checked her for any injuries my eyes stopped at her feet and widened.

Blood.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?" I asked the child, though I knew she wasn't.

"Let me see your feet." I told her and made her sit on a nearby bench to check for her injuries. My eyes widened yet again.

A shattered piece of glass was embedded in her tiny foot among with tons of small scratches.

And the girl didn't say a word.

Not a single word or whimper. Nothing.

My eyes teared up a bit when I looked at the injury and yet the girls eyes showed no emotions.

"You are a healer, right?" I asked Seanna who was looking at both of us.

She nodded wordlessly.

"Heal her." I ordered quietly.

"B-but using magic outside the Academy is-" she started but I cut her off, "Just do it. I'll personally deal with the consequences later." I knew that using magic outside the Academy till you've got graduated is prohibited and has severe punishments. I'll talk her out of it.

Seanna did so. As I was about to get back into the carriage to keep my cloak in it, I felt a small tug on my skirt. I looked down to see the child clutching it.

I could almost hear her say, 'Don't go.'

"I'll be right back I promise." I said with a reassuring smile and quickly went inside the carriage to dump my cloak in one of the shopping bags. After doing so, I quickly made my out of it back to the child.

"What's your name?" I asked the child smiling.

She didn't reply.

Oh well.

"Does it hurt? It must. It's a surprise you're not crying." I changed the subject.

"No. Me strong." She said.

I looked at her incredulously.

"Who said crying makes you look weak?" I asked her.

She looked up at me with an emotionless face, though something flashed in her eyes (nothing actually flashed I'm just being saying).

"Crying means you are strong enough to show your emotions." I quoted from one of the quotes I read somewhere.

The girl looked down and then her eyes teared up.

And soon she started to cry.

I hugged her and patted her back in a soothing manner, I did that years ago when Eunah cried. I was reminded of her, the girl resembled her a lot and they were similar too, in away. Eunah didn't cry often when she was young. Eunah is 10 now and I practically raised her till she was 6 before I moved to Seoul. She was like my first kid so I was very much attached to her.

My mind drifted back to the same question I asked myself every night before going to sleep.

I wonder how my family is doing.

But quickly pushed it back of my head like always and continued patting the child's head.

They must be fine. Not like I'm going to see them again.

I died in a truck crash and accidentally ended up here. Once I find a way to get out of this book, my soul will ascend back to heaven, where it was supposed to go from the start. That was my fate.