The Duke & I

Sophia's POV

"Lea, listen to me! I need to escape here. I'm still young, and I have dreams. Though, my only dream is to date Taeyung, I know it sounds a bit crazy, but it's my ultimate goal! I don't want to marry that person. Please, help me," I said seriously while grabbing her arm, but she flinched in pain when I touched her there.

"Wait, what's wrong?" I quickly lifted her sleeve but immediately covered my mouth when I saw the marks all over her. "What? What is this?" I blurted out.

"Young lady, please forgive me, but none can escape the lands of Count Eltz. Both you and I are his subjects," she said.

Subject? math subject? 

"Girl, that's madness! I'm not for sale, and neither are you! We're not buy one take one, or buy one take two! or whatever! Listen, I don't know if this is still a dream or what, but I don't want to get married, be deflowered, get pregnant, and have children in this place, not in this era, so please help me!"

"Are you feeling unwell? The language you are speaking seems rather unusual, young lady."

"Aish. This is crazy!" I muttered in disbelief.

I looked out the window. That's where we could escape, but I can't jump down in this hanbok; I might get stuck. I searched the room and quickly found scissors.

"What is it that you intend to do, young lady? You may end up harming yourself."

I looked at her again in full desperation. "Listen, Lea, we're escaping!" I gripped the scissors tightly and started cutting the hanbok's long skirt. I almost got embarrassed when my dirty rubber shoes were exposed beneath the dress.

"Young lady, what are you doing to your garment? Please stop at once." Lea protested, but she couldn't stop me since I was determined. I ignored her and start to took off the big headpiece on my head.

"Ugh, this headpiece... What on earth was I thinking when I decided to wear this ridiculous thing?"

Just as I was about to remove it, the door to my room suddenly burst open.

"Diese Bastarde, was bedeutet das?" ["Those bastards, what does this mean?"]

My soul almost left my body when I saw the Count just entering the room.

Wait, why is he here already? How did he bathe so fast, or maybe he didn't even bathe? 

"Diener, warum ist meine Braut noch nicht fertig? Habe ich dir nicht gesagt, sie zurechtzumachen? Warum sieht sie immer noch lächerlich aus?" ["Servant, why is my bride not ready yet? Didn't I tell you to fix her up? Why does she still look ridiculous?"] He said in rage. He quickly approached Lea and before she could react, she slapped her hard.

What the heck?!

" Wertlos, nutzlos! Diener!" ["Worthless, useless! Servant!"]

He raised his hand as if to strike her again when I pushed him hard. "Hey! Fatass! Don't you know about human rights?" I raised my eyebrow and waved my hand in front of him. And what do you know about human rights, Sophia? Buts whatever. That's abuse!

"Young lady, what are you doing? Please refrain from defending me, you may cause yourself harm." Lea said, tears in her eyes.

I was about to speak when the Count suddenly shoved Lea away.

"Du, verlasse sofort dieses Zimmer! Gehe!" ["You, get out of this room in this instance! Leave!"]

I didn't understand what he said, but it seemed like an order for Lea to leave, and with that, lea rushed out. I swallowed hard when the Count quickly shut the door and started undressing.

Wait, what's he planning to do? Why is he undressing?

I froze as he approached me and roughly pushed me onto the bed. I winced at the force of his push.

"Du bist stur! Mal sehen, ob du noch stehen kannst, nachdem uns das passiert!" ["You're stubborn! Let's see if you can stand after what's about to happen to us!"] he chuckled like there was no tomorrow.

I widened my eyes when he suddenly removed his lower garments. I immediately covered my face with my hands.

 Holy crap! My virgin eyes!

I was about to stand up and get away when he pushed me back onto the bed. I quickly looked away as he stripped the remaining fabric around him.

My god! I'm not picky, but can't there be a man with a well-toned body and six-pack abs, masculine biceps and triceps, and a sharp jawline like in the novels to replace this guy? Why him? TT

He was about to climb on top of me when suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Was für eine Unterbrechung! Was wollt ihr, ihr Dummköpfe?" ["What an interruption! What do you want, you fools?"] he yelled to the people outside.

"Mein Herr, Entschuldigung, aber die königlichen Wachen und der stellvertretende Hauptmann sind draußen, und der Oberst wird bald hier sein." ["My lord, apologies, but the royal guards and deputy captain are outside, and the colonel will be here soon."]

"Was? Oberst? Warum sagst du mir das erst jetzt? Nutzlos! Idiot!" ["What? colonel? Why are you only telling me now? Useless! Idiot!"] he angrily muttered before hurriedly straightening, himself and getting dressed.

In his rush, he didn't bother to look at me again. I didn't understand much of their conversation except for the word "colonel." Well, thanks to him. Whoever that was, it seemed like he had an important position, and he managed to disrupt the presence of that perverted Count.

I quickly stood up when I saw he was gone. I needed to get out of here. I grabbed all the blankets I could find and tied them together to make a rope. I didn't have time, so I threw it out of the window without looking where I've thrown it. I didn't even remove the headpiece from my head because the Count might come back anytime.

Okay, this is it! Whatever happens, G, if I died here, please let me born your Joseon era. I made the sign of the cross before climbing out of the window and slowly descended the rope.

"Shocks! What's this? My feet can't find a firm foothold," I muttered, as I start to climb down. 

I tried to descend more, but nothing could grip beneath my feet. I continued to descend until I finally felt something beneath me. But why is it so soft? I tapped it a few more times with my rubber shoe, and it was indeed soft.

Aish! Whatever!

I climbed further down when I suddenly heard the sound of a horse neighing.

Wait, what was that?

I quickly looked down. My eyes almost popped out when I saw a black horse right beneath my feet. But what shocked me more was seeing the Count below with some military-looking people, all staring up at me.

Akkk! Son of tofu, Sophia! What stupidity is this? Why did you escape through the front window? Stupid! dumbass! useless! I just shut my eyes in embarrassment.

""Arschloch, was machst du?!" ["Bastard, What are you doing?!"] the Count shouted.

Arg! shadap! can't you see I'm escaping?

When the count shout again, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest, and I lost my grip on the rope , falling straight onto the black horse. The horse immediately stood up, and before I knew it, it was running at full speed.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as I looked at the people around me while I was still airborne on the horse.

I was stunned when my eyes met a tall, with great physique in a blue military uniform, a figure that seemed to exude full authority who is now staring at me. At that moment, I wanted to see his face closely—if only...

"Waaaaaah!" I screamed 

"Waaaaaah! Help!" I screamed again as the horse bolted down the street.

"Waaaah, please! I don't want to die! Anyone, please help me!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I shut my eyes tightly as the horse sped down the road, clearing everything in its path.

"Waaaah! Move! Move! Get out of the way!" I screamed as I held onto the horse tightly, heading towards the city's center route..

I continued to hold on tightly to the horse when I saw in the distance, a river or creek where some women washing clothes.

Waaah! If this is the dream, I want to wake up from this. I already learn my lesson. Daddy, I hug you tight when I wake up. It looks like this is where I'll die!

I swallowed several times, and as I approached the river, I heard a strange noise from behind me.

What was that? The sound of death? Waaah!

I bent down, then turned around, and my jaw nearly dropped when I saw a man on a black horse chasing me. I froze when I realized the man chasing me was the same one I saw talking to the Count earlier. The man in the blue military uniform, with a strong physique.

"Junge Dame, ziehen Sie das Seil." ["Young lady, pull the rope."] he shouted.

Okay, Lord, this time, I'm serious about the subtitles. I need a freaking subtitle!

I was about to speak, but the horse I was riding sped up even more.

""Ziehen Sie die Zügel!" ["Pull the reins!"] he shouted again, but I didn't understand him at all.

Huhu. What is he yelling? TT

I gasped for air as I saw we were getting closer to the water. I tried to climb higher onto the horse as my grip began to loosen, when suddenly my headpiece was ripped off by the horse's high speed, and my long black hair fluttered in the air.

When I turned around, our eyes met.

In that moment, I opened my mouth and cried out, "I don't want to die! Please, help me! If you help me, I'll do whatever you want!" I screamed, never breaking eye contact with him.

I furrowed my brows when I saw him smirking when I opened my eyes.

Wait, is he smirking? Does he understand me?

Arg! What did you just say, Sophia? Did you just sell yourself? But what can I do? I have no choice! I'm on the brink of death! I'm still young; I don't want to die!

I quickly made the sign of the cross again when I saw we were approaching the water.

"Young lady, hold on tight!" he shouted quickly as I looked at him.

Hold on? Is that English?

Shocks! He speaks the language of God. Oh my God! I want to cry. 

I was frozen in shock when I saw him speed up and, and in a split second, he is already next to my horse. My jaw nearly hit the ground as I stared at him when he spoke again.

"Hold on!"

I was about to speak when he suddenly stood up on his horse and jumped onto mine.

My jaw nearly hit the floor as he jumped into the air and onto my horse. As the strong wind blew, I gasped as I felt one of his hands on my waist and his body pressing against my back.

I didn't know why, but the moment our eyes met, something stirred in my chest.

BUT WHAT IS IT?