When Keira left the palace, she quickly tried to blend in with the crowd but noticed that she was bringing attention to her figure instead of avoiding it. Her outfit was too conspicuous, and not to forget her beat-up figure.
She quickly went in between the houses and hid in the alley.
She was tired and still hungry. The bread she took earlier from the guard was nowhere near enough to satisfy her empty stomach. Still, it did give her enough energy to move around earlier. However, that energy had almost depleted and Keira still needed to proceed forward.
First, she had to find some normal clothes. If she had System 999 with her, everything would have been so much easier, but reality still stands. She had to rely on herself.
‘Speaking of clothes, don’t people usually leave them out to dry? Maybe I could find some clothes in the corner of these buildings.’
Thus, Keira quickly began to search her surroundings.
The houses were tall. Maybe because it was in the main city. But after searching for a while, she did find some clothes hanging near the third-floor windows. She scaled up the buildings, still wincing in pain every time she hopped around. She grabbed the clothes and carefully descended down.
She was only able to find men's clothing. There were brown trousers, a white tunic top, and some worn-out shoes. She could try and search for more, but this would only cost more time and energy, so Keira decided to just go with what she had.
Keira tried the clothes on, hiding in just piles of boxes in the most secluded parts of the alleyway. Thankfully, the clothes she got weren’t as big that they would cover her whole figure, but they still need a little improvisation so it would not really hinder her movement much. She inserted the tunic into her trousers and folded the bottom of her trousers.
She removed her sandals and wore the worn-out shoe. The sandals that wrapped around her leg were more comfortable but they would look awkward in her current outfit so she had to abandon them. She tied her long curly orange hair into a bun.
All she needed now was a robe or a shawl to hide her face, which was easy to steal, people would usually leave it near their seats where they are situated.
Going back to the main road, Keira swiftly stole a robe that was left by the owner of a fruit stand in the back. She walked back to the shadows and immediately wore the robe. She had no clue where Adage’s man is situated after all.
It was already beginning to turn dark. Keira escaped in the afternoon. Only a few hours had passed since then. She had no idea what Adage had cooked up. She planned on stealing some food before it would be harder next time around.
Keira planned on slowly finding her way out of the city, which she thought is the safest. She could hunt, find some cave to sleep in and most of all, hide from the people. All these people, from the knights to the citizens are all Adage’s people. They could become his eyes and ears. Adage’s smart, so he would surely be wise in using his resources if he was desperate in finding her. Though she knew it was an impossible dream, she still secretly hoped he isn’t so desperate.
‘Yeah… 100% blackened? Haha…’
Currently, Keira just hopes that the bug doesn’t follow her and that this whole ordeal is not related to Leal.
When Keira left the alleys again to find some food to regain the lost energy back, she found that the street was crowded. She had no idea what was happening in the city, but she was not in a position to be curious and get herself exposed.
Keira wanted to move past the people but then got pushed around and was inevitably swept away by the masses.
‘What the hell is going on?’
The crowd finally stopped dragging her and they seemed to have stopped to look at the large bulletin board in the center of the city. It’s likely that there was an announcement recently posted that had people excited. Since she was already here, Keira decided to just check out what the fuss was all about.
Maneuvering her way deeper into the sea of people, Keira stood frozen in place as she saw what the huge commotion was all about. It was not an announcement, but instead, a ‘Wanted’ poster—with her current face plastered on it. But that was not the most shocking thing on the poster.
“What?! The palace is asking for one million gold for this person?” The person in the crowd said in exclamation.
Whispers of the stunned and overwhelmed crowd echoed throughout the whole venue.
“Not 100,000 gold, but a million?!”
“Unbelievable!”
“One million gold? Imagine all the things I could buy with that money! I could buy a title and become a count in an instant with that money!”
“For one woman… the palace is willing to spend this much? Just what did this person commit for the emperor to release such an order.”
A person from the crowd side in, “What order?”
The person who spoke earlier responded, “What didn’t you hear the announcement from His Majesty’s attendant earlier?”
Another person slipped in, “I heard! His Majesty ordered to have this woman found and bring the person directly back to the palace, or bring her to one of the knights that are now patrolling everywhere in the city!”
“Yeah! The attendant also said that His Majesty would give out one million gold from his personal treasury to the person who could catch her, hence the one million bounty posted on the bulletin board.”
“But one thing questions me, the attendant also mentioned that His Majesty explicitly ordered to only catch this person and not harm her. If so, why is it a wanted poster instead of a missing poster?”
“Now that you mentioned it, it is a mystery. Wonder what His Majesty’s and this person's relationship is?”
“Nah! Don’t care anything about that. All I have my eyes on is that money!”
The people who also listened shouted in agreement.
Keira felt her blood run cold. She thought, ‘the male lead had absolutely gone insane!’
She didn’t know what to do now. Escaping the city would become a hundred times harder. Not only does she have to hide from the knights, but now from everyone! It was a good thing she wore the hood.
Anyways, she must leave this place immediately lest someone would take notice of her. Keira slipped back out from the crowd, making sure to clutch the hood to cover her face.
When the crowd behind her became less dense, she went back to the alleyways. She felt like she was going crazy. She originally planned on waiting for System 999 to arrive before formulating her next steps, but now everything went awry.
It won’t be long before Adage would find her. She was alone. She had no one to help her. Her system was still offline. She had no resources. Her body was still heavily injured. It was only a matter of time before Adage manages to capture her. Keira even began to doubt if she would last ‘til tomorrow now that everyone was on to get her.
Her head was hurting from all the thinking. She was getting frustrated. Her growling and throbbing didn’t help at all.
‘If I want my chances of escaping even for a day to increase, I should solve my hunger problem first.’
She decided to stick to her original plan to steal food, escape, make her way out of the city, and wait until System 999 returned.
Keira waited until it was completely dark before setting out on the streets again.
