Please Remember Me

Warning: Abuse. Read with caution.

It was obvious how the words from Chris were twisted to the extreme.

Madame Margot grabbed Lathyrus’s hair and slapped her on the cheek countless times. Lathyrus felt dizzy as she couldn’t even scream. Each time she was slapped in the cheek, her head shook violently, her eyes were out of focus.

The one-sided assault from Madame Margot was over when a nosebleed from Lathyrus splattered into her hand as she slapped her on the cheek. She hated it, laid Lathyrus’s head down, and wiped the blood off her hands with a cloth.

But as soon as Lathyrus was barely freed from the violence, Chris told his mom something else.

“Mom, mom! That girl was even meeting a strange man in the woods these days!”

“Strange man…?”

“She stole your food and brought it to the man every day!”

“What?!”

“I think she was trying to run away from us hand in hand with that guy without knowing our grace.”

A fire burned in the eyes of Madame Margot, who regarded Lathyrus as her slave as much as she paid for it. She was arrogant and she would be very upset if a slave tried to run away from her master.

“No! It’s not like that! I never stole food…!”

After reading Madame Margot’s eyes, Lathyrus hurriedly shook her head in denial.

“I will not go to the forest from now on! Lisianthus…”

But before she could finish her words, her head turned again. Madame Margot again swung her hand at Lathyrus.

“Seeing how a friendly name was called, it seems that my son is right?”

“No, Madame Margot…”

“It’s the first time I’ve heard of this name, so I think it’s a foreigner. What did he say to you?”

“Oh, no…”

“I adopted a lame girl, dressed her, put her to bed, and fed her! Like a pig, she knows how to celebrate with my food, but she can’t do her job properly!”

Madame Margot, who was hitting Lathyrus, seemed to get angry the more she spoke, so she swung her hands and continued to strike her. As Madame Margot swung her hand, a devastating blow was applied to the head, shoulders, and back of Lathyrus.

Madame Margot thought she was trying to run away without knowing the kindness she had shown by taking care of Lathyrus, but she was different. Lathyrus had nowhere to run. The ‘strange man’ Chris referred to, Lisianthus, was a man of no help to Lathyrus.

Wasn’t he the man who watched the red dragon try to kill her? In the end, he did help at the end, but…

After all, he was just a dragon. A monster that despises humans and has no qualms about slaughtering them. A non-human being.

There was no way such a being would have taken her and made her escape from this hell.

“Ugh…”

Lathyrus, who had nowhere to go and was crippled, could not resist. Covering her head was the only way to protect herself. She had taken steps back due to the force of pushing and hitting, and eventually turned her body to the side.

“Ugh… … !”

Lathyrus smashed her head against the edge of the table and rolled over and wrapped her arms around her head. She couldn’t even scream in pain, but Margot’s violence didn’t stop.

“This orphan! Useless bitch!”

Lathyrus fell to the ground, this time her little body being trampled with her feet.

“Mom! She’ll die!”

Chris, who created all these blows, stepped forward. As her son hugged her and calmed her, Madame Margot finally relieved her anger by holding her breath.

Her violence was addictive. Lathyrus was a person who was easy to wield violence. She was frightened of being kicked out despite being beaten and has long since degenerated into an object of anger.

It was absolutely unacceptable that she would always rush to her call, and that a child who had to bow her head would think of running away on her own.

“Wake up! A naughty child like you has to be very hard on yourself!”

Madame Margot left the tavern, dragging Lathyrus’s body that had fallen to the floor.

“Mom! What are you going to do with her? Try to get her out…?!”

Chris, who was just trying to make sure Lathyrus didn’t meet with the man again, was startled and stomped his foot and followed them.

It was to a small warehouse at the back of the tavern where Madame Margot led Lathyrus. The warehouse where various cleaning tools and unused items were stored was full of dust.

“Go in!”

Lathyrus was shoved into the warehouse as if she were just one of the tools.

Now realizing what Madame Margot was going to punish her, Lathyrus crawled towards the door, despite her excruciating dizziness and throbbing pain that remained.

“Don’t even dream of getting out of this place until you really reflect on it!”

“Mom, what are you going to do when she dies?”

“You bastard! Do you want to take sides with that guinea pig?”

“I’m not trying to take sides, I’m afraid she’ll die like that…”

“Do you know that people die so easily?”

“Still, this is a bit…”

“Don’t even think about giving that girl a sip of water without my permission!”

While the two trembled among themselves, Lathyrus, who barely crawled to the doorstep, grabbed Margot’s ankle.

“I was wrong… please forgive me…”

Lathyrus asked forgiveness for something she did not do wrong.

“You shouldn’t have done anything wrong like that.”

However, Madame Margot, who said she would only be locked up until she truly repented, dropped Lathyrus as if she was pulling a worm away from her.

“Ma’am! Do not go! Madame Margot!”

Clash-

The sound of the warehouse door closing seemed to resonate particularly loudly.

Despite Lathyrus’s plea, Madame Margot closed the door. Deep darkness came upon her. As she looked through the small crack in the door, I saw the back of Madame Margot, who was carrying her son. Chris glanced behind him several times, but he never came back.

“Open it…please open it…”

Lathyrus pulled the doorknob and scratched the door, but no one appeared to listen to her earnest plea.

Even Lisianthus, who saved her once.

~*~

It was the second day since Lathyrus had been imprisoned. Guests visiting the tavern often asked about Lathyrus’s whereabouts, but Madame Margot, who had briefly spent time with relatives in another village, easily forgot about her existence.

Madame Margot, very angry, looked like she really didn’t want to give Lathyrus a sip of water. Chris was the only one who grunted over Lathyrus. He wanted to chastise her, even for just a little bit.

But Madame Margot seemed unwilling to release Lathyrus despite her son’s reluctance.

On the third day, unable to contain his worries about her, Chris approached the warehouse and called out Lathyrus’s name.

~pls read only at pinkmuffintl~

“Hey, lame!”

…He didn’t get an answer back.

“Are you ignoring me? You wanna die?!”

He kicked the door to frighten her, but there was no reply back.

“Hey, Lathyrus Laurence!”

From then on, Chris’ anxiety grew.

“Mom!”

Chris ran to his mother, grabbed Madame Margot’s apron, and said urgently.

“I keep calling, but that lame girl doesn’t answer!”

“Ugh, my son, you are also very naive. That’s a trick to end her punishment quickly!”

“What if she fainted? What if she’s dead?”’=

“Noisy! You shouldn’t care about that sissy trickster, do your thing. M=om will fix that girl who doesn’t even know about grace!”

Madame Margot, who always granted her one and only son’s requests, did not move this time.

“What do I do…”

Chris’ anxiety began to grow.

~*~

The inside of the warehouse, where night had come again, was very dark except for a ray of moonlight that permeated through the old wooden planks.

Occasionally, animals would come to the warehouse and talk to her, but that alone could not stand the loneliness of this dark place. As she was left in the dark where she had to be completely alone, extreme loneliness came upon her. She was sick, but there was no one to take care of her.

With a thirsty throat, Lathyrus called out to the long-lost beings she hadn’t called for a long time.

“Mom, dad…sister…”

But no matter how many family members are called, they don’t come to help.

Because all her family members died at the hands of the dragon.

The dragon destroyed everything she had. The place to live and the family, all of them…

But paradoxically, the only target that Lathyrus could call for help now was a dragon, the race that took everything from her.

There was no guarantee that he would be able to help just because she called. They were not that friendly and close.

But out of all the villagers, the only one who had ever helped her was the Lisianthus.

“…”

Lathyrus wanted to get out of this dark warehouse that hurt not only her body but also her mind. She hated dragons, but she wanted to reach out to anyone and get out of this hell.

She didn’t think anyone cared. If only she could save herself right now…

Lathyrus couldn’t drink a sip of water properly, so she barely spoke the name in a hoarse voice.

“Lis…ian…thus…”

At that time, she searched for Lisianthus earnestly when she was nearly killed by the red dragon.

‘Lisianthus… Reach out to me just once…’

She has nothing to give him.

But if he saves her, then…

‘I’ll do anything. Please…’

It was time to endlessly search for Lisianthus without futile hope.

“…”

A loud noise was heard outside the door. And then, the old door of the warehouse opened with a strange sound.

‘Lisianthus…?!’

Lathyrus stared at the door with her hopeful face. However, Lathyrus’s smiling face hardened as soon as the door opened and she looked at the face of the person who entered.

“What, you’re better than I thought.”

The person who opened the door was none other than Chris.

“Are you ignoring me when I call you while you’re alive? Do you want to die?”

Chris pretended to raise his fist. Lathyrus, accustomed to the violence, reflexively shrugged her body. But as if he wasn’t really going to hit her, Chris immediately lowered his fist.

“If my mom found out about this, she might really scold me.”

“…”

“She told me not to give you even a sip of water, but I’m giving it to you with a big heart.”

“…”

“Don’t ever think of meeting strange strangers in that forest again, and don’t attack me. Okay? Why are you acting so rude and asking to suffer like this?”

“…”

“Ahem! What are you doing? I’m talking to you.”

“…”

“Hey, lame! Did you even become deaf now?”

She wanted someone to help her. However, Lathyrus decided to withdraw the wish. She wanted anyone to help her, but to exclude Chris from that list.