Breaking the Cage (5)
Larissa was no longer resisting, readily following Scarlet faster.
Turning her back, she began guiding Larissa by the hand, no more causing the painful drag on Larissa’s arm. Despite this, she felt a pang of pain for every part of her that was touched by the other girl.
It wasn’t just Scarlet who walked her out into the hallway; some female knights also escorted her. Among them was a woman with eyes and hair as black as the night sky and soft, dark brown skin, who walked alongside Scarlet.
Normally, people would’ve been intrigued, but at this moment, Larissa hardly bat an eye to the dark-haired immigrant.
For a fleeting moment, a thought passed on Larissa’s mind that the Revolutionaries were a bunch of a strange group that was led by women armed with bayonets and immigrants. Were they revolutionaries or just rioters?
“You seem to care a lot about the Duke’s daughter,” Scarlet out of nowhere said, fixing her gaze forward. Larissa frowned.
“She’s not the Duke’s daughter, but mine,” her reply came curt.
‘It’s only fair. He slept with me, and I was the one who got pregnant, went through delivery, and raised her with a nanny.’
Thus referring to Paulina as just the Duke’s daughter in front of her was an absolute insult in her opinion. It was like indicating only the Duke and a woman’s daughter.
“That’s right, she’s yours,” Scarlet answered in a small voice.
Larissa was curious about Scarlet’s expression but all she could see was the back of her head. Soon enough, she dismissed the notion and focused on her daughter instead.
She didn’t deserve to be curious.
‘I, who abandoned you, shouldn’t dare to pry about you. I should stop asking and thinking about you.’
Thus, Scarlet continued to stride ahead and Larissa trailed behind without resistance. Eventually, Scarlet stopped in front of the Duke’s guest room.
With one hand holding Larissa, she used the other to open the door. Right after the two women entered the room, they saw a little girl cry.
“Mommy! Mommy!”
A plump girl who wasn’t even taller than the adult’s waist, sobbing in a choke voice. Nothing compared to the unfolding wretched scenes.
This time, Larissa successfully freed herself from the clutch and Scarlet let her be.
She ran and hugged her daughter. The little girl who had been in the nanny’s arms immediately ran straight into her mother’s arms. She soothed her daughter who was still weeping.
In the meantime, the nanny trembled pale beside her.
On the other hand, Scarlet observed and then commanded, “Take her out of sight.”
“No!”
“Madam!”
“Waaah, Nanny!”
The knights moved at Scarlet’s cold instruction and within a second, they apprehended Paulina’s nanny. During the whole ordeal, her daughter kept crying and screaming in protest while Larissa, fearing possible retaliation to her daughter, hugged her even tighter.
Larissa lamented helplessly. Now with the nanny dragged away with struggle, she was trembling.
“What are you going to do with that kid?”
“I don’t think it’s time for you to worry about others,” another person snapped when Larissa glared and asked at Scarlet. The latter had a wounded look in her eyes, while the former was obviously about to jump down Larissa’s throat.
‘What on earth are you planning?’ Larissa shot Scarlet a desperate look, but was given an emotionless stare by Scarlet.
“Please rest with your daughter, Milady. Call me if you need anything.”
To be stunned beyond words was a given. But the shaking child in her embrace worried her more so she couldn’t speak her mind honestly. Then, Scarlet closed the door, leaving the mother and daughter duo alone.
Like so, Larissa was locked up with no way out.
“Mommy… Mommy…”
Frightened by the sudden commotion at midnight, Paulina whimpered again, not fully understanding what was happening. She finally snapped out of reverie and remembered her role, cradling her daughter closer.
‘I have to be strong because I am a mother. I’m also scared, tired, and confused, but I must hold on steadfastly because there’s a weak child relying on me.’
‘But I, too, am weak and want to lean on someone.’
MoonStar 
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