Chapter 181: Trapped Under Anxiety (1)
When it clocked 10pm at night, Madeline could feel her chest pounding repeatedly as she approached the huge main gate of the palace Cassian had told her about. The night air was relatively cold, and Madeline could hear the leaves rustle as she hid behind the shadows of a tree.
Taking a deep breath, she paused and adjusted the military uniform she had put on, at the same time, she fixed her helmet in place to make sure not even a single strand of her hair was exposed. During her conversation with Cassian, the young lad gave her the idea of dressing more like a military guard since His Majesty was expecting some of them tonight, and the risk wouldn’t be as tough as coming in as a royal guard.
Knowing this, Madeline had no other alternative but to agree.
To complete her dressing, she picked a black handkerchief she had tucked at the belt of her military trouser, tying it to her nose and mouth in the form of a nose mask. Before leaving the house, she noticed no matter how hard she dressed, her feminine face always gave her away, so in order to fix it, she came up with the idea of using the handkerchief as a nose mask, since most guards tend to have a pessimistic disposition concerning this type of things, Madeline couldn’t think of any better idea than this.
"You can do this." She encouraged herself in a soft cheering whisper.
Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Madeline opened her eyes and stepped out of the shadows. She quietly made her way towards the big main gate of the palace building, and the closer she got to the gate, the more she realized there was no one standing on guard at the main gate, which was against the palace rules.
"Why is it..."
"Stop there!" A guard who followed her from behind suddenly shouted. To stay alert, the guard brought out his weapon as he approached Madeline who had frozen in her spot upon hearing the harshness in his tone. Reassuring herself that the guard might have mistaken her for an intruder which she was, Madeline put on her best baritone voice, trying to channel her inner man, and the anxiety on her face vanished.
"What’s the problem?" She asked, affecting a rough tone as she turned around to look at the unfamiliar guard that stood before her.