The cart was loaded and Lucas, he wore a green jacket, and trousers of the same color, sat and held the reins of the horses. He turned to his wife, who was standing at the doorway silently, and was wearing her brown apron over a white dress, and he waved silently.

Jane turned away and closed the door. The cartwheels started rolling until she could not hear it anymore. She leaned on the door and sighed. For a moment, she paused and cleared her head until a thought came, an unpleasant one, now she regretted it, she questioned herself why she was like that, she questioned if it would make things better, and she concluded that it would not. Immediately, she opened the door and stepped outside, but Lucas had already disappeared.

***

Candles were lit at the table and two warm cups were again on top. Jane had sat the whole day waiting. A knock on the door. She quickly jumped out the chair and reached for the door. Slowly the door was unlocked, she opened it a little to peek and it was kicked wide open. The door hit Jane and knocked her down. She looked up and saw the intruder’s face from under the brown hood, it was the guard from the castle, he wore a black robe over a blue jacket and black pants. Even though shaky, Jane stood up as fast and she ran away but the guard grabbed her hair, pain surged all over her head as if her scalped was about to be torn away from her skull, she let out an awful scream. Still having her thoughts, she reached for a cup and throw the freshly boiled tea at the intruder’s face. He finally let go of her hair and groaned in pain.

Jane ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knifed. The guard followed, his face red, and walked in calmly. She pointed the knife at her assailant, and held it with both hands,

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“Stay away from me!” she roared. The guard grinned,

“What’s the point of resisting? No one is going to come and rescue you.”

“My husband is on his way home!”

“Home?” the guard laughed, “He’s having too much fun with the lady at her chambers. I doubt he will be home soon.”

“Shut your mouth! You’re a bloody pervert!” rage had mixed with her fear.

“Your husband is not very faithful, miss tailor, you’re just going to let him have all the fine?”

“I said shut your damn mouth!” her vision narrowed, and breath became heavy.

“Don’t you want to get even with him?” the guard walked closer. Jane, sweating and shaking, retreated until she bumped on the kitchen wall.

“You’ll feel better. Trust me. You’ll just be doing to him what he is doing to you,” the guard licked his lips.

“Prove it.”

The guard stopped walking and smirked.

“Prove it,” Jane continued, “and you can do whatever you want with me for one night.”

The guard laughed,

“The contraceptive they use in the castle gets flushed out of a man’s body with the urine. If you something blue, I assure you that you will,” he smiled, “that means he is using it… and not because of you.”

Jane did not answer and still held the knife pointed at the guard. The latter showed and opened his hands and stepped back,

“I’ll be back for my prize tomorrow,” he then turned back and walked out of the kitchen, through the shop, and disappeared into the dark streets.

Jane dropped the knife and sat on the floor. She cried, and wailed, and pulled her hair. She knew he was telling the truth and every word stabbed her in the chest and suffocated her. But she cannot let her husband see her like that. Jane stood up and washed her face. The knife was washed, and her clothes wear changed, she made another cup of tea and cleaned up the shop.