Chapter 6 Dream about freedom

**Warning: Su*cide mentioned**

The sudden firelight startled Ash. As far as he remembers, every time the light lits up, a bunch of people will barge in to beat him, abuse him, and leave as soon as they are satisfied. So, he prepared himself mentally for what is about to come. Even when he knows that the sign of light is not going to end in good for him, his only hope for his freedom is that this little light which lits once in a while reminding him that there is still a world out there with so many beautiful things he is yet to see. There are people waiting for him, his best friend Liam and his little sister Chris, his teacher, and people who waiting for him to save them. 'Are they still waiting for me? Have they given upon me? Does anyone know that I am still alive? Liam said he will be with me forever... Is he searching for me? I once asked my parents that I want a sister like Christa, humble and adorable. Is she still sick? Is she married? I and Liam collected so many lilies for her from the royal mother's garden. Is the garden still there? The well near the garden in which the mother fell to commit su*cide, is it still there? I want to give her a proper funeral when I go out'. There were so many thoughts running inside his mind like an old radio that is searching for a signal.

His mother's last words were "I'm sorry, my dear! They will not let us stay together if we are captured and I cannot live a life of disgrace without your father. I'm sorry for leaving you all alone in this world but you must live. You have to become stronger to protect the people you love!" she then untied her hair and took the black-coloured silk hair ribbon which his father bought for her when they were still in love, closed his eyes with it and jumped into the well. He was then too young to understand many things like why would his mother cherish that black ribbon so preciously and why would she commit su*cide after hearing his father's defeat leaving him all alone. Now, that he is at an age, with maturity where he can understand things, hearing the jailers talk about how lecherous the late Emperor Auth Spencer was and how his daughter is just like him, Ash felt the urge to strangle anyone with the surname 'Spencer'. Even then, he never once thought to blame Lynn for what her father did to his parents.

A long time passed since he started thinking so many things as soon as the light lit up that he was very slow to realize that no one came inside to abuse him this time and the cell was total silent. He paused for a moment and raised his to look in the direction of the gate in confusion. What his eyes saw this time was not some men in grey uniform to beat him but instead, a man with a mask covering the lower half face, standing upright in a fitting black uniform without any wrinkles in his dress with a blue sword on his right hand and the firelight on his left hand, behind him was an equally tall but delicate-looking woman whose hair hung loosely on her shoulders wearing a royal golden martial arts attire with small red flowers in it and a sword that looked heavier than herself hanging around her waist which looked similar the man's blue sword. She was clumsily holding the corners of her dress, definitely not knowing how to walk around in so many layers. As the man in black slowly lifted the light, he saw her face which made him feel emotions that he never understood until the man in black signalled her to move forward.

Ash immediately figured out who she is by the way he treated her. "Your majesty, Empress Lynn?". There was an obvious sarcasm in the way he called her 'Empress Lynn'. Lynn pretended that she didn't hear any of that and rushed to him to release those shackles in a hurry. She forgot everything the moment she saw him bleeding, kneeling on the cold floor and tied with such heavy iron shackles all over his body. Her initial goal to come to the Cold Prison was just to save him as he is the protagonist and doesn't really need her help in the story with anything, then slowly coax him reminding him that she saved his life, escape death and live somewhere far away in peace without any drama. But looking at him right now, she had an urge to kill everyone who touched him. She felt that it was too cruel for a child as young as 12 years old to be brought into such a place as a prisoner right after his parent's death and to impose cruelty on him to such an extent. It was making her fume in anger and she was already having tears in her eyes in anger and pain seeing him like that. She cursed the late Emperor Auth "It's good that... that f*ker died... if not...." Before she could complete the sentence, Steve hurriedly knocked the ground with his sword loudly to remind her that it's a sin to talk ill about the late Emperor. "It's fine he died anyways! Who on the hell would do this to a child?" she was clumsily searching for the locks while removing the ropes. Steve kept the light on the holder over the wall and knelt down to help her without waiting for her command, understanding what she is trying to do, after all, he can't let the empress do these things.

"A Child?" Never having seen anyone for the past 5 years with such anger mixed with tenderness in their eyes who were crying for him apart from his mother, Ash was very shocked. He recalled all those rumours her heard from the jailers about the Sapphire dynasty's current empress Lynn, 'she loves to sleep with anyone and anything that looks good just like her father, dumb to realize that people around her use her as a puppet, knows nothing but to say yes to whatever the ministers say and that even her own fiancé despises her enough to plan her death so he doesn't have to marry her'. All of those rumours were contradicting with what he is seeing right now. He looked at her with very complicated emotions.