CHAPTER 3

One's heart is an inconsistent fool. Relentlessly hoping for thing to happen or change. It is with hope and knowledge of what is right and what is wrong that we grow into adults. It is the biggest bully – time and fate – that pushes us to grow up, mature, be adults. 

As we grow, we tend to find things and understand things more clearly. What we ignored as a child is shined on us with light putting it in-front of us. As we understand how bad what we ignored is we can do nothing about it because that is how you are made feel about yourself. 

Powerless little human being.

Young adults opinions are pushed aside by older people because "they don't have enough experience." 

It is understandable they don't have experience, considering we are pushed to learn - to make a profile for our future marriage. There is nothing bad about learning to paint and draw and sew and playing the piano forte but at some point in life you get tired of looking at the same walls and mirrors and doors and windows. 

At age 7, Claire's mother died. And her father brought home another woman- another evil woman.

At age 7, she slowly started seeing her siblings being sent off in carriages to different places.

At age 7, she was being constantly tortured by her step-mother and often ignored by her father.

At age 10, she lost her father - that awfully wretched man.

At age 10, she was chained to a wall and forced to watch young and innocent children having their dignity ripped away from them.

At age 10, she would sit in the darkness and listen to all the screams surrounding her cage.

At age 12, her siblings mostly started coming back.

At age 12, she was made an example to all the people who were going to be sold. 

At age 15, she was forced into a cage with a deranged man and couldn't come out till she killed him and cleaned his blood.

And the list goes on without an end to the cruel thing happening to Claire. That was why when she 16-years-old she found a group of acquaintances who was very well good with martial arts and self-defence. They taught her everything, and at times Claire felt like they felt more like family than her real family in the big mansion. 

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The dinner was painfully slow and the tension in the room was an all-time-high. No one dared to break it. Raymond never had a good relationship with Sylvie although he respected women enough to let her be. He never knew about what is going underground.

After the long dinner, the siblings all moved to the drawing hall while Sylvie retreated back to her room for the day. It was tense at the beginning but the tension was slowly eased by going around and asking how everything has been. 

None of the younger siblings mentioned the beating Claire received a few days ago and Raymond doesn't know about it. Claire felt bad, there are many things Raymond doesn't know about and she felt guilty for hiding it.

Once everyone was back to their rooms, Claire quickly locked the room and took out the paper plane she made with the message but she has no time to send it. Claire decided to sneak out of the mansion. 

The one good thing about the attic other than the fact it is far away is that it has a secret door that leads right outside the gates of the mansion. She locked her bedroom door and carefully opened the door to the tunnel. As soon as she opened the door, a spider came crawling out and it took all her strength to not scream. She took the candle on her desk and followed the tunnel's dark ways. 

The mansion was gifted by King Frederick to Late Viscount Stokenholme however, it was her mother who told her about this tunnel. 

Her mind was racing as she made her way down the darkened tunnel fille with spider webs and insects. She knew that she needed to do this before the sun rises. She made her way to the stables where her horse was waiting. With a graceful leap, she mounted the animal and urged it into a gallop. The wind whipped through her hair as she rode though the moonlit countryside, the rhythmic pounding of the hooves soothing her troubled mind. 

As she neared her destination, she felt something off through the wind and slowed down her ride. She got off the horse and stood still, listening intently for any indication of being followed or something being amiss. Not spotting anything out of order, she turned to jump back onto the horse when she felt something slice past against her cheeks. She touched her cheeks feeling something drip there and her fingers were now slightly covered with her blood.

Lifting the clothe underneath the saddle, she got hold of her pair of knives. Feeling someone behind her, she turned around and came face to face with a person with a balaclava mask, showing only his eyes. She knew for a fact that this should be his men stationed nearby. The man looked like he had no intention of hurting her purposely and Claire knew putting up a fight now will only slow her down.

She got off the horse again and faced the person, "I want to meet the Duke"

Although most of the person's face was covered, she could still see him raise his eyebrows, "Let me rephrase that, I am Claire Stokenholme and I need to meet with your Duke."

The man looked at her like she was a foreign entity. It was very dense of Claire to come deep inside the forest to meet the man that probably might take down her family by tomorrow morning. The man gave her a quizzical look and started walking away.

Getting the hint to follow him, Claire trailed behind him but made sure to put enough distance between them. They walked through the mushy pathway and soon came across big tents and soldiers walking around, training, and guarding.