The man who stopped Susan, with a cold snort, took another step closer: "Show your face!"
Susan heard Daniel beside her draw his sword, followed by the sounds of several more swords coming out of the sheaths all around.
Susan buried her head nervously, her heart thumping.
God, will they start a fight right now? with swords?
Will she survive this?
Susan's brain was running like a boiling engine.
By the reaction of Daniel and the nobleman, it was clear that they did not want the old man to see her face. However, the old man seemed to be determined to do so.
Now the question is, if they fight over her, what will happen to her?
What if the nobleman loses? What if the old man loses? Susan doesn't know, but she does know those people are damn high-ranking nobles. No matter which of them fails, she will pay for it.
My God, She is just a pure passerby, a poor girl who lived in a slum. Why should she suffer this?
Damn, if she could have left a few minutes earlier, she wouldn't have encountered this.
There was a terrified silence in the room. The attendants of both sides pulled out their swords and, eyeball to eyeball confronted each other.
The nobleman and the old man remained silent, neither seeming to concede anything.
"Show your face! Or I'll use my sword to help you." At that moment, the man who stopped Susan coldly shouted again.
"You try it!" Daniel responded strongly.
Susan could feel the tense, sparking atmosphere pilling up beside her.
She had to make a decision.
"There's no need for that."
A brisk, clear voice broke the silence of the room.
The men all looked toward the voice.
In the middle of a group of men with swords, a petite, thin girl wearing an oversized male cloak took off the hood on her head.
She looked as helpless as a sheep in the middle of the menacing men. Her face was pale and bloodless as if she had not seen the sun for years, yet her eyes were dark and bright, in this dark room, like a fire burning inside. Her delicate, beautiful face was no fear nor flattery.
She looked at the men calmly, with a steadiness that did not match her age.
"There is no need to fuss over a nobody like me, gentlemen. Please take back your swords." The girl's voice was tight but steady, "I am just a humble passerby who beggars attacked earlier, and the lord's men saved me. Thanks for your grace, gave me a cloak to cover my torn dress."
Said the girl turned around and removed the cloak to half shoulder so that the men could see her back, the torn dress.
The girl's back was equally slender and looked fragile and vulnerable, and the ripping-off buttons part showed the linen shirt inside.
Then the girl turned back, put on the cloak again, looked at the nobleman, tensed her face, and continued:
"To show my gratitude, I have offered my loyalty to this lord. So, in one way, you can say that I am a female subordinate of the lord, but at the same time, I am a country girl of no use."
As soon as Susan finished talking, the atmosphere in the room instantly turned relaxed.
The man who tried to stop Susan before grunted lightly and dropped the tip of his sword. On the other side, Daniel, who confronted him, also dropped his sword but still kept it in his hand, standing alertly next to Susan.
Susan slightly released a sigh and looked at the end of the room.
There, the nobleman stared at Susan with a sullen face, obviously not too happy with Susan's story.
But so what?
He was the one who lied first and pointed out she was his female subordinate. Susan thought that her story was just perfectly covering for him. How clever the story she made up, covering for his lie and, at the same time, showed that she was no use. This time the mysterious old man should not be interested in her anymore.
Susan thought of this and looked at the old man.
The old man, like his entourage, was wrapped in a dark cloak and looked no different from an ordinary nobleman.
He looked in his 60s, skin was dry and wrinkled, covered by age spots. His hair was full gray like burnt-out charcoal, and even his eyes seemed to be covered by dust, non-threateners. If he wore a farm coat, he would be no different from the grandpas enjoying the sunlight on the house stairs.
But when he stared at Susan with his gray eyes, there was a moment Susan felt a chill and couldn't help but take a half step back slightly.
That's not a grandpa. That's a dangerous beast.
"A country girl?" The old man let out a kindly laugh, "What can you do for Henry?"
Susan calmed herself down and deliberately made an embarrassed face: "I have neither insight nor any particular skill. What I can do, I believe anyone can do it better than me."