BUTTERFLY

DIAMOND IN THE TRASH

Animals suffer the most, and they have no language to speak!

Or are we worshipping the devil?

In the morning I did the routine chores and after a quiet breakfast I went to my room and changed quickly. It had been a few days since Kize and I had spoken and I hadn't seen him at all, though that was because I hardly ever went out. After all, I wasn't going to go to the forest for water every day.

But of course Grandma had planned for it. She even said it would be good if Kize didn't see me for a few days. She said that if I left a good impression in his mind and didn't show up for a few days, he would be curious and want to see me.

Well, if I was lucky, we might meet again today. I put on the black sweater I had on the day I came here and went into the living room. Grandma was drinking tea with her feet up to the stove. She had been sick for the last few days and was very weak. I was worried about her.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked her for the umpteenth time. She looked at me grumpily and took a sip of her tea. "I'm fine, I'm fine, just go fast and don't be late tonight." I nodded and grabbed the boots I had left by the stove to warm up, the bag hanging behind the door and my coat. I dressed quickly and put on one of the hats your grandmother knitted for me.

I wanted to make sure I looked nice in case I saw Kize.

To be honest, I was very excited, both to see Kize and to go shopping. Grandma had given me the shopping duty because she was weak. I was very nervous about shopping alone for the first time and the money... It was the thing that scared me the most. I had never used money in my life, in fact, when I went shopping with Grandma, it was the first time I had ever seen money.

I let out a nervous breath, made sure I had the wallet and the shopping list in my pocket, said goodbye to Grandma and left the house. Shopping was not a difficult task, it was talking to people that was difficult. But I could handle it, of course.

When I walked down from Grandma's house, I reached a small village. Grandma's house was connected to this village, but she had built her house far away from the village. I wondered why she had distanced herself so much from people and why she was so lonely. But I didn't know how to talk to her about it without breaking her heart. The last thing I wanted was to upset her.

The village was generally quiet and no one was around except for a few people. But everyone I came in sight of looked at me out of the corner of their eyes. I think it might have been because I was a stranger. I ignored them and arrived at the road below the village, where every hour a car would pass by to pick up those going from the village to the city. According to grandmother, it would arrive in about five minutes.

I went to a covered place called a stall, built for waiting people to sit, and sat down with my bag on my lap. Grandma had warned me not to put the wallet in the bag. In the neighborhood, bandits from other countries could steal my purse for money. So I put my wallet in the zipper pocket of my coat. Although it was unlikely that it would fall out, I checked it often out of nervousness.

When the car arrived a few minutes later, I stood up and waved my hand like your grandmother used to do. I quickly got in the car, paid the fare and sat down in one of the empty seats. My heart was beating extremely fast. But I had passed the first stage.

"Ma'am." The driver called out loudly. When the eyes of the people on the bus turned to me, I realized that the driver was addressing me. A subtle pang went through my heart.

"Yes?" I stammered. My voice sounded too weak. Being alone among so many people was about to extinguish all my courage for this day. "You didn't get your change." He said with an irritable attitude. Even though his attitude bothered me, I kept quiet and took the coins he handed me and tucked them into the wallet.

What was he yelling at me for?

After about ten minutes of driving, we arrived at the entrance of the city. I joined everyone getting out and got out quickly. I briefly glanced around the uncrowded streets of the city. Oh, my God, I had only been here twice, I don't think I remembered the exact route.

I put my hands in my pockets and went down one of the streets as far as I could remember. I seemed to remember the places I had passed, but I wasn't sure. It was also very difficult to remember the streets because there were no plants or trees in the city. All the buildings looked alike!

I walked for a few minutes but I couldn't find my way. I think it would have been better to follow the people who got out of the car with me than to look for a way, but it was too late. It didn't take me long to realize that I had lost my way. The end of the street I had entered led to a huge square and I had certainly never been in this square before.

Since the streets and the square were almost empty and none of the people I met seemed friendly, I didn't dare ask anyone for directions. Besides, they could have been the bandits that grandmother had told me about. If they found out that I had come for the market, they might realize that I had money and try to take it from me. Should I go back the way I came and start all over again? I clenched my fists and tried to relax by taking a deep breath.

At that moment, the sound of laughter coming from behind me caught my attention. I looked in the direction of the sound and saw a group of men sitting on stools a few meters away, chatting. Their clothes were similar to Kize's. So they were men of God. Grandma had said that the men of God were harmless.

The crowd made me nervous, but they were the only ones I could trust here, so I gathered my courage. As I walked towards them, the courage I was trying to muster faded, but I needed to shop and get home. Besides, Grandma was not in a very good condition. If I went back without shopping, she would come and try to take care of it herself.

When I approached the men, who were drinking steaming coffee and chatting among themselves, I stopped and took a deep breath. My face was flushed, I could tell by the heat. I felt my knees tremble when one of the men looked at me out of the corner of his eye, but he ignored me and turned away.

"Excuse me." I said, taking care to keep my voice loud. But when all the men stopped talking at once and looked at me, I felt like my voice was stuck in my throat. I clenched my fists even more. "I..." I said, but my voice was too low, so I paused and took another deep breath. "I lost my way, do you know where the market was?" I continued in one breath. It was as if my whole body was on fire. I could feel my neck sweating.

There was silence for a few seconds. They all turned to look at me in silence. I became even more nervous and felt I had to speak, but I didn't know what to say, so I just opened and closed my mouth. "Who are you?" one of the men asked. For a brief moment I froze because I couldn't understand his question. "Excuse me?" I said, not understanding why he was asking who I was.

"You, who are you to come and talk to us!" He said in a rude manner. He squinted his eyes and looked at me like I was something dirty. I squinted my eyes and watched the man staring at me, dumbfounded. I had a problem perceiving what was happening for a short while, as I certainly didn't expect to get this kind of reaction.

Was this man really insulting me!

"Is it forbidden to talk to you?" I suddenly asked. I was sometimes very good at being an i***t. It was stupid of me to talk instead of turning around and leaving. I should have left the place I was in immediately. I took a step back when I realized from his frown that he was going to snap at me again. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." I said, trying to smile. I think the best thing I managed to do in my life was to hide myself by putting a smile over all my emotions.

I grabbed the handles of my bag tightly, not knowing which one to look at since all the men in front of me were looking at me. As I turned around and walked away, I noticed that one of the men stood up, but I chose to pretend I didn't see him. "Ma'am." I had just taken a few steps when he called out to me. I felt my chest tighten, no, I didn't want them to treat me badly.

Were people that bad in my world too?

"Yes?" I turned around with a deep breath and looked at the man who had stood up. If he said bad words to me, I think I was going to shut up and leave. I wasn't raised this way. Yes, Mistress Seli always told me to be brave in the face of injustice and evil, but I didn't want to talk to these men.

The man raised his hand and pointed to the street to my right. I looked in the direction he pointed. "If you go straight down this street, you will come across the market." When he said that, I turned to him in surprise. When I saw his red eyes, I involuntarily took a step back. This man's gaze was very similar to the look he gave me the day I woke up Kize.

It awakened my instincts as if I was in danger. "Thank you, sir." I said with a smile and quickly turned and started walking in the direction he was pointing. I don't know, I think my smile this time was more like a disgusted expression. I couldn't really feel the muscles in my face.

"I think she's a foreigner." I heard a few sentences from those men as I walked. I really didn't want them to talk about me. If I didn't want to look strange, I would definitely run. After a few minutes of walking in the direction the man said, I was indeed on my way to the market. And as I was walking, I was relieved of some of the tension I had just felt.

I was going to complete this Market mission successfully!

I took the list out of my pocket and the pen out of the bag and started walking around the market, which was not crowded yet. Even though it was the middle of winter, there were fresh fruits, which surprised me. I went to one of the stalls to buy potatoes and took a bag and filled it with some potatoes. My hands were still shaking.

Fortunately, most of the items on the list Grandma had given me were at this stall, so I quickly completed more than half of the list. I tucked my purchases into the bag on my back and took the wallet out of my pocket. Although it took me a while to get the number of coins the man said, I handed him the right amount. All the bad feelings I had felt earlier had disappeared because I had successfully shopped. With a big smile on my face, I thanked the clerk and walked around to buy the rest of the items on the list.

I went to the spice stalls to buy the last spices, which I found easily because the smell was quite pungent. But I had absolutely no idea which spice was which, so I went to a random stall and asked the clerk for help. Fortunately, he didn't set me up and packed the spices I wanted one by one.

"Oh, did you see that?" a woman's voice sang over all the voices. "I saw this girl traveling with Kize." When she continued, I felt my breath catch in my throat. Was she talking about me? It couldn't be possible. After all, I had only walked with Kize once in the forest. How could she have seen us?

It had to be a joke, no please! I wanted to think that Kize had been with other women besides me. I would have preferred that to the current situation. "Yes, ma'am." The clerk said and I could hardly smile. "With this?" said another female voice. God, how could their voices be so loud? Or are they too obsessed with me!

"Don't be ridiculous!" she said in a condescending tone and gave a short laugh. My heart sank but I didn't show it and took the packages the clerk handed me. At that moment a shadow fell over me. The clerk looked at me and then at the person standing right next to me. He looked puzzled as he said the price.

"Hey you." When the woman said that, I turned around calmly and looked into her yellow eyes, the same color as Kize's. She was a very beautiful woman with long hair the same color as her eyes. "You." She said and after squinting her eyes and looking me up and down, a wry smile appeared on her face.

"They saw you with Kize, sorry, I think they misunderstood." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. The smile on her face was purely to humiliate me. "No, I saw, Kize kissed his hand." Said the woman standing next to her. The smile of the woman in front of me faded and her eyebrows furrowed. "Is it true?" she asked, squinting her eyes. She was scary and I felt she wanted to hurt me.

I smiled, even though it was quite difficult, and took the wallet out of my pocket and handed the clerk the payment for the spices. The man nervously reached for the money in my hand. "You!" The woman said and approached me in a threatening manner. My heart was beating so fast that I felt like I was going to sit down and cry. Everyone in the market was watching us out of the corner of their eyes.

I reluctantly looked at the face of the woman standing right next to me. I had to look up because she was taller than me. Even though I felt terrible, I didn't want to show it. I didn't want them to laugh behind my back. Besides, these could have been the women of God. I had to be careful, I couldn't get into any kind of quarrel.

"Do you think you are something because you are Kize's w***e and you don't answer me!" She said in a low voice, in my face. The ache in my heart increased a little more. When the woman who saw me with Kize laughed, I had to take a deep breath to keep from crying.

I smiled and threw the spices in my bag, wished the clerk a good day and turned my back on them and started walking. I couldn't engage in that kind of conversation, it would have been an insult to the moral education I had received so far. I couldn't give in and listen to them humiliate me either. It would be best to go home as if nothing had happened. A nice cup of tea by the stove and a new book to read was definitely better. I guess I was never going to go shopping alone again, because if my grandmother were here, she would give them all a piece of her mind. She would even beat them with her cane.

I don't think I've ever had a day as bad as this day in my life. I was used to being scolded and ignored in the palace, but this was different. They humiliated me and made ugly accusations. They looked at me and insulted me as if I was completely worthless and filthy.

I realized that I had clenched my teeth unconsciously when I felt my jaw ache. I pulled my teeth apart and tried to relax with a deep breath. Luckily they hadn't come after me or said anything else to me. The tip of my nose tingled. I missed home, even the Queen. If I went back, I would never fear the king again, I would talk to him, I would eat and laugh at the table as I pleased, just like my brother.

Oh, had the queen chosen a wife for my brother? Who knows, maybe they were already married. Even staying within the four walls of the palace was better than being crushed among these people.

As I walked away from the market, I quickly wiped a few tears from my cheek. Just then I locked eyes with Kize. He was sitting among the men who had just treated me like garbage. The moment he saw me, his expressionless face changed and his brows furrowed. I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk to him, but when he stood up and walked towards me, I knew I had nowhere to run. His steps were quick, unlike mine. He reached me without giving me time to compose myself.

"Een." He said as he reached me. "Mr. Kize." I said in return. "Are you okay?" I didn't expect him to get straight to the point. I expected him to say hello or something. "I'm fine, how are you?" I replied, deciding to play dumb. He reached out and put his hand lightly on my shoulder. "You were crying a little while ago Een, how are you doing?"

I said smiling, trying to give the impression that I had seen wrong. "I'm not crying Mr. Kize, I think I'm allergic to the spices." I would have been more convincing if my chin hadn't trembled. "I see." He said and took his hand off my shoulder and glanced at the men behind him. "Are you going home?" He said when he looked at me again. "Yes, you're back from the hunt, I suppose?" I asked, needing a distraction to forget what had just happened.

"The hunting season has just started." He said with a half smile. He looked into my eyes as if he was hinting at something, but I couldn't understand what he was trying to say, so I just nodded silently. "I would like to accompany you home, ma'am. I won't ask anything about your crying, I promise." When he said that, this time I really smiled.

"That's very kind of you, sir, but I don't want to separate you from your friends." He shook his head from side to side. "I was looking for an excuse to get rid of them, I assure you." He said and reached for the bag on my back. "Let me carry it for you." I was about to protest when he explained, but he took the bag off my shoulder and threw it on his back. I could only say thank you.

"I'll put you on hold for a minute." He smiled and quickly returned to his friends. That's when I realized that all those men were watching us with puzzled eyes. I heard the man who showed me the way say 'what's up' but I couldn't understand the rest of the conversation. At that moment the woman who had just insulted me and her friend passed by and walked towards those men. The woman looked at me out of the corner of her eye as if she was disgusted.

I pretended not to care about her again. She went straight to Kize and put her hand on his shoulder and rested her chin on his neck. Kize turned and said something to her, but I couldn't understand it, I just heard her say 'what do you mean'. Soon Kize was back next to me.

I didn't look at the others, I didn't want to see how they were or how they were looking at me. I only looked at Kize. Then we started walking together towards the exit of the city. But before we got to the exit, we stopped next to a smaller car than the one I had taken in the morning.

He opened the car door and waited. When I realized I had to get in, I leaned in and sat on the seat. The other car was long and big, with lots of seats. But this car, although smaller and flatter, was definitely more comfortable. Kize sat on the seat next to me and looked at me out of the corner of his eye. I was busy examining the inside of the car. "Don't tell me this is your first time in a car." He said laughing. I blushed and stopped looking around and looked at Kize.

"No, I drove in the morning too." I said and he looked surprised. Immediately afterwards he let out a short laugh. "Are you talking about the bus. Don't you know the difference between the two?" he asked laughing. He was making fun of me, but his attitude was not like the others. He was not insulting me. So of course I didn't take offense to that. I couldn't help but laugh and shrug my shoulders.

"I told you I don't go out much, in fact, today was the first time in my life that I went into the city by myself and did some shopping." I said excitedly. After all, I had successfully completed the shopping trip and bought everything on the list. Kize laughed and gave a short applause. "Ms. Een, what are you saying? Congratulations on your success." I laughed out loud when he said.

"Isn't that a feat in ten fingers." I said jokingly. Laughing, he reached over to me and took the hat off my head and placed it on the back seat. "Take off your coat, let's go for a ride with this brave lady." I nodded with a smile and took off my coat and put it on my lap. I was going to put it on the back seat, but I didn't think it was right to use his place in this way.

He took my coat from my hand and put it on the back seat. "Relax, you don't need to be nervous." I nodded again and Kize started the car. "I haven't driven the car for a while. Let the engine run a bit." He said and turned and looked at me. "What are you taking to the forest?" I asked and leaned my back against the seat. He laughed. "How can you be so clueless?" he asked. This time his question was not a joke, he was waiting for an answer.

"Maybe I wasn't living in this country before the accident, I don't know." I said with a shrug. His eyebrows furrowed. "What accident was it exactly?" I was suddenly nervous because I hadn't thought of an answer to that question. But Kize laughed and after stroking my hair, he approached me. I tensed and stepped back for a moment as he came quickly to me. "Don't be such a coward, Een." When he said that, his face was very close to mine. I was looking very closely into his yellow eyes.

He reached out and pulled something from the edge of the window and put it over my shoulder and placed it right next to my leg. It was as if he had tied me up. He stepped back and leaned back in his seat. "This is the belt, it's there to keep you safe when the car shakes or crashes." By the time he explained, the car was moving. "I see." I mumbled.