Free Web NovelChapter 5: Her First Target
The public scolding finally ended, leaving Matilda weeping on her knees as she cleaned up the sharp porcelain shards with her bare hands.
The rest of the kitchen staff quickly scattered back into the shadows, terrified of catching Madam Morgan’s lingering wrath.
April quietly walked down the remaining steps, her rubber-soled shoes making no sound against the marble.
She walked right past Matilda, even giving a downward glance to mock her silently, and headed toward the back corridors where the staff locker rooms and break areas were located.
To get onto the serving rotation for the welcome banquet tonight, she needed an in. Usually, high-profile events were reserved for the senior maids or the prettiest girls who wouldn’t embarrass the family in front of the city’s elite.
April, though pretty, had a reputation for being the household scapegoat and was never placed on the front lines. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
She slipped into the narrow hallway near the pantry and spotted Chloe sitting on a plastic crate, pinching her index finger.
There was blood welling up on her finger, gotten from a fresh papercut.
"Damn it," Chloe muttered, looking up as April approached. "The heavy envelopes in the study are like razor blades today. And of all the days to get hurt..."
April leaned against the doorframe, her posture relaxed. "Are you supposed to serve tonight?"
"Yes," Chloe groaned, pressing a piece of tissue tightly against the cut. "I’m on the main dining hall rotation. But this thing won’t stop bleeding, and you know how Madam gets if she sees a single blemish or a bandage on a server. She’ll think it’s unhygienic and probably dock my pay just for bleeding near the guests."
A quiet, calculating look passed over April’s face. This worked out perfectly in her favor, didn’t it?
"Then how about this? I’ll take your shift," April said, her voice smooth and entirely direct.
Chloe blinked in surprise, turning to look at her. "You? But you’re supposed to be on the floor-scrubbing and laundry duty today. Matilda will kill you if she catches you upstairs during the party."
"Matilda is currently on the floor of the drawing room crying over a broken teapot," April replied, a faint, cold tilt to her lips. "She won’t be checking the roster for a while. Besides, you get to hide in the back, keep your finger clean, and avoid Madam’s temper for the rest of the evening. You know Madam’s temper is far worse than Matilda’s scolding."
She nodded, knowing it was true.
"Let me handle the dining hall."
Chloe looked down at her bleeding finger, then back at April. The offer was too tempting to pass up, especially on a day when the mistress was looking for any excuse to skin the staff alive.
"Alright," Chloe whispered, pulling off her crisp, unstained serving apron and handing it over. "But if you get caught, you didn’t get it from me."
"Deal," April said, taking the apron. "I’ll just tell them I knocked you out and stole it."
Chloe looked at her like someone who was crazy. She noticed April was acting differently from normal. Usually, she would be bowing her head and walking about, unable to make eye contact with anyone.
But today, she sounded so confident and a little bit prickly on the skin.
"It must be my imagination," Chloe muttered to herself. "It’s not like people can change overnight."
April heard that and smirked. Of course, people don’t change overnight. But give it ten years of surviving in a dead world, and a major stupid last mistake, then you’ll be shocked to see what they turn into.
She slipped into the staff restroom, washed her hands, and tied the clean apron over her waist.
Looking in the mirror, she adjusted her collar. The thick stack of Matilda’s hundred-dollar bills was tucked securely away, and she still had one single, precious insight left in her arsenal.
It was time to carve her new beginning.
As the sun began to dip below the horizon, casting long, dark shadows across the Morgan estate, the sound of classical music began to drift from the ballroom.
The luxury cars were rolling up the driveway once again, bringing the wealthiest and most influential people in the city straight to her feet.
April took her place near the kitchen double doors, picking up a silver tray lined with expensive champagne flutes.
Her eyes were sharp, her mind entirely focused as she prepared to step out into the lions’ den.
The clean road to survival was right in front of her.
April pushed through the heavy double doors, her posture straight and showing nothing but a polite indifference on her face. Acting as a professional server.
The grand hall was like how she heard from the rest of the maids, since she never had a chance to even go near the place, despite how many banquets and balls the Morgan family threw all year round.
There were brilliant crystal chandeliers hanging above their heads, expensive perfumes suffocating the air, and the sharp clinking of wine glasses and flutes.
For someone who had spent the last ten years surrounded by dust, ash, and the metallic stench of blood, the sheer opulence of the room felt completely surreal.
It was a world that didn’t know it was already dead, not until it was too late.
Holding the silver tray steady, April smoothly navigated the crowd, keeping her eyes scanning the room.
Then, she spotted the stars of the show.
Up on the small raised platform at the front of the hall, the Morgan family stood in the spotlight. The long-lost daughter—the ’protagonist’ of the early days of the apocalypse—was currently wiping a delicate tear from her cheek. freewebnσvel.cøm
She looked beautiful, like a white lotus floating on a pristine lake, innocent but... for how long?
She was holding a microphone, her voice trembling beautifully as she spoke about the warmth of finally coming home.
The guests below dabbed at their eyes, murmuring about what a beautiful, tragic miracle it all was.
It was a brilliant facade of rich people.
April’s eyes didn’t waste time on the girl’s face. They went straight to Master Morgan’s hands.
He was holding a dark box. As the daughter finished her speech, he opened it, revealing a simple, deep-green jade necklace.
It didn’t look like much—just a traditional, slightly weathered piece of jewelry—but April knew exactly what it was.
To anyone else, it was a family heirloom, but to April, it was an endless warehouse that could store enough food and weapons to survive a century.
In the hands of a protagonist who doesn’t even know the world is ending yet, it wouldn’t live its full potential and could only store the scraps that the damned world had left.
But in her hands, April could fill it to the brim. That is... as soon as she starts making real money.
She watched as Master Morgan carefully lifted the necklace and tied it around his daughter’s neck. The crowd erupted into polite applause.
April’s grip on the tray tightened slightly.
The future isn’t set in stone, and given what happened with Matilda, it is changing, she thought, her mind flashing back to Matilda’s humiliation.
If things were shifting, she couldn’t afford to take chances. In her past life, the daughter had accidentally cut her finger and bound the space to her soul later the next day. But what if that happened tonight?
April couldn’t wait until the last minute. She couldn’t rely blindly on the exact timeline she remembered. She had to steal that necklace tonight, before the daughter had a chance to bleed on it.
But it couldn’t be by force, and it couldn’t be sloppy. If she got caught, she would be thrown into a cell, and a jail cell was the worst place to be when the apocalypse hit in two months.
She needed to maintain her harmless, invisible servant facade until she could use her system, fleece the richest man in the city for her first billion, and buy a fortress.
She needed a clean, perfect opportunity to slip that necklace off the girl’s neck without anyone realizing it was her.
But how?
As she stepped deeper into the crowd to serve champagne, her eyes swept over the high-profile guests sitting near the front tables. Thanks to her insight, she was given options to read their fortune along with their names.
So she could subtly tell who was who, even if she did not read their fortune.
And then, right there, sitting slightly apart from the rest of the mingling crowd, was a man who didn’t seem to care about the tearful family reunion at all.
He was dressed in a dark charcoal suit, his fingers tapping lazily against the edge of his untouched wine glass. He had a cold, sharp jawline and eyes that looked like they could see right through a person’s skin.
April’s breath caught slightly. She recognized him from the news broadcasts right before the end of the world.
Xavier Reed. The youngest logistics and real estate tycoon in the country, and the undisputed richest man in the city. That man... was here right now.
April exhaled slowly, her cold smirk returning.
Her target for the necklace was up on the stage, but the target for her funding was sitting right in front of her.
It was time to pay the billionaire a visit.
