Verglas, the capital of GKY, was actually a longer distance than Xiao Yunhua expected. It seemed like Hillwood Village was thoroughly isolated from the kingdom, otherwise it wouldn"t have taken so long to reach it. Alastair had seen their exhaustion and—surprisingly—patiently told them that the capital was a little further away meaning they had a few more hours before they arrived. The carriage was slowly going forward and Xiao Yunhua felt her legs go numb from sitting for so long.Luckily, Evelyn also felt uncomfortable and yelled out, "Stop!"
Alastair didn"t want to stop but she yelled again and he finally stopped the carriage and cleared his throat. "Miss Evelyn, is there a problem?" She hadn"t properly been admitted into the Warrington Clan so Alastair didn"t show her any respect or care.
"I need to stretch my legs, I"m really tired. Let"s take a brief break." Xiao Yunhua thought Alastair was going to decline her request, but oddly, he accepted and told the entourage to stop. Evelyn haughtiness intensified as she thought he was scared of her and her newfound ident.i.ty. In reality, she failed to realize that there was a darker and deeper ploy at play. As all three of them got out, Evelyn turned to Ingrid and Juliet and commanded, "Go out and fetch some wood to start a fire because I"m cold."
"But it"ll be dark soon and I don"t think Mr. Alastair wants us to be separated." Ingrid tried to reason, but that only made Evelyn more rebellious.
"Did you not hear me? Go or else I"ll tell Alastair to abandon you both here and let you starve to death!" Evelyn was making sure her authority was clear and evident, especially with Alastair"s silence that gained her more confidence. Then again, the butler found her rambling annoying and tuned her out and didn"t pay attention, so he didn"t hear anything otherwise he would"ve objected because it went against the plan.
So Ingrid and Juliet were forced to go a little deeper into the forest to find some suitable twigs and wood to start a temporary fire. The moment they were far enough, Ingrid began to complain. "Just imagine how horrendous her behavior will be once we arrive and she a.s.sumes her ident.i.ty. Juliet, I can handle it since I"m old, but you dear...I think you should leave whenever you"ve made enough money. Oh but you will probably stay there until you grow old too..."
Ingrid sighed and Xiao Yunhua wanted to tell her that she wasn"t going to stay and work forever, but the shy Juliet didn"t have the courage to defend herself in any way. She could only nod and continue to scavenge for more wood. They suddenly heard footsteps and both felt afraid, so they knelt down and and overheard a few people talking.
"It"s been done?" A man they didn"t recognize asked as he was dressed completely in black. Along with the rest of the people there.
"Yes, we "robbed" and "killed" like we were supposed to. We should be getting plenty of gold soon." Another man, presumably their leader, spoke with glee.
Robbed and killed...? Xiao Yunhua couldn"t help but think the worst and Ingrid gave her a look, meaning don"t move and don"t panic.
"You left the old guy alive right? Injured yes, but Her Grace would kill us if we harmed him too." Her Grace could only refer to the d.u.c.h.ess! How sinister for her to plot to kill a seven year old along with the Warrington servants purely out of her pettiness. Did she really not want the Duke"s second daughter to enter the household?
"Shus.h.!.+ You idiot, no indication of her should be given! We should be going back now." The footsteps lessened until they were out of sight and sound of Ingrid and Juliet.
"D-Did that just happen?" Ingrid turned to a stuttering Juliet who looked like an alarmed rabbit.
"Juliet... We must pretend we heard nothing and go back to the carriage." Ingrid knew it wasn"t the safest option, but it was their only option. They had no money so they couldn"t just leave. Besides, they needed to see if someone else had accidentally been left alive. But unfortunately for them, they only saw a roaring fire where the carriage used to be. Ingrid"s eyes filled with tears. Yes Evelyn was a little devil, but Ingrid was an old woman who was very sympathetic. And Evelyn was only a seven year old who didn"t have parents to teach her well.
Ingrid turned to see small Juliet and didn"t want to lose this one either. She gripped the letter with her and spoke. "Juliet, you must listen to what I"m about to say..." Xiao Yunhua turned to her and the woman"s words shocked her. "This letter right here can prove that you are...Violetta."
Did the death of Evelyn cause this old woman to go crazy!?
"I know that what we are going to pull is the craziest stunt and we might be executed for doing it...however, we have no choice on the matter. This is the only way to save the both of us. Yes we can get away, but we have no money or shelter. And if they investigate, they can find out that we"re alive and we can be implicated with their death. Juliet, I"m being selfish for your future...you must agree."
Xiao Yunhua wanted to roll her eyes. Selfish for Juliet"s future or for her own gain?
But she had lost her chance to get close to her mission as a servant because of Evelyn"s death...Xiao Yunhua sighed. Looks like she"ll be pretending to be someone else in this world too. She thought she could just simply use this body"s name without ha.s.sle, but alas, reality was cruel.
She nodded and reached out for the letter, taking it.
Meanwhile, the bandits were heading back to their camp and one of them had actually taken the unconscious Evelyn to the camp, shocking the leader.
"Why did you bring her here? Weren"t you supposed to kill her!" The leader had divided each task for each bandit to do and this one was supposed to kill the little girl.
The bandit shook his head, "I couldn"t." The leader took a dagger and aimed it for the girl and before the bandit could react, pierced her arm. Blood spluttered everywhere and the pain finally woke her up. She cried in pain to the point the leader dropped the dagger and told them to treat her. As her arm was being treated, she turned to the leader and asked, "Who are you?"
Before the leader had a chance to respond, she continued, "Who am I?"