The sound of the fire in the campfire crackled and the constant sound of the waves hitting against land rang out. The faces of the women sitting around the campfire were full of exhaustion.

Even so, none of them was crying. They felt that it was enough to thank God for allowing them to survive and simply face this night. In fact, none felt like crying.

Among those women, Deertes sat alone, staring blankly at the campfire.

She was still trying to comprehend what had happened throughout the day. As soon as she arrived in Saul, she was instantly attacked, fled, fell into the sea, and saw all the sailors beside her die, and now. caught by unknown people.

Fortunately, those unidentifiable men were Ramedes’ people. They aided in most of the women’s escape and had rescued every woman who was drowning and struggling far away in the sea. As a result, the women were still confused as to whether those men were enemies or not.

Deertes massaged her throbbing shoulders with her palms. It was clear that something had gone terribly wrong when she fell into the sea. When she pressed down, the sharp pain she felt was similar to as if she were being stabbed.

“Ugh…”

When she could not stand the pain and groaned, several women around her turned their heads to where the sound came from. They glanced at her for just a moment before quickly averting their gaze, however, Deertes could easily recognise the hostility that was present in their eyes.

This was not an unfamiliar thing for her. Even when riding on the Baiyan, those were the same eyes that she felt. While they were forced to stay crumpled together in the prison on the ship and ate bread that even the mouse on the ground were fed with, Deertes was given bread that could be chewed and eaten without the help of any water in her own room.

Even when taking the occasional walk on the deck, Deertes was able to enjoy it for the longest amount of time. Whenever that happened, Deertes could feel the enemy’s envious gazes stuck on her back.

After a while, the strange men who had been talking about something a distance away, came back with a basket filled with items. The aromatic scent filled the air and soon the women’s focus was on something else. Their faces all filled with curiosity and yearning.

“Potatoes!”

“Me too! Me too, give me that!”

The women who were sitting down instantly jumped up upon hearing the word “potato” and quickly rushed up front to beg the men.

“Come on, take one. It’s because the boss is feeling generous and giving you all a special welcome.”

The man smiled and proceeded to hand out the food in his hand to the women. Soon, the basket rolled onto the ground as they tried to quickly get ahold of a potato. Before long, potatoes spilled and rolled on the sand.

Even so, they were quickly picked up by the women who were swift with their hands. Everyone hurry packed their mouths full of potatoes, not a single one bothering to brush off the sand that they were now covered in. Following after the sound of the horses came a loud clanking sound. A few now slapping and whacking their throats as they somewhat choked on the dry potatoes.

“We’ve brought water as well, so take your time in eating.”

As if they had been expecting such a situation, the men put their large canisters of water down on the ground. The women who managed to swallow the potatoes now clung tightly to the canisters. When the stopper was pulled off, a thin stream of water fell to the ground. Once again, chaos ensured like when the potatoes were brought.

Deertes hesitated behind the group of women as she looked at them. For the first time in her life, she felt terrible hunger and thirst but she stopped herself from running desperately to get a bite and a sip of water like the other women.

The woman, who had pushed others and drank the water first, was walking back to her seat with water still all over her lips, satisfied. Before taking a seat, she took a look at Deertes who was standing behind her and laughed.

“You, noble lady, are truly extraordinary. Do you still think that you can hold on? When are you going to take that damned mess of a veil off? I don’t think one can even breathe in that.”

“I…”

“Don’t block the road, get out of my way.”

The woman commented, clapping Deertes on the shoulder. Deertes sat down with a troubled expression, the pain in her injured shoulder intensifying.

“Oh dear. Should I be acting so cold-hearted when we are both going through the same predicament?”

One of the men who had brought the potatoes approached Deertes. Scouring his pocket, he passed the remaining potatoes to her.

Deertes could barely accept the potato, wincing at the pain that her shoulder felt. She wondered for a moment whether he should thank the male who had just given her the potatoes. The man looked at Deertes and reached out his hand.

The veil came of almost instantly. Her platinum blonde hair, now dry and salty from the saltwater, scattered in the moonlight. At that moment, all the sound around her was wonderful. She was surprised at the way he gazed at her and reached out to get her veil back.

However, the man who took off her veil grabbed Deertes’ hair and brough her face close to his.

“…What a pretty girl. The boss was searching for you.”

Deertes was shocked by the hand of the man that grabbed her hair and tried to push him away, yet the man did not budge nor let go of his hand that held her hair tightly.

“Let go!”

“You have a pretty voice. I wonder how much prettier the area between your legs will be?”

Deertes wanted to cover her ears to block all the vulgar and dirty words that he was talking about. Luckily, other men had approached them and struck the man’s shoulder whose hand was holding onto her hair.

“Crazy guy. If the boss sees this, his wrists would go flying. Quickly put her veil back on. They say noble women don’t take off their veils in front of others.”

No one would have thought that Count Russell’s forest fairy would hear such an insult in her face.

After the man returned to his party, she looked at the potatoes in her hands. Her hands trembled slightly at the thought of having to endure more of such insults. However, her trembling hands could not find the strength nor courage to throw the potato away. The terrible hunger gnawed at her and took priority over the insult. Deertes lifted the veil slightly and slowly ate the potato.

The hunger became more prevalent as food entered her starving stomach which has not worked for a day. As she had quickly shoved the potato into her mouth with her bare hands, pieces of green potato fell onto her clothes. Then, a hand from the side appeared. It picked up the pieces of potato that fell on her clothes. A strange woman had approached her and before Deertes could realise it, she had pushed the piece of potato into her mouth as Deertes’ own potato was crushed into her mouth.

Deertes was enraged at the woman’s sudden behaviour. She almost raised her hand upon realising that her food was taken away from her without her knowing it.

But soon, Deertes lowered her hand. Never before in her life had she hit anyone. Therefore, her current behaviour and actions were causing her great confusion. It was as soon as she realised her reasoning for such actions did her confusion turn into misery.

Everyone had always praised her. Not only for her appearance but her elegance as if she were the Goddess of Forest Fairies. Ever since she was young, Deertes had never spoken harsh words nor acted rough before. This was because she did not want to and did not have a need to. But she would have never thought that she would get so agitated over a single potato or a piece of it.

Her body seemed to tremble with an unknown sense of fear. It has been less than a day after arriving at Saul and Deertes already felt that something in her was already on the brink of collapse. While she was deep in thought, she pressed her fingers against the crumbs that had fallen on her clothes and took them in her mouth. Until there were no longer and crumbs left on her clothes.

The first night in Saul was frighteningly cold.

***

Deertes took a quick drink of water from the tapered stream with her hands and made her way back to the women who were, as usual, unwelcoming of her and sat near the campfire. After quenching her hunger and thirst, she was now able to access and think about her situation with clarity.

At first, Deertes thought that she was the purpose for being attacked. However, when she saw that the attackers were rescuing all the women, she knew that they were the true purpose of their attacks.

Before she had boarded the Baiyan, the captain politely explained how the women who were sent from their homes were being treated in Saul.

“Women are very precious there. So there are many times where we share some of that preciousness with them.”

Even though he repeated his sentence again, she immediately understood what he meant by his words. Upon noticing how Deertes’ body hardened, the captain continued with a soothing voice.

“You won’t have to worry too much. Bernst’s Governor is said to have as much self-restraint as a priest. He won’t share you with anyone else, plus there are also ladies who still follow their husbands who are a part of the military. When you get to Bernst, you won’t see any more female prisoners as the area you will be living in is in a completely different area.”

For a moment, she stopped thinking, distracted by the sound of the bonfire. Avoiding the flying embers, Deertes recalled the words of the vulgar man from a while ago. A specific phrase they mentioned caught her attention.

“Host an auction.”