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Published at 6th of May 2019 10:18:55 PM


Chapter 22

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Altair slinked into the hallway. The first thing she did was look around at her current options. She needed to find a window, or a door, or anything to the outside that she could use. She was now in her infiltration mentality and her heart was racing in anticipation as she became more alter of her surroundings.

She had chosen to wear the same uniform as the other women in the mansion because it might fool people from afar. But she knew that she had yet to see any other children so if she gave them much longer than a glance she would probably be found out immediately. She couldn't let that happen.

Still, sneaking around in a place with barely any information was dangerous. The thought that they might have a trap prepared for her didn't help things either. She couldn't stop herself from feeling nervous.

The hallway was covered in the same polished hardwood that was in her room. There were doors to private rooms on both sides of the hall and the walls were pure white without any marks on them. There were also strange plants that were placed at intervals throughout the hallway. It was obvious with just a glance that everything was very well maintained.

Directly to Altair's left, the hallway ended in a window and to her right it continued around a corner. Despite there being only one window, just like her room, the hallway was perfectly illuminated.

Altair first went to the window. It would be able to provide her with more information that might be useful later and she might be able to escape through it. Her steps barely made any noise even with shoes on.

When she looked out the window and saw more open plains and nobody in sight, Altair felt her heart ease up slightly. She then tried to open the window only to find that it was like the window in her room: only for decoration. She wouldn't be able to escape this way.

She took a deep breath and turned around. With her heart rate increasing, she snuck up to the corner at the end of the hall. She wasn't too worried about someone coming out of the other rooms in the hallway. She was slow at getting up in the morning because of how comfortable her bed was and she had eaten slowly today. To top it off, she had to go through lessons with Donel. She figured that no one would be idle in their rooms at this time. She had no reason to hurry and rushing while sneaking around would just get her caught.

Altair cautiously peered around the corner, looking every bit as suspicious as a cat among fish. Her servant outfit was a stark contrast to the walls and she stood out with just a glance.

The hallway continued for several meters before it came to a courtyard. From what Altair could see, the courtyard was clear. However, she could only see a small section of the courtyard from what she remembered.

The courtyard was huge and filled with different types of plants and had some vegetable and fruit gardens planted in it by the servants. It was also kept neat and tidy as it was the centerpiece of the Servants Quarters. It connected to all of the rooms that the servants stayed in. There were some pillars around to keep the overhanging roof up but the roof itself wasn't really needed. The courtyard could be open air or closed air with the push of a button. Altair had yet to see it open though.

Altair slipped around the corner and carefully went toward the courtyard. Her eyes kept darting back and forth as more and more of the courtyard came into view. She wanted to see any movement she could before anyone else saw her. Once she reached the edge of the hallway, she peered around both sides of the opening before darting to put her back to a pillar. Once there she took a few deep breaths to try and calm her heart that had started to pound even harder in her chest.

She then listened there for several movements to try and catch any movement. However, the only thing that seemed to be flooding into her ears was the sound of her heart thumping and her own ragged breath.

Since she couldn't hear any movement, she started to walk toward where she remembered she came from, although she didn't follow the same path. Every time she was brought in she was taken right through the middle of the courtyard. That would be a horrible move to make. Even though there were a lot of plants in the courtyard, none of them would provide adequate cover to conceal herself and she could be seen from anywhere in the courtyard. She would be discovered instantly if she tried that.

She snuck along while ducking behind pillars that she came across. Every time she came to a pillar she was wait and listen for any sounds before continuing on her way. She passed by other hallways that led to parts unknown but continued past them once she found no one there. Eventually, after an hour of cautious advancement, she came to the first corner of the courtyard. The distance she had traveled to get here only amounted to thirty meters.

She placed her back to a pillar and peer around it to look around. At this time, a Holodisplay turned on behind her that was connected to the wall. Donel's profile was displayed with his hands behind his back. His voice then rang out suddenly as he said, "Noel, the Mistress is going to have guests over in an hour and needs the lounge prepared. Stacey and the others need your assistance so you should head over immediately."

Once the first word was spoken, Altair jumped at the same time her heart threatened to explode from her chest. She quickly turned to the sound with her knees shaking. The moment she saw Donel standing in front of her she wanted to cry. She had barely gotten anywhere and she had already been discovered by the one person she didn't want to run into.

Her knees gave out on her. She didn't want to attack Donel. She would rather get punished than to have to kill him, even if it delayed her escape a little bit. It would be better to keep what she could do a secret. As long as they believed she appeared to be someone who couldn't make use of Mana then she could always try again…

The Holodisplay turned off after Donel stopped speaking.

Altair's eyes widened into saucers and she held her breath. She didn't know Donel knew the legendary Invisibility Magic! That meant he could be right next to her at all times and she would never know. Even now, he was obviously watching her. She felt that she had underestimated these Gods. Just because they looked like Humans didn't mean they were as incapable as them.

She didn't know why he didn't drag her back to her room and chose to just turn invisible on her. She didn't even hear the words he had said earlier due to shock of running into him. She couldn't guess at his motives!

Shoes clacked loudly from a nearby hallway. The sound was like a confirmation on how trapped she was. She didn't even know when Donel had started following her but it was apparent now that it was indeed a trap. A very patient and long waiting trap that Altair had walked right into.

Altair turned her head mechanically to the sound as her heart continued to hammer in her chest. An average looking woman came running around the corner, wearing the same uniform as Altair, and she ran right into Altair who was slumped on the ground. Altair didn't weigh enough to stop herself from getting knocked flat onto the ground by the long-haired blonde woman who tumbled to the ground over Altair's body.

Altair felt like she had been caught for sure now. It would be impossible for her to escape an adult woman who had run into her. If she tried to kill the woman, Donel would see it and probably knock her unconscious. She was effectively caught.

The woman sat up while rubbing her head and turned to look at Altair while saying, "Sorry, sorry. I'm in a bit of a hurry and didn't know you were… Eh?" He eyes opened wider when she realized it was Altair who she had trampled over. "You're the new trainee, right?" She pointed at Altair who was still laying flat on her back as she stared up at the ceiling.

Altair didn't answer her. She was waiting to be hauled back to her room and wasn't really paying attention. Since she was caught, her heart had slowed down considerably. She wasn't even really hurt when the woman ran into her either.

The woman, however, had a different idea as she started to stand to her feet while grabbing Altair's hand. "Since you're still in training, you should come with me to see how your seniors do their job!"

Altair let herself get dragged up to her feet. There wasn't much point in resisting.

The woman then started to pull Altair along with her as she hastily walked towards the exit of the Servants Quarters while saying, "I know you aren't supposed to do anything but that's fine! You can see observe from a distance." She glanced back at Altair and eyed her up and down before continuing, "You know, everyone was real curious about you when you were first brought in here. Then Old Donel went and hogged you all to himself for over a month. Then we find out that the Young Master beat you for being disobedient and you had to be taken to a hospital. And finally we suddenly got word that you would be looking around the place a while ago but no one saw you. Really, just when do you come out of your room? You're so cute you should come out more. I'm sure the other girls will like you too, you know. There's no need to be nervous around us. We can give you many pointers and teach you lots of things. You'll at least be able to avoid the Young Master hurting you again. It's a good thing that your face wasn't permanently damaged or you might end up with a really bad job. But it's pretty nice here in the main home so you should be extra careful and follow any orders you're given immediately! You don't want to lose your place here, trust me."

The woman seemed to never run out of breath or slow down while she spoke. In fact, she seemed to speed up. Altair quickly lost track of what she meant as she talked faster and faster.

However, Altair did notice that she wasn't being taken back to her room. She knew the general direction she was taken in through and they were going along that same pathway. She wondered just what kind of punishment awaited her.





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