Another Villainess

Chapter Fourteen

It's been three weeks. It seems each day drags on meaninglessly. As always, the maids and servants are cold, however, they don't cross the line, but at this point I'd rather they do because everything is so dull.

Noble ladies don't reach out to invite me to tea, and I haven't heard of the annulment since I brought it up.

My boredom grows by the day as I try to sleep away the horrible thoughts that claw at me and the desire for my old life.

This world is so empty when nobody cares.

I ring the bell and a maid who is not Alice enters.

"Yes, Lady Raiyus?" She nods her head down slightly as to bow.

"Get my cloak. I want to get out of this room."

She nods, returning later with it and drapes it over my shoulders.

"Where will you be going? Should I arrange a carriage?"

"Yes. I want to go to the marketplace. But first I need to stop someplace."

- - -

Twigs snap and leaves crunch under my heeled boots. Hollow thumping sounds echo in the woods, shielded in intermittent moments of laughter.

The maid glances sideways at me, her face full of either worry or just uncomfortableness.

"Hey, come on, it's disgusting. Can't you see that's a man?" A shrill voice announces, letting out an even shriller chuckle.

"What? I was just checking." The thudding stops as I approach the clearing, barely making out a blob of men through the thicket. A jingle rattles as one of the men moves his arm out. "Just look at how he's staring at the money." He chuckles back.

I walk faster, squinting and slapping away tree branches, the maid behind me calling out frantically for me to slow down.

"You want it don't you?" The jingle returns as I finally am close enough to see four men. Two standing next to each other, arms crossed, staring at the third who crouches over the last, who is curled up into a ball.

The crouched over one holds a pouch in his hand,  which is where the jingling resonates from.

"M-Miss. . . There is another way to the knight's quarters. Why don't we go back?" The maid pulls my sleeve while whispering.

"No. That will take too long." I brush her off and walk closer to the men, the crouched one has now stood up and kicked against the curled up ones body, stepping on his head and grinding his foot into his hair.

"What's going on?" I narrow my eyes as the three men snap their heads around, jumping.

"Lady Raiyus?" One who's voice I did not hear before turns pale as his eyebrows furrow. "Why are you coming from there?"

"I came to get a knight. I'm going out and I took a short cut because I want to leave soon."

The beaten knight looks up, stretching his body out slightly from the fetal position. Sure enough, it's the one I'm looking for.

I sigh.

"There are knights at the mansion, Lady Raiyus. We aren't here to be picked as if we're your personal selection." Says the one with a shrill voice.

"Quiet. I never said I came to pick a knight. I came to get one." This one is annoying. I don't like him. "Come here, Eden."

Immediately he stands up, pushing the knight who had been stepping on him to the ground. He walks over to me, a big grin on his—once again— bruised face.

"Lady Raiyus! It's been a while. Did you come for me?" He rocks on his feet as the knight he pushed watches dumbfounded.

"What were they doing?" I ask, genuinely curious. "Actually, don't answer." I turn to the two men, but direct my question to the one without the annoying voice. "What were you doing to him?"

Eden tilts his head to the side, looking at me as the two men avert their eyes awkwardly.

"We told him not to, Miss. Isaac was going to-"

"Hey! You idiots!" The one who was stepping on Eden jumps up, looking very angry. "Don't throw my name out!"

"Shut up." I scowl. "Continue."

"Isaac wanted to- you know.. get him to do stuff." He shuffles his feet.

Is this guy a child?

I rub my temples, my head throbbing.

"No! I was just going to test my theory." His frantic state abruptly disappears after he pauses. "Actually- why does that even matter? Whether I was going to do anything or not— Lady Raiyus, he's the one who's to blame. Don't you know he does this ki-"

Isaac's tirade is interrupted as Eden grabs his mouth, squeezing it shut and not letting him finish, still grinning, but his eyes are not kind.

Isaac stares up, petrified, his face turning purple as Eden keeps a firm grip over his mouth. The woods are completely silent.

"Stop it. I don't care. I want to leave now." The maid next to me seems more uncomfortable than ever, sweat drips from her forehead and the other two men are in complete shock.

Eden slowly retreats his hand, revealing a red mark covering the lower half of Isaac's face, and blood filling the slits between his upper teeth, visible through his slightly agape mouth.

Eden turns back to me and readjusts my crooked cloak, motioning for us to leave, and ignoring the fact he was just getting beat.