Lottie's Ship Wish

CHAPTER 3

Lottie was knocked out cold and the only thing that woke her up was the cold and damp feeling touching her swollen cheek.

With tired and sleepy eyes, she looked at her friend Lance sitting beside her and holding a damp cloth to her face.

“Lance…”

“L-Lottie, t-t-thank goodness you are a-awake!” She noticed how his eyes brighten when she woke up. She tried to stand up from which seems her bed—a piece of cloth on the wooden floor.

She was about to ask what happened but pain on her cheek made her remember the biggest slap she had received on her life.

‘Dang old man doesn’t even hold back!’ She cursed on her mind, touching her bruised plump cheek.

‘Just wait till I grow; I am going to slap you back! Mark my freaking words!’ She added on her mind.

Her thoughts faded when she looked back at her young friend Lance and she immediately noticed the dark eye bags under his doe-colored eyes. It made her look at the small window on their room and it clarified to her that it was past midnight and way past his bed time.

“Why are you still awake, Lance? It’s not good for you to stay up late,” she said out of concern. Their conditions were not clearly the best; pale, dirty and malnourished, just one strong wind could knock them down if they were not careful.

“Well n-no one was treating y-your face…and I was worried…” Lance blushed on his stuttering words like he always did and his hands fumbling on the cloth.

“Was it really that bad?” Lottie joked but also some part of her want to know how bad her bruised cheek.

“Uhm…”

“I take that as a yes.” Lottie smiled awkwardly. Even without verbal answer, she could easily deduce the respond from him, he was an open book.

After smiling, she looked around and saw the other children sleeping peacefully on their small, old beds. Only the two of them were awake.

“Go to sleep,” Lottie said to Lance as she stood up from the cold wooden floor.

“W-Where are y-y-you going?” He asked after noticing that Lottie put her hood then carefully and silently moving away from their position.

“To take back my money before that fat pig waste it in his luxuries.”

“E-Eh but—”

“Be a good boy, okay?” Lottie cut him off with a smile and pat his curly brunette hair.

And with that, Lottie left the room by jumping from the window close to them after looking if there were people guarding outside.

‘Goodbye Lance,’ she thought to herself as she ran away.

She didn’t plan this, she was not suppose to leave that place yet until tomorrow noon where the destined encounter of the character Lottie and her father Anthony on the book but because of the dang pig, she needed to move early and leave. If she got her money back, she couldn’t return anyway. They would immediately notice and punish her after.

‘You are really a good friend, Lance,” she mourned while sniffing.

Lance was the only close person she had growing up and a companion who shared the sentiments of being an orphan. The other children were orphan too but she felt more comfortable with him.

She shook her lingering feelings because right now, her money and her ship were more important. She continued to her path and saw the bright and cheerful store where a lot of aristocrats visit.

It might look like a normal store but it was a gambling den inside. Just hiding itself from the eyes of the knights. This place was being managed by her boss so it’s no wonder she was know about it.

It didn’t take her long to enter the premises because she took advantage of many people piling up to enter. Her little figure could easily hide with the big and puffed out gowns of female nobles. Hiding herself was an easy feat anyway. After all, living in poverty taught her a lot of skills to survive.

After her eyesight caught the usual room on the second floor where his fat boss was, she immediately ran towards inside and hide in every crevice her body could fit. Luckily for her, the room was empty. She got out from her hiding place and looked around.

“Tsk, he enjoyed himself here while we rot on that dirty warehouse,” Lottie said with annoyance as she looked at the extravagant room in front of her. It was sparkly, everything was screaming rich life.

“Now, where did he hide the money?” She started to look around on his desk and fortunately, her boss was dumb and it was only kept on his second drawer.

All the collected money was on it but she could recognize her own pouch because it was the only pouch made of different clothes patched together.

“Come to mommy,” Lottie smirked after retrieving her precious pouch money.

She was about to kiss and hug it but she was put to stop when she heard footsteps coming towards the room.

“Oh shoot!” She immediately, looked around and the only way out was the window.

“Augh, I’m on the second floor…” she scowled but she climbed the window. The reality of how far she was from the ground welcomed her eyes.

She breathed out. “Please protect me.” She made a sign of the cross and jumped.

“AHHH!”

Fortunately for her, she fell on top of bushes behind the building.

“This is not funny anymore…” she cried to herself while laying down on the grass.

Afterwards, she stood up from the grass and stretched her aching body.

“I’m in a child’s body but I feel like I am getting older by all of these!” She complained as she stretched her back bone like an old woman.

She sighed. “All the things I do for Anthony×Beatrice ship.”

“Well, time to go now,” Lottie brushed off some leaves on her clothes and fixed her hood.

She didn’t have much time. The next day was coming soon and the destined encounter approaches. The encounter in the book that changed the character Lottie’s life.

In the book, eight-year-old Lottie encountered her dad, Anthony on the streets when she was almost hit by his carriage because some bullies tried to stole her money and pushed her towards his incoming carriage. Luckily, it stopped before it hit her and he went down to check upon her.

This was the moment; this was the very scene where Lottie recognized his face among the old small drawings of her deceased mother. The small evidence he was her dad addition with they looked exactly a like.

Once in her pitiful life, she found hope that she was not alone, she had family who can be with her.

After that encounter, little Lottie worked hard to be with her dad who was at that time not aware of her existence but on her 12th birthday, the old fatty master found Lottie’s treasure drawings of Anthony and found out Anthony was her dad so hurriedly, her boss requested an attendance with Anthony and introduced her as his long-lost daughter exchange with money.

Yes, after the destined encounter, it would take four more years for Lottie to meet him again but the Lottie didn’t have that much time and follow the original timeline of story.

No, she couldn’t have that luxury to wait that long and made her ship fall in love with each other at the same time.

“I need to move fast,” Lottie said determinedly.

Indeed, she needed to move fast because the character she was in now, the character Charlotte “Lottie” Reynesford would surely die at the age of 14.