Four glorious stallions with only the finest training and self control pulled a large and gaudy carriage from the auction. Such an in-your-face show of wealth and status, and especially since Duke Earnest's coat of arms was plastered all over it, did not seem like the most efficient way to keep one's identity a secret. Though he felt preparing an incognito carriage to go to one measly event seemed like a waste of resources and time. Duke Earnest's reputation was already knee deep in the mud, what's one more scandal? Besides, he had far too much money to be truly convicted of anything, even if participating in such activities was certainly illegal.
Despite his notoriety, Beth had no idea who this dude was and felt nothing but suspicion for the child buying freak. It had been a miracle she had been able to convince him to buy Lizzie in the first place. Just as Beth had been dragged out to Duke Earnest during the action, she would not stop crying and screaming. Kicking her legs frantically as she squirmed against the man carrying her to Duke Earnest who regretted buying her instantly. The man let Beth go and muttered that she was the duke's problem now, bolting after he collected the money. Duke Earnest, historically bad with children and other people in general, awkwardly picked up Beth by her shirt.
"There, there child." He said with a monotone voice, holding her an arm's length from him. This had not calmed Beth at all who continued to scream and cry for him to let her go. He did so and began to motion her to the carriage when she refused to move from that spot.
Eventually the duke sighed and shook his head, "What will get you to stop?"
Beth halted her sobs at this and immediately rushed back towards the stage, a confused Duke Earnest following right behind her. It was then when Beth frantically began to try and explain that her friend was up there. Duke Earnest was not about to have this whining child duplicate and refused profoundly. A long back and forth where Beth gained a reckless confidence to argue back for the sake of having Lizzie with her. Even death seemed like a better alternative than going to this strange man's place alone and never seeing Lizzie again. Soon enough Duke Earnest broke and began to bid for who Beth pointed out as her friend and hoped Beth had only one friend.
After successfully getting Lizzie back, Beth hugged her tightly and refused to let go. Even as they were sitting in the carriage together, Beth was stuck to Lizzie's side. The slight guilt of possibly dragging Lizzie into a terrible situation with her grew inside Beth's mind. Still, it was better to be together than not. Lizzie's thoughts were the complete opposite as she relaxed, safe at last.
I knew Beth would pull through. I had no doubts. Still, it's surprising how well my plan worked. If I had gone out before Beth, if Duke Earnest had dragged Beth out without much thought I would not be here. I need to be more careful from now on, I can't rely on luck like that again. This is a matter of life or death. The original side Elizabeth wasn't supposed to have survived like this, there's a very real possibility that the world might reject this kind of plot line. I could get killed off later on as a no name extra in the school arc, the world might even start to collapse.
Worry, fear and wonderment were the core feelings behind Lizzie's mess of thoughts. However, as she looked down at Beth's hair shining under the light of the sun, a sense of calm washed over Lizzie and the feeling of not being alone almost caused her to tear up. How long had it been since someone had cared about her enough to risk their safety to save her?
Convincing the cold-hearted duke must not have been easy. She could have been even abandoned by him for being too annoying, especially this early in the story. Did I really do anything worthy of such special treatment?
Lizzie wondered as Beth noticed an injury on Lizzie's neck, causing a brief panic to cross her face. Beth quickly lifted her head and started to examine Lizzie's face and arms. Duke Earnest had noticed Beth's head lift up and assumed she had woken up from a nap.
"Your names?" Duke Earnest asked with a bored attitude, hardly glancing at the two children huddled opposite to him as he attempted to start a conversation.
Beth did not bother to answer him and tilted Lizzie's face to make sure the dirt smudged across it was not a bruise. The light emitting through the carriage windows took some getting used to for both girls and once their eyes had adjusted to the bright light they had been robbed of for weeks, it was very evident they had not bathed for that long either. Both had been coated with dirt and grease, Beth's beautiful protagonist hair somehow being the most unscathed. A soft sensation filled Lizzie's heart as Beth cleaned her face carefully. She was not used to such affection or being cared for like this by anyone, as her past life was far more unforgiving in terms of relationships. Again, for some reason, Beth had begun to burrow her way into Lizzie's heart without any warning.
"We're both named Elizabeth but you can call me Lizzie, and her Beth." Lizzie said as she motioned to each one of them. Lizzie wondered why Duke Earnest did not remember the auctioneer yelling out Beth's name for the whole crowd to hear. Perhaps he was too preoccupied throwing absurd amounts of money into child traffickers pockets?
"Both Elizabeth?" Duke Earnest raised an eyebrow before his immediately losing interest, it did not matter what their names were anyway. He motioned towards Beth and spoke bluntly, "You, you're my daughter from now on."
Struggling to keep her facial expressions straight, Beth's face contorted into confusion and distrust.
"What about Lizzie?" Beth asked, knowing better than to ask this strange man any questions in fear of being thrown away.
Duke Earnest looked over at Lizzie, who was also quite curious as to her role in this story. Would she be his daughter as well? She had to admit, it would be nice to be a rich guy's daughter.
"A maid." He said without much thought.
Lizzie was not surprised in the slightest and did not care much as long as she was in the duke mansion. Beth however was fuming, wanting to pull out the handy trick of crying and screaming she had used previously. Lizzie reached over towards Beth's head and gently stroked her hair, calming the very obviously angry Beth. Duke Earnest looked irritated now as well, taking note of Beth's anger. He did not like how Beth felt entitled enough to dare question his decision.
"Do you have something to say about that, Elizabeth?" Duke Earnest crossed his arms and sat with a challenging look on his face.
Beth's anger only grew at that, her fear and caution now gone as she muttered under her breath, "It's Beth. Lizzie told you earlier. Your ears must not work."
Lizzie's face fell.
Beth! I understand how you feel but calm down please!! When did you get so confident? Aren't you supposed to be cautiously optimistic? In the original you did nothing but glance at the duke with bright eyes during this ride. It's fine to be scared, heck it's even impressive how confident you've grown over the past few days, but this is just asking to be thrown out of the carriage window! Did I mess up? Did I cause unnecessary tension between the two leads? It wasn't like this in the book at all.
Duke Earnest's eyes darkened, his cold demeanor shining through, "Oh? They're working just fine now."
Beth's bit of confidence was shot and she shrunk a bit against Lizzie's side at Duke Earnest's cold tone. Beth's mouth opened and Lizzie covered it with her hand. Duke Earnest nodded with approval at Lizzie's action.
A terrifying thought passed through Lizzie's thought as she pressed her hand firmly against Beth's mouth.
If Lizzie keeps acting like this with the duke…will she ever reform him?
The rest of the carriage ride was silent.