Chapter 10 – Boundary (2)

How long has it been since you saw the forest in your home country? Iz entered the visible forest. As a child, her memories were still etched into her when she lived with her own tribe, so she could easily find a forest spring. She continued to quench her thirst with a cactus, so she frantically dipped her head into the spring and drank.

After drinking to the point where his stomach was shaking, Iz lay down on the grass. It’s cool spring water that she drinks after her terrible thirst, so it should be bitterly sweet, but strangely, she kept thinking of the water of the oasis.

Iz filled her stomach with tree fruits in the forest and reflected her face in the spring water. And she looked around and found a stone. When she hit it on the rock and broke it, the cross section became sharpened. Iz grabbed her hair and cut it off with a stone blade. In fact, it would be more appropriate to say that it was ripped off than cut off.

After a long time, Iz’s long hair was arbitrarily cut short and messed up as if a rat had eaten it. She then gathered some of black cherries from the bushes, crushed them, and put them on her hair. When she was at Delane’s palace, she had seen the maids there dye their hair. Sure enough, the place where the fruit and juice touched gradually turned black.

After a long time, Iz saw her hair turn light black. It was originally bright gold, so she thought it was too dark black like everyone else.

‘And finally….’

Iz took out the now dried herbs from her arms. It was a herb that blinded Zano.

‘It must be dangerous.’

She remembered that he planted this in her flower bed and told her not to eat it like a joke. But now that joke has become a reality.

‘If it’s as Zano said, at this rate… I’ll lose some of my eyesight, but the color of my eyes will change.’

Iz wanted it. Blonde hair and green eyes were not common. It is easy to be remembered by people. Then she will be quickly caught by Delane or Akram who are looking for her. Of course they’re looking for a blonde, green-eyed woman.

But if she’s not blond or had green eyes. Then she can avoid everyone’s eyes easily.

Iz fiddled with the herbs and thought. She can completely lose her sight like Zano. But…

“…what difference would it make if I lost something more?”

It is a herb that is not used for anything other than this anyway. If so, wouldn’t it be better to try it at least once rather than throwing it away? So Iz put the herb in her mouth and chewed it. That’s when she realized. She’s thinking that it would be better if this was a poisonous herb that would take her life. It was a funny thing. She can’t believe she ran away from death and came all the way here. Then she should have just jumped from a high place in the palace.

Iz laughed at herself and raised her knees to bury her face. She had a sore throat after swallowing the herb. It was about to work. Fearing that she didn’t know what would happen, Iz closed her eyes tightly.

There was a lot of reaction. Suddenly, she started to have a fever, and her whole body hurt and it was hard to breathe. Iz lay down on the grass and closed her eyes.

There was only one reason for fleeing the capital of Akram. If she died there, she’s really trash, so she thought she’ll be sent to the incinerator and burned with the other garbage.

‘I hate that.’

She knows she’s not great. Still, she didn’t want to be abandoned like that. Even if she lies to him…. He wanted to be someone who was trash that could be thrown away at any time. The heat was increasing and Iz lost consciousness.

‘And when I opened my eyes again, my eyesight became like this.’

Iz walked toward the food storage and looked at her hand. Her broken vision made even her hands look blurry. Fortunately, there was no big problem in recognizing light or distinguishing colors.

‘Even my pupils became black.’

Coming out of the forest, Iz met a child from a nearby village. When she asked the child, he said the color of Iz’s eyes was black. After that, she walked along the border and found a place where people gathered, and finally stayed in the village on this border.

And now, as Iz approached the food warehouse, the man who was from the kingdom screamed.

“You’ve been playing around and now you’re here!”

He hit Iz’s head with his fist. Because she couldn’t see him properly, Iz fell to the floor with all the stagger. In her old days, she would have endured without falling, but as her days went by, her limbs were dry and only her stomach was protruding, making it difficult to balance her body properly.

[You crazy guy!]

[Did you hit a pregnant woman?]

The people who were really upset were the people of Akram who came to make a deal. They let out a cry of surprise and then hurriedly raised Iz. At the same time, they seemed worried that Iz might be surprised.

[I’m fine. I just stumbled. Thank you.]

Iz thanked them and stopped them from trying to point the finger at the merchant of Delane. The merchant of Delane clicked his tongue in annoyance as he watched the Akram people screaming.

“No, they’re weak against pregnant women. During wartime, they cut people’s throats well. Hey, that’s okay, let’s talk about goods. Ask what they brought.”

“Yes.”

Iz started interpreting, leaving out the merchant’s first words. The people of Akram didn’t like that he hit Iz, and after bargaining a few times, they asked Iz to help them find another merchant. Because of that, the merchant who first called Iz spit on the sand and left saying that he was unlucky.

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