Chapter 36
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"Get out of my way, I have to go."
It was daylight, so the pawnshop would have been open. Besides, Trin would have found her letter early, and the manor would be in an uproar by now. Aubrey couldn't afford to delay. She pushed herself to her feet and stood up, but her vision swam. Her head felt like it was going to crack.
"Sit down."
Khaled said.
"You're not going anywhere in that condition."
"Where I go is none of your business."
She pushed to her feet with her dizzy head, and suddenly the man was in front of her.
"I don't have the energy to argue with you, so get out of my way."
Aubrey pushed past him, who didn't budge, and she found herself pushed aside. Aubrey continued to walk toward the door.
"You can't stay up long anyway, with the drug in your system."
"I don't care."
She trudged to the door, opened it, and left the room. At the end of a long, white hallway was a blue parlor. Aubrey walked along the wall, step by step, as if she were walking along a sandy beach toward the ocean. The blue ocean grew closer and closer. The memory ended there. Her focus faltered and her consciousness faded. The last thing she remembered was someone holding her firmly as she collapsed.
***
Phoebe said today was the most unlucky and funniest day of her life.
"Can you please put that shit away and tell me."
Aubrey said with a scowl. Phoebe, who had been grinning from ear to ear, suddenly realized the giant tin barrel in her hand and did the same. They had just come out of Yank's castle, and Phoebe's hand held the bucket of feces from his bedroom. They stopped by the stream to dispose of the waste. Phoebe rinsed the tin bucket, which was about her size, several times under the running stream.
"Aubrey. What are you going to do when you get off this island?"
"More nonsense."
A few days earlier, a slave had tried to escape the island, and since that incident, Phoebe's "if I ever get off the island" talk had blossomed again.
"When I get off the island, I'm going to open a bakery. I’m going to wear pretty dresses and bake delicious bread."
"The bakery owner wears a dress?"
"Why the hell not? And the bread I make won't be stale gummy bears like the ones we eat. I'll make fluffy bread with lots of sweet cream."
"That doesn't sound like something you'd say while washing a poop bucket."
Phoebe giggled at Aubrey's annoyance. Soon enough, Phoebe, her hands and face clean from the stream, sat down next to Aubrey.
"Aubrey, what are you going to do with your life?"
"I don't have one."
"Why, tell me. I'm sure you've fantasized about it."
Aubrey said, nervously pulling at the spiky weeds in sight.
"What's the point of dreaming about that shit when you can't get out anyway."
"You never know, maybe with heaven's and earth's help, you'll get your chance."
Ugh. Aubrey sighed. If only she could be optimistic like Phoebe.
"Even if it does, you know what we found the other day, the body we had to clean up."
The young slave who had tried to escape the island had returned a cold, dead man. Surrounded on all sides by the sea, the only way to get off the island was by boat, but the occasional madman would throw himself into the water, seemingly forgetting that fact.
The girl was no different. A day or two later, she washed up on the island, just like the rest of the Cipheran corpses. It was Aubrey and Phoebe who found her. Funnily enough, the girls didn't even know their names.
"If I were him, I wouldn't have done that," Aubrey said.
Phoebe said the kid was stupid. That's not how you escape.
"Is there another way?"
Aubrey asked, snorting, and Phoebe said the unthinkable.
"You wait for the nobles to come to visit, and you stumble upon them."
It was a miracle to even run into the nobles who came to visit the island. On the day of a noble's visit, Yank would stop all work and lock the children in the stables. For them, Crysis was supposed to be a vacation spot known for its vast nature and small, peaceful villages.
"Then you tell them your story, borrow their boat, and sail away."
"What are you saying? Do you think the nobles are crazy enough to let us go on their boat?"
"There are many ways to get them to do it. You can beg them, and if that doesn't work, you can offer them your body."
"You're crazy."
It sounded crazy to her, too. But Phoebe giggled.
"I know I sound like a crazy bitch, but I'm going to take that opportunity if it comes my way. I’ll do anything to survive.”
Phoebe smirked.
The scarlet-haired girl with the flowing stream, the blurred vision, and her trademark boisterous laugh in between. Aubrey burst out laughing as she looked at Phoebe's face, which was covered in dirt and grime.
"I know. As soon as we get off this island, we'll open a bakery together."
"You do the dough, Aubrey, you're good with your hands."
"And you just sit there and count the money?"
"I'm good at math."
The two girls' tiny giggles rose above the sound of the babbling brook. After a long moment, Phoebe wiped the last of her laughter away and held out her hand to Aubrey.
"Come on, Aubrey. It's time to eat."
The moment Aubrey took her hand, her stifled breath was released. Opening her eyes, Aubrey found herself facing a pristine white ceiling, and as she slowly rolled her eyes, the room she'd been lying in came into focus. It was a dream.
Swallowing a sigh, Aubrey slowly sat up. The window right next to her bed looked out onto the plaza. Gentlemen strolled by, carriages bustled by, shops opened for business, and a bakery with a white sign caught her eye.
“I’m going to open a bakery when I get off the island. I’m going to wear pretty dresses and bake delicious bread.”
"I know. Let's open a bakery together when we get off this island.”
It was the life Phoebe had always wanted.
"Run!”
If it hadn't been for Phoebe's shout, escape would have been impossible in the chaos. It was an unexpected raid, and the children were caught asleep, exhausted from hard labor. But Aubrey escaped, and all she did was....... Aubrey couldn't look at the bakery anymore as a wave of guilt washed over her.
On that day, when even the smallest of chatter had been stifled by the prying eyes of others, all she had done was walk around, shivering and cowering in fear of being judged. To become a noblewoman.
To be a foolish aristocrat who knew nothing of the land that the children had worked so hard to build, and who knew nothing but death. The heat in her eyes was palpable as she recalled the past and felt sorry for Phoebe. Tears welled up in her eyes.
"You must leave!"
"Move."
"Your Excellency!"
"I need to know if she's alive or dead."
"I saw her, I told you. She’s sleeping perfectly fine!"
"Then I should see it."
Just as Aubrey was wondering what all the fuss was about, the door burst open. Lehman was about to yell something but shut up when he saw Aubrey awake. Khaled was dressed differently than he had been. He wore a white shirt and gray vest, which he hadn't bothered to button all the way up.
His jet-black hair was swept across his forehead, accentuating his fierce features. Jacket in hand, he strode toward her without hesitation, then turned to Lehman and asked when he saw Aubrey’s eyes were welling with tears.
"Why is she crying?"
"Why do you ask me? I don't know either.”
Lehman looked stern and grumpy. Looking at Aubrey again, Khaled fumbled with the inside of the coat he was carrying and asked.
"Why are you crying?"
"Because I had a ......dream."
He paused as he reached for his handkerchief. Crying because she had a dream was no longer a simple statement for him, so instead of handing her the white handkerchief directly, he placed it gently on the quilt she was covering.
"The Countess of Ravant is on her way."
Aubrey's eyes shot up at his words.
"She thinks you’re going to Herbaldi. She has a family there."
Barbara had said it all, but it didn't matter. Aubrey pulled back the covers. His handkerchief, of course, went with it.
"There's no point in going to Herbaldi."
Khaled said in his characteristically impassive tone.
"Your mother may have been a baron's daughter, but your father was a merchant."
"How is that......."
"They won’t recognize you in Herbaldi, so don't even think about going there."
For a moment, she remembered Barbara, who had fumed at Jeffrik’s suggestion that she go to Heraldi, knowing the treatment her sister's daughter would receive there.
"I told the Countess that the screenplay fell through for my own reasons, and that I suspect you did this out of guilt.”
"......what?"
"That's the only explanation for your disappearance, so when the Countess comes to see you, make up something."
He said and turned away. Aubrey didn't take her eyes off his retreating back. Now Leman was on him, chirping like an angry sparrow.
"We can't push on from here, and even if we do, it'll be nightfall by the time we get to Lavonne. What are you planning to do?
"Don't worry, it's not us who'll be disappointed, it's you."
"You're the one who's wasting my life."
"That's good. I thought you said you had nowhere to go when I died."
"Boss!"
The title boss stuck in Aubrey’s ears. The figure of the man standing with his back to her fit the title well; he was just standing there, but there was a strange aura about him that she couldn't ignore. Maybe it was his height, a head taller than everyone else, or maybe it was his bulk, which instantly overshadowed the chattering Lehman.
Aubrey remembered a raggedy boy who had once stayed on the island for a while. The raggedy boy, who had never rebelled against the butler's scolding, had grown up to become a successful businessman, taking his place among the arrogant nobility. The man knew. He knew how to rise from humble beginnings to earn his place.
"I know I sound like a crazy bitch, but I'm going to take that opportunity if it comes my way. I’ll do anything to survive.”
As Phoebe's voice echoed in her head, Khaled felt her gaze on him and turned to meet her eyes.
***
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