Escape (1)

Anna took off the clothes she was wearing and put on the outfit Sister Mary had made for her. She took the luggage out from under the bed. It was still the same small basket, containing a book on the mysteries given by the old gardener and a potted flower of forget-me-nots from Alexandria.

Anna put the note in the basket. She looked at the hardback diary, hesitated, and finally put it in the basket with the note.

She walked out of the room, her heart unable to calm down for a long time. She hoped that the Count was not at home.

She went downstairs gingerly to the drawing room. The butler asked respectfully, "Madam, you are up, the Count has ordered that when you get up, ask what you want to eat so I can order the kitchen to make ..."

Anna looked at the butler, took on the air of a countess and said, "I have to go out for a while, I will prepare food for me when I return. ..." she said as she walked towards the door of the villa.

The butler opened the door of the villa for her and said politely, "I wonder where your ladyship is going so I can prepare a carriage for her ..."

Anna smiled and said, "There is no need for a carriage, I just want to take a stroll around the villa ..."

The butler stared at her basket and said, "Madam is carrying her things, shall I ask the servants to help her ..."

Anna pretended to be angry and said, "No, I am only carrying a few books I like to read in a quiet place, it is not heavy, so there is no need to bother the servants, and I do not like to be disturbed ..."

The butler's eyes were still fixed on Anna's basket, and the potted flowers in it. He wanted to ask something more.

But Anna had already disappeared out of the door.

At first Anna pretended to be lazy and relaxed, humming a tune, looking here and there.

A kilometre from the villa, Anna runs off in the direction of the convent.

She hoped to see Alexandre there, and even if she didn't see him, she could go to the convent and ask Sister Mary where he lived, and if the Count asked, say that she had come to see the nuns.

The decision was made. Anna ran, breathlessly, as she remembered the route the carriage had taken that day from the convent to the villa. It was as if all her problems would be solved if she could only get there.

After running for some time, Anna realised that the monastery building was not far away. So she stopped and went around into the rose garden.

Without realising it, she came to a corner of the rose garden, the corner where she had first seen Alexandre. Anna was absorbed in her memories, and Alexander's voice and face came to mind.

She remembered it with fascination. ...

...

As she pondered, Anna accidentally tripped over something and stumbled. It was too late for Anna to grab any branches when she came to her senses, so it was okay to chew on the mud, but falling on the ground, which was full of branches and stones, must have been painful.

What? How come the ground is so soft and it doesn't hurt when you fall? Anna opened her eyes to see what was going on. Instead, she found herself sleeping on top of a man. This man was no other than Alexandre.

He had caught her when she fell, and because of the winter, he was wearing thick clothes, she did not feel the pain of the impact and was now lying comfortably on his chest.

Anna did not react to what was happening. All she could see was that Alexandre was holding herself tightly, his eyes looking into hers as if to see through her haggard face. Anna's face rolled with his stare.

Anna looked at his slightly haggard face and said, "Alexandre, what are you doing here ..."

"I'm not going to work here anymore, I've just finished talking to the man in charge about it. Before I left, I wanted to come here to see the rose garden where I met you. ..." said Alexandre seriously.