“I’m starving to death!” Kate said as she grabbed a piece of chicken. “By the way, you’ve never told us about your family, Maxine.”
Maxine stayed silent briefly, thinking about how to reply.
“It’s complicated… I don’t know anything about them anymore.”
“Why is that?”
“Let’s just say they are busy people, with opinions that don’t align with mine.”
“I see. I also had issues with my old man, I thought he didn’t understand me. Always wanting me to pursue something important, not waste my time.”
Kate’s expression changed.
“I wish I had listened to him when I had the chance, before he… he…” Her voice broke.
Maxine placed her hand on Kate’s shoulder.
“He would probably be very proud of you.”
“I hope so… But he didn’t deserve that… He didn’t deserve to be murdered.”
“Murdered?” Maxine was astonished. “Your father was murdered?”
“That’s right, and I don’t know the reason or the identity of the culprit. I just know he was shot.”
Maxine was shocked, she didn’t expect that.
“I’m so sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize. Let’s eat and go see Select.”
In her room, Freya watched Charles.
“You know you’ve broken yet another rule, right?”
Charles trembled, fearing the worst.
“I’m sorry, I just wanted to… greet him.”
“And why would that matter to me? If you give people freedom, look at how it ends… Look at the society we live in!”
Freya picked up a metal rod.
“And that’s why we need to teach obedience. It’s for your own good.”
Charles trembled, helplessly staring at Freya as she approached slowly.
“It’s for your own good…”
CLANK!
The blow caused Charles’s vision to blur and he fell, feeling nauseous.
CLANK!
Charles shuddered in pain, helpless.
CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!
His head spun, feeling only helplessness.
Freya wiped the blood off the rod.
“I hope that teaches you something, and you learn.”
After leaving the room, Charles began to cry inconsolably.
Maxine and Kate saw Select arrive at the restaurant.
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“I have the keys!”
“Perfect! Finally, we will be able to rest…”
Select sits next to them.
“I met a rather unpleasant person, a woman who thought she was a queen or something.”
“Unfortunately, there are many people like that in life…” Kate responded.
“Yeah… Although this one really gave me a bad feeling.”
“What do you think that… Horseman was?” Maxine asked.
“I said I wanted to relax, not think about that.”
“Although I understand your point, Kate, Maxine is right. A horseman has been chasing us, what if it’s like Excalibur?”
“Are you suggesting that Washington Irving based it on a real event?”
“It could be.”
The group fell silent for a while.
“Or it might just be a prankster messing with us. Not everything has to be like that damn sword thing,” Kate replied.
“I don’t rule out that hypothesis either, but… Weren’t you looking for adventures?” Select ironically smiled.
“Screw you, Select!”
After dinner, the group went straight to the hotel to rest.
Freya was staring at the pages of a messy notebook.
Charles entered limping, blood dripping from all sides.
“Do… do you need anything else?” It hurt him to speak.
“No,” Freya replied curtly.
Charles nodded.
“But there’s something that worries me. Who is this Robert Select?”
“He’s a famous archaeologist, ma’am.”
Freya was alarmed.
“And what is a prominent archaeologist like him doing here? He isn’t investigating the Headless Horseman, is he?”
“I have no idea, ma’am.”
“We must make sure that this Select does not interfere with our plans at all costs.”
“What do you suggest, ma’am?”
“We’ll get rid of them.”
In the hotel hallway, Kate ran towards the room.
“I’m fed up, I want to rest!” She shouted as she entered the room.
Select and Maxine followed a few meters behind.
“She’s still so strong despite being tired…”
“Indeed…”
As they said this, Freya and Charles crept up behind Select and Maxine, knocking them both unconscious with a hard blow.
“What’s taking you so long to come?” Kate observed in surprise that there was no sign of her friends. “Damn it.”
She rushed out of the room, searching for their trail.