I Became The Villain’s Master - Chapter 3.3

The Count, who had been struggling to pry him off the post, finally sat down on the ground exhausted and then stepped back.

“I am deeply ashamed, Marquis. He will tire and give up in a day or two. Please don’t give him even a drop of water.”

With his dignity already shattered beyond repair, he just bowed to the Marquis with a tired face and trudged away.

Sugar looked at his father resentfully before turning his head.

His eyes met those of the perplexed Marquis Crumble and the young lady Crumble, whose thoughts were unreadable.

Sugar glared at them fiercely and hugged the post even tighter.

“Let’s go inside, Father.”

The young lady Crumble lightly ignored him and took the Marquis inside, slamming the door shut.

Sugar bit his lip hard and stared blankly at the door before resting his head against the hard post.

***

“Mel! Mel!”

The deep, dark underground waterway suddenly lit up brightly.

Rory reached out with all his might and grabbed the foot of a small animal emitting light.

The golden pillar that had trapped the fox, mixed with water and causing spray, crumbled and scattered as Rory’s hand touched it.

“Ugh!”

The light that sprayed across his face, neck, and shoulders felt as hot as if burned by fire.

Rory gritted his teeth and pulled her, embracing her in his arms.

Perhaps due to the hot light, the water that had risen high had completely evaporated.

Only the remnants of light that hadn’t yet faded were illuminating the path.

“Cough! Hack!”

The baby fox in his arms coughed up water.

Rory exhaled heavily, continuously stroking the back of the trembling, delicate creature he held.

“Keeng… Keewoo…”

For a moment, Merchen’s eyes shone brightly with a golden light.

As bright and beautiful as the moon. When Rory blinked hard and opened his eyes, the golden eyes had disappeared as if they were a mirage.

Instead, two black eyes, as if onyx had been embedded, blinked at him with difficulty.

As if to say, ‘I’m alright.’

In reality, it was more like ‘Damn. I really almost died!’, but Rory, unaware of her true thoughts, felt his heart return to its place and was overwhelmed with relief.

What was that dazzlingly overwhelming golden wave, where are we going now, what will happen from here on – it was too scary and frightening, but Rory knew what he had to do right away.

“Just hold on, just hold on a little longer. I’ll quickly…”

They had to escape the underground waterway before the light completely faded.

Rory held her tightly to his chest and started running.

The scattered yellow lights twinkled like fireflies.

Koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-

A huge sound was heard from afar.

It was the sound of something running along the railroad tracks.

Rory ran towards the sound.

The sound of steam puffing, chick-chick-chick, and even the whistleblowing, poo-poo-.

His heart raced to the rhythm of the sounds.

“An exit!”

A ladder leading upwards appeared.

Rory looked down at Merchen with a joyful face.

She responded intensely, making “Keew! Koo!” sounds.

“Would it be alright if you go into the bag for a moment?”

“Kyup!”

At the immediate response, Rory set her down on the ground.

He swung the bag strap to the front and carefully placed the baby fox inside the bag.

Then, taking a deep breath, he grasped the ladder.

His whole body ached and throbbed without a single spot unscathed, but his mind was too urgent to even feel such things.

Chick-chick-chick-chick-chick-

He could only climb the ladder, up and up, towards the noisy train sounds.

“Hup!”

Clang!

He lifted the heavy manhole cover and pushed it aside.

With trembling arms, he pressed against the ground, climbed up, and sat down.

“Huff. Hah. We’ve arrived, Mel.”

“Keeeng…”

Rory laughed at Merchen’s worried cry.

Rory stood up and looked around.

It was a different landscape from the vast desert surrounding Count Hauser’s estate and the gloomy forest surrounding Marquis Crumble’s mansion.

Even though it was a dark night, street lamps illuminated the streets.

This was right in front of a train station, at the end of an alley in a small square, and in the center of the square stood a statue of a boy.

People passed by one by one through the statue with its mischievous expression.

“What should we do now? I really don’t know, Mel.”

My wise little lady.

My master.

Please tell me the answer.

Where are we going?

He wanted to ask so badly, but Rory swallowed his words, unable to utter them.

He had realized by now that constantly asking questions to someone who couldn’t answer would only increase frustration for both of them.

“Keew! Kyuwoong!”

At that moment, Merchen, who had poked her head out of the bag and was staring intently at the square, suddenly made a sound.

She stretched out her front paws, patting Rory’s chest, and pointed towards the statue in the center of the square.

“Why is there…”

A familiar woman could be seen standing in front of the statue.

She was looking around restlessly, unable to stay still even for a moment.

“Keew! Kyu!”

At Merchen’s urging, Rory quickly walked towards her.

“Ann?”

“Gasp! Rory! Young lady!”

Her face anxious and trembling, she spotted Rory and Merchen and shouted with wide eyes.

Ann rushed over in one breath, burst into tears, and picked up Merchen.

“Oh, young lady. What on earth have you done? Why are you in such a state…”

However, Merchen looked at her sobbing once and then resolutely pointed at the train.

“Keew!”

Ann, who had been worried sick since Merchen disappeared, looked reproachfully at the insistent young lady and extended her hand to Rory.

“Rory. Come here. It seems we’ll have to hear the whole story later.”

Ann took Rory to a dark, deserted alley and changed his clothes.

As he took off his wet and dirty clothes and put on dry, fluffy ones, Rory blinked in confusion.

He couldn’t understand Ann, who appeared with a thick luggage bag as if she already knew about Merchen’s runaway plan.

Wasn’t today’s incident quite impulsive?

“Let’s go.”

Ann hid Merchen in her own bag, took Rory’s hand, and entered the train station.

The bell announcing the last train rang.

They quickly bought tickets and boarded the train.

Rory amazed at riding a steam locomotive for the first time in his life, followed Ann and got on.

On the left side of the corridor, compartments with numbered doors were lined up.

“Here it is. Go in.”

Opening the door marked number 5, they entered to find seats facing each other.

Three other passengers were already seated, and Rory sat down nervously next to Ann.

Chick-chick-chick-chick-chick-

The train started moving with a loud noise.