Free Web NovelChapter 167: New beginnings (2)
"Have you thought about anyone you wish to get married to? You might not have been a fan of marriage but sometimes, we cannot control our emotions and there must have been someone who once held your heart. Even if you hated it," Esmeralda said to Regina. Love was such a hard emotion to run away from. She experienced it once but her engagement to a man she did not know ruined it.
"Unfortunately, there was someone but he did not share the status therefore I never mentioned it to anyone other than Aurora because I knew the others would laugh at me and call the love ridiculous. I am not certain but I think he got married to the baker’s daughter and has become a guard for the town. Congratulations to them," Regina said in a bored tone. Other than him, there was no one she fancied. "Boys are stupid. It’s hard to find one who won’t annoy you eventually."
Esmeralda smiled, remaining silent as she sort of agreed with Regina.
"I have made my own list of potential marriage partners. I wasn’t able to sleep last night. Even though the gossip about Minnie and Duncan had hit our reputation for a moment, we still are wealthy and I am at the top of the lists for suitors to have as a bride. I have crossed off the ones who have certain behaviors I would rather not put up with even if we will just be married for a small period of time."
"Are you really going to poison your future husband?" Esmeralda asked, a little concerned for her great-granddaughter’s future husband. She one hundred percent believed Regina would do such a thing.
"Only if he is a man who tries to mistreat me. I won’t sit by and let that happen. Luckily, I plan to choose one that will not pay attention to me too much. I would be searching forever if I look for one who is kind- Ah!" Regina screamed as the carriage shook and abruptly stopped. "What on earth just happened?"
"Lady Regina, are you alright?" The driver asked. His voice was full of panic as he got up from his seat and came around to check on Regina. He opened her door and said, "My apologies. One of the wheels came off. It’s a good thing nothing bad happened as a result."
"Aren’t you meant to check the carriage and make sure everything is alright with it?" She applauded him for taking control and avoiding a serious accident but it was his job to check the carriage before she even got in it.
The driver scratched the back of his head feeling awkward at this moment. "I did check the wheels this morning and told the butler we would need to take another carriage because there was something wrong."
"And?"
"He told me to take this carriage and say nothing. I don’t want to get in trouble with the butler so I did as told but I still tried my best to be careful. I told him we wouldn’t have gotten far if we used this one. I know carriages like the back of my hand," said the driver. He was now worried about getting fired.
No matter how you looked at it he would be fired. He listened to the butler but at the same time, he could have seriously injured the young lady. Her father would never forgive him and the butler might say he had no idea about the wheel.
"Those little..." Regina gritted her teeth restraining herself from cursing her family in front of the driver. She took a deep breath to calm down herself and then said, "We’re close to my home but still close to the town right? Please return home and get a new carriage. If anyone I know passes by, I will get a ride with them. Please hurry."
"But I can’t leave you here. Your family will have my head for leaving you alone with all sorts of people passing by. Anyone can tell that this carriage belongs to the Hamiltons and might try to rob it."
"My father will have your head either way for listening to the butler instead of informing him about the wheels. I might put in a good word for you if you go back and bring me a proper carriage. If I am not here when you return, take it to our wine shop in town," Regina said.
"O-Okay," the driver agreed even though he did not want to leave her here all alone. If he ran back now, there was a chance he could be back here before anything could happen to her. He could also take a ride with one of the people using the road. "I’ll be back soon," he ran off.
"No wonder Minnie didn’t put up a fight about me going to work at the wine shop. They knew I had a bad carriage and I would have to return home. She is good," Regina gave her grandmother credit. She should have known something was wrong by Minnie’s silence. "Jokes on her because I will make it there even if I have to walk."
Esmeralda sighed watching Regina get out of the carriage. "Why can’t this family just get along for one day?"
She agreed that the driver should not have left Regina all alone because she was a prize to be stolen and used in exchange for money. At the same time, she knew Regina didn’t want Minnie to win by seeing Regina return home as she planned. Hopefully, there was no one dangerous passing by anytime soon. freewebnoveℓ.com
"A carriage is heading this way. I have seen this one before but I cannot remember what family it is from," Regina alerted Esmeralda. The carriage was fancy which meant it came from a family with money. That didn’t mean she could trust the person and get in their carriage but she was hoping it was a family friend.
As the carriage got closer, it dawned on Regina, thanks to the symbols placed around the carriage, to whom it belonged.
"Please don’t be that idiot. Please don’t be that idiot," she chanted in her head, praying she wouldn’t have to put up with him today but the universe was always against her.
The carriage stopped right in front of her and when the door opened, her shoulders dropped as the last man she ever wanted to see on this earth was grinning because of the situation she found herself in.
"Well well well. Leave it up to Regina Hamilton to find herself in this predicament."
"Go away Timothy. Don’t you have someone else to bother? I am busy," she looked away from his carriage back to the road to look for another option. "This day can’t get any worse."
At the same time, Aurora had woken up after a good night’s rest.
"What a good morning," Aurora said as soon as she woke up in her bedroom. It felt good to be back in her bedroom and after a good night’s rest, she felt energized to start her day. She sat up to stretch her body but sighed when she saw the state of her room. It was covered in thorns and had she sat forward an inch more one would have pierced her eyes. "Where on earth do you come from? Do I still have plants hidden in here? Go away," she told the thorns.
Once they started going away, Aurora stretched her body and shook off her sleepiness. She threw her feet off the side of the bed, getting up to move to open up the curtains to make her room brighter. She then opened the window to get some air coming into the room. "That’s better," she clapped her hands.
"What can I get up to today? Should I visit Artemis first? Should I go wreak havoc on the Hamiltons? Maybe Vincent has something planned?" She wondered. Surely, after their interrupted moment and her being back to normal, he might have something planned. Then again, he was always working so she didn’t want to get her hopes up. "A day of fun would be nice before everything gets violent and depressing again."
As she was about to go to the bathroom to start filling up water for a bath, there was a knock at the door. "Coming-Oh, right. Witch spell," she reminded herself. Aurora went to the door and found Mari eagerly waiting to serve her. "Good morning," she greeted the young girl. She stepped aside for Mari to come in.
"Good morning," Mari replied, going into the bedroom to help Aurora get ready for the day. "I felt so bad to hear that you were taken when trying to return to Vincent’s home. I am so glad you are safe now. There are a lot of strange rumors going around now though."
"Rumors like what?" Aurora folded her arms. What strange things have these people come up with now?
"That you attacked the people who took you and made them practically piss their pants. They are also saying you must be the one who caused a tree to fall on someone’s home and they are unfortunately blaming you for all the bad things happening in the community."
