Chapter 118

118 The bigger fish in the pond

The three gentleman looks astonished by Darla’s words, the girl even looks more surprised by them.

“Wait, I am sorry, but she never told you about this?” Asked Darla to the three of them.

“No! She never told us about this.” Vale gave the answer to Darla, who was now looking at them with a paler face.

“Oh, Anne, why do you need to lie...” Darla’s muttering with quivering lips.

Brom holding into Darla’s shoulder, “Calm down, you look like this will never help everyone here.”

She looks up at Brom and finally nodded her head. Darla begin to take a deep breath, ” When we were going dress shopping, Anne met with her best friend from her village...”

“Clarice? The noble girl with blonde hair?” Asked Henry.

“Yes, that’s the one, she looks disheveled and her face was a mess, with an unkempt look and puffy eyes, I asked her if she was alright, but Anne told me to never asked her about it,” Darla went quiet for a short while, she tried to remember every detail about what happened a few hours ago, “Anne then told me that she needs to go back to Viora village immediately, I was worried but she told me it was nothing and she goes there just to make sure that her friend doesn’t have a wedding jittery.”

“As I remembered, Clarice does have two fiancé and they will have their wedding soon,” Vale confirmed to the others, his face still confused about the situation. “But why does she look distraught? Anne told me that the marriage will be a happy one for her.”

.....

Henry looks at Justice, he was voicing his concern, “I don’t like this.”

Agreed with his friend, justice nodded his head. “I know. Something was off. We need to go to Viora village as soon as possible.”

Vale and Henry agreed with Justice’s plan.

“I will send Silver Hawk to Xavier, it will be best for him to go to Viora village immediately.” Said, Vale. He runs outside immediately after.

“Let’s change our horses in the palace. We need much faster horses.” Justice suggested to Henry.

Before they go away from the dance hall, Darla immediately grabbed Henry’s hand. “Wait, let me go with you.”

“Are you sure? We don’t know what’s going to happen and what kind of danger we are dealing with.” Justice asks the girl first. He doesn’t want someone who isn’t aware of the grave situation that is going to happen.

With a firm face, Darla nodded at the crown prince, “Yes, I am aware of the situation, and I insist you must bring me along.”

“I will come as well.” Said Brom from behind Darla.

Justice and Henry share a look at each other. “Better to go with a carriage then.

“Yes, a carriage with four horses. Hopefully, we could catch on to her as soon as possible.” Justice looks at his entourage and prays that nothing will happen to the girl that he cherishes with all his heart.

As Justice, Henry, and Vale, along with Darla and Brom, were on the way to chase our heroine, Anne was, in fact, in the middle of a predicament inside Clarice’s carriage. She looks at the window, trying to concoct a plan to escape.

“Anne, what are you so quiet?” Said the girl who she thought was Clarice a few hours ago.

With a fake smile plastered on her face, Anne looked at the girl and shook her head. “Nothing, I was just thinking about my parents, that’s all.”

“That’s why we are going to do this trip without resting.” Said Clarice with a bittered smile.

Chikara meowed towards his master, where Anne looks at him and brushed into his fluffy fur. She packed her bag in a hurry, leaving most of them in her dorm room. Anne doesn’t know, but her instinct told her something was wrong with Clarice’s story. That’s why Anne felt that sending notes to the four men was just a futile attempt on her behalf. She needs to take care of this matter alone. Bringing them into this will make her feel more guilty after how the bewitched spell messed up their life.

“Clarice...” Said Anne without even looking at her friend, “What happened to you?”

“What? What do you mean, what happened to me?” Clarice nervously answered Anne’s question.

“I know you since elementary school, you are one of the bravest girls that I have ever seen in my entire life, even when your favorite grandfather was dying, you cried one time at his funeral and refused to cry afterward...” Anne steps in front of Clarice, slowly, she is determined to get some answers from Clarice, “Now... Clarice, since you got me inside the carriage now, I want you to be honest with me... What... Happened... To you?!”

Hearing the threatening voice that came from her best friend, Clarice finally gives in. She cast down her head and talks to Anne about the truth, “My fiances, they... They were missing.”

“What? what do you mean they were missing?” Anne looks at Clarice, still puzzled by her confession.

Tears came running down her face. Clarice’s voice cracked and hoarse. She was crying uncontrollably while trying to explain it to Anne, “They were missing in the valley when they... they tried to find a lovesick flower for our wedding day.”

“Oh, Clarice, I am so sorry. Are you alright dear?” Anne goes to her friend and gave her the hug that she need.

“No! No, Anne, I am not alright, not just because of my fiancée, but because of you as well!” Clarice was hysterical now. She buried herself in Anne’s embrace. “Turns out they weren’t missing. Someone kidnapped the two of them and demanded I bring you back to Viora village as soon as possible.”

Anne’s eyes widen after her confession, “What? what did you say?”

Sniffles on Anne’s arm, Clarice trembling in fear, “Oh, Anne, I must ask for your forgiveness! She... she asked me to bring you with me, or else, not just my fiancé that will get in trouble, but also the whole village of Viora.”

“She? Who is she, Clarice? Who’s the one that threatened you like this?” Anne demanded more answers from Clarice. She could grab her shoulder and determine for her to be calm and collected for now.

Clarice could see that Anne was persistent. She knew Anne was always the one that would be wise enough not to be panicking at a time like this. She takes a deep breath and wipes her tears. Anne gave her a meylatee tea from the basket, the meylatee tea helped her tremendously to continue her story once again.

“The woman came to my manor two nights ago, claiming that she has my fiancé as her captives, and demanded me to go and pick you up at the capital.” Said Clarice with the meylatee tea cup in her hand. She was savoring the calming aroma of the meylatee.

“And you believe her, just like that?” With a frown on her face, she was questioning Clarice’s answer.

“She had tangible proof with her, Anne!” The fiery personality from Clarice finally flared back, she glared at her friend and muttered about her reason, “I wasn’t dumb enough to believe a beautiful woman that turns out to be evil if she wasn’t giving me enough proof at first.”

Even though she was glad that her friend found her composure back, Clarice’s last word got her intrigued, “Wait, did you say that she was a beautiful woman?”

“Yes, I never said she was ugly or hideous, though!” Said Clarice with a scoff, and then she gave Anne the description of her, “She was exquisite, with her long black hair, and those disturbing rainbow color eyes.”

Anne’s heart almost stops. She knows who she is; it is her, the witch of the mountain, the one that Justice, Vale, Henry, and Xavier were hunting at Viora village almost four months ago. What did she want? Why does she need her to go to Viora village? Something about this makes her uneasy.

“What else that she wants from you?” Anne tried to get as much information from her friend.

Clarice shook her head, “Nothing, she just wants you to be there, in Viora village.”

“That was a weird request, so, anything else besides me going to Viora village right away?” Asked Anne to her friend, Clarice.

“Only that she wanted me to make it as stressful as it can be so that everyone will suspect you going away so suddenly,” Clarice answered Anne’s question with a slight curiosity on her part as well.

Anne thinks for a moment. She tried to delve into the witch’s weird request and how extremely her way was just to make sure she go back to Viora village, and with a slight disturbance for everyone at the capital. Then it came to her mind. What if she is not her target all along? What if she needs her as bait? A bait for something bigger.

“No! a bait for someone bigger.” Muttered Anne, her eyes wider with the revelation. “She doesn’t want me. She wants the four of them!”