Scheming wife
It had been over an hour since when Abrielle excused herself to go to the dressing room. Cedric didn't have the luxury of time to play whatever silly game she had in mind because he had another reason for visiting this town.
"How long will she take to try on coats?" Cedric asked, sounding a bit impatient.
"She is a lady; she is taking her dear time, your highness." Cedric personally knighted, and the head of his elite shadow knights, Elias, answered from beside them.
Cedric's gut feeling was telling him something was off. He got up from his seat and started making his way to the door. "Which changing room is she in?" Cedric asked the maid who had been checking up on Abrielle.
"She is on the ground floor, Sire." The maid informed Cedric, causing his brows to furrow. What was Abrielle doing on the ground floor for commoners? That was when Cedric realized his scheming wife was up to something.
"Lead the way," Cedric said in a firm voice. He had a slight frown on his face, and they made their way to the ground floor. Cedric's appearance sparked rumours, although not everyone knew what the first prince looked like, from his clothes and gold mask, it was not hard to guess.
The manager wanted to stop him from entering the female dressing room area, but who was he to stop Cedric? The dressing room area was vacated for him to get to the area. By now, Sarah could sense something was off and was making a silent prayer that Abrielle would Suddenly appear.
"Sire, it is inappropriate." The manager tried to reason with him but he saw nothing wrong with going inside his wife's dressing room.
They were in front of the booth Abrielle was meant to be in. Compared to the ones in the VIP area, these booths were considerably small, which made Cedric super suspicious.
"It seems like you are tired of running your shop." It was not a treat but it did the trick. The manager gave way.
Sarah, who had caught the sound of the drama outside, was now shedding silent tears. The door knob turned and all she could do was hold her breath.
The door was pushed open, and Cedric's eyes fell on the maid wearing his wife's clothes, and a storm started to rage in those gold eyes. There was no way he could mistake his wife's shining ginger hair for a random maid with a strawberry blonde.
"How long has she been gone?" He asked with a very calm voice everyone knew it was the calm before the storm. "She left immediately we got to the dressing room. She swapped outfits with me." Sarah blurted out everything.
Her entire body was trembling and shaking under Cedric's fierce gaze.
****
The sound of galloping horses running through the night echoed in the eerie streets of Moonstone Harbour. It was late at night with thick fog covering the street, reducing the visibility to an all-time low.
A groan left Abrielle's lips as she slowly regained consciousness. Where was she? She wondered. Her head was spinning badly as memories of what happened hours ago started to come back to her slowly.
She went to the shadow claw guide to commission an assassination job on Cedric but failed miserably because she was mistaken as a spy. They knocked her out and she could barely remember anything after that.
Her eyes opened, and she realized that she was on a dark trunk that had a few holes poked inside, which she used to see outside. There was not much to see except the eerie night and the coachman.
Her heart started to beat widely as fear crept into the back of her mind, but she tried to remain as calm as ever to find a solution to this. If her memories were right about this world-building.
The chances of her being killed were very low, but there was a large chance she was being smuggled through the coast to another kingdom or empire to be sold as a slave.
If she became a slave, it would be a life of suffering, but at least she might not die, yet she knows the fate of slaves is abuse after abuse until they finally die.
From her guess, they would be taking her to the port, which was the easiest way to traffick someone. She had to think of a way to escape; her mouth and limbs were tied, reducing her mobility, but it didn't mean she would give up.
She started to use her body to hit the wall of the trunk hoping to attract attention to the carriage.
The carriage had a couch man and an extra guy who sat with the cargo in the open back. "Seems like the little maid is finally awake." The guy that was sitting at the back said.
"Can you get her to quiet down, Oliver? Rumours have it that the royal guards are searching the entire town for someone, we don't want to be accidentally caught by them." The couch man clicked his tongue. Abrielle heard their conversation. Cedric was searching for her, and for the first time, she was happy that the devil was her husband.
Oliver's face twisted. "Hey, quiet down, or I might just toss you into the water and watch you drown." He pounded on the trunk to get Abrielle to stop but she didn't stop with the hope that maybe one of the royal guards might find them.
"Can you get her to shut up? Do you want to get caught?" The couch man barked at Oliver. "I am trying but she just refuses to stop." Oliver snapped at the couch man.
"Lower your voice goose brains. They might hear us." The couch man shushed him. Oliver got irritated and started to stab the trunk to get Abrielle to quiet down, but she got more aggressive.
Down the street, the commotion caught the attention of some royal guard. "Halt!" One of the guards commanded, on hearing the ruckus.
The couch man pulled the horse's reins, causing the horse to change directions as they started to run off. "We better find a way to get rid of her." The couch man barked at Oliver as they rushed away.
The guards were on their backs on horseback. "Why do we need to transport her tonight in the first place?" Oliver was confused about this. It was dangerous to do this when the first prince was around and searching the street.
Abrielle started acting more violently, hoping the royal guards would catch them. "It was the fucking instructions." The couch whipped the horses to run faster.
"Let's just throw her in the river, what if she is the one they are searching for?" Oliver suggested, and Abrielle felt like her world was about to collapse. Where was that bastard Cedric? Now she needed him.