章 22: Shack
Mireille
Together with Marie, I arrive at a dingy and unilluminated shack, opening into the narrow backalley. My eyes patrols every corner where a dim fire is lit, to make the dark path easy to be accessed. After first entering the shack, one can easily welcome the idea that this shack is nothing more than an outcasted storehouse. But soon, one would become aware that they are wrong.
At the entrance, I get welcomed by a huge door with littered doorway. We pass-by the room without glancing much in it's direction. We explore an adjoining passageway with worn-out surroundings. Musty, stuffy smell greets my nostrils and the next moment, I scrunch my nose in response to the horrible smell.
We reach a dead end of the passageway, a rusty and neglected door is closed between the two ancient walls of the passageway.
"We came inside through the backdoor" Marie says, all of a sudden, halting her steps before opening the door.
'Not like you criminals have the guts to show yourselves in the front' my mouth twitches to say, but I control myself with a slight eye roll. I dismiss the idea of what the front door may look like. I'm sure the front looks as dull as the back.
"It was foolish of you to come here alone" she interrups my thoughts. Looking at me with mocking eyes as she begins her next words "Do-
"I wanted to be alone with the lady" I reply with perfect doe eyes, though my tone was usually flirty.
I can see a reddish hue coloring her ears. Wait, only a sentence was enough to make her blush?
"Weren't you the one to bring me here?" I mumble innocently, audible enough so that she can hear me.
"I don't want to owe anyone anything, but if I do" she replies, quite guilt-ridden "I make sure to have them disposed"
So, the reason she brought me here was as simple as this. She just wanted to finish me off quietly, so she brought me in this secluded shack after making sure there isn't any witness. No doubt she didn't bother feigning ignorance for any of mine accusations.
"Be prepared to meet our leader" she whispers, gulping away her hesitation before pushing open the door.
Before I can comprehend her frightened state, I see a sight which only shouts 'rowdy'. The door opens into a vast room, loud hollerings and howling makes my ears go stagnant for a while. The room is dark and dim, oil-lamps become the only source of light in the vast room. A wide table is spread out in the center of the room, four shabby and grubby looking men crowds the table, seated at wooden chairs with a crude, vulgar looking tramps on their laps. Must be prostitutes. I tightly grip at my sword, cooing myself to not unseath my sword and make a massacre.
I have beheaded countless of bandits already, some no-name criminals will only decorate my list. I break my cold gaze from the rowdy group, who never noticed our presence and are fixed on the table, or precisely their gambling cards.
I follow behind Marie as an obedient person, we trudge along the dark, shadow obstruct wall as to not invite any attention on ourselves. My sharp gaze gets fixated over a man less bulky than Rum, he is wearing an over-worn jacket with tattered pants and faded black top. He has a black patch over his left eye, his gnawed out nails visible.
I spare a disdainful look at him when I observe that he sits in the center of their group, getting all the spotlight as if he is the leader.
Marie halts midway in her walk as she makes her way to the leader. I don't bother leaving my comfortable dark spot, where no one can catch my presence.
"J-James" she whispers to the man who I think is their leader.
He turns around to face her as his careless expression changes to a bewildering look.
"Where is Rum?" he supposedly mouths, with wide-eyes.
Don't tell me, this jerk knew about Rum's action and never bothered saving Marie!? Or else why would he ask about Rum, when he sees Marie?
"H-he is d-dead" she stammers at his horrendous tone and his scary face.
"HOW?!" his thundering voice resounds in the whole room, as his other company stares at him with anxious looks. James rises from his wooden chair with a startling force and starts making his way towards Marie.
I brace myself for any drama he will make. Coming towards Marie, his intentions definitely do not seem good.
"Tell me, my sweet Marie" he caresses his dirty hand over her fearful face, making his tone lower and more sadistic "Whatever happened to him?"
Only a side of her face is visible to me yet, I can make out the thick sweat beads on her face.
"H-he assaulted me" a stuttering Marie says, I don't know why she is so frightened when it was clearly Rum's fault.
"And?"
"I.... I was scared and... And... I...."
Marie must know about James temper, because she immediately shuts her eyes when he raises his hand. All the onlooking eyes follow the movement of his hand yet, no one dares come forward and stop him.
I scoff at their actions before dashing towards the duo. Before he can land a resonate slap on her face, I grip his arm to cease his movements. James halts his hand midway in the air as he winces from the stinging pain offered to him, by my fingertips.
"As a gentleman, I can never allow violence on a victim women" I mockingly declare, feeling the burning stares from the many occupants of the room.
My staring contest with James lasted for about a minute or so and by God, I must say, he is really ugly. With greasy hair, drooping eyes, stunk nose and yellow teeth- I don't think he washed his teeth for about a month.
Realizing my mocking expression, he applies force to free himself, but alas, he is weak. If it isn't for Marie trying to ease the tension between us, I won't mind breaking his bone.
She clamps his arm and extendes her hand to grab mine. Wide-eyed, I back away from the duo, letting go of Jamesʼ arm. Who gave her any permission to touch me? I stare at her in disbelief. She tries calming a seething James, who glares daggers at me.
"Who is he!?" James shouts, with Marie at his side.
Is there anyone here who is deaf? If not, his shouts will definitely make you one.
"He is..." she skeptically looks at me, unsure of what to say.
"I'm one of the many victims of Duke Ferdinand" I reply with fake honesty "but as it stands, I'm just a 'no-name' in front of that giant Duke"
"And? What do you want?" James scoffs, not giving in to my bullsht.
"Since our goals are similar, I wish to co-operate with you in the future"
"If you are intelligent, you oughta know I want a solid proof?" he skeptically eyes me, falling zero percent into my trap.
"I believe him!" Marie's sudden chirping catches me off-guard "'he' has been indiscriminate towards him" she says, pointing at me.
So here 'he' refers to Duke, I presume. James eyes her scornfully, despising the fact that she took a stand for me.
"Everything makes sense...." she says as she fiddles with her fingers "your first match, your arrest at the tea-incident... Everything, he did it because he has something against you"
Yes, it does... Finally it does. Making me fight David, giving me every reason to hate him.... Did the Duke plan out everything from the start, or does he simply hate me? He made a definite proof for people to think he hates me, though I think he does.
I only thought my talk with Marie and her lot will turn into a bloodbath and never into a peaceful deal. If it weren't for this 'proof', I was ready to unseath my sword.
"“The enemy of your enemy should be your best friend”, isn't the saying an important part in this world?" I ask, rolling my eyes, taking the benefit of the doubt in everyone's way.
"I'll be the guard!" Marie volunteers for something known as a guard, a watcher for me, to straighten out any suspicion on me and have a watch over my closeness to my goal, which is 'killing the duke'.
Minutes later I'm ushered out by Marie and I gladly walk away from the putrid alleyway. I don't want to witness the salivating gazes from the gangsters, not only the prostitutes, but even the grubby men were salivating at me. Uughh! sends shivers down my spine.
-----------------
Two days after Mireille acquainted Marie and her group, she received yet another task.
"Tch" Monroe cursed his luck. 'What a pain' he wondered, trudging along the carpeted hallway. He glanced at the journals he was holding and exhaled a sigh. He avoided the sharp sunrays, which were inviting themselves from between the heavy curtains.
He noticed the seemingly dark-colored curtains hung on the windows, which played hide-and-seek with the sunrays.
'It's so hot' he tempered, feeling the ferocious heat against himself.
"Midgett!"
He abruptly jerked back to see the source of the voice, embarrassed with the nickname and exasperated to quite the voice, so that no one could make fun of him. It was his luck that the hallway was secluded with a spare number of maids exiting the hall.
Glowing yellow-brown bangs falling over a pair of tawny eyes. Skin as white as the full moon on a cloudless night. Lean and slender figure which hid the strength of the knight. A sword in his báldric, extending from his torso to his thigh. He was waving at him, gleaming happily.
"She should stop being so pretty" Monroe mumbled. When he saw Mireille mouthing some words and before she could call out to Monroe, he sprinted towards Mireille and clamped her mouth, because he knew what she would say. 'Midget'.
"How many times should I tell you not to call me that in public?!" Monroe let out a frustrated cry.
"Is it okay in private?" she asked, her eyes glinting with mischief.
"Ugh!" he exclaimed with an 'I give up' face.
"I forgot your name" she pouted, trying to annoy the already irritated Monroe.
"You!" anger flashed through his eyes at her teasing.
A glint of pure happiness. She laughed suddenly, purely satisfied at the annoyed Monroe.
He glared at her but soon, his anger got dissolved at seeing the utter happiness at Mireille's face. The memories of Ella's body examinations and Mireille crying out for her flashed through him and made him wince.
'I'm glad you're happy' he thought, a pleasing smile formed on his nerdy face.
Mireille caught him smiling like an idiot while staring at her. She didn't get enough of teasing him, so she asked the question he avoided asking.
"What? Did you fall for my charms?" she questioned, holding back her smile.
For this, he just scoffed and rolled his eyes at her, before turning away from her.
"Didn't even bother denying it" she chuckled as she ran to him. She knew Monroe couldn't fall for her, she was just joking about it anyway.
But little did she know, the fierce rosy hue on his face confirmed her 'inaccurate' analysis.
'Damn it!' he cursed again at his bubbling feelings 'she's so annoying'
"Shall we go?" Mireille peeked at him, waiting for his 'yes'.
"Let us go" he murmured at the ground, calming his thumping heart. His skin returned to normal beige, no more red hue was visible now.
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A/N
Hey lovely readers! I just wanted to inform you to expect a small break in the coming days. I will be having my finals for 2 weeks. I hope to focus on my studies now (I have been procrastinating the entire year *sniff*).
Expect a break of min. 7 days or max. Of one month. As usual, comment down your thoughts on the chapter and let me kniw about any improvements, do not forget to vote.
Thank you for reading~~
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