Breaking the Cage (3)
“Come out, Duke Kleeman.”
“W-who is it? What are you doing in the middle of the night?”
“Right now, or we’ll use violence.”
The Duke couldn’t refuse as his house was already invaded at midnight.
After long preparation and fierce determination, the Revolutionaries finally rebel against the Establishment, especially to the public indignation of Royalists–the root of their grudge.
And Duke Kleeman was a key member of the Royalist faction which meant his fate had been sealed.
“No need to fix and fumble around your sleep wear, just come quickly, Your Grace.”
Someone sneered at the Duke and dragged him mercilessly. As a person who had been raised with a golden spoon throughout his life, this was the first time the Duke was thrown into a riot, making him scream in horror and pain.
While the Duke was carried away to somewhere, the Duchess on the other hand was curling up on the bed with fright as her skin paled.
This situation applied for Larissa too, it was the first time for her. As a flower in a flower garden–as someone who lived in a new sumptuous cage, never in her life she ever encountered such a dreary sight.
Her limb trembled involuntarily. Useless pride made her grit her teeth.
She was still a noble woman even in this moment. From a very young age, she was taught to keep dignity, no matter how scared she was.
“You should come too, Madam.”
A soldier stretched his hand to Larissa. She brushed off the hand. How dare he?
She held her chin high, straightened her back, and shooted an icy look to the soldier. Her hand balled into fist to conceal her shaking fingertips. In the meantime, she was greatly worried about Paulina. The fear for her daughter was sharper than dagger.
“Don’t touch me. How insolent.”
The words flowed out as naturally as breathing. Despite being unarmed and surrounded by people, Larissa talked with an arrogant tone and poised.
Usually she would smile, pretend to be gentle and vulnerable to try to fit into the public eye, but truth was this was closer to her true nature.
If the world had allowed a woman to sit on the throne, she didn’t want to reigned as the Queen nor the Empress, but as the Sovereign.
“Why do you speak informally to me?”
And this attitude of hers wasn’t taken kindly at all.
She was the daughter of Count, the wife of Duke, who was lucky enough to be born at the top and lived in luxury while people at the bottom were freezing or starving. A kind of person that was hated to death.
Not to mention, all the revolutionary troops who entered the bedroom now were men. Larissa was the only girl here.
The Duke might be the target of their hatred, but the Duchess was even more ridiculous. Their detest was added with disgust and anger.
“I guess you don’t understand the situation right now, huh?”
Someone seized Larissa again, but this time he grabbed her roughly. Larissa tried to shake it off, but her slender arms–trained all her life to hold a fan with grace–were no match for the full-grown man’s strength. Her body was taken away from the bed, she persistently struggling in his grasp.
And then–rriippp!
Her clothes were ripped apart.
“Let me enlighten you, Your Honorable Duchess.”
Like before, someone gripped her body while mocking her, restrained the poor woman whose her white skin was exposed. Various hands pressed her down, making her fall on the floor. She swallowed her screams.
The only remain she had was, after all, her good-for-nothing pride.
Bang, bang.
Larissa heard it loud and clear, the gunshots. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks by the time a bullet broke the wall. The men who pounced hungrily at her were halted. Larissa cracked open her screwed shut eyes.
“Apparently, the commander-in-chief’s orders fell on deaf ears, judging by how all of you acted like a bunch of unintelligent wild animals.”
A soft voice with a hint of coldness chimed in. Larissa doubted her hearing. The wild-animals-like men suddenly fell silent.
Step, step.
The sounds of combat boots on the soft carpet coming closer echoed in the room. She slowly sat up. Her body was slightly trembling for a different reason than before.
“We’ve some female comrades here, so it’s best to control yourself. We started a revolution to deal with garbage, wouldn’t it be embarrassing if we act like one too?”
The voice was still as soft as before but the coldness intensified with each word. The speaker’s slender body was hugged by a neat military uniform, a sword and a gun tucked at the waist.
It was a woman, whose hair was as red as sunset–as flame. She approached in light tread with a group of female knights at her side.
The woman stopped in front of Larissa. With her badly torn nightgown, tangled and disheveled hair, she looked up. Through eyes stared down at her, a noblewoman who only had her pride left yet forgotten, Larissa saw how her own eyes widened.
“It’s been a long time since we last met, Lady,” greeted the woman. The woman, with the same name as her hair color, was smiling sweetly like she used to. However, unlike before, the smile brimmed with venom.
“Such an honor to see you again.”
MoonStar 
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