Chapter 12: Nightmare
Evangeline found herself in a familiar place: it was her father's residence. Looking at her hands, they were like her younger self's. Then she saw her father calling her name, keeping his arms open and smiling. She saw her father and ran towards him to hug him. "Father!" As she tried to touch him, a barrier appeared between them and broke like glass. She was puzzled by what had happened and fell into a void-like place, landing on an empty surface with water ripples spreading from where she landed. She stood up and walked around while the ripples followed. Everywhere was purple. She later found her mother and brother holding hands, with their backs to her. She called to them with tears in her eyes.
"Zard! Mommy!" She saw her father walking towards them. As they heard her voice, they stretched their hands towards her, and she held them, crying. She was about to hug them when a knife blade was close to her neck. She gasped and saw it was from her brother's direction. The background became red, and their eyes glowed red.
"What is going on? Mom? Dad?" Their expressions changed towards Evangeline with a killing intent, and her mother held her by the neck, making her choke and cough. They appeared in a stormy area with aggressive ocean water.
"Why didn't you join us? You just wanted to live for yourself and let us die. You must suffer," her parents and brother said to Evangeline at the same time, their voices echoing. She was struggling to breathe as her mother dipped her in the water to drown her. Her father drew out his sword and said, "Selfish child! You deserve to join us in the same fate!" As he was about to strike Evangeline, her eyes opened in the real world. It was a dream. She gasped and was panting.
The servants attending to her while she was unconscious were happy to see her awake.
"My lady, you're awake!" one of the servants called to Evangeline with tears of joy.
Evangeline closed her eyes with tears falling and said to herself, "I'm awake."
Evangeline's awakening alerted everyone. Fully conscious, she noticed that there were new faces in the house, and her clothes had been changed. Magdalene and Richard walked into the room.
"My lady, you're awake. We're glad you're okay," Magdalene rushed to Evangeline, holding her hand.
"What happened? Why do I have new servants?" Evangeline asked out of curiosity.
"Dominic changed them. You almost died of an allergy. Someone gave you peach tea flavor, and we alerted him and the doctor. So Dominic strictly chose new attendants for you and placed your former attendants on punishment while conducting an investigation on the house. He also added some guards of his own," Richard replied.
Evangeline clenched her fingers. Hearing that Dominic ordered an investigation, she kept her cool and sighed.
"Yes, my lady, you've been unconscious for almost seven days. You'll recover soon. Also, you need to thank Mr. Dominic," Magdalene suggested.
Evangeline scoffed. "I'll think about it. I'll also participate in this investigation." She saw the attendants cleaning up her room and sighed. Magdalene pressed the bell beside the bed for Evangeline's breakfast to be brought upstairs.
Dominic was writing some strategies on how to solve the economic crisis and subsidy of the business world, which had been in chaos since the former governess's passing. Caleb and a guard walked into the office, notifying him about Evangeline's awakening.
Dominic smiled a little and asked the guard to go and continued with his strategy.
Magdalene left Richard and Evangeline in the bedroom and went to do some research on her own about the teabag and how it got into the house in the first place.
It was evening. Magdalene left the house and headed to a suspicious-looking place where she had brought Richard from. Inside the building were gamblers and rough games and activities, and some women dressed provocatively, dancing for the men. She wore a hooded cloak and gave the guard a paper seeking the boss's attention, then waited for a response as the guard left.
A few minutes later, she was called into the office and met with the boss. She removed her hood and sat opposite him.
"It's been a while..." Magdalene said to the rough-looking man with an eye patch and a scarf over his head, with long hair and a beard. His name was Hong.
"Good evening, Maggie. Is there a problem with the bodyguard your lady requested?" the man asked Magdalene.
"No, there's no issue. Actually, it's something else," Magdalene reached into her pocket.
"Oh? What is it?" he asked curiously, with a large cigarette in his mouth, as Magdalene brought out a small bottle containing the powder from the teabag in Evangeline's teapot.
"This... Do you know where this came from?" Magdalene pushed the bottle in his direction.
The man picked it up, opened the bottle, and sniffed it. He was a little shocked. "Where did you get this?" he asked, closing the lid.
"From my lady's tea. She is allergic to peach and anything with peach flavor. She's been unconscious, but she woke up today," Magdalene replied, bowing her head. She then raised her head. "Do you know what that is?" she asked with concern.
"It's not from this country, but it's a kind of special tea. They have it in different flavors, and it smells nice when it's in the water and even before the water. For your lady not to notice the fragrance, thinking it was a normal tea, someone must have tampered with it, or it was expired." Hong's reply made Magdalene a little scared.
Hong saw her reaction and smiled. "Don't be scared. Your lady is lucky. You need to investigate the person who smuggled the teabag into the country and into your home. This product was banned in the country by the king, from what I remember, because the ingredients in this tea caused havoc in Verdaselles." He placed the bottle on the table. "The person who did this either has an intent to kill Mrs. Sarogath personally or was sent to spy on the family. I don't want to make assumptions, but your lady's husband is a Brusward, so he knows better how to handle this."
Magdalene sighed and stood up. "If I need your help, I'll let you know." She brought a bag of coins and dropped it on the table before leaving the office.
Hong sighed and picked up the bottle, staring at it. As Magdalene was about to exit the place, she was stopped by a man who was drunk, asking her to follow him to his place. She refused, but he grabbed her hand, dragging her with him. Some men were laughing as they watched Magdalene struggling. As he held her by the neck from behind, she shook her leg slightly, and a knife protruded out of the back of her shoe. She stabbed him in the groin, and he yelled, bleeding heavily. The women gasped at what happened, and the men were surprised. They brought out their guns and knives, attempting to kill Magdalene.
A gunshot was fired into the air, interrupting the commotion. It was Hong.
"Anyone that touches that lady has to come through me first, and you'll lose your life. Got it?!" he warned in a threatening tone while holding his gun making them retreat. He saw the man bleeding to death, ordered the guards to take him away, and watched Magdalene walk away, cleaning her blade to remove the bloodstain before fixing it back on her shoe.
He shook his head and went back to the office.
~CHAPTER END~
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