novelI'm not Olivia anymore (5)
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Treason? She had goosebumps at that word.
Being in the category of treason law meant that convicted inmates could be sentenced more than their original jail terms. However, the sale of status as stipulated in the treason law was limited to the case where a commoner bought the status of a nobleman or the nobleman sold his status, and the commoner bought and sold the status of a commoner. There was no clause on the punishment for nobles like Olivia who bought a commoner's status.
Which noble man would give up his vested interests and became a commoner? Nobody had seen it in the 200-year-old history of the Benyahan Empire or on the huge continent across the Camo Sea and Lorta Sea. At least, there was none superficially.
For this reason, Olivia thought that even if she was sentenced to prison and had to spend her youth there in the worst case, she would not end her life in prison. She felt relieved to know that, and in that respect, she found comfort in it. Of course, she would have a good lawyer who would defend her position on why she had to make this choice if she were faced with a trial. Anyway, she made the decision that she would take all the risks involved if she had to leave the earl's house.
After locking the box tight, Olivia put it in her arms and stood up suddenly. She felt a bit numb on her feet because she had been squatting for a while, but it was not severe enough for her not to walk. While walking in the bathroom with a bit of funny posture, her green eyes were shining brightly.
She decided to leave Earl Hazlet's house at dawn before the day broke. Of course, she didn't want to inform anybody about her decision. Earl Hazlet would not care at all about her disappearance because he was not interested in her usually, so she wouldn't have to care about him, either. She felt it a bit regrettable that she couldn't see the countess making a big fuss the next morning she found out Olivia left the house.
'Oops! Why do I have any regrets about her fussing?'
She had not the slightest lingering attachment to the house, though she felt she wasted her precious time there up to now.
"That son of a bitch..."
Olivia nervously closed the bathroom door and bit her lip while recalling Dylan's blue hair. How come she once thought of giving up the commoner's name "Wendy Waltz" that she had bought by selling your mother's keepsakes for his love! She now regretted her decision a lot.
She dreamed of marrying Dylan until this morning. Of course, if she was lucky enough to marry him, she knew well that she might have to wait forever.
Dylan's brother, Joseph Lennox, had yet to marry, and Dylan himself had to go through a difficult process to become a knight of his empire that he had been longing for.
That meant that Olivia had to stay in the earl's house longer than she expected. It was her lifetime goal to escape from the house as soon as possible, so she couldn't marry Dylan unless she gave up the goal.
Nevertheless, Olivia chose Dylan Lennox and abandoned Wendy Waltz.
Knock, knock!
"Lady, I've brought you a warm tea."
She heard the maid's voice outside the door. She frowned slightly while drying her wet blonde hair with a towel.
"No, thanks. As I want to be alone, go away. I will go to bed right away. So, don't let anybody in."
"Sure, will do."
After the maid replied dryly, she walked away. Olivia was standing there for a while. Only when she could not hear anybody walking around outside the room, she moved carefully and pulled out her suitcase in the chest of drawers.
"Huuuh..." She sighed for a moment instead of packing up her bag. She suddenly raised her right hand and bumped her index finger and thumb.
Tok, Tok, Tok.
But her anxiety didn't last long. Olivia quickly wiggled her index finger containing the gift of the fairy and put it on her chest. Her humping heartbeat was conveyed to the palm of her hand.
She was waiting for dawn, with her heart beating fast. The night was short and the dawn was to come soon.
It was time for her to give up Dylan Lennox in favor of Wendy Waltz and Olivia Hazlet.
The next morning, when no one noticed Olivia's vacancy in her room at dawn there was a sharp screaming in the Hazlet house. The source of the sound was his wife's room. The servants moved in and out of her room anxiously.
"Ahhh! Go get a doctor!"
With their screaming behind her, a maid quickly came out of her room, with her face turned white.
The maid's eyes were terrified. 'Madam's head, her head..." She was running down the hall, terrified by the countess's look, as if she saw a terrible monster.
A short time later, a doctor, urgently called to the house by the maid, had to face the weirdest patient in his life.
Tuk!
The doctor pulled out a piece of a strange objects covering her faded red hair and frowned as if he saw something strange."Isn't this a burweed?" He asked.
Count Hazelet, standing by his wife who kept moaning, could not reply to the doctor's question.
"How come this was put in her hair?"
"I have no idea... I just came running here after I heard her screaming. It seems that she feels more pain because the thorn keeps digging into her head..."
As the earl fumbled words, the doctor looked at him suspiciously and picked up the thorn he was holding. He felt maybe the Hazlet family had something that they couldn't tell to anybody else.
The doctor vaguely guessed that Mrs. Hazlet, who was notorious for having a vicious temper, had been outwitted by somebody or she went crazy and grew burweed on her head.
"I don't think I can treat her like this because the root of the thorn has tangled her hair... I have no other choice but to cut her hair. Then, I will remove the thorn."
"...Cut my hair? How seriously was it..."
Even though she was moaning with pain, the countess asked the doctor with a depressed voice when she heard the doctor would have to cut her hair.
"The roots of the thorn invaded close to the scalp, so I have to cut off all the part where its root touched. Fortunately, the roots are clustered around the top of you head. If I cut out that part well, you will be alright."
When she heard the doctor's explanation, she was once again forced to make a painful scream.
* * *
Clink!
"Wendy! Is the freesia fresh today?"
It was a bright young man who opened the store door with the sound of a cheerful bell.
Wendy smiled as she watched the young man's soft brown hair shining in the sun. Of course, she smiled to promote flower sale.
"Sure. Flowers in my shop are always fresh."
She walked near a large vase full of freesia and plucked a handful of flowers. The yellow freesia color was very well matched with Wendy's blond hair.
"I like it. Pack it as usual, please."
When he took out a purse with a smile, he looked cool. Wearing a white shirt with a plaid vest, which was popular among young men these days, he was attractive enough to catch young girls' eyes.
"Is the restaurant crowded these days?"
At Wendy's question, the young man replied casually, "Sort of."
He was a regular customer who visited Wendy's flower shop every day. His restaurant was a gourmet restaurant, which was widely rumored to serve delicious foods, and his father ran a larger and more luxurious restaurant in Deseido Plaza.
Yesterday, she heard from the grandfather of the bakery in the front alley that he bought a new carriage last week. As everybody seemed to have a good feeling about him, this young man also made the best use of his charm to have a number of scandals everywhere. In short, he was a womanizer.
"Well, my restaurant might be thriving because of its good atmosphere thanks to Wendy's flowers."
Although he said with a friendly tone, Wendy was busy with wrapping flowers with a cynical smile. Fortunately, the young man didn't notice her look because he focused on her wrapping flowers.
"Well, this is my gift for you."
The young man took a freesia stem from the bouquet she gave him and handed it to her.
Wendy shrugged her shoulders and received it gladly.
"Thank you, it smells good."
After smelling the fragrance of the flower, she said goodbye to the young man. Given that he kept looking at her teacup on the table, he seemed to ask her for a cup of tea, but she ignored it.
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