2 Oh My God! Lin, is that really you?

"Hey, you, stop right there!" 

Evangeline's heart was in her mouth when she heard the voice so close. She felt as though the man was already behind her. She was just in front of them a few minutes ago, but the men couldn't spot her anymore. It was as if she just disappeared into thin air. Crouching among some huge carriages parked along the road, Evangeline activated her inner energy to silence the horses. The little attempt caused beads of sweat to form on her forehead, and she suddenly felt so exhausted. 

"I can't keep this up anymore. I need to get out of here." Knowing that she couldn't keep up with the charade, she ran as fast as her legs could carry her, maneuvering the lonely streets of the town called, Noble's Den. As the name implies, it is indeed a den of nobles, with more upper-class families than any other city in the Dukedom.

The assailants finally noticed her and one shouted, "Running wouldn't save you from us. No matter what, you're ours for the night, young lady." The second man added menacingly. He couldn't understand why she was running as if something had possessed her and was even quite embarrassed to realize that he couldn't keep up.

Maybe he expected his words to scare her into freezing at her spot, but it rather fuelled the adrenaline rush in her body. She was lucky that the men couldn't shout at her, as they would end up attracting undue attention to themselves. It was New Year's Eve, and various nobles and even commoners were out and about in various bars, shows, and other places of entertainment. Everyone except Evangeline waited eagerly for the countdown to begin in a few hours. 

The men felt that the person before them was nothing close to the lady in the description given. That one could easily be scared off with a few words, but not this one. She even managed to outrun them till now.

The third man suddenly bellowed in a suppressed growl, "There is only one way out of this for you, damn it!" However, nothing they said could compel her to wither like a leaf under their threats. 

"Just a little while longer. Just a little while more, and you'll be safe. Keep going, Evangeline, you can do this." She kept urging herself on. 

The young lady was clad in a purple dress that accentuated her seductive hourglass figure, though she tried so hard to cover her shape under the loose gown. She had a dark veil covering her face and was feeling like a fish out of water. Yet still, her resolve was so strong that, only death could make her stop for the attackers. 

Besides, even death was once defeated by her already. Seeing that she wouldn't give an ear to anything they had to say, the first attacker remarked angrily, "Suit yourself then. The hard way it is!"

Those words were not so foreign to Evangeline, but she didn't believe she was so stupid to have fallen into their hands once. To her, these people were just some decorated goons who were looking for a feeble low-born to terrorize. However, she wasn't the same girl from her past life, and even though her body felt like it was on pins and needles, she knew the best she could do right now was to keep running. She tried her best to hold back her tears at the thought that, even in this lifetime, her parents were already dead. She couldn't get the chance to say a simple goodbye.

The first attacker was ready to shoot her legs with an arrow, but they suddenly heard the sound of horses rushing towards their direction. It even sounded as if they were rushing somewhere. It would have been appropriate to say they were rushing to see a healer unless there were no healers in the direction they were headed.

"Stop!" 

He commanded his companions in a panic. What he saw, or better put, whose carriage he saw, wasn't someone they could toy with. 

The ignorant girl, however, kept running as if she didn't care about the occupant of the incoming carriage. "Whew! That was close!" She blurted under her breath, only to continue running as if she didn't just stare death in the face.

Evangeline was closer to the approaching carriage, yet still, she braced herself and rushed to the other side of the lonely road, narrowly missing the hooves of the four agitated horses. 

"Shit! She escaped. For now. 

Let's head back to the base. You wouldn't wish to cause any disturbance when that carriage is in town." The first attacker spoke to the others. He seemed to be the leader of the group, and as a result, they did exactly as they were told without any questions.

***

[Knock!] [Knock!!] [Knock!!!]

[Knock!] [Knock!!] [Knock!!!]

[Knock!] [Knock!!] [Knock!!!]

A series of knocks landed on the grand wooden gate of the Beefeather household. It was as if the person on the other side could break down the gate at any moment if the guards delayed any further. 

Evangeline looked over her shoulders now and then, as she felt that it was quite strange the attackers just left her to go this time around. "What could have changed? Could they have already made it here before me?" She trembled more violently when that idea crossed her mind. 

However, she quickly discarded the ridiculous thought, "They wouldn't dare show their faces in public. At least, not just yet. Tsk! Cowards!" With this conclusion, she began another series of knocks, when a guard approached and carefully peeped through the hole to see who it was.

"Who…" He swallowed the rest of the words and dropped the wooden divider with an urgent clutter. He was shocked to see Lady Evangeline at the gate. He was quite wrong to have assumed that she was having another sleepover at her friend's place since her parents had traveled.

However, he quickly regained his composure and opened the gate, granting her access to the compound. "Welcome back, my Lady." The guard greeted her with enthusiasm, expecting Evangeline to return his greetings with a beautiful smile like she always did. 

Surprisingly, this time around, he didn't even get as little as a nod of acknowledgment from her. His thoughts were only filled with the unspoken words, "Where could she be coming from in such a hurry? Is someone chasing her?" He then peeped outside to confirm his latter thoughts, but there was no one behind her. The young lady wasn't one to keep late nights after all.

Evangeline hastened toward the building wordlessly, but suddenly paused in her steps and enquired from the guard, "Bar.." The words almost slipped out of her lips when she remembered she wasn't supposed to know the butler's real identity." 

"Is Butler Carter at home?" The man's name sounded like a bitter medicine in her mouth, and she had a very hard time letting it slip from her lips just now. Moreover, she only realized at this moment how much she hated the old snake. 

The butler was only second to the masters of the house, and always implored the servants and guards in the mansion to refer to him as Butler Edgard. It took Evangeline a sheer stroke of luck to discover the true story behind his supposed detest for his last name. 

She prayed with everything within her that he wouldn't be home. In her last life, she successfully made it home from her friend's place, only for him to advise her to change clothes so the assassins or attackers wouldn't catch up with her so easily. 

Butler Edgard was the one who advised her to flee since there was intelligence that the mansion was going to be under attack shortly. He broke the news of her parents' assassination, and promised to find her after everything was settled. Her eyes were filled with nothing but worship for him on that night.

A few days earlier, Evangeline noticed some people had been following her for days, and fear crept into her anytime she stepped out of the house. However, the Butler advised her to keep it away from her sickly parents who had enough on their plates already. He then promised to take care of everything by working to apprehend them in the shadows. How stupid she was. She suddenly felt like slapping herself for ever thinking the man was selfless.

This time around, she didn't even have the strength to face him just yet. She needed to get those documents before the snake laid his hands on them. She may not be powerful just yet, but allowing him to live a peaceful life at her expense wasn't a part of her plans. 

Before the guard could even respond to her earlier question, Evangeline's hair stood on end at the sound of the person behind her, 

"Oh my God! Lin, is that really you?' Butler Edgard's voice sounded like a scary whisper. 

Lin thought she had seen it all for the night but she had yet to uncover the twist in the story in this lifetime. The scary sound from the gate confirmed that her assailants had followed her home…

[Bang!]

[Bang!!]

[Bang!!!]

—

To be continued…