The Reason Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion

Lady Ansley!

Someone was covering Raeliana’s mouth and restraining her body.

She felt a stiff body of a man behind her and smelled chemicals through her nostrils.

No.

Her breathing became rough and her heart was racing.

She twisted her body to escape the hands around her but the assailant did not budge.

Despite her struggles, the anaesthetic gradually spread throughout her body. Raeliana scrunched her brows, trying desperately to not close her eyes.

Lady Ansley!!

But in the end, Raeliana’s cries never came out of her mouth.

No…

Abduction

Francis Brooks calculated women’s love with money. That was his only talent.

His decent looks and family name attracted women, his so-called investors, blindly like moths to light.

Sophie Langston, Jake Langston’s sister, had been one of them. Piling on a significant debt, Sophie Langston sacrificed herself for his sake.

But the only things Francis Brooks left her was a cheap ring he once gave her asking for her hand in marriage and a word of farewell.

If only I had known how obsessive and insane she was…

All this would not have happened. Francis Brooks trembled his fists.

Sophie Langston had not given up on Francis Brooks as easily as the other women. She had attempted suicide in order to change his mind.

Francis clenched his fist strong enough for his nails to dig into his skin. All he did was try to stop her.

A struggle had broken out with a knife in between. The knife piercing through her neck was really not his intention.

And it was all a terrible coincidence that the moment Sophie was bleeding to death and the moment Francis had lost his mind, Jake Langston had been witnessing it all.

“It, it’s not my fault.”

To Francis Brooks, who was frightened, Langston had said, “Are you rich?”

Then Langston took Francis Brooks to see a person named the ‘client.’ The ‘client’ had planned his engagement to Raeliana McMillan.

“The first time is always the hardest. The second time will be a piece of cake.”

Langston said with a smile. Francis loathed that crooked mole by Langston’s eye.

He suddenly felt a presence from behind. It was his ex-fiancee tied up in the cargo.

But he believed that none of this was his fault. Just like how one might step in mud one day, he was simply suffering from bad luck.

Bad luck from choosing the wrong woman like Sophie Langston.

“Damn it,” he muttered a swear word to himself. What use was it to mull over the past? Whatever the problem was, there was no turning back.

Francis clenched his teeth. He had no choice. He repeated silently as if to convince himself.

“There’s no turning back.”

***

“Gasp!”

Raeliana took a deep breath like she had just come out of water and opened her eyes.

She felt exhausted as if she had had a long dream and her body felt heavy like wet cotton. As she blinked, lying face down on the hard ground, she saw an unfamiliar floor.

What is this?

Panicking, Raeliana took deep breaths and sat up. Apparently she had been lying on the hard ground for a while as she felt her joints and back crack painfully.

Raeliana licked her lips and looked around. She was so thirsty her throat seemed to be closing up.

As she looked around, it seemed like a dark confined space. The only light that came in was from a small window about 20cm high and 30cm wide on the wall.

Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she saw walls and a floor made of wooden planks. The whole space was creaking and moving with a rattling sound.

It seemed as though she was being moved by a carriage or something.

Why am I…

As she completely sat up, her head felt like it would burst. Raeliana told herself to calm down, then recalled as to how she ended up here one by one.

She was at the ball… Then, she came in contact with the marchioness for Noah… There was smoke in the room… and…

Abduction?

Was it abduction? She hung her head and pictured who might try to abduct her.

Francis Brooks, he was the only man who would do something like this.

Was he planning to extort ransom?

The cruel bastard.

He was probably the one who was staring so intensely at the back of her head at the ball.

Raeliana pictured Francis Brooks sneakily following her around like a stalker and frowned in disgust.

And as if to confirm her suspicions, Francis Brooks’s voice was heard from the front.

“See if she’s awake.”

Was there someone else other than Francis Brooks? Raeliana flinched her shoulders as she heard a click of a door opening and an unfamiliar voice.

Creak…

Before the door opened completely, she laid back down and closed her eyes.

Heavy footsteps echoed loudly in between the regular clicks of horse hooves.

The man came right beside Raeliana and crouched down. Then he spoke.

“I know you’re awake. So why don’t you open your eyes?”

Tsk.

When did he see that? She clicked her tongue silently and opened her eyes.

“Hello, miss.”

Langston, the man with a mole by his eye, snickered and waved his hand.

***

Raeliana shot up like a cornered animal and warned Langston.

“I’ll scream if you come any closer.”

“Go on. Nobody’s around anyway.”

“Help me! I’m being abducted here! Help…!!”

Raeliana began to yell without a moment of hesitation.

She beat the wooden wall with her fists, screamed her head off again, and glared at Langston with intimidating eyes cursing him with impotence.

But true to his words, nobody was around to help her in this apparently abandoned road.

Seemingly annoyed by the screams, Langston picked his ear with his finger and said in a bored voice.

“Hey, what’s with wishing me impotence?”

“You look like you don’t deserve children.”

Langston strode straight toward her. Raeliana glared at him with her back against the wall.

“Be cute, missy. We might let you walk out of here once we get what we want.”

“You should be good to me. The duke might not send you to the gallows even though you just abducted his beloved.”

Of course, there was not a crumb of love between Noah and Raeliana.

Whatever the actual truth may be, one needs a good bluff in these matters.

Perturbed, Langston leaned on one foot and looked at her nastily with his hands on his hips.

“You should keep in mind that I’m the one that’s holding you hostage.”

“You should also keep in mind that I’m the one with the money that you all want.”

He curled up his lips into a smile and approached right in front of her nose in one stride. Raeliana had no space to evade him.

“Well, it looks like the lady doesn’t know her place yet. Perhaps some cuts to your pretty face will set your mind straight? What do you think?”

Langston held Raeliana’s cheeks tightly and pulled out a knife from his waist with another hand.

The knife waving in front of her reflected her green eyes. Her face went pale.

Can’t believe he’s getting his hands on the hostage… is he insane?!

She had to get a hold of herself but her fingertips became cold.

The knife slid across the surface of her face. Her eyes shook fiercely.

“You just have to be alive, don’t you think?”

No, of course not! He was so mistaken! My face needs to be okay as well!

She changed her attitude quicker than anyone could.

“Sowwy…”

“What? I can’t hear you?”

“I said… I’m sowwy.”

“What…?.”

He snickered for a while and roughly released his hold.

“Ow!”

Raeliana frowned and massaged her numb cheeks.

“Haha! You’re cute, missy.”

“If I’m cute, let me go.”

Raeliana muttered in a tiny voice.

“Be good and stay quiet, missy. Don’t pull any stunts, okay? Got it? It’s only harder for you if you end up with cuts. You have to walk down the aisle with His Highness soon, don’t you?”

He spoke while twirling the knife around playfully. His crescent moon eyes were as cold as a blade.

Her instinct whispered that this was not merely a threat to shut her up.

Alarms began ringing in her head. This man was for real. He could really kill her if needed.

She nodded with a stern expression.

Tsk.

Raeliana slumped down and hugged her knees. Then scooted her bottom all the way back to the corner of the cargo space and wished death upon Langston and Francis in a tiny voice.

The two remained silent for a while. Only the sound of horseshoes trotting filled the space while the moonlight entering the wagon gradually dimmed.

“Hey…”

Raeliana who had been crouching in the corner obediently called out to Langston.

“Why are you doing this?”

Langston raised his eyebrows and looked at her.

“You can at least tell me that.”

He took a moment then spoke in a haughty tone.

“Because of my dead sister. Sophie died because of that bastard. Shouldn’t I be compensated for the death of a family member?”

“Did Francis Brooks kill someone?”

“Well… something like that.”

Langston shrugged his shoulders slightly.

He seemed to have no intention of elaborating the story any further.

Raeliana thought for a while then carefully bet her luck.

“Do you think your sister would want something like this?”

Langston’s eyes slowly drifted toward her.

“Was your sister someone who would have wanted something like this?”

Raeliana pleaded with pitiful expression, appealing that his sister would not have wanted this.

Of course, she had no idea what kind of a person his sister was. But wouldn’t mentioning a family member be the best way to move someone’s heart?

That’s how it always was in novels. Heroines talked the criminals into repentance in countless episodes.

Raeliana described the man’s sister like an angel on Earth and went on about how sad she would be to see him this way from the heavens.

As Raeliana’s description of Sophie as a loving sister, almost to the point of being angelic, Langston’s face began to twitch.

Did it work?!

Raeliana’s eyes twinkled. Looking at her lively expression, Langston broke out in laughter.

“Haha, hahahaha! What’s this? You thought you could convince me with that kind of story? I just like money, that’s all. Ahahaha!”

Langston wiped a tear away and began to almost weep in laughter. He spoke cheerily.

“Nobles think their status will solve everything, but that’s just stupid. Look, that loser is the eldest son of the House of Brooks, but he’s doing this for money. The world is all about money. Money is everything! Shouldn’t I at least put my sister to rest with a good headstone? She’s already dead anyway.”

Langston snickered.

Tsk.

Raeliana pouted and furrowed her brows.

The man was more worldly than she had thought. Rather than touching repentance, she only got to experience how difficult life was.

Yeah. I’m not even the main character anyway.

Raeliana buried her face in her knees. Her makeup was smudged on the beautiful dress, but she did not care.

Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t think of anything anymore. She had no choice but to wait for her rescue like a princess trapped in a tower.

What’s that man doing right now?

Raeliana pictured Noah and complained silently.

Since she was just a blackmailer to him, she thought to herself, he’s not cursing me to just go die somewhere, right?

Would he at least feign an effort to look for me since the House of McMillan and the others will be watching him?

Thinking as positively as possible, Raeliana soothed her anxious heart.

That’s when it happened.