Rebels (1)

Mill trembled with a bit of fear in his eyes as he tried to decide what to do.

"The Suilett family is extremely powerful inside the capitol. They'll find us in no time so I'm sorry but I think we'll have to separate here," Mill apologized.

I smiled to show him that I was fine.

"It's fine, thanks for giving me a tour." I agreed with Mill since I knew the consequences would be far more serious for him being seen with me rather than me getting caught alone.

Mill reluctantly left the cold and desolate haunted house as I remained alone to think of my next plan.

'What should I do?' I thought under the fake spider webs made from coarse white thread on the first floor.

I walked up the stairs to find a better hiding place so that no one would report me to the noble that made the announcement. I glanced out the window to check the situation to see a large search party of nobles taking charge of the commoners and knights to find me.

With no other choice, I continued to explore the desolate rooms of the haunted house. The rooms was filled with broken and old furniture, puffs of dust bunnies and spider webs at its corners.

The candles were all void of flames, making the whole floor appear as if it was engulfed into darkness. I stopped walking when I noticed a faint light coming from one of the rooms.

"That new heir that is in charge of this territory is an absolute tyrant!" A person whispered.

A group of ten people sat down on the broken chairs and couches that was arranged into a circle inside the dark room faintly lit by a single candle.

"I don't have much money left over to feed my children after paying the increased amount of taxes!" Another person complained.

"That's why I kept telling you that we should try to overthrow our Lord or else we will have to starve this winter," another person explained.

"So another noble can replace him?" a person scoffed.

'So they're planning a rebellion!' I thought from their conversation.

Clack! Clunk!

I accidently bumped into the door while focusing on their conversation as the group of people gathered in the room turned to find me in the doorway as I revealed myself.

"I'm not anyone suspicious, I'm here because I agree," I cautiously started off as I took few steps back.

'It's just a little girl,' the people in the room sighed in relief.

"So why are you really here? Especially in abandoned place like here," the leader asked with his eyes narrowed and arms crossed.

'They may help me escape from the search party if I pretend to be one of them,' I instantly planned.

"I actually escaped from a noble's captivity and now I'm currently in hiding from them," I said with the most heartbreaking expression.

The group of people looked unconvinced even with my plain commoner clothes I wore.

"No commoner has jewel beads braided into their hair," a person revealed my excessive decorations on my hair that I forgot about.

The jewel beads were hardly noticeable under the dim moonlight of the dreary night. They only reflected the shards of sunlight that displayed their incredible brilliance in the daytime.

"I'm only a pet," I tried to display that this was my owner's preference.

"My master does this to prevent me from interacting with my fellow commoners like you," I pulled out my final weapon.

Tears slid down my face as I acted like I was in need of desperate help. Unable to stay cold to me anymore, the people melted under my acting. I guessed my acting was getting better these days due to begging Luke to shorten those study sessions.

"I told you these nobles are scums! Look what they do to a little child!" A member angrily yelled after my sudden tears.

The other members stayed silent as they hesitated to help.

"And the war is making my master more stressed out nowadays," I emphasized possible hints of abuse.

"Yea, I did hear from my friend's daughter that's a palace maid that a war may start." Another member admitted.

"Who doesn't know that wars are expensive! At this rate, the nobles may raise the taxes again." Another member complained.

"Can I suggest something?" I asked them carefully as I began to sit down on one of the broken couches.

The group members nodded as if they were entering into a transaction whether to help me out.

"How about you start a 'civil war' to re-elect a better leader among your people that you know that you can trust?" I advised based on my knowledge of the system of 'democracy' in my past life and the third district.

The group members appeared initially surprised as they gasped and whispered among themselves from discovering a foreign notion that they never have heard before.

"You can get donations like you give to the church to get more funding. These are people who agree with you but don't want to get deeply involved," I revealed more aspects of my idea.

"You're pretty smart for a little kid," the leader complimented me.

'Pretty smart for a child in the fifth district,' I thought as children in the first district were exceptionally smart to survive in the school system.

"So please help me escape from the nobles and in return I can give you more details about the idea I gave you," I proposed a deal.

"Of course, you're just a victim like us," A member sympathized with me to get more details about the idea I thought of.

"It can't be helped that us commoners have no power against the nobles. Us commoners have to stick together!" Another member tried to extort more information from me.

"We'll go now," A member put on her worn-out cloak.

When we almost made it to the entrance of the carnival, the people still crowded near the podium. The sounds of laughter and cheers were replaced with tension as the royal family came to make an announcement as they stood at the same place where Robert was before.

"We can't leave without looking suspicious," A member that was helping me escape commented.

I was wearing a long cloak with a large hood from the costume store to cover my face and statue. Without having any other choice, a member of the rebellion group and I walked towards the large crowd to mingle among the people.

"We can leave once the royal family leaves the podium," the member explained as I looked increasingly more worried.

When I looked up to face the royal family, I found Lucius and Belle standing ten steps back from the shadow of the royal family. Lucius changed into a horrible shirt decorated with frills and laces that was couldn't be covered with his navy blazer. While Belle wore her terribly luxurious dress that drifted down to her ankles as usual.

'Since I'm near the last few rows of the large crowd, there's no way they'll notice me!' I thought.

However, when I took another glance at Lucius and Belle, I met Lucius's line of sight like he was able to find me inside the large crowd.

'I have to leave now or else I might be dragged back into the castle!' I panicked.

I tugged the member's sleeve as I pointed that the noble may have found me in the crowd.

"We have to run now!" I whispered with fear.