The carriage came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the narrow path.

The people that were passing by were thrown into a frenzy and began to curse her driver.

But that was the least of her concern.

She had managed to block the path so the woman wouldn’t be able to run away.

She threw the door open and slid out of the carriage.

"Where are you going, Claire?" Rory asked, her voice full of concern.

"Just stay inside, both of you." She rasped and closed the door.

Her emerald dress sparkled under the glare of the afternoon sun.

People began to stare at her, making her aware of the stark difference between them.

She was no longer a peasant. She was now a peer of the Realm. Gone were the days when she would pass along the streets and no one would bat an eye at her.

Yet it brought her no joy whatsoever.

They were all dressed in rough leather and woolen tunics, their boots scoffed and their faces wary.

But her eyes were on only one person.

And the woman was staring back at her from amidst the crowd with a ghastly expression on her face.

Claire was then certain without a doubt that that was the woman who had served her food in the middle of the night.

Tears flooded her eyes as she looked into the eyes of the person who had taken the life of her unborn child...

Then, the woman turned around and began to run, holding up the hems of her dress to avoid falling down.

Claire pushed through the crowd with more force than she should have and rushed to catch up with the woman.

Cottage with worn out brick roofs lined the path.

More than once, her leg got stuck in the hole where a cobblestone should have been.

The road was in dire need of a repair.

The woman continued to run much ahead of her until she turned into another road.

Claire followed, pushing herself to go faster.

She was still recovering but she seemed to forget her predicament completely.

The road widened at the bend and stores and bigger houses could be seen in the distance. There was a coin bank to her right and there were several plots of land covered with barley as she whipped past.

The woman turned into another road which was narrowed and steep.

She had to slow down to avoid sliding down the rest of the way and harming herself.

But her ankle bumped into a hedge and she slipped despite her careful measures.

Her heavy dress made it even easier for her to trip over.

Claire rolled down the path, bumping into the hedges and stones that stuck out of the path.

Fortunately, she bumped into the woman and she tumbled as well. They rolled together until they reached the end of the path.

For a moment, she just laid there with her arms spread out, staring at the cloudless sky.

She was lying in someone’s farm from the look of the plants.

The woman laid a hand’s length away from her, breathing just as loudly.

Claire slowly sat up, surprised that she felt no pain despite the bruises she could see through the torn sleeves of her dress.

And Yeren had given her the dress...

The woman sat up as well and she turned to her, ready to lunge at her if she dared to move.

"Who sent you to do it?"

The woman met her gaze briefly before averting her eyes.

"I don’t know what you are talking about."

"Then why did you run away when you saw me. I know it’s you. You’re the one who served me food at midnight... you gave me something in that meal, didn’t you? What was it?"

The woman continued to stare at the ground.

"Answer me!" Claire screamed at the top of her lungs.

Tears were clouding her visions at that point.

How could someone be so wicked as to do that to her? She had never wished anyone else evil. And more importantly, she didn’t wish anyone dead.

The woman shivered at her tone but still did not utter a word.

Then Claire picked up a nearby stone and held it up threateningly.

The woman tried to scuttle away but she reached out and grabbed a fistful of the woman’s hair.

"If I take you to the King, you will lose everything. I hope you know that you also took his child."

The woman finally glanced up at her words.

"I didn’t do anything. I swear." Tears also welled in her eyes and her lower lip began to tremble.

But Claire wasn’t buying it.

"Who sent you? Tell me and I will let you go." She tugged painfully at the woman’s hair.

The woman squealed, inching her head closer to lessen the impact of the pull.

"I will tell! I will tell!"

Claire didn’t relent.

"Go on." She squeezed harder.

"It was a man. I didn’t see his face. He just gave me a vile and told me to make a nice meal with it and go to the castle at night when no one will notice. He planned it such that there was no one in the kitchen when I arrived with the food I cooked. He said I should wait till midnight and take the food to you if you still didn’t request for it. But you did. So..." She glanced warily at Claire. "I served you and snuck out of the castle."

Her stomach twisted inwards.

"And what did this unknown man offer you?"

"He gave me a heavy bag of coin. My children were very sick so I had to take it."

Children.

She looked much too young to be having children. And yet she willingly took someone else’s child. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Where is the money?"

The woman shuddered. "At my house. I took some of it out with me to purchase some vegetables." Then she showed Claire her small pouch.

"Take me to your house, then."