Chapter 19

"Anyway, I have to admit. Your moves were really good. Even better than a dame." Alvin said while wrapping my blood-soaked hand.

"Thank you." I said back. I'm going to get back at Carlisa for this.

"I want to ask you something."

"Go ahead. Don't request me a rematch though. My palm is done for!" I joked.

"What? No! I don't take advantage of people like that! Anyway, what I meant to ask was, can I call you Rose, Lady Rose?"

"Of course. I'm sorry, I didn't realize that before." I averted my eyes.

"No, no. Anyway, I will be getting the title of archduke next week. Will you be coming to the ceremony?"

"Next week!?" I asked surprised. Say no!

"Yes. I already completed the tasks required to be one, last year. They postponed it till I became fifteen so that I could hold authority."

"When is your brother's birthday?" I asked with an ominous voice.

"By two months. Why?" He asked me with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing." I breathed a sigh of relief.

"So?" He said. 'Say you are busy.'

"What? Oh, yes. I'll be there. If I have an invitation, that is." I raised my eyebrow.

Alvin put his hand in his pocket and dug out a silver paper. He handed it to me. This dude is fast!

"Friday, seven in the evening? Okay, I'll be there then." I said. Stupid! Now, you have another problem!!!

"Great! See you then, Rose." Alvin replied with a grin.

We bid our goodbyes and left our own ways. I entered the study and saw Carlisa walking up to me. I pounced on her aggressively gripping her shoulders.

"What the hell did you do?" I growled out.

"Aww, come one. You look cute together!" She replied with no hesitation.

"Ha.ha.ha. Very funny!" I told her with piercing eyes.

"Anyway, go on. I'll help you with whatever you do."

I coughed and cleared my throat.

"Is this place safe?" I asked.

"The best of the castle." She replied and pointed to a seat.

"With the plan I thought of, your little matchmaking won't work." I took it, gladly and we both sat.

"Why? Don't tell me you are going to kill yourself?!" She asked with a gasp.

"Idiot! Why would I change anything then? Anyway, I'm planning to escape. On the day of the Crown Prince's sixteenth birthday bash, that is."

"Escape means??" Carlisa asked.

"Are there savings accounts for commoners here?"

"Yeah, for loans I think there are a few institutes similar to banks."

"Oh, good!"

"Why?"

"On the birthday celebration, Lily will arrive and the whole duchy shakes up, right? Rose was the only one who frowned and started to bully Lily. Simply, I'll be leaving to the country side on that day and live my life with no issues." Carlisa stared at me for a few seconds.

"Seriously, you think people won't recognize you? And, there is no reason for you to die now. I mean, you aren't even clinging to Lewis. Furthermore, you will be executed next year. You have like 17 months left to get along with Lily. "

"I'll cut my hair, change my name, and even do something to my skin if I have to. I'm doing this for extra protection. You never know when someone would frame me. I have a bad feeling of Lily too." I told her. I heard my conscience screaming, 'You lied to her!' .

"That is a good idea! But, what about the duchy? I won't be able to contact you. If I did, that would make you suspicious."

"Well, the duchy won't even remember me! I'm sure Lily will do her thing and get the attention. And I'm sure Lily wont meddle with you and the crown prince now since he isn't heartbroken, whatsoever! But, about the last part, I...I don't know."

"Are you sure you want to do this? We can figure something out. We have more time!" Carlisa negotiated with me.

"No no. This is for the best. Plus, I'm used to living alone. I prefer living alone and its not like I can't protect myself. I even beat the future archduke-to-be like a few minutes ago." I persuaded her. Her face was frowning.

"Argh! But...I don't want to lose you but if you are so sure, I cant do anything about it. How should I help you?"

"I need a carriage to get back to the duchy and ride to the countryside before Lily arrives, secretly."

"Sure, I can handle that. Which part of the empire are you planning to live in?"

"I was thinking of the Southern rural area."

"But, that area is where monster rampages are frequent."

"Monsters aren't a problem in the least. The more people avoid it, the better."

"Huh?! I don't know, Rose. I don't want you to leave. This could all be useless. I mean what if we became friends with Lily."

"You can't be naïve and expect everything to be rainbows and kittens, you know."

"But--"

"Firstly, the maids in the estate will gossip at how haughty I am to stay in the duchy even when the real daughter already came back. Secondly, Lily will feel bad, according to her personality from the novel, and start trying to correct those rumors and then she will gain more popularity for her kindness and hit my reputation to the rock bottom. Thirdly, I don't want drama in my life. I like to keep it simple. Curiosity killed the cat, right?" Wow, now you are a master liar, Blair!

"Wow, you really thought about this deeply. Compared to you, I was pathetic. Anyway, your reasons are reasonable enough but I don't know if that idiom applies to your situation." We both laughed.

"Anyway, I'm still going to find a better plan and if I don't, let's go through with yours." She told me.

"You must keep my plan a secret. And for the record, I don't consider you as pathetic."

"Of course, who would I tell in the first place? But, I'd miss you!"

"Same here but what can we do. We have to survive!" I told her but I think I wanted to persuade myself more.

"Ok then." Carlisa mumbled with a pouting face.

"I'll leave then. Oh, by the way, I got invited to the Archduke ceremony, whatever you call it. I thought of making that my semi-final entrance to the noble social networking there."

"Ooooh! Look how my cupid sense benefitted you!" She bragged with a cheesy whistle.

"Shut up!" I said angrily.

"Also, I might confess sooner or later to an idiot." Carlisa told me hiding a blush.

"Woah! Give me the details." I said with a flirty wink.

"Now, its your turn to shut up!" We laughed again.

***

There was a family dinner today and Robert as annoying as he was, blabbered on about my duel with Alvin to the family. He didn't even discretely avoid the topic of me injuring my palm either. I got a little curious and asked a question that was bothering me from a while ago.

"How come none of you question about how I learned my sword skills?"

The room became silent for a moment till Richard also edged the parents for an answer.

"We knew that you were learning it." Mum replied and my fork fell on the floor.

"How?" Robert and Richard asked in unison.

"We knew you always went to the cliffs early morning since we got a report about your day.  It wasn't just for Rose though. We had reports about all the three of you since you were small." Father replied.

"So, that's how you knew I broke Mum's eastern vase?" Robert got up fusing his hot temper.

"Wait! Robert, you broke my vase. That was expensive!" My mum too, got up from her seat.

Father looked horrified not being able to take anyone's side. Richard focused on his meal like there was something very interesting in it. A laugh escaped my mouth.

Everyone eyes landed on me and I started to laugh with tears. This was the first time I ever experienced a family quarrel, first hand. I couldn't stop.

Soon enough, everyone joined in. The dinner ended pleasantly.

The duchy had relighted the oil lamps for the night. The environment looked really cool and calming. I wondered about the voice I heard earlier during the duel.

'Miss me already?' Speak of the devil.

'What are you?' I asked back a little furious.

'Let me help you figure that out. Do you see the lights on the ground forming a pathway? Follow it.'

As the voice said, a pathway of crimson flowers appeared leading to the forest behind the estate. I debated in my mind if I should follow it. My curiosity won again ironically to my declaration to Carlisa earlier.

I jumped off the low balcony that I was staying in and followed just as I was asked to. I glanced around to see if anyone was following me.

After I reassured myself, I walked along the path. The moon shone brightly and shadows of the trees moved along with the current of the wind.

I kept walking for about five minutes and entered upon a brim lake. I wondered if this was the lake that Rose fell in to before I reincarnated into her body.

A fog appeared around me and a hissing sound followed after it. The lake started to shine and something came out of the middle.

I rubbed my eyes to identify what it was. A feminine figure had appeared in the middle of the lake. What was more surprising was that she looked like a character in a fairy tale that I've read somewhere.

The fog dissipated and I got a clear vision around me. The female seemed to have her hair moving from side to side.

After a closer look, I realized that instead of hair, she had green snakes. A Greek tale came into my mind. I gasped as I realized that the female in front of me was the legendary 'Medusa'.

Greetings!

I will be back to publishing 'The Caliginous Villainess' on Wednesday and Sunday. Hope you enjoyed the story so far. Happy reading!