Knocking the front part of the hut like a small house that did not have any strong door except a small curtain made up of grass, Olivia waited as she scanned her surroundings.
Though the houses are weak and did not have any strength, it did not look like they were made recently to deceive them.
More than that there were more than 20 houses. They must be tribal living on the edge of woods to keep themselves safe at the same time using woods and herbs given by forest for their livelihood.
"Is someone there?" she called when Ophelia clutched her dress and shook it a bit as if asking her to leave from there since no one was responding.
"Who is it?" the voice sounded of an old lady that was grumpy and annoyed.
"We have been lost and need help. Can we come in?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Olivia heard the sound of shuffling and then footsteps coming closer to them.
Soon an old lady stood in front of them and glared at them with a look of annoyance on her face.
"Who are you and what are you doing here? If you are here to ask about the two girls, I do not know anything about them. Now leave?" without waiting for Olivia to explain herself, the lady frowned and complained and asked them to leave as she pointed in the other direction.
Ophelia's grip tightened on the arms of her sister as she swallowed her own saliva and looked around.
"We are not here to find anyone. We lost our way to the town. We were getting late and there were so many knights blocking the road leading to the town so my wife nagged me to take the woods route.,
She was just too excited to go to her family after our first marriage. And now we are lost. If you do not mind, can we stay here for a night?
We will pay you of course and my wife will help you in cooking meals too." added Olivia when she noticed the increasing frown on the face of the old woman who was already holding the grass curtain to shut it off on their face.
The woman looked at Olivia who was dressed as a man and then at Ophelia who was wearing old jewels that commoners wear usually and looking a bit scared.
"She had heard a strange sound on her way that was why she was a bit scared. We will pay double that of an inn. It would help you a lot!" she added again as she opened the small bundle she had made in Ophelia's dress and took out two silver coins that sparkled in the dark.
The old lady grumbled something under her breath and then snatched the coins from Olivia's hands.
Biting the coins under her teeth and then rubbing them on the wall, she nodded her head.
"Fine, but I do not have any spare room. You have to sleep in the hall and I did not want any strange sounds at night.
You have to eat what is already cooked and I will not listen to any tantrums!" she raised her one finger at a time as she continued to state her conditions to stay there.
With a stern look on her face, she made clear that if they created trouble for her, she would not hesitate to throw them out without returning the money to her.
"And one more thing.." Ophelia, who was scared before, started to narrow her eyes on the old lady as she felt she was robbing them.
She had charged a fair sum of money from them yet she was treating them like they were a nuisance! How dare she!
"Hey, we are paying you well! Why are you behaving like we are asking favor of you? This is robbery, I say. You…" Olivia covered her mouth as she passed an awkward smile to the woman who was taken aback by the sudden outburst and grumbled again.
But feeling guilt that she was being too harsh, she looked away, "fine, you can come in. the food is already getting cold."
Without turning back to look at them, she entered the house and started knitting the socks she was making before.
"The food is in there. You can have it. If you need more than tell me in advance I will make more porridge." Ophelia nodded and she picked up the pumpkin pie and porridge with some bread and fruit pickle.
Though it was not the luxurious meal they used to have, it was enough to fill their hungry souls and spend a night there.
As Ophelia served the meal to them, they both ate like hungry wolves, surprising the woman who was keeping an eye on them from a distance.
Looking at their dirty face and a few scratches on their body, she assumed that they must be attacked by some animal.
Feeling bad for them, she sighed and stood up and brought some fruit jam for them.
"Here, this is my dessert, apply it on the pie or bread or you can eat it directly too."
Once the meal was done, the old lady gave them a two mattress and blanket telling them not to make noises again as she went in her room and closed the door with a thud.
The night was windy and there was no door in the hall making it colder at night and now that the stomach was filled, Ophelia felt her blood turning cold.
Her teeth started to clatter as she rubbed her hands on her body while holding the blanket tightly. Olivia tried to close her eyes and ignore the cold she was feeling but it was hard to do with continuous tossing and turning of Ophelia.
After taking a deep sigh, she sat up,
"Sigh! Wait for me, I will bring some wood for you."