The horse grabbed the hay from her hands and chewed some of it and swallowed while eying Sage. The remaining hay, it just blew back at Sage and the stable men held their breathes.
'Oh no! That horse is a goner!' they all thought only to hear a peal of laughter form Sage.
"Oh, what a good horsy! I am going to tame you and you will help me punish evil doers, alright?" she asked and the horse neighed shocking them all. Since when was their young miss good with horses?
Before they could ask though, a servant came running while calling for her.
"Young miss, young miss! Bentley has returned." This immediately got her attention and Sage gave the horse a sugar cube before trying to run to the house only to fall into the mud.
Splat!
"Oh no, young miss. Are you alright?" asked a stable man as he helped her up and he was shocked by her smile instead of her usual frown.
The black horse she had seen earlier was neighing at her and she chuckled.
"Ha-ha, laugh all you want. This was actually fun. Let's go to grandpa butler!" she declared and she left with the maids. The other workers were all shocked and had one question on their minds.
"Is that really our young miss?"
*
"Oh, grandpa, what happened to your face?" Sage asked but she already knew the answer.
"Oh, don't worry young miss. I am fine. I am just glad that some trash got taken out. Now what would you like for diner?" asked the kind old man.
Sage knew that he was trying to make her smile but she didn't like it when her people got hurt especially while on the job.
"Dinner? Surprise me, grandpa butler. I am going to have a bath." Sage responded and took off her shoes before heading up the stairs quietly with the help of a maid.
The head maid, Mary stood with Bentley and smiled.
"I think the madam is happy now where she is." She said and Bentley nodded.
"Yes she is. The young miss has grown up." Bentley added and all those present smiled.
"Ok, enough soppy things. The young miss wants us to surprise her with dinner so let's all put in a great effort, alright?"
"Yes, butler."
*
Sage was at dinner and she felt lonely. Even though, the view was great and the food greater, something was still missing.
"Butler, where is papa and brother?" she asked as she unfolded a napkin.
For the last years of her life, Edwina had always eaten alone and she was tired of the feeling. She wanted to eat with family, with friends.
"After losing a few pounds, I am going to go out there and make some new friends." She thought as she looked as the food.
"Well, the young lord and the master are running an errand for his majesty the king. So, you won't be seeing them for a quiet a while." Bentley answered as he sliced the meat for Sage. She looked at the meat
and she was practically drooling! Edwina was a lover of meat after all.
"How long will they be away?" she asked as she ate a piece of meat.
"Well, we are not sure. But the duchy will be fine. We have you." The butler said with a smile as he poured her a bit of juice.
Just like that, Sage ate her dinner in peace and life moved on for the night.
*
"Where's your young miss?" Countess Bush asked. She had come with a bill of her own and the payment for the bill for Lilliana's treatment and the damage made to the castle. She wanted to force Sage into a corner forgetting that she is a tyrant backed by a tyrant.
"The young miss is currently handling house hold affairs and she can't make your acquaintance as of now. Consider coming back another time." Bentley said with a smile.
There were a million and one ways to handle someone in high society and this as just one of the ways to handle troublesome people like Countess Bush.
As she watched their carriage be pulled away, Sage smirked as her head was filled with ways of making an example out of the Bushes as a warning to the coyotes hidden in the shadows.
"Maybe have someone sully their house's reputation. Hmm, there are so many ways to do so. Maybe have someone meet them in a dark corn…"
Sage had to stop herself as she felt her dark side come to life.
When she was still Edwina, she was assigned the most jobs as an assassin because she showed little change in her behavior. Which was a lie because she became very revengeful. If you took her pen, she would take all your writing materials. She would take ten-fold, a hundred-fold just to get even and now those traits were starting to show again.
"No, no, I have to be good if I want people to like me." she muttered as she masked the madness in her eyes and turned to Bentley.
"Well, since we are turning her away with household affairs, might as well learn something new while we are at it."
Her declaration brought a smile to Bentley's face but also some worry as their young miss wasn't the brightest of the lot.
*
"Oh my goodness young miss! You finished the Master's work? All of it?" cried Andrew, the house accountant.
It had only been a few days since they had taught her and she could now tell what was wrong with ledgers with just a look.
"Must be the Aurora genes at play." Andrew had thought as he perused through to make sure everything was alright and so far he had found no mistake. This shocked him to no end. Looking at Sage with a frown, Andrew looked displeased.
"If you keep on being this brilliant, I might lose my job." He said only for Sage to chuckle.
"Don't worry. I won't take your job. You are an indispensable part of this duchy." Sage said.
Bentley came in shortly after looking troubled.
"Young miss, she is back." He said and Sage smirked.
"Well, I better go and prepare for our guest."
Her smirk was a little scary and it sent shivers down Bentley and Andrew's spines.
"Yup, the young miss has definitely changed."
"You've noticed? She has slimmed down too."
"Truly, Bentley. Our books aren't so bad. Why is the young miss slimming down so much?"
"Oh, Andrew. You will never understand."
*
"I don't care if I have to wait until tomorrow, I will speak with your young miss." Bellowed the Countess when she saw that Bentley had returned alone.
After being sent off a good number of times, countess Bush had returned with the count himself and their daughter, Briar, trying to get an answer from Sage.
"Last I checked, Bentley, barking dogs are not allowed in the duchy." Sage said as she entered a side sitting room meant for unwanted guests. She was dressed in black and white, the colors of Aurora and she looked every bit tempting.
"Watch your tone, young girl. I am still older than you."
"Older doesn't mean wiser. Put a leash on your wife, Count Bush or I will have someone do it for you." Sage said and Briar couldn't recognize who was talking to her. This was not the same docile Sage that she knew.
"How dare you!" yelled Countess Bush as she pointed at Sage.
Immediately, some knights of house Aurora came in and immediately made her kneel down. Sage sat like a boss as she watched the countess struggle.
"What impudence! I will be sure to mention this to your father when next I see him!" the count bellowed as he huffed from annoyance. He couldn't understand what was going on as the Sage they were seeing was very different from the meek and shy girl that they knew.
"My father? For one, you should know that when he is not around my brother is in charge. If my brother is not around, I am in charge and my word is the same as that of the duke so I can banish you and he won't even blink!" Sage responded and the Bush family shivered.
They had never been in such a situation before and it was worrying!
"Now, since some sense has returned to your heads, what is it that you want?"
Sage was being savage towards the family of three as their betrayal had hurt Sage most.
'I won't let you off!' she thought with a conviction.
Count Bush looked at his wife and daughter and felt that they had dug a grave for him to jump into this one time. But it was strange as Sage was acting different. He really looked at her trying to find something wrong and he couldn't see any difference except that she had started to shed off some weight.
'Except that, there is nothing else. Maybe an impostor took over her body.' He thought but immediately dismissed the idea as the vassals of their duchy would have found out then.
"Sigh, I take out time from my busy schedule to see you yet you don't use it wisely and instead keep quiet. Are you and your family trying to undermine me, Count Bush?" Sage asked and the count involuntarily shivered. Sage's aura was domineering and he felt that he would lose a lot if he didn't say anything.
"Miss Sage, we are her…"
"Since you won't say anything, let me start." Sage said cutting off the count and he knew that he was going to suffer. Sage held her hand out and Bentley produced a piece of paper that gave the Bush family a bad feeling.
"Since you dared to waste my time, you must pay. Damage to the castle and its property, ten thousand dyla*. Harming and injuring my maid, twenty thousand dyla. Raising your filthy hands at my butler, fifty thousand dyla. Wasting my time, one hundred thousand dyla! A total of one hundred eighty thousand dyla. When do you pay?" Sage wasn't wasting a minute in punishing the family.
"But my lady, these prices are exorbitant. Please reduce them." Cried the Count knowing that they were in trouble. He glared at his wife and daughter who had dared to provoke an Aurora and were leaving him to bare the full brunt of the assault.
"We will pay, my lady. But what of my daughter? How is she supposed to get married like this!?" Countess Bush asked looking aggrieved. One could think that the daughter she was talking of was dead and not the one seated right next to her husband.
"Marriage? Your daughter? Why should I be worried about that?" Sage asked looking bored. Playing with people who don't have brains was tiring enough for her and she just wanted to leave.
"My lady, she is covered in wounds that will leave garish scars! How is she supposed to get married? Plus, her treatment was expensive! Who will fork out the bills if not you?" argued the Countess and even Bentley shook his head in disappointment.
All vassals of the Flit dukedom knew better than to try and force the duke or his family into a corner as the repercussions were not pretty yet here she was digging her own grave.
"Covered in wounds? Who? The person seated right next to your husband seems perfectly fine to me. Otherwise, she would not be there. Marriage? She can marry a frog for all I care. Me? pay your bills? Apologies but I am not that dumb." Sage replied to the Countess' words making her angry.
"You… you…" She was too angry that she was left speechless and dumb so much so that she pointed at Sage again making the knights pull out their swords.
"What's going on? What is the meaning of this?" Count Bush asked as he saw the knights walk towards the Countess.
"Since you dared to disrespect the lady of the house, we will arrest her and keep her detained until the Duke gets back so that he can judge for himself. Men, take her away." Bentley said as they dragged away the screaming and kicking Countess.
Count Bush felt like he had aged over a decade just dealing with Sage. He couldn't understand where the change came from as this was not the push over he had met on several occasions.
"Well then, any words Count Bush?" Sage asked looking like a Cheshire frightening the poor Count.
"Not at all, my lady. None from me." he answered while shivering.
"Good! When do I get my payment?"
"I will have one of my servants bring it with in the shortest time, my lady."
"Good. I won't be seeing you off."
Sage left the place with a slight rustle of her dress exuding nothing but grace and elegance making Briar see green. Bentley on the other hand had some servants escort the two out and the Count returned home a defeated man.
*dyla is their currency where 100 dyla= 1$.