"Would she be….. Acting? She is…. A criminal." Cassey winced as the voices fell in her ears as if they were coming from a long distance but at the same time it was leaving a hammering effect on her head. She had the strong desire to cover her head and ears but her hands just did not move.
She felt a strong grip on her hands and then she felt her limp hands fall on the bed again. It must be bad, since it felt soft!
"No! She is not acting. She has been sick for days and I am surprised that she is still alive and working. She should have fainted a long ago or worse, should have died." This time the voice was much clearer and she could feel the anger and worry in the voice of the man.
It felt warm to her ears but she knew no one had been concerned about her. Her eyes were still hard to open but her hearing improved and she realized that there were many in the room.
"Can she travel?" The words panicked her and she tried to hold on the bedsheet and forced her eyes to open.
It took all her struggle but she was successful this time.
"Oh my! Are you awake already? How are you feeling now?" asked the man, who looked like a physician as he was holding her pulse and counting something.
She looked around and found the two knights she had met in the sweet shop standing in the corner. And Damien was standing beside the physician scorning at her.
"Are you sure that she was sick and not acting all this time?" He then shifted his gaze away from the physician to her as he said coldly, "she is better at acting than you think."
Before she could say anything, the physician frowned, "are you telling me that i did not know my work and guessed diseases on the basis of the faces of the women?" he looked offended as he chided Damien who was finally silenced.
"So, could she travel or not?" asked Damien after a pause when Cassey sat up in the bed with a stark, a wrong decision as it brought the dizziness back and she found herself wincing again.
"My lady, you should take more rest." the physician sighed as he pushed her back on the bed gently.
"No, she must rest for two days before starting a long journey. Especially which would go on for days. She is not in a condition to sit for that long." She took a deep breath. A journey that would take days… it only meant that she was taken back to hell! But why.. Why now? They were the one who had thrown her out of hell years ago and now that she had started a new life. They wanted her to go back?
"I will not go anywhere." she shouted at the top of her lungs. But the voice came barely above a whisper that was easily ignored.
"What if we manage a sleeping carriage for her. Would that be fine?" Dami pressed again when she clenched her hands into a fist. What time was it? How long was she here?
The thought scared her as she opened her eyes and looked out of the small window and was horrified to see that it was already night.
"No! I need to go home. I need to leave." she muttered as she took off her covers and tried to stand up startling the two men.
"My lady, you are not in the condition to walk. You should not have left your bed from the start. Your body's too weak. I am sure you are malnourished and sick for a long time." the physician sighed as he tried to stop her but she shook her head with a panicked look.
"Thank you for your help. But I do not have money to pay you. So, I must leave." She spoke in a hurry but before she took a step forward, her path was blocked by a glaring Dami who was sure that she was trying to fool them again.
"Where do you think you are going, hmm? Do you think I would be fooled by a criminal again?" his words did not register in her mind as she kept staring at the dark and shaking her head.
"Dami! I know that you are angry. But I do not understand why. For now, I want to go home. She is waiting for me." she murmured but her incoherent words were hard to understand except the fact that she wanted to leave.
"My lady, the knight is right. You can not leave. You are sick. And you should not be worried about the bills. They were already settled by your family." he explained kindly when Dami hissed.
"I am not her family. She is just a criminal and I am here to arrest her. Since you said that she could not travel, I will keep an eye on her for two more days before taking her to my lord." he stated in a cold voice while staring at Cassey who finally understood that she was taken to the jail.
"What crime have I committed?" she asked with a frown. "And as he said, he is not my family. My family is waiting for me at home. I must leave.'' She struggled but it was impossible for her to be free when three strong knights were blocking her way. She failed miserably.
"Ha! Fooling us again? What family could you have? I have already informed the lord and he would be here any moment. Thank goodness that he is in the same town, so it would not take him much time to reach here. Then I would see what excuses you would make?"
"......."