It turned out that Alastair had purposely led them away, which is why the carriage took so long to reach the capital. They didn"t have horses nor did they have any money to get horses, so they had to strive on foot. They wandered long enough until they found a couple of people who directed them to the correct direction of Verglas. Apparently the road to the capital was much longer on foot. Xiao Yunhua saw how skinny Juliet was originally before all this happened, she couldn"t even imagine how skinny she looked now that she was walking and barely had any food. Barely as in they had to beg for a loaf of bread because they were so poor. They finally reached the capital and Xiao Yunhua was amazed to see the eccentric place. Many people with different jobs wandered everywhere and were selling random things from the east. Some of the things she saw were considered cheap in the east but the merchants proudly displayed them as an expensive, foreign treasure. Her sky-blue eyes glanced around and noticed that they weren"t the only ones who looked unclean and poor. Just like the peasants who worked or the merchants who sold, there were beggars who begged.
Ingrid saw how chaotic the capital was and gripped Juliet"s hand firmly, giving her a look of rea.s.surance. They had finally arrived at Verglas, now, it was only a matter of finding the Warrington Household and telling them that their "daughter" had survived.
Xiao Yunhua"s stomach grumbled but the sound was m.u.f.fled by the loudness of the capital. Ingrid scurried around—her hand still holding Juliet"s hand tightly so to not lose her—and asked for directions. She was finally answered by a few people who told her that the Duke of Warrington was very hostile, especially to peasants that tried to loiter around their large mansion. Ingrid paid them no heed because she had a jewel that couldn"t be ignored, no matter how hostile they were.
They walked a little further until the majestic mansion of the main branch of the Warrington Clan. It looked so towering that Xiao Yunhua had to raise her head to see the full view. As her eyes examined its surroundings, Xiao Yunhua noticed a huge castle not far off from the mansion. If it looked so big from afar, she couldn"t picture how big the castle was from close by. The guards of the mansion saw them approaching and their faces s.h.i.+fted into hostility, just like they were warned.
"Dirty beggars, the Duke"s mansion isn"t somewhere for you to loiter or beg either. Be off quickly or else you will be in trouble." One if them said, reaching for his sword to scare them off. Ingrid didn"t flinch and took out the letter, boldly showing them the wax seal on it. The guards" eyes went wide when they realized what it was. Of course they recognized the emblem of the Duke, they worked there for so long! But even if they didn"t work, who didn"t recognize the Duke"s emblem? He was the only user and it would be pa.s.sed to the inheriting successor, as it had been for generations.
"H-How did you get that?" The tone of arrogance had s.h.i.+fted to a stutter. Ingrid narrowed her eyes and told them to bring them to the Duke.
"Even if you have a letter with his wax symbol, you cannot demand to see the Duke so easily." The other guard spoke for the first time. He spoke much more cautiously than the first one, learning his lesson.
"What if the Duke"s daughter is here?"
The guards froze and finally looked at the girl next to Ingrid properly. She was very skinny and small, her face dirty too. If they hadn"t heard it from this woman"s mouth, they would"ve never believed that this was the Duke"s daughter. In fact, they just couldn"t believe this was the Duke"s daughter. Who would believe such nonsense despite the letter? Didn"t the Duke"s daughter die already? Since they were just guards, they weren"t informed that the illegitimate young miss of the Warrington Household was going to appear, so they didn"t believe it.
They wanted to shoo them away, but in the end, the sensible guard of the two went inside to let someone know. Even if their words weren"t believable, they still had a letter with the wax seal of the Duke. It was better to let someone else handle it.