Chapter 146: Walk
She hadn’t left to spite him, Claire reminded herself.
She just needed to understand what was going on within her.
This was all new to her.
If her father were still alive... she would have asked him.
But he was not.
Claire went down the elegant hallway and down the steps. The stairway was half as long as the one that led to her tower in the castle.
She burst into a large and unfamiliar hallway. The guards, some of which she recognized, some which she did not, were all seated there.
Movements stopped as she stood at the door of the staircase.
The smell of ale and strong drinks filled the air.
Turning on her heel, she went through another hall which she assumed was the hallway that led to the street.
Footsteps echoed behind her as she walked.
A glance over her shoulder told her that it was her olive-skinned guard. A sigh of relief broke out before she could stifle it.
Sometimes, he felt as familiar as her own shadow - it never bothered her that he always hovered near her all the time.
She opened the large door and stepped into the open street. The stone buildings around her took her breath away.
Most of them, like the former court house, were in ruins.
Wasn’t the town supposed to have been rebuilt?
Even in ruins, there was a certain surreal beauty it exuded to onlookers.
Marvelled she continued down the path, briefly forgetting what had forced her to come on the blasted walk in the first place.
People brushed past her, barely sparing her a glance as if fancily dressed people were a common sight for them.
After all, it was the town square.
Almost everyone here could pass as Peers of the Realm with their long coats and frilly dresses.
Wagons pulled by thin horses passed by her more times than she could count.
"Stop looking so hungry." One rider said, tossing an apple from his cart at her.
She caught it absent-mindedly, wondering why he thought she looked hungry.
When she glanced over her shoulder, her guard’s lips were curved in the faintest hint of a smile.
She threw the apple at him playfully.
"How dare you laugh at me!"
He caught it and held it out to her, his eyes lowered, but his grin intact.
She scowled at him and continued walking forward.
Everything came crashing on her at that moment.
She had never felt more alone. Nothing would have soothed her better than if Yeren had come after her and held her in his arms.
But he didn’t.
He wasn’t even bothered that she was slowly losing her touch with reality.
First, a claw. Now this?
What else was waiting in store for her?
None of this would have happened if she had just been contented with living with Aurora in their run down house.
Why had she agreed to live with Uncle Jarren in the first place? What good had come of that?
But a voice in her head told her that she wouldn’t have gotten closer to the King.
Yet what had falling in love with the King amounted to as well?
Absolutely nothing...
She clenched her fists at the thought.
If she hadn’t left Loodswood, she wouldn’t have let her heart get as tangled up as it was.
She would have rejected him and it would stayed that way.
But had she really rejected him?
He had admitted that he had been thinking what she heard... did that mean she could hear his thoughts?
But she couldn’t hear it all the time - which led her to wonder if it was triggered by something.
The same way her claw had appeared out of nowhere, and vanished into thin air in the same fashion.
If there was a book, or a person who could explain it to her, she would have latched onto it like a lifeline.
Wind whipped through her hair as she slipped through the busy townspeople. No one waved to her - not that she expected them to.
It made her realize that she might have as well been a chamber maid and they would accord her the same indifference.
Realising she was walking too fast, she gradually slowed to a trot.
The blue sky above began gathering grey clouds as quickly as it shoved the sun under.
A storm was coming. She had to return back to the manor before the rain would come.
Just then, a little boy in a torn shirt and smudged boots beckoned to her from the entrance of an alleyway. Going back could wait for a while, she said to herself. She wasn’t in a hurry to see the King any more than she wanted to be caught under the rain.
She knew better than to enter such a place, but empathy for the boy and curiosity drew her.
She dashed after him, losing her guard in the crowd of people.
The little boy ran off, running down the length of the semi-dark path and disappearing along a curb.
Where was he taking her? Was there something he wanted to show her?
She followed quietly, slowing down and taking in her strange surroundings.
The stone buildings around her were caked with moss and mildew at the sides. Puddles of dirty water covered most of the path.
This wasn’t a place someone like her was ever supposed to be in.
Her senses came jumbling back and she turned around in a heavy whip of skirts.
But as she did, a voice froze her on the spot.
"I’ve missed you very much, my love. I have been looking for every opportunity to lay my eyes on you but that man-" It trailed off.
The voice was very familiar.
Her mind recognized exactly who it belonged to but she refused to believe it.
It couldn’t be.
Even as she clung stubbornly to her doubts, a cold sweat broke out on her brow. A shiver ran down her spine.
The last thing she wanted to do was to turn around and see the owner of the voice.
But she did nonetheless, and her heart sank as she had anticipated it would.