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Damn! So that guy is a member of the royal family?
With the presence of hostile figures, Mengdie dared not be careless. She held her breath and completely concealed herself behind the bushes.
The two men waited in the clearing, with BL looking somewhat anxious compared to the more composed demeanor of the older man.
After about ten minutes, BL spoke. His tone carried a mix of arrogance, anxiety, and dissatisfaction. The elder seemed to comfort him with a few words and continued waiting with his eyes closed. Another ten minutes or so passed, and the person they were waiting for finally appeared.
The wind...
Stirred.
As the forest rustled with the wind, a person in a white cloak, white top hat, white mask, and white suit and shoes appeared silently at one side of the clearing. Daring to wear white in the night demonstrated considerable confidence!
Mengdie kept her head down. Intuitively, she sensed the person in the white cloak could be very dangerous. Without her strength back, staying hidden was her priority.
BL’s first reaction to the arrival of the man in the white cloak was to berate him. He stepped forward, pointing at the man's nose and shouting loudly. The man in white, however, stood as if nothing had happened and even gave BL a graceful bow, seemingly sincerely apologizing for his lateness. His voice wasn't loud, probably in his early twenties or just under thirty.
The elder stopped BL’s shouting, showing considerable respect and caution towards the man in white. After a brief conversation, the elder handed a purple gemstone to the man in the white cloak. The man in white said a few words with a smile, and another gust of wind rustled through the trees. By the time the elder and BL looked for the man in white again, he was gone.
Mengdie took a deep breath. She hadn't seen how the white figure disappeared either. It must have been some sort of magic, and the user gave her a strong sense of oppression.
After a brief exchange, BL and the elder got back into the carriage. The coachman whipped the horses, and the light, along with the group, slowly disappeared into the forest. In just a few minutes, the night and silence once again enveloped the entire forest.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Mengdie didn’t find the necklace that night. It wasn’t until the next day, well past noon, that Nia hurriedly found her sleeping in the grove, ending the ordeal. Mengdie returned to Nia's house with a dejected look, having not eaten well for several days. She rushed out to the grove every day as soon as the city gates opened, only to be dragged back by Nia just before the gates closed in the evening. If it weren't for Nia following her closely, who knows how many times she would have been spotted by the city gate soldiers.
This situation was resolved on the fifth day when Mengdie finally managed to convey to Nia and Aya the significance of the lost necklace and her desire to find it. From the sisters’ gestures, she learned of another possibility for the necklace's disappearance.
Picked up by someone.
“Gift, country, custody. 3, months, then, sell.”
Aya struggled to convey these simple words to Mengdie, who was learning the language. It took a whole day of repeating these words with various gestures and body language for Mengdie to finally understand. Based on this understanding, she deduced that the country likely held regular auctions. Unclaimed objects or items that wealthy families and nobility wanted to sell for money, after inspection, were listed in the auction catalog. Perhaps even gifts exchanged between this country and neighboring countries were included in these auctions to increase national revenue.
Although Mengdie’s deductions were slightly off in detail, the overall understanding was close. She guessed that, given the design and beauty of the necklace, it might be difficult to be listed in the auction catalog. But with no success in finding it elsewhere, her only hope was to wait for the three-month auction.
Thus, Mengdie began her temporary life at the sisters' house. With the time constraint, there was no point in hurrying. She gradually let go of her urgency. To avoid freeloading at Aya's house, she took on all sorts of physical labor. Fetching water, chopping wood, repairing roofs, grinding grain, thatching, and working bellows - anything that required physical strength, she did. Sometimes, after finishing work at the sisters' house, she would run to the streets and help with any heavy labor she found.
Yes, physical strength. During this time without her powers, she needed more strength to ensure her actions!
※※※
"Oh dear, little sister, you're working too hard. Those delicate hands of yours look like they belong to a noble daughter from a wealthy family. Why help an old woman like me carry firewood? I feel bad about it."
Mengdie, usually only carrying two loads of firewood like any ordinary man, was gritting her teeth and carrying three. Her steps trembled, sweat dripping down her back, forming a trail. Her fragile shoulders were already raw from the burden, and her fingers had blisters. Her face, covered in dust, concealed her stunning beauty. If not for her conspicuous long hair, no one would recognize her as the moonlit goddess who had enchanted numerous men in the neighborhood.
Carrying the firewood from outside the city into town, and then helping the old woman deliver it around the city, had become her routine for the 23rd day. As the load of firewood lightened, Mengdie would replace it with bricks to ensure she was always carrying the same weight.
This process was tough, but the success behind the hardship brought joy. From initially being unable to carry even half a load to now enduring three loads for the entire journey, her effort was directly proportional to her physical strength. Even if she collapsed in front of the old woman’s house every day, she was happier with each passing day.
"Oh... I can't anymore... Damn it, three loads of firewood... is this my limit? It’s been five days... and I can't carry any more..."
Dropping the loaded yoke, Mengdie collapsed in front of the old woman's house, completely drained. The old woman, Wilga, hurriedly helped her up and placed her on a worn wicker chair, wiping the dirt from her face with a towel and offering her water.
"Wilga, ma’am, you should rest. Let us give her water instead?"
At this moment, a few young men set down their farm tools and walked over sheepishly. Even though Mengdie was covered in dirt, the flush of exhaustion only made her more beautiful. Compared to when they first saw her, Mengdie now shone even brighter in the eyes of all the men in the poor neighborhood.
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