"Do you want to run away?" Those few words made her mind suddenly conscious of her actual thoughts, the ones that had been blocked until now, the ones which caused her head to hurt very painfully, to run away and escape. She thought about it a few seconds, and even Henry waited in anticipation. Then, her eyes shadowed as she spoke with a blank expression.
"If I wanted run away, let alone have the opportunity to do so, I won't have left my school like that." She spoke as her pale face showed signs of rejection. "But it isn't like I would give up hopes on doing so. The only thing is, the duchess would still be able to find me, just anywhere in the world that I stay."
"And what if I help you stay away? I have seen concerning factors about the way you have been speaking and isolating yourself. There are many places in this world that mom can't reach her hands to, you will be able to live there." George let go of his hand from her shoulder as she let down Henry and clicked open her pocket watch.
"I will need some time to think then, but I will only to be able to free time around just before dinner. Is it alright if I let you know by then?" She spoke politely while her face turned expressionless. Glancing at the time, one thirty on the surface, she realized that if she were fully engorged into her work, she would be free before that time. Now due to the dungeons appearing, she needed to have a time slot just to work out a plan for tonight's battle.
"Sure. Just remember that there is still time to escape before you are brought out to the eyes of the public. And once that has been done, you will not be able to go back, regardless of where you want to stay." He turned around and walked with Henry towards the decorations. Without a further delay from her side, she set off towards her room. Thinking about multiple things that could be working alongside her own busy life.
Like the guard had said, many things had happened within the week she had been unconscious. The entire family could be planning something against her while she was barely able to keep herself alive. If it were a trick from his side, the result would be more into him wanting to send her off while claiming the throne. It wasn't a problem from her side, but there was a huge factor against it, she won't be able to do the certain thing she had been wanting to complete.
Upon opening the door to her room, a slightly tall person stood in front of her table with an envelope at his hand. Seeing her enter, he immediately placed it down and turned around to greet her. "I had written the letter just in case, but it seems you have already arrived. If you have the time, then I can explain the terms that I wanted to talk about."
"If it's alright by you, I will be free after ten. For now, I am slightly busy with my work and I really want them to be done by the day, as you may have already known, the guests are coming over and it would be a great help if you contributed into their work. They are probably short in staff due to mid-season flu, maybe by ten or more. Your service for me is not needed for now." Aefia spoke while walking towards the table, slumbed down on her chair, while taking the envelope to open it in front of Cedric.
It only consisted of a few lines and it wasn't as impossible to read as it seemed with the messy handwriting and rough surface. Multiple ink splotches were left in between words, but she still managed through and endured the impossible to understand grammar. After a short moment of frustration and reading, she put the paper back into the envelope and slid it forward. "Is that what you really think? That the three of them might just be planning something behind my back?"
"If I am not wrong, they are pretty suspicious." Cedric replied while nodding. "I believe you have noticed to." He spoke with a serious face staring at her with the blank expression. Anger and determination could be seen through her eyes as she covered her mouth her the back of her hand to think. She may be acting dumb, but this was her way of solving problems. Especially since this guy has got no brain.
Aefia slid her pocket watch in front and half-way across the table, and bent forward while speaking in a low voice. "At the said time, spy on them." A coded way of saying things that didn't want to grab the attention of others or in case they try eavesdropping, they would just be left confused with the true meaning. He nodded one final time while walking out and in front with a burning envelope which dissapeared with no speck of dust at his fingertips.
She stayed seated, while pulling open a drawer with the remaining few pages of calculations that were needed to be done. Secretly, there was her calculator being of good use to this case because it speeded things up in masses. Doing taxes at that age was a huge burden, but she had been doing it since she was twelve due to her parents' orders. For that, she was completely used to this and could easily speed through it without a care to what time it was.
Her mind was still wondering about the running away factor. Should she at least attempt it? Or was it best to stay put and continue her role in this palace cage. It was unavoidable that she had already quit from the competition and there was no turning back. The Guardian had already seen her, and if another step was placed there, she was sure to die.
Her health was slowly recovering, but it felt like a seal had been placed against her when she was unconscious. Just before waking up, there was a significant amount of the energy still there, and her health bar would feature a much larger and longer line then what she was currently seeing.
Maybe, unlike what she had heard, the duchess did actually come to her chamber and punished her. Just by a simple talk of expressions, she already knew there was a hunger for more power on her face and she heavily despised anyone who could outshine her.
Could it have possibly been the reason why she had taken me in? Because I was much stronger compared to the others in the team and I might have been a little more stronger than her? From what I have seen, almost everyone is still a Phase one, and they don't seem to be growing more then that.
She slowly placed the glass surface of the pen down against her table, and moved on to another paper. Covered in thoughts, she slowly realized that she had been mindlessly writing on her wooden table too. She was done, but it still felt like there was more that needed to be done. Maybe I should go and sleep for now. My eyedrops are not effective enough. If by the time the guests have arrived, I seem sleepy and stressful, the duchess might just rip my throat off.
While tieing up the last roll of paper, she moved away from her table and walked towards her bed. It had been sometime since she could get some proper rest and her sleep was going to be wasted today too, so it was better to even get one minute of rest before the guests arrived. Her eyes drifted shut as soon as she flopped down, and didn't care about anything else as the light intensity of the sun coming from her window burned her eyes.
Flipping to the otherside, she pulled the blanket above her face and slept in complete darkness. But that too was not a successful one since just shortly afterwards, knocking was heard, but she still didn't respond. Whatever, at least they had gotten some sleep which I barely could. They won't know my struggles, would they?
***
"Did you ask this guy to help you spy?!" The maid servant spoke while grabbing Cedric along with her. His clothes looked tattered and splotch marks on his face, looking extremely tired and exhausted from what seemed to be an attempt of escaping. "He is absolutely bad at it, if you would tell me earlier, I could have done it better."
Aefia had to forcefully pull herself up in a sitting position as she heard a very strong push against the door which was heard like it were going to break in a second. She itched her eyes while eventually getting off, not even a minute later. "I already knew he was going to be a dissapointing creature. Leave it, that was simply just a test to see what he could actually do."
At her feet were shiny black loafers which were put in heels. It too had chains at the front and the sole on the other side was red. With her sleepy eyes, she thought they were from a luxury brand and carefully wore it. For some reasons, after even a second of sleep, her mind feels as if intoxicated and she might even start speaking nonsense in some rare cases. And when that did happen, her maids would usually spray water on her face.
For today's case, her shoes were entangled with the blanket as she tried to place a step ahead. Her face slammed against the carpeted ground as she flipped around and held her nose and mouth. Her eyes caught the glimpse of two laughing person, one ragged who was hanging by his tailcoat and lifted in the air. It was straight out of a cartoon the way it looked, and she silently laughed it out too.
Before long, her pocket watch flashed into her mind as she immediately got up and walked in front of them both while holding out her hand, "My watch?" Suddenly realizing about his mistakes, withdrew the watch and handed the broken lid and the ticking body. With this, anger surged over her veins as she immediately snatched it away and walked over towards the sofa area. "What level of dumbness could someone destroy this? The chain is missing!"
The two pieces fell to the coffee table with a clang and despite walking there, she still didn't sit. Instead, she pointed to the opposite sofa and signed for the maid to let him go. "You will have to talk about this. Where is it? And how did you break it? The mechanism on this cover isn't so that it would just snap off and leave dents." Her voice grew stern as her face distorted into a fierce one.
"I swear it was just an accident. I bumped into another butler and he dropped this watch from my hand while I was crossing a corner." Cedric protested against it and immediately tried to run, but the door was shut with another barrier which glittered with a red translucent wall. Aefia stared at him with her agonizing anger as she smacked her forehead with her hand and glanced at the maid servant.
"Where did you pick him up from?" A long silence later, the few words left her mouth as she looked at the servant opposite to her, at the end of her bed. Then, diverting her eyes to look at the watch which showed three sharp. It showed signs of dust and major damage which she knew there was a necessity to get a new one now that this was half the value.
"He was crawling along the bushes in the garden, looking for something. And when I did ask him for what he was doing, the only answer he said was 'I am spying on three people for young master and I seem to have lost the chain to her pocket watch.' Just what were you thinking? Hiring this guy to spy on people?" The maid crossed her arms as she immediately realized her tone and bowed while apologizing. "I am sorry for how I was speaking to you. It was unintentional."
"No it's fine, but what is not, is the chain was a small key to a lock which I had been trying my best to find. I might need to search around the palace myself after this, just to find that small key. Did you check the place where it had fallen?" She turned her head to the guy who stood against the red barrier as if ready to escape upon it destabilizing. Oh yes, like what did I honestly expect him to pass the test?
"I have, but there was nothing except broken glass pieces and absolute debris." Cedric replied with fright. But then, a small moment was spent while he seemed to be recalling something and then, he hesitated many times from saying the words that would spill out in any moments. "Just say it!" Aefia got frustrated within the passing seconds.
"Honestly if you want I can describe the butler who I had made contact with which caused me to break the watch. He was the one who collected the pieces and handed it over to me asking if I was alright!" He quickly spoke through the words while shutting his eyes and waiting for scoldings from their young master. But moments passed, but no reply was heard. He opened his eyes, to see her staring with shocked eyes, and even her pupils were visible with the dark iris slightly illuminated with red from the distance.
"Describe him..." A more confident tone escaped her mouth as she looked down and then to the maid servant who shared the same look. While breathing out, he spoke. "Slightly silvering hair with darker edges and he wore spectacles. He seemed thin and tall with his face telling he was a very aged man."
"And did his glass have chain attached at the end with silver and gold circles in some parts and it looked a little worn out with hints of hand-crafting?" Her eyes shadowed with her hair falling over them. Cedric nodded at that, and immediately, she walked over and grabbed his arm as her free hand rubbed over the surface that wiped off the barrier.
While opening the door, she spoke out the instructions. "I know that person, will you be able to tell who that butler was if I asked you?" Her eyes seemed to be turning reder by the second and it remained calm.