Escape (Olivia POV)

Thanks to my suggestion about how to kill Francis' mother, Duke Ashford trusted me more. He let me give advice about some affairs, especially about the princes. He even let me be Francis' study partner to spy on him.

Of course I offered myself to spy on Francis so the duke wouldn't add another person to look after him. It would be hard for him to grow his strength if he was being watched closely. At the same time, I could show to the duke that he can really trust and use me.

That would increase my chance to be more acknowledged. When the time came, when the duke really trusted me to handle important matters, I would gather all documents. Once Francis got his own power and strength, we could ruin the Ashford and the Whitley together. Using his power and authority would be an easy way to punish those families, since he was a royal.

But it ended up that my father realized that I betrayed him and Francis knew I tricked him. I made a mistake by telling Francis about his mother's killer. But I also wanted to know how he would react to a shocking fact like that.

Should I give up on all of my plans? Gave up to my desire to punish my own family and the Ashford family. After all, I didn't have someone who could back me up anymore.

No! I couldn't. I started all these and I should end it well! I still had hope in Francis. If he found a reason to help me, he would help me in some ways. The box I gave him would be one of the reasons.

For the time being, escaping from this prison was my only option. No one knew what would happen if I just stayed here. If I escaped, at least I could hide at brother Raphael's house.

The question was, how could I escape from here? There was no window and the prison was locked. At least I wasn't tied or chained and no one was guarding my cell. I could move freely.

'Tap tap tap...' Someone was coming, but who? It was so late in the night and it wasn't the time for the guards patrolling to every cell.

I curled my body and held my legs tighter, then pretended to sleep. "Miss Charlize," he said when he passed my cell and dropped fabric-like stuff. From his way of calling me: 'Miss Charlize' and his voice, I was sure he was Noah.

Quickly, I picked and checked what Noah gave me. He gave me a change of clothes, a huge robe with a note inside it.

'I will help you escape from here at the shift changing time. Make sure you have changed your clothes by that time.'

I couldn't stop thinking about the reason why Noah was there and helping me out. But since the shift change time was near, I hurriedly changed. I could ask him his reason later.

A few minutes after that, shift change time had come and Noah came back, he wore a guard uniform. He didn't say a word, just opened the cell silently then locked it back when I stepped outside the cell.

He held my hand, led me out from there through the hallways. He made me wonder if he really knew the route he took. But I decided to completely trust him.

At the crossing, we passed some guards. "Hide here. Once I gave you a sign, run and hide behind that wall." He whispered and then left me, walking toward those guards. He didn't kill them, he just distracted their focus then gave me a sign to run.

I did exactly as he said and ran then hid behind the wall he mentioned. A few moments later, Noah came and we continued walking out from the prison.

There wasn't any other trouble we faced until the gate of the prison, to be exact, Noah took care of those problems. He hid me well and distracted those guards; that was what he did. He did everything fast and effectively so no one suspected us.

"Do you have any good ideas on how to leave the mansion?" He asked. I wondered how he managed to sneak here and help me out of the prison, but he asked me for a way to leave the mansion. But I wouldn't ask him, surviving was the priority.

So, I nodded as my answer then continued walking to a secret way I know. That secret passage was near the west building. That place wasn't guarded tightly and as far as I knew, there was a hole on the wall.

We walked there silently, without being noticed. Just as I expected, the wall at the border here had a hole enough for a person to pass through. No one knew about this place because of its hidden location.

When we managed to leave the border, Noah held my hand. "Please come this way. You still have to find a place to hide." I just followed wherever Noah would take me to.

He took me to a forest near this area and in the middle of our walk, I found brother Raphael with two horses. "Miss you can go with your brother, I will return to the palace. Please stay safe." Noah climbed to a horse.

"Do you come here with your own will or someone sent you?" I asked Noah before he left.

"His majesty asked me to save you. He said he has a bad feeling. I'm leaving now, we can't get caught." He left once he finished his words.

Brother Raphael extended his hand. "Olivia, get up to the horse." I took his hand and climbed the horse. "You will be safe in our secret place." He said as he started to run his horse.

"Brother Raphael, you know, I felt today was familiar with what happened four years ago. The difference is, today Noah is the one who helped me and he didn't kill someone."

"Olivia, that night, you also didn't kill someone, that man did. So the difference is only you helped Noah that night and this night he helped you."

Along the way I realized that a lot of things had to be done and I still had a long journey. 'Tomorrow will be a chaotic day, when everyone realizes that I escaped.'

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Hi everyone!!!

Here I am with a new chapter. I want to announce that this is the last chapter for S1.

I'm thinking of taking one or two days of hiatus, before continue with S2.

Do you have any theories or question? Feel free to ask in comments or chat me on discord group: https://discord.gg/6Gwnuggm

See you!!!