Chapter 25: Nostalgia.
Chapter 25: Nostalgia.
Alas, nothing changed, Osborne could only watch with fear stricken eyes as all the feral rodents rushed him at once.
He held the dagger and unconsciously tried to fend them off, but the little monsters attacked from all directions.
Each bite they took caused him to cry out in pain.
His flesh was eaten little by little, even as he killed them one after another, his efforts seemed hopeless against a seemingly endless onslaught.
In barely a few seconds, some parts of his body had been bitten into so much that his bones could be seen, some fingers were missing from his left hand, his clothes completely useless.
And since the feral monsters weren’t able to kill him in one blow.
The vast plains were filled with his heart wrenching screams as he was eaten alive little by little.
*********
" AHHHHH!!!!" Osborne yelled out in terror as his eyes shot open.
He scrambled back onto his feet to run but Clawdeth instinctively tackled him down on his face. " Stop!!! Stop it!!! It hurts!!! It hurts!!!!!!"
" Get them off me!!! It hurts so much!! Stop it!!!" Osborne continued to scream over and over again.
" W-What? Clawdeth, what did you do?!" Natalie who was about to reach for the dagger again was taken aback.
" You were here with me, I didn’t do anything."
’ The hell is all this about, and how in the world did he wake up so quickly, I knocked him out didn’t I?’ Clawdeth thought to herself, this so called young master was province to be more of a nuisances than she preferred.
" Young master, please calm down, We’re not going to hurt you!"
" Should I knock him out again?"
" Of course not! Can’t you see he’s like this because of that!" Natalie yelled at her before reaching into her suit.
" What are you doing?" Clawdeth asked.
" Isn’t it obvious? I’m fixing your mess." Natalie said as she took out a thing bottled vile.
" Hold him up so I can feed him this." Natalie said.
Clawdeth nodded and did as asked.
Osborne continusly struggled but against Clawdeth, his actions were hopeless.
Natalie clamped down on his nose, forcing him to gasp for air through his mouth, taking the chance, she poured the contents of the vile down his throat before letting go of his nose.
Osborne unconsciously swallowed the potion, while coughing due to the abrupt intake of air.
" How long does this take to have an effect?" Clawdeth asked.
Osbornes body suddenly calmed down, his eyes turning lazy before she could finish speaking.
" There, now he’s calm." Natalie said.
" Tsk, the hell did he think he was doing back there." Clawdeth let go of Osborne, sounding annoyed.
" I think you unlocked some sort of hidden trauma when you struck him, this was all your fault so stop acting like it isn’t." Natalie reprimanded her before holding Osborne’s carefully in her arms.
" Fine Fine, I heard you the first few times, can we be on our way now." Clawdeth said.
She opened the door a bit and took a peak outside, seeing several soldiers standing in place, she turned around and glared at Osborne, inwardly blaming him for causing a scene.
At the same time she got annoyed that the platoon leader still hadn’t returned yet.
*********
The carriage’s wheels turned as the two horses in front pulled it forward.
Osborne who sat within the confines of the carriage, his face slouching on his shoulder, drool dripping down his lips, eyes staring blankly into the distance outside the window.
His eyes blinked all of a sudden, his eyes gradually regaining focus as he clutched at his head.
" Urrrgh..." He groaned as he slowly regained the ability to decipher his surroundings.
The first thing he saw was that he was safely seated inside the carriage and opposite him was an orange haired woman with fluffy ears.
" Looks like you’re finally with us, Young master." Natalie looked happy to see him finally coming through.
" What happened... How long was I out." Osborne droned, still a bit under the diminishing effect of the drug.
" We’ve been on the road for a few hours now, you needn’t worry."
" Oh..." Osborne said. " Does that mean..." He tried to say.
" Yes, Young master, we’re no longer at the military barrack we once were." Natalie let out a breath and said.
Hearing her, Osborne let out a self-pitying sigh.
To think that the one opportunity he thought he had was taken away from him so easily.
" Forgive us, but we couldn’t simply ignore our orders to bring you back, I hope you won’t resent us for this." Natalie said, looking apologetic.
" Does it even matter if I do?" Osborne shook his head softly.
" No matter what I try, you’ll both just drag me back to that hellish estate won’t you." He looked at her with a forced smile, the smile of a man who knew that the only thing that awaited him was a life of misery.
Natalie didn’t say anything. She knew there was nothing she could say that could refute his words.
She herself knew why he disliked coming back with them, and why she found it hard to accept that someone like him was being mistreated so much back at the estate, with the two sisters being the ones behind it, there was nothing she could do.
Even her superior, Guinevere, was unable to do anything to the sisters.
The 2 young miss had intervened, but everyone knew she wouldn’t always be there to look after him.
The only one she knew that could do something that would change his fate was their lady, Roseline.
She was the only one that would be able to stop the sisters, after all, all this started because both sisters strongly believed he was the one using their beloved sister to gain their house.
Osborne and Natalie rode opposite eachother, the carriage silent.
Not wanting to pressure her with his pitiful gaze, Osborne leaned against the window, staring off into the wild.
As he saw some occasional wild life frolicking about, free. He couldn’t help thinking of his life back at Bismarck Estate.
Back then, even while he was but a mere barons son, at least everyone looked at him with kindness and warmth. Yet now... Life seemed to be becoming more and more bleak as the days went by.