Chapitre 29: A Future
"I want to live, my lord. Just like you. Though you may have bigger dreams." she smiled mockingly. He could not read her expressions and that only made him uneasy.
"And what does my life have to do with you?" he asked with a frown. But the woman only looked at him meaningfully. Her gaze left him stunned. His grip on the sword tightened.
She knew! She knew that he was conspiring with the marquis to kill his own father! But how? How in the world could she know?
"You have a future my lord. And I want a future for myself. I am only starting a simple trade, I will protect your present and you will protect my future." The drops of blood had filled the room. His nose itched and his hands stung. Yet, they did not seem to notice it. The girl did not feel pain at all as she stared at him with a strange eerie calm look.
"Olivia.."
He pulled the sword back when another maid entered. Only then did Damon look away.
"You would need my help." The maid must have noticed the blood but she looked away. Running to the other corner, she took out the bags of dried fruits and vegetables.
"It would be hard to take meat. You have to kill animals on the way and grill them. I have collected a large amount of dried vegetables and fruits. As long as you boil them with meat, it would suffice the need of food.
As far as it is about grains, there are.." Olivia pointed at the list she had given him earlier. Frowning, Damon opened it.
His eyes widened as he noticed the list of rations. Even he could not make such a perfect list. She had taken care of medicines, ointments and herbs he would need.
Food, clothes, arms. She had made a list of all of them in detail. Second, he did not know what to say!
She had helped him and he had injured her. Not only that, he did not regret it. He could not trust her!
"My lord, you would need two maids too. I can volunteer." Damon's cold eyes moved from the list to the girl. The girl beside her looked reluctant but she nodded too.
"Her lover is one of the knights. If something happened to him, her marriage would break. She is willing to take the ire of her grace to protect her lover." Olivia explained as the maid could not bear his cold and domineering gaze. It looked like he wanted to kill them with his gaze.
"And what about you, Olivia? You are not even a maid. Yet you are willing to be one? Who do you want to protect?" Olivis paused. He regretted asking her, looking at The smile on her face.
"Cough! You may come." he nodded at another maid. "But you, my lady, can not follow us." Olivia frowned. She had bowed her head so many times. She had borne all the insults. Yet he did not trust her.
"My lord.." She followed him but paused when other maids looked at them.
"Then I wish you good luck and… happy birthday." Damon's feet paused and lightened before continuing. He left the room without turning back.
At the entrance, Gaston was waiting for him there.
"Sire!" he bowed and followed. "Should i.."
"There is no need. We have more rations than we thought."He passed the list to Gaston as if it was burning his hands.
Gaston frowned and looked at the list until his eyes widened.
"Her grace could never allow this! That evil woman.."
"Language! It is my sister's grace we are receiving. Though I do not know why." the man frowned. Not at all happy that Damon was dealing with Olivia.
"We can not trust her family." he frowned.
"Indeed we can not. But I have checked the items personally. They are of the best grade. I am sure some of them were stolen from the storage room or the physician's room. Even she did not have the power to issue so much." The frown only grew deeper.
"What did she ask in exchange? If you would tell me sire that if it was only because of empathy, then I refuse to accept it." Damon sighed. Even he failed to understand her.
He had planned to kill his father and take the position of duke for himself. But even he did not trust his plan fully. Yet the girl looked so sure of it. Or she had her own motives.
"We do not have time to worry about her, Gaston. It had been an hour. Ring the bell and collect everyone. We will leave now." Gaston had already predicted this. He did not argue. He stared at the long list and with a heavy heart, he pressed the bell and collected everyone.
"But we were given more time. I am still not ready." a knight complained in a righteous voice when Gaston laughed.
"You would be given a month, and you would still not be prepared." many laughed while the man flustered.
Damon stood between the large circle. His cold eyes staring at everyone.
"We are to leave for a dangerous mission. There are chances that you will never return. So I hope you have bade farewell to everyone. As long as you listen to my commands, I will sacrifice my life to protect you there.
The moment you cross my path, my sword will be the first to kill you." the knights flinched. Their soft protests died in an instant.
A carriage was already waiting. Damon noticed the maid from earlier. There was one more companion with her. They were in the carriage of their rations. There were fourteen horses around it.
The knights climbed on one each and the caravan left. Olivia stared at the living figures standing at the roof of the large manor. Her eyes filled with regret.
"Good luck my enemy! I hope you miss me even once."
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone