厨房从后面挺进李婷

How much longer would I feel like this? When would it end?

Never before had I thought I could lose the will to live so quickly. And the old me would never have believed a few years ago that I would ever stoop to this.

But I really… I couldn\'t help myself.

Sitting on the floor beside the bed-I touched the emerald pendant around my neck and grinned faintly. That gift… had been a lie, too.

I was more than sure now-that Maxie\'s murder of the maid had been Rachel\'s doing. She\'d killed her and taken the pendant… But instead she\'d lied as if she\'d bought it at a pawnshop.

Is there such a thing as a coincidence? It was so obvious… I was kicking myself for not figuring it out right away.

In fact, I\'d done a lot of stupid things that I regretted. But somehow… I couldn\'t turn back time.

I sighed heavily, but the fact that the pendant belonged to the Ashford family kept me from throwing it away. My father would be upset if I lost such a precious family heirloom. So, grudgingly, I kept it around my neck.

And at that moment, just as I was thinking about it, another knock sounded on my door. At first, as usual, I didn\'t pay attention to it.

But then…

— Lea! — There was a familiar voice, «Lea, it\'s me!

I shuddered. That voice…! As soon as I heard it, tears came to my eyes again.

For the first time in a long time I shifted from my usual posture-sitting on the floor with my arms around my knees-and rushed over there.

When I opened the door, I met the only person I was able to see now.

— Daddy!

Henry Ashford seemed greatly agitated, and took my hands.

— Leah! I heard that you locked yourself in here and refused to come out! — He shouted, «What? What\'s the matter with you?

I swallowed a lump in my throat.

— Dad, I… I… Read today at mvl _emp _y,r.

I couldn\'t get it out, while my father wiped the tears from my face with his palm. The next moment he held me close to him.

— It\'s all right,» the Archduke said, patting me on the back, «I understand. You don\'t have to tell me if you don\'t want to.

I sobbed frantically.

— And the seal? — My father pulled away from me, and took me by the shoulders.

— I… I couldn\'t…

Henry Ashford pursed his lips. Obvious disappointment flickered across his face-but he didn\'t mean it.

— Ahem, well… We\'ll deal with that later, then. For now, let\'s go.

— W-where?

— Home.

The Archduke\'s straightforward answer stunned me.

— Right… Right now? — I didn\'t believe it at first.

The man nodded.

— The carriage is waiting outside,» he informed me, «I have also checked that there will be no guards on this floor at this hour. We must get out without being seen.

I froze in surprise, not believing that my father would actually take such a desperate step. Getting out of the palace undetected was, in my opinion, the hardest quest of all. And if Rachel found out about it… The consequences were frightening to imagine.

My father\'s intentions, however, seemed quite serious.

— Come on,» Ashford took my hand confidently, «Leah, I\'m going to get you out of here.

Meanwhile, at that moment, in spite of all the tension, I noticed one unusual detail.

— Dad,» I said suddenly, «where\'s your ring?

The Ashford family ring my father always wore on his right hand was now missing. I happened to notice it when the Archduke took my hand with it.

But he preferred to shrug it off.

— I… Probably forgot it in my study.

— You forgot it? — I was surprised.

My father had never taken the ring off since I was little. So it seemed strange that he\'d just left it behind.

I wanted to tell him about it, but the Archduke seemed reluctant to discuss the matter.

— Lea,» he sighed, «it\'s just a ring… Let\'s talk about it later, okay?

— I… I… okay.

I didn\'t argue, and the Archduke squeezed my hand harder and moved forward. We tried to move quietly, and I was surprised that there really were few guards here today. Otherwise, they would have caught us long ago.

We hadn\'t gone very far, though. As we crossed only one corridor, I suddenly heard a shout behind us:

— Leriana!

I turned around and froze in astonishment.

Razor was following us from across the hall. A black-haired boy I hadn\'t seen in a long time, either. The last thing I expected was for him to show up here so unexpectedly.

Despite my father\'s objections, I stayed to wait for him.

The second prince was out of breath but caught up with us rather quickly.

— Leriana…! — I must… I must tell you something!

He was about to start talking, but suddenly froze when he saw my father standing next to me.

There was a short silence.

— Razor, what are you doing here? — I was the first one to break the silence.

The prince looked away tensely.

— I was in such a hurry, because I was afraid I wouldn\'t make it in time…

— What are you talking about?

I still didn\'t know what was going on.

— Leriana, can we… can we talk in private? — he finally said.

— What?» I said. «Is something wrong?

But the other prince was hesitant to speak directly. His eyes moved to our hands, which were still clasped together. He sighed grimly.

— It\'s going to take a little time… Let\'s step back for a while,» the boy asked again.

— Why? — Whatever it is, my father isn\'t a stranger. You can talk in front of him.

— Я…

Razor was about to object, but the Archduke interrupted him.

— Right,» he agreed, «Your Highness, I was curious too. What have you got there?

***

Rachel was in her office — but she couldn\'t concentrate on her work. It had been happening quite often lately. Sometimes she couldn\'t think about it at all.

The girl sighed heavily as she stared at a blank sheet of paper for hours. But no matter how hard she tried: her hand didn\'t want to take the pen.

This could have gone on for a long time, until she heard a knock at the door.

— Your Majesty, it\'s me!

The voice of the commander of the guards seemed greatly agitated.

In the end Rachel did crumple the paper and threw it in the trash can.

— Come in,» she said indifferently.

The man didn\'t waste a second walking into the office and stood in front of her.

— Your Majesty, the investigation into His Grace\'s case has finally moved on! — He declared.

— Really?!

For the first time in a while, Rachel felt some emotion.

— What have you found out? — Immediately the girl asked again.

— The guards have been searching the manor for evidence for weeks. And this morning… they happened to find this.

The commander took some sort of bundle out of his breast pocket and handed it to her. Rachel immediately unwrapped it and was dumbfounded in the same second.

— It was found under the chest of drawers in the living room where the murder took place,» he announced grimly, «Probably the murderer was in a hurry, and didn\'t notice how he accidentally dropped it…

On the brown paper lay the Ashford family ring. For a while Rachel did not utter a sound.

— Where is the Archduke now? — At last she asked quietly.

— His Grace\'s carriage… It arrived at the Imperial Palace about half an hour ago.

Rachel stared hard at the suspect\'s main clue and sighed. Honestly, she had guessed it all along. But she just couldn\'t believe it: that someone like him could kill her father. With the difference in their powers, it just seemed impossible.

But now… she was finally convinced.

Rachel suddenly rose from the table and removed her sword from the wall. Without a moment\'s hesitation, she drew it from its sheath.

— Your Majesty, what are you…? — the Commander of the guards was surprised.

— I have business,» said Rachel simply.

— Wh-what…? Where are you going?

— To kill.

Rachel\'s blood-red pupils glowed with rage. And the man involuntarily flinched-when he caught them. It was the Cassius family\'s signature look.

***

My father, Razor, and I stood together in the middle of the hallway. And the strange atmosphere that had arisen wouldn\'t go away. Or rather, it was only between the two of them. I remained an observer from the sidelines.

The other prince was looking at my father very earnestly, while the latter did not take his eyes off of him either. There seemed to be some kind of non-verbal conversation going on between them. I really couldn\'t understand what was going on.

We stood there in silence for some time until suddenly we heard footsteps.

They came from across the hall. Each step echoed through the half-empty room.

I was dumbfounded.

No…! Why is this such bad timing?!

Rachel surprised us when she caught up with us. And that meant only one thing-our escape plan had failed. Now I was in a real panic.

As we approached, I noticed that Rachel was holding a naked sword in her hand. This alarmed me even more.

She reeked of a deadly aura when she was in front of us in a matter of seconds.

— Lea,» she said coldly, «Get away from that bastard right now.

I was frightened, but I still had the nerve to speak back.

— Don\'t talk about Razor that way! — I won\'t have you insulting my friends!

— And I\'m not talking about him.

I froze in surprise, and only then did I realize that Rachel wasn\'t really looking at the other prince. All her eyes were on my back.

There… Where my father was standing.