Family Massacre

"Where is your daughter?" The bandit's leader asked in a deep voice, but nobody answered. Then, he asked one of his minions who accompanied him to invade the mansion of the rich Baron Ethan Rutherford, to grab the woman who cried over a dead body lying in the middle of the room and forced her to answer that question.

When the woman refused, the man kicked her stomach and insisted on extracting the answer from her. A painful scream echoed throughout the house as he threw a punch in the face of the lady—the owner of the house.

"She is not at home!" the lady screamed as she rushed over to her husband's dead body which was thrown to the floor.

"You lied! How could she not be home? Didn't you always lock her up at home?" the hit man snapped, holding the gun in his tight grip.

After that, there was a gunshot followed by a long howl in deep pain.

The two underage girls that were hiding in a secret room could only cry silently because they didn't want everyone's sacrifice to be in vain. The long-haired girl in fancy clothing was about to come out of hiding. However, the other one swiftly prevented it.

"Miss, don't do that!" the one wearing a maid's dress whispered.

"Anna, they shot my parents. I can't just let them go," said the Miss in a trembling voice.

However, their chat was cut short when footsteps were heard near the hideout. "Get out you, little girl! I know you're inside!"

The lady and her maid then looked at each other. There was a solid fear painted on their faces. At that time, the maid realized that no matter how brave the lady was, she was still a minor. The maid knew what she had to do at this point. Something she had been thinking about for a moment.

The maid held out a small bag in hand. "Miss, please take this! Show this pendant to my grandmother who stayed in a village! Do something to your face, they will recognize you as me. You must stay alive. Don't waste your parents' sacrifice!

"No! I can't do this. Please, don't go!" The young lady cried, even more, realizing the intention of her loyal maid.

The maid shook her head. She started to undress and asked her lady to swap their clothes. "They won't stop if they don't get what they want, Miss! So let me do what I have to do."

"Anna! I can't!" The lady grabbed her maid's arm.

The maid then hugged her lady tightly. "Miss, I would have died many years ago if you had not helped me back then. Now, it's my turn to return the favor, Miss."

"No, Anna!" The lady's sobs were getting heavier. "They will recognize that you are not me!"

"They will not if I wear your dress. I will also do something to my face. You will be perfectly safe." The maid smiled. She was relieved because her lady's face was always kept hidden if she went outside due to safety reasons. "From this moment on, your name is Anna, Miss. My name will live on with you. Who would dare to miss such an honorable opportunity like this?"

The lady kept gripping her maid's arm to prevent her from leaving. However, the maid's resistance grew stronger. "Stay alive, Miss. For me and your parents. Goodbye, Miss Eleanor Rutherford! I love you, Miss … as a maid, follower, and friend."

The maid managed to escape and swiftly fled before the lady managed to stop her. Moments later, there was scream after scream and it ended with the sound of gunfire. Leaving Lady Eleanor cried in silence.

***

One night, three days after the incident, Eleanor … the new Anna … walked silently, watching the supposed to be her family's mansion—an abandoned one. She didn't do what her maid asked her to do. She didn't go to the village, to her maid's family. It couldn't help, she didn't want a peaceful life in the village.

What she wanted to do now was revenge. She stayed in the city and became a homeless commoner. That girl kept her ear listening to the news related to her family's massacre. The officer said that it was a robbery. But she didn't eat that bullshit. A robbery had never included a massacre.

But who would do such a cruel thing to her family?

Someone from the palace? One of the powerful noble families? She didn't know anything since her father had no enemies.

But, an important thing rang a bell. Was it true? Did her father have no enemies? If that's the real condition, why should her family always lock her up inside the mansion? Due to safety reasons on top of that.

Sighing, the new Anna couldn't make a good conclusion. There was no hint to prove her theories. She knew she needed more effort to learn about the current situation.

The girl wearing a commoner's cloth covered in a worn-out coat walked silently, entering the mansion. It was already empty there. The dead bodies of the victims were already moved from the place, but she still could smell some blood in the air.

Her stomach churned she almost vomited, but she kept going inside to look for some evidence—something that might lead her to the light. Truthfully she didn't have much hope of finding it, but who knew she would be lucky enough to find it?

Anna was almost giving up and leaving the mansion until she stepped on something hard. She stopped walking and picked up that round and shiny stuff. It was a medal—the old one, made from fine gold and expensive blue diamond. It looked like an important thing from the palace because there was a symbol—a tiger head.

"Why did someone drop it here?" Anna murmured in a low tone. She frowned, thinking about some speculations. "As I remember, they were just some bandits. How could they have this thing?"

If the situation she was gotten into had something to do with the palace, she needed to be careful. First, what she wanted to do was look for the owner of the medal.

Unfortunately, when Anna was about to leave the mansion, she unintentionally hit the table beside the bed and made the vase roll down, hit the floor, and break into pieces.

"Oh, my God!" She gasped.

"Who is there?" Surprisingly, a man shouted from outside the room.

Before long, Anna heard a man's footsteps approaching the master bedroom, the room she was in right now …. Soon, she hid under the bed in a swift move.

"Oh, there's no one here. Only mice," said the husky voice. Luckily mice came out from under the bed, saving Anna's life. "Oh, God! What do I have to do? I can't find the prince's medal."

"It means you have to change it with your life," said the other voice.

"What do you say? I don't want to die. We need to go somewhere else to find it."

"And where do you think we can find the treasure?"

"Antique stores maybe? A lot of people come there to sell antiques."

"Good! Let's find one."

As soon as the men left, Anna came out of the hide. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. So … the prince was the man behind her family ambushed? If that's the truth, she needed to investigate it herself. But she was alone and bankrupt. What could she do with her current condition?