A Handmaid’s Guide for Revenge

“I… hope you’re okay, you’re not suddenly ill or something?”

The doctor’s voice snapped Isabel out of her reverie.

“…Yes, of course, I’m fine.”

Isabel mumbled, her face sinking.

She shook her head a few times, the sense of death not easily forgotten.

‘First Rita… I have to go see Rita.’

With a dry gasp, she finished looking through the newspaper.

It was mostly gossip, as it was a low-cost newspaper for the common people, but the advertisements were useful. Winter would soon be over and the social season would be upon us, and it was time for the noble houses to hire extra hands.

Among the densely written job advertisements was the Count of Grey.

[The Earl of Grey – Looking for a temporary maid for the social season].

Isabel tore it out of the paper.

“I must go now, I owe you.”

“Leav, are you leaving already?”

The words were regretful, but there was an undeniable joy and relief on the doctor’s face. It must have taken a lot out of him to keep a gunshot victim alive and hidden when it was obvious she had committed a crime.

“Yes, because it wouldn’t be good for you if I stayed long, and I was a danger to you in the first place.”

“That’s not… hmm, I mean, yes, but.”

“…”

“It’s just that my sister’s around the same age, and how can I leave you alone when you’re going to die if I do?”

Scratching her head, she bowed politely to the doctor. It was the best gratitude she could muster right now.

***

When the doctor heard that Isabel was going to the capital, he advised her to take the train. He knew from their earlier conversation that she didn’t know much about trains, so he gave her a rough guide on how to use them.

Isabel gratefully accepted his offer of a month’s supply of painkillers and made her way to the train station.

The station was not crowded in the early morning. However, the number of police officers on patrol was noticeably high.

Instead of going straight to the platform for the train to the capital, Isabel entered the waiting room and took in the atmosphere. A group of women huddled in one corner were talking in low voices.

“Look at the officers, it’s all because of that thief, isn’t it?”

“They haven’t caught the thief yet?”

“Yes, that’s right. For God’s sake, I can’t sleep at night because I keep hearing gunshots.”

“You all know my husband works for the Duke of Mirabel’s mansion. That thief tried to steal some very important papers from there. They say the Duke was very angry.”

“What a horrible way to live.”

The thief who failed in his attempt to steal the papers from the mansion was most likely Isabel herself.

‘It’s a good thing I changed at the doctor’s house.’

Isabel was deeply relieved. She would have been dragged straight out.

The mere fact that she had changed out of the raggedy clothes she had worn when she was being chased, into a gorgeous middle-class dress and a wide-brimmed hat had made a world of difference to her mood. If she had been a street beggar before, she now looked like a young lady of the wealthy.

She was relieved. They knew what she looked like and would be following her, so if they stopped her, she’d be caught.

If she couldn’t outrun them here, she’d be in even more trouble in the capital. She could be hunted for the rest of the year, instead of being able to be by her daughter’s side.

Isabel looked around. There was a route map in the waiting room with all the departure times and stops for each train.

Isabel quickly memorised the map by heart, pretending to check the stops.

At the Duke of Mirabel in the central part of the Magritte Empire, trains to the south, to the capital, and to the west stop. And the opposite direction to the capital was the southern route.

The next settled station on the southern line was half a day away, and if she got on the wrong train, it would take her a long time to get back.

Isabel recalled the departure timetable she had just seen and memorised.

‘Southbound at 9:57, capital at 10:00.’

She glanced at the clock on the waiting room wall. It was now about five minutes until departure.

‘Just a little longer, just a little longer, and then…’

Isabel rushed out of the waiting room and headed for the ticket office as the departure time for the southbound train was approaching.

“Southbound ticket, please.”

“What? The train is about to leave in one minute…”

“I’ll take that one, please!”

She shouted, taking off her hat, her brown hair flying.

The ticket clerk gave her a bemused look and handed her the ticket. When Isabel looked back, she saw the officers, who had spotted her brown hair, cheering.

Isabel began to run at full speed towards the southbound train platform.

The officers who spotted her running began to chase after her.

“Get her, get her, it’s her!”

The officers quickly closed in on her. At this rate, she was going to be caught.

‘Faster, faster, we have to run.’

Isabel pushed herself harder. She was already running faster than she had ever run before, but it wasn’t enough.

As soon as she rounded the corner, she saw an employee pushing a large cart. The officers behind her screamed.

“Uh, uh…!”

‘Let’s jump over it.’

She was instantly convinced. This body can jump over that.

With both arms outstretched, she levered herself against the cart’s high load and threw herself. Isabel’s body soared and she landed on top of the trolley.

Her leverage sent the cart’s contents spilling to the ground, and the officers scrambled to catch up with her.

Gaining distance, Isabel ran, not slowing down, and just before entering the platform for the southbound train, she ducked behind a pillar at the corner.

“She’s getting on the train! Get her! Once the train starts, it’s over!”

Officers rushed towards the train. Apparently, they mistakenly thought that Isabel, who was hiding behind the pillar as intended, had already boarded the train.

With all their eyes on her, Isabel pulled her cloak from her luggage, wrapped it around her, and started walking back to the capital platform. Behind her, she could hear the southbound train blowing its horn and the officers blowing their whistles and trying to stop the train.

As she leisurely approached the platform for the train to the capital city of Helen, the place was so empty that he could not see the hems of the officers’ clothes.

“Haa…”

Isabel breathed a sigh of relief as she boarded the train to the capital city of Helen without a hitch. Soon the train was rumbling and moving.

‘Thank goodness the train to the capital and the train to the south left at about the same time.’

She hugged her luggage tightly to her in her barely-there third-class seat.

Now her pursuers would search the south first to find her. In the meantime, Isabel was to become the Earl of Grey’s maid.

***

Upon arriving in the capital, Isabel checked into an inn. She was disturbed by the contents of the bag the doctor had packed for her.

She turned the bag upside down and the contents spilled out onto the bed. Several sets of camouflage clothing, three or four identification papers, and a revolver and dagger, all of which she had never seen before.

‘Guns.’

Isabel stuck out her tongue.

She had deliberately avoided looking at it in the doctor’s house for fear of what it might contain, and it was a good thing she had, because if the frail-looking doctor had seen it, he would have collapsed in a fit of rage.

She ruffled her greasy hair and checked her credentials first. She had to be sure of her identity before she could be accepted as a maid to an earl.

Fortunately, they were perfect. There were so many of them that she couldn’t tell who she was, but at least she had no trouble faking it.

Isabel picked up the one with the name ‘Belle Allé’ on it.

‘Belle…’

It was a nickname for her real name, Isabel. If she’s going to use a name, she might as well use a familiar name.

Isabel folded up the identity card and put it in her bag.

Identity was no longer a problem. If there was a problem, it was in the rest of the luggage that was bloody.

Isabel reached out and grabbed the revolver in her bag.

“Ugh…”

As soon as she squeezed the grip with her right hand, it jerked up and down.

She tried to forcefully grip it, but her hand shook so badly that she dropped the gun. It was a strange thing to hold a gun for the first time in her life, but it was strange to be so scared that you couldn’t hold it.

Isabel smirked and tossed the black revolver into her bag with a flick of her wrist.

“Hah…”

She flopped down on the bed in the small inn room. Her chest tightened.

The attic of the manor where she worked was similar to this one. A bed, a table for one, and a small window generously hung.

Choking on the familiarity, Isabel made her way to the window and pushed her hand through the thick layer of dust to open it. A cold breeze rushed in and scattered her hair. Feeling her hair tickle her eyelids, she gently closed her eyes.

It had been a long, hard day. The little darkness beneath her eyelids was cosy, and she quickly became drowsy.

Just like that, for a few minutes.

Isabel suddenly jerked awake. She looked terrified, like she was being chased by something.

‘Rita.’

The face of a crying child came to mind.

Even at this moment, Margarita could be going through a terrible time, and yet here she was, alone, enjoying tranquillity.

Her heart was beating as fast like she was having a seizure, and her whole body was shaking. Isabel’s head was spinning, and she didn’t know what to do, so she slowly raised one hand.

She slapped herself across the cheek, and then again, and again, and again.

Her lip burst and bled. Isabel stood up on her own two feet, leaving the blood unwiped.

What good is there to enjoying peace of mind after dying when she left behind a ten-year-old daughter and dying?

Pushing herself harshly, Isabel sat down on the floor and hugged her knees. The chill from the floor seeped into her bones. As her body grew numb and her fingertips grew numb, she closed her eyes.

The harsh night was just beginning.