"You brazen woman! Have you not learned manners at all? I will teach you a lesson so that you learn how to speak to others." he tried to hold her hands but she threw the tray on his face and stepped up on his feet with full force.
He winced and howled with pain and held his feet as she ran away from there.
"Catch her!" he shouted but others just stared at his crazy figure but no one ran to get a hold of her.
She ran towards the exit instead of the counter afraid that he would complain about her and capture her.
More than that, she finally knows where to go and has a plan for her future.
As she ran towards the road, she waved her hands in front of the local carriage until it stopped abruptly.
"I want to go to the Redfield orphanage." She tried to open the door when the coachman frowned and stopped her.
"Do you have two silver coins to spare?" He knew this uniform well. It belongs to the debtors who failed to pay the money and now working as a slave until they pay the whole sum, and when she looked at him absentmindedly, his doubts confirmed,
"Look here, Lady. They badly punish the runaway debtors. It would be better that you work here until you have paid all the debts then go and look for an orphanage. But I am sure they did not take adults in!" he warned when she looked at him with impatience.
"Do you charge extra for giving advice sir?" she asked with a smile when the man flushed but shook his head. The girl was pretty and sweet but a bit bold to talk freely.
"Good! Because I did not have pennies to waste. Now take me to the orphanage!" she hollered in a cold voice as she took out the chain from her neck.
"It is much more worth than two silver coins.'' Though it was a black thread chain, the pendant in it looked fancy with golden carvings. Even if it was not real gold, it would be easily sold in the market for ten silver coins.
The man checked its weight and then nodded his head and let her in.
Just as the carriage started, a few of the men came out of the bar looking for her. She looked out of the window to see a dozen men and took a breath of relief as she leaned on the seat.
A moment of freedom again! She had thought that she was going to rot there. Others stared at her with a strange looks but she did not care as she enjoyed her ride in peace.
She stared out the window. It still felt surreal that there was no building, no cars, and no factories. She only saw shops, stalls, and open fields and roads that had gone extinct a long ago.
Her heart raced when she saw the red building with an open field where the kids were playing. It perfectly matched the description she had read in the book.
Soon the carriage stopped and she almost jumped out and ran towards the kids and stopped only when she was standing in front of the door of the building.
She knocked on the door adjusting her hair and dress when it was opened by an old woman.
"I am here appointed as a worker to pay for my debt. I am here to report to Mr. Gullimore." she said in a meek voice when the woman scanned her from top to bottom and nodded her head.
"Mr. Gullimore is not here yet. You can wait for him inside." she opened the door for her to come in, "Since you are here to work, you would not mind taking care of the kids till you wait, do you?" Mary smiled in her heart but shook her head without raising it as if she was a meek and obedient child when the woman gleamed.
She had a habit of taking naps but there was no staff to keep an eye on the kids today. She was just going to lock them up in a room before going to sleep when a maid came.
She took Mary to the hall and rang the bell so all kids were collected.
"This is your new caretaker. She will help you in trouble and you can go to her if you need something. Did you get it?" she asked the kids who nodded with a smile when she looked at Mary as if asking if she had any questions but Mary shook her head instantly.
Relieved she only explained a few more things and then went to the third floor to take a nap when Mary was stared at by all those pairs of eyes.
"So, would you like to eat something or play again?" she asked, knowing well that they hardly have a meal. Since she was going to steal a child, it is only fair that she was going to feed the rest of them well until she came back to help them.
They blinked as if they did not understand her words when she grinned and rubbed her hands,
"Come with me, I have a treat for all of you.'' The woman had clearly warned Mary to not go to the kitchen or touch anything without permission but it helped Mary in knowing where things had been kept.
She picked up the box of sweets donated for the kids and passed it to them. Then she took out the meal kept for Gullimore and distributed it to the kids too.
Anything and everything that could be eaten without being cooked, she distributed everything to the kids with an evil grin on her face.
"Now you can eat all of this or anything else you can find here but on one condition, you are not to leave this room until I come back, alright?"