Gardenia’s Heart

The path to the river was already familiar to Lily. If she walked normally, it would take less than half an hour to cover the distance. She would normally wash her clothes in the morning to enjoy the rest of the day, but washing them in the afternoon wouldn’t be a problem.

As she walked through the streets of stone and grass, Lily found it strange the absence of the usual conversation from the villagers. Even though the river was in the opposite direction of the city center, and there weren’t many houses around, there would still be one or two people.

”That’s right, the baker mentioned that it was the last day of the caravan, so they would offer a discount on the products,” Lily muttered to herself as she tried to ignore the chill of the fog, which was stronger today.

“Getting products that would be sold in the capital for an affordable price must have caught everyone’s attention,” the girl slightly laughed when realized she didn’t usually talk to herself so much, but her time with Nia had made her start talking more.

The appearance of the merchant caravan was sudden and still puzzled Lily’s mind. Since the day that man tried to suggest they sleep together, she had never approached the merchants again. She hoped at least that the restriction of entering the forest would be lifted and she could collect mana herbs for Nia.

Upon reaching the riverbank, which was at a very low temperature, she began to soap her clothes as she always did. The silence of the river was discomforting to the point of sending unease to the girl, but Lily decided not to dwell on it too much. The water being almost freezing was by no means pleasant, so she tried to speed up to finish quickly.

A sound of footsteps emerged amidst the absolute silence, and she quickly looked back.

Approaching slowly were one of the two village guards and three other men.

(They’re from the caravan, right? What are they doing here?)

Questions arose in her mind as they approached the girl.

“Lily, we’re having an event in the square, you should join us,” the guard said with a smile on his face, but the girl didn’t lose sight of how his hand slowly touched the sword at his waist.

“I’m feeling tired and will return home, thank you.”

Putting the clothes in the basket, she tried to stand up and leave as quickly as possible, but she was quickly surrounded.

“Cut the crap, Travis, this slut isn’t dumb enough to be fooled by that,” one of the caravan men approached Lily and grabbed her by the hair.

”Argh!?” The girl protested in pain, and the basket of clothes fell to the ground.

”Tsch, if you had come quietly, you could have avoided suffering,” Travis couldn’t hold back his sigh of disappointment before pushing the man’s hand holding Lily by the hair, making her fall to the ground. ”This product is worth a lot; don’t ruin it like this.”

Lily immediately understood the situation she was in.

”You betrayed the village and colluded with bandits?” She growled at Travis.

”Didn’t I tell you? This slut is smart,” the man who had grabbed her before laughed at the situation.

”This is a face of yours that I’ve never seen. Hahah! Do you think the small tax those poor villagers pay us is enough to compensate for protecting the village every day?” Travis knelt to level his eyes with Lily, who was on the ground. ”Be happy; I’ll hand you over to good owners who will take delightfully good care of you.”

”Go to hell.”

Lily’s response elicited a whistle from the men.

”Look at her barking like a dog,” one of the men started laughing as he looked at Lily’s breasts. ”Can’t we even play with her before we sell her?”

”Idiot, if she’s really a virgin, we can get more than double the money... although, if it’s not reversible.”

Travis quickly moved his hand toward Lily’s breasts. Noticing what they were about to do, she quickly banged her head with all her might on Travis’s forehead.

The unexpected movement made the man step back a bit, giving her an opening to run. Dropping the clothes behind, she dashed along the river. As she descended, the water flow became deeper. She thought about swimming to escape, but the temperature would kill her from hypothermia before she even reached the other side.

(I need to run.) Her shocked mind struggled to think of ways to escape the men. Just these four men chasing her wasn’t the extent of the attack; if she was right, the whole village could already be subdued or dead.

The fog obscured her vision. The attack had been calculated; under these conditions, it was possible to dispose of a good portion of the villagers without raising any alarms. If the village guards themselves were part of the bandits, it was all too easy to assume that the village men were already dead. No matter the physical differences between the sexes, mages were superior to any non-mage. Lily needed to return home, retrieve Nia, and flee somewhere, anywhere, safe. However, a figure suddenly appeared in the mist before her, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground.

”Who would have thought you’d come straight to me? Are you considering accepting my invitation?” 

Collapsed on the ground, Lily could see the last person she wanted to encounter in this situation. The man had short black hair and broad shoulders encased in silver armor, his muscular frame betraying extensive training, and his chiseled face hiding his eyes.

”Oh, not so fast,” he said, with a light kick from his leg surrounded by a blue glow, he sent Lily, who was trying to get up, flying several meters away. 

The air was completely knocked out of Lily’s burning lungs as her abdomen was pressed with such force it felt like something inside her might have torn. Slow, nonchalant footsteps of four men approaching could be heard. 

”Damn it, Hector, we agreed we’d capture her without causing any harm,” Travis shifted his gaze from the girl writhing in pain on the ground to Hector, who merely shrugged.

”Shut up, I’m sure you were trying to play with her without me,” he sighed and walked over to Lily, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt and lifting her body.

”How did you let her escape? Do you think a crippled woman can escape from mages?” He asked irritably. ”Is she at least still breathing?”

Hector brought the girl’s face closer, having a clear view of her blue eye that resembled a sunny sky. It was a distance he had never come before, being able to smell the girl’s pleasant scent made him excited.

”And then? If you want to accept my invitation, I can change my mind about selling you and taking you just for myself, what do you think?”

“Fuck you, you piece of trash” Along with her words, she spat in Hector’s face, hitting him right in the middle of the face.

The man did not react significantly to any of the provocations, but when he felt the liquid run down his face, a bluish aura appeared in his hand.

“Aaaargh!” Lily writhed in pain as the rough hand wrapped around her neck and began to squeeze it. All the air she fought to gain slowly drained from her body.

“Hey Hector, you’re really going to kill her at this rate.”

Travis’ warning wasn’t enough to ease the grip on the silver-haired girl’s neck.

“That’s enough, I don’t care about the money anymore. This bitch has irritated me enough over the years.” With his eyes curved he continued to savor the sensation of squeezing the girl’s slender neck. “Yes, that expression is very good”

Lily stared at Hector with genuine hatred in her eyes, her right hand desperately trying to free her in any way possible.

But it was useless. No matter how much she tried to punch or scratch that arm encased in a bluish glow, it wouldn’t budge.

“Come on, if you beg me I might even consider making you mine” He started laughing like a maniac, his face in ecstasy.

“G-Go to hell-!“ her voice couldn’t project itself, the pain and lack of air increasingly taking her life away.

The man’s free hand grabbed the sword at his waist, as he drew the blade he slowly pressed it to the left side of the woman’s chest. Slowly the sword pierced Lily’s clothing, then her flesh. The speed at which he did this was obviously to prolong the girl’s suffering.

The girl was not even allowed to scream in pain as blood began to escape from her mouth and nose. It didn’t take long for the sword to pass through the bones of the chest and begin to pierce the girl’s heart.

Something that should in no way be hurt was ripped open beyond repair and the movements of the girl who was still struggling to free herself ceased.

“If you were going to kill her, at least play first.” Observing Hector removing the sword from the body of the girl who no longer had any sparkle in her eyes, Travis complained.

“I couldn’t bear to see this bitch alive anymore” Indifferent to Travis’ complaints, he threw the girl into the river, which soon become stained red.

Turning to leave, none of the five men noticed when something fell into the river.