A few hours later, Cassian arrived at a small village in Marquis Balloc's territory. The village was relatively good, Marquis Balloc was indeed famous for his good leadership. Maybe that's why the village was above average.
The people looked prosperous, Cassian could even see several farming families resting under a tree near their fields. From what he could see of their appearance, they looked happy, their looks were also clean. That indicated that their economic condition was good.
If he had time, Cassian might want to examine the conditions of this village further, so that he could apply whatever Marquis Balloc did to the village in his own territory. Unfortunately, that was not what he was here for this time.
Well, he might be able to check a little while looking for Amelia.
By the way, Cassian was currently using illusion magic to change his appearance. To others, Cassian would look like a young adventurer just passing through.
There were about dozens of houses in this village, Cassian thought it might not take him long to find Amelia. However, after almost an hour of searching, he still hadn't found any sign of Amelia.
Cassian didn't want unnecessary attention either, so he didn't ask the villagers. But at this rate, he might as well ask.
Darn it, do I have to ask? But it could be tricky if they got suspicious. There's a chance they won't answer either, I could turn to violence, but I'll make that a last resort.
After thinking for a while, Cassian decided not to ask. He continued his search to the house he hadn't checked yet.
An hour passed, and Cassian's search remained fruitless.
Is she hiding? Or did I come to the wrong village? No, that's impossible. Marquis Balloc's territory only has one village, so I can't be wrong. Unless Amelia lied to Dona or she moved away.
Cassian started to think about giving up on searching this village.
But just before he left, his eyes caught the reflection of the sun from the trees at the back of the village, after focusing his vision, he realized that the reflection came from the window glass of a house.
The house was well hidden among the surrounding trees, that's why Cassian couldn't see it. If not for the reflection of the sunlight, Cassian might not have known that there was a house there.
"I found you."
For some reason, Cassian was instantly convinced that Amelia lived in that house.
She did seem to be trying to hide.
Cassian walked towards the house with calm footsteps as if he had found a place of hidden treasure.
-------------
Nice house.
That was Cassian's first impression after he arrived at the courtyard of the house, he could see some vegetable plants planted in front of the house, although it was small, but the house looked in very good condition.
It was obvious that this house was inhabited by someone, he could also feel the presence of someone in the house.
Cassian opened the gate slowly while showing his presence, so he wouldn't startle the person living in the house, yet he also didn't want to be seen sneaking around.
As Cassian walked through the front yard, he stepped on something. And that something was a toy, more precisely a toy wooden horse, he also saw some other toys. That meant, there were children in this house.
Cassian frowned.
He just shook his head, then walked towards the door of the house.
*Knock Knock*
Right after Cassian knocked, he heard someone's voice from inside the house.
"Alright, hold on!"
It was a familiar voice, it had been a long time since he had heard it, but he could still recognize it.
Before the door opened, Cassian removed the illusion magic he used to disguise his appearance.
The woman who appeared from behind the door looked far too beautiful for a country girl, she had gorgeous long blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes.
As she opened the door she was smiling, she was also wearing an apron as if she was cooking.
"Emily, you're home early to-"
The moment she saw Cassian's face, the woman's smile instantly froze, and her expression turned into an angry expression in an instant.
*Slap*
She slapped Cassian.
The woman was Amelia, and she was clearly not happy to see him.
Of course, Cassian could have avoided the slap if he wanted to, but he chose not to. After all, a slap from an ordinary woman couldn't hurt him.
Amelia tried to slap him again, but this time Cassian blocked it.
"Alright, that's enough."
Amelia tried to remove her hand from Cassian's grip, but her efforts were in vain, Cassian would not let go of her hand.
"Can I come in?"
"No!"
Amelia replied briefly in an angry voice.
"Please?"
"No, just get out of here! And... let go of my hand!"
Amelia tried to rebel and hit Cassian with her free hand, but Cassian held her back easily.
"Seriously? You still wanna do that?"
"Yes!"
Amelia tried to break free, but it was all in vain. Cassian decided to wait until Amelia was done rebelling, and in the end, because Amelia was just an ordinary woman, she grew tired, and stopped resisting.
Even so, she still looked at Cassian as if she still didn't accept him here.
Seeing that Amelia was no longer resisting, Cassian released her hands and asked calmly.
"Can I come in now?"
Amelia didn't answer, she just turned around while sniffing.
"Hmph."
She realized that there was no point in resisting, she still had to continue cooking.
Amelia walked into the kitchen and Cassian followed behind her. While Amelia continued her cooking, Cassian leaned against the door while watching Amelia cook from behind.
"So who's Emily?"
"None of your business."
Amelia continued to chop vegetables, from her chopping of vegetables, she sounded very angry.
"It's my business cause she's my daughter."
"I never said she was yours!"
Amelia gritted her teeth, she looked like someone whose secret had been discovered after having kept it a secret for so long. And Cassian realized that.
Cassian was actually just guessing based on the toys he saw on the front yard, his aim in saying that was to get information from Amelia's reaction.
"Where is she, Amelia?"
Amelia didn't answer. She just continued cooking and turned her back to Cassian.
Seeing that, Cassian let out a sigh while shaking his head.
"You're not good at hiding things, Amelia. But you're very stubborn."
Based on Amelia's reaction, "Emily" would be home soon. So Cassian decided to wait it out.
A few minutes later, Cassian sensed someone coming. Shortly after, the front door opened and a middle-aged woman appeared holding a small 4-year-old child.
"Mama!"
The child immediately cried out the moment she entered the house.
Hearing the child's voice, Amelia's grim expression immediately turned into a smile. Although the smile she showed looked a little forced.
Amelia walked towards the child while trying her best to ignore Cassian. She knelt down in front of the child and hugged her.
"Emily, you're not troubling Aunt May, are you?"
"Em, I helped Auntie with the cooking. I also got this from grandma for helping her fold the clothes!"
Emily nodded enthusiastically, she explained to Amelia as enthusiastically as possible that she had been a good girl with her childish words.
"Oh, really?"
"That's right. She's very smart."
The middle-aged woman also smiled as she stroked Emily's head.
Amelia and the woman talked for a while, from what Cassian could hear. It seemed that Emily was being looked after by the woman, Aunt May, while Amelia was away working at the church.
After they talked for a while, May excused herself to go back to her house.
Speaking of which, Cassian used illusion magic so that May and Emily couldn't see him. Tricking a normal human with ilusion magic is so easy for him.
"Alright, Emily. Play outside for a while, okay? Mom will call you when dinner is ready."
"En."
Being a good daughter, Emily listened to her mother obediently.
Seeing Emily go outside, the smile that was on Amelia's face immediately disappeared.
"So she is my daughter."
"She's not your daughter."
"Nonsense, she has the same eyes and hair as mine."
Hearing Cassian's words, Amelia bit her lip. She realized that she could no longer hide it now, in fact she had known this from the beginning. But she still hoped that Cassian wouldn't notice.
"So what, you want to take her from me? If you want to do that then you should just kill me!"
Amelia said that while looking at Cassian with a murderous glare.
She had taken care of Emily alone for four years, even though she was the child of someone who raped her, but she still loved her. She hated Emily at first, but after taking care of her all this time, she loved her, Emily had become a part of her life.
And Amelia couldn't imagine living without her, which is why she would rather die than give Emily to Cassian.
She was afraid that was what Cassian was here for. That's why she tried to hide Emily even though she knew it was impossible because Cassian might have known about Emily's existence before he came here.
But Amelia's guess was wrong, Cassian didn't know about Emily's existence or want to take her away from her. Cassian was actually here for her.
"Then you don't have to worry, I'm here for you."
"What?"
Amelia was surprised. She thought Cassian was here to take Emily.
"What do you mean?"
Amelia couldn't believe it.
"Like I said, I'm here for you. Or rather, I'm here to take you back."
"What do you mean take me back?"
"I am planning to take you as my wife."
"What!?"
Amelia couldn't believe what she was hearing.
When Amelia had cried in bed the morning after he raped her, Cassian hadn't even looked at her. And now, after four years, he suddenly wanted to make her his wife?
Amelia laughed.
"Hahaha, you only want to do that after all this time!? You know, there was a time when I wished you would look for me, I didn't care even if you would only think of me as a mere mistress, I really wished you would look for me!!!"
Amelia started crying, she even started screaming. She didn't realize that Emily could hear her, but fortunately, Cassian had used his magic from earlier so that Emily couldn't hear their conversation.
"But no matter how long I waited, you never came!!!"
Cassian was silent, he returned the gaze that Amelia directed at him. With his usual flat face.
Although from the outside Cassian looked calm, but from the inside, he felt a great conflict. This was the first time he felt guilty, he didn't know if this was because the memories were affecting him or what. But one thing was clear, he felt guilty.
His old self would probably have immediately shut Amelia up and taken her by force without caring about her feelings. But her current self began to care about how Amelia feel.
"Alright, I admit it. It was all my fault, that's why, from now on, I'll take responsibility. I promise, I will treat you well as my wife."Cassian stopped for a moment before saying.
"Let's just say I've changed."
Once again, Amelia couldn't believe what she was hearing. The Cassian she knew had too high an ego to apologize to a commoner like her, no, the Cassian she knew had too high an ego to apologize to anyone.
"I don't believe you!"
"It doesn't matter, I'll take you back. If you had another man the story would be different, but as far as I can see, you only live with Emily here. So I'll take you back too, Amelia."
"I don't want to."
Seeing Amelia still resisting, Cassian walked closer to her. Amelia tried to back away, but Cassian cornered her against the wall.
Cassian then said quietly while slightly intimidating Amelia.
"Amelia, will you come willingly, or should I make you pass out and wake up in my room?"
Although Cassian cared about Amelia's feelings, but his priorities still did not change. At first Cassian might not have wanted to force her, but now that he had learned of Emily's whereabouts, he would bring Amelia back no matter what.
Realizing that she couldn't escape, Amelia could only nod while biting her lip. Seeing her reaction, Cassian smiled with satisfaction.
"Good, pack your things. We're leaving."