As the golden hairpin was about to pierce through Norman’s throat, Mary turned her hand away and the hairpin glanced off, leaving even no trace on his neck.
“Why didn’t you dodge?”
Fiddling with the wolf meat, he smiled unmindfully, “Because I knew you won’t do it.”
Mary put the hairpin back into her hair, clapping both hands to get away the dirt, she sneered, “You were lucky.”
Norman glimpsed at the wound on her heel, patting on the ground beside him, and said, “Come and sit here.”
Mary still kept a distance from him because her subconscious mind told her Norman Leeway was a dangerous character.
As if able to tell what she was thinking, Norman sighed, and spoke with a soft voice, “My name is Norman Leeway. I’ll do you no harm, because you’re just a young lady.” There was sympathy, but not a bit of contempt in his words.
Mary lifted her head and saw a pair of smiling eyes, which was then rid of the misgivings that had been there, and realized there was no need to conjecture what was hiding beneath those eyes.
With only an interval of brewing a cup of tea, delicious smell of the roasted meat emanated from the fire. Norman pulled and set her down beside the bonfire. He tore off a chunk of meat, pierced through it with a thin stick and handed it over to her.
Mary had never tried wolf meat before. Lured by the pleasant smell, she took a bite on the meat without hesitate. A gamy smell filling her nose, the meat was so tender with a crispy crust.
“Tastes good?” Norman asked, roasting another chunk of wolf meat.
Mary nodded. Her pretty face went rosy.
The light from the fire had brightened half of the cave, making the space not that cold as before.
They slept deep for the whole night. Probably because of the man staying by her side was highly skilled in martial art, she was able to sleep soundly until he was pushed awake the next morning.
Mary rubbed her blurry eyes, upon looking upwards she felt embarrassed seeing that pair of smiling, slimmed eyes. She was an agent in her previous life and was trained not to trust anyone since young. But unfortunately, she was defeated by her own best friend.
This time, since God gave her an opportunity to start all over again, she swore to herself she would not make the same gullible mistake again.
On recalling that, she pull together the smile on her face and restored her usual state of indifference.
Noticing her slight change in behavior, Norman’s interest towards this mysterious fifth daughter of the Debeur family grew even more.
Mary ignored his intrigued look. Looking at the high and unattainable mountain rock, she frowned, “How should we climb up that?”
She had disappeared from the manor for a whole night, so now she wondered how worried her maiden Daisy would be. Moreover, she was also concerned about what trick would be played by the side consort. Her behavior had caught the side consort’s attention and she would definitely send men to keep an eye on her. Having any of her secrets fallen into her hands was the last thing she wanted to happen.
Mary frowned once again. To live peacefully under the royal household of Lord regent, the side consort was a pain in the ass and must be gotten rid of.
Staring at Mary’s out-of-this-ordinary-world face for a long time, Norman chuckled. “You don’t need to be so anxious about it. Relax. Nobody from the royal household would notice you’re gone.”
There was sarcasm in his words, as if teasing her that no one in the manor really cared about her.
Mary turned around, with a cold voice, repeated, “How should we climb up that?”
Norman discerned a trace of unhappiness in her voice, so he put away his smile and with a serious manner, said, “Wait here for a moment, and my men would find here soon enough.” He had left secret codes during his fight with the black-coated guys, and his men would find them here following the codes.
Trusting Norman’s ability, she waited and a bunch of people came as expected after some time. Seeing her charming figure beside Norman, the leader of the people was shocked and gazed at her for a long time. He bowed his head quickly when Norman shot him a look.
“Milord, sorry for being late.”
Norman waved his hand, impatient to any explanation, and asked, “How’s it going?”
“Rest assured, it’s all done,” both men looked like they were talking on something ordinary, but Mary as an agent in her previous life knew it meant they had wiped out all of the assassinators last night.
With the help of the men, Norman and Mary managed to leave the valley with great speed.
Upon leaving the valley, Mary kept a distance from Norman automatically. “Thank you for your care last night. Now that we have escaped, please send me back to my place.” She did not know the way, so she still needed to rely on Norman to return to the manor. She was suspicious of Norman’s identity. The royal household of Lord regent had a tight security but still he was able to travel in and out without costing any effort. Moreover, his men addressed him as “Milord”, signifying his unusual identity.
Ineptly, she was not able to find out the truth herself. However, she had made up her mind to stay away from Norman. That person was a jinx. Coming close to him would only bring her bad luck.
Norman accepted her request right away. After giving some instructions to his men, he held her by her slim waist with his arm.
Mary’s face went red instantly, and feeling shy, she burst, “What the heck are you doing, Norman Leeway! Let go of me!”
Norman chuckled with a pair of eyes, “Why? Guarding you back home of course.”
Mary could not struggle but to be held tighter by Norman. “Don’t move. You don’t want to fall.”
Wind was blowing right beside her ears. Looking down, she realized she was already in the middle of the air. She even reached out her arms to hold Norman——She was the top agent in her previous life, even so she couldn’t perform the qinggong (a technique in Chinese martial arts that is visually reminiscent of parkour) anyway!
You have to be humble when you are trapped in an inferior situation. Hence, she did not have any choice but to obey Norman’s order.
Norman, who had never seen Mary being so helpless before, felt sympathy towards her. The fifth daughter of the Debeur family who always behaved ferociously actually displayed her weakness in front of him. He felt interested to see the contrast.
Mary only dared to open her eyes when her legs touched the ground. She then realized she was burying herself in Norman’s chest. She blushed.
Feeling amused, Norman let go of Mary and said, “What’s wrong, Miss Debeur, refuse to let go of me?”
Mary flew into rage from shame, she hit him with all her strength, “Nobody would refuse to let go of you!”
Norman groaned, covering his chest, saying, “Miss Debeur, I never knew you were the kind of person who returned kindness with enmity!”
Regretting her rash action, she quickly caressed his chest and asked, “Are you okay? Why didn’t you dodge my punch?”
God knew the next moment, Norman returned to normal. He said, “Miss Debeur, I’m sure you know that a man and a woman should not be too intimated?”
Knowing that he was making fun of her, she stomped her foot, pouncing on him with her fist. He shushed all of a sudden and said, “Someone’s coming,” and disappeared from sight before Mary could react.
Mary was annoyed, and with her teeth grinding, she yelled, “Don’t you ever show your face in front of me, Norman Leeway!”
Norman did not go far, his laughter came from the dark side, “What are you going to do the next time you see me? Are you going to take responsibility for caressing my chest?”
“You!” Mary blushed and exploded, how unlucky of her to have met this shameless person!
“My lady!” Daisy rushed out of her room and pounced on Mary, sobbing, “My lady, thank god you’re back! You have no idea how worried I was last night!”
Feeling amused, Mary pulled her up and said, “Alright, Alright, I’m back safe and sound now, so you don’t need to cry anymore. I’m starving, so go get me some food.”
Daisy nodded, noticing the wound on Mary’s heel, she asked out of concern, “My lady, where did you get this wound? Is it alright?”
Not knowing whether to cry or laugh, Mary answered, “I’ll be fine, go and mind your own business.”
Back into her room, as she had just finished changing her clothes, a maiden came in to deliver a call from Lord Regent who had asked to see her.
Mary frowned. The maiden looked obedient, unlike those sent by the former side consort who was arrogant and domineering. She decided to have a chat with the maiden, amicably, she asked, “Are you one of the maidens serving father?”
The maiden looked shocked, incredulous that Mary wanted to strike up a conversation with her. She muttered, “Ye…Yes, your Highness. My name is Amber and I serve in the study hall of his Royal Highness.”
Mary nodded, satisfied by her humble reply. Apparently, her contemptible father did not allow his servant to mistreat her although he did not care for her.
On the other hand, Daisy’s jaw dropped, she had never expected Mary dealing with the maidens of Lord regent.
Mary turned and noticed her expression, she secretly shook her head. Although Daisy was loyal, but there was still a limit in her capability, therefore having a few more maidens would be good.
“Daisy, give Amber some coins for a treat.”
Daisy felt it difficult to fulfill her request since her lady did not have any more money when Her Ladyship deducted some of them. They would go poor and blank if money was given to Amber.
Seeing Daisy’s indecisiveness and evasiveness, she gave her a glare. Startled, Daisy opened the money case, casually grabbed a handful of coins when there was already not much left in it, and handed the coins to Amber reluctantly.
Amber was flattered. All this time, she had delivered messages from His Highness to several of his daughters but had never received any gratuity. Though there was one time when the second daughter gave her a plate of deserts which Her Highness found them awful.
Having received the money, Amber felt utmost contented. She started to speak tentatively with Mary when she led her to the study hall.
“Your Highness, please be careful. I noticed that the face of Her Highness, the side consort, did not look good just now.”
Mary sneered; she knew the side consort was behind something. “Amber, had you happened to hear her speaking with my father?”
Amber hesitated and shook her head, “Her Highness ordered unconcerned people to go out. Though I stood close, but still was only able to catch a few words, and one of them was “marriage”.
Mary knew from the bottom of her heart that there was something to do with the marriage alliance with the Minister family.
The last time she received the message sent secretly by Norman, she was informed that the side consort intended to let her marry the paralyzed son from the Minister family. Therefore she changed the name on the marriage letter to Amy Debeur, one of her sisters’ by tricks. Perhaps her plan was exposed, therefore the side consort wanted to cause her trouble.
Amber looked at Mary with worried eyes and said, “Your Highness, please do be careful. His Majesty may be stern, but does love you his child.”
Mary sneered. Love? If Lord Regent really did love her, who is his own daughter, he would not allow her preceding body to live such a wretched life.