Rosie's Games

Chapter 77: The Black Snake 3

"What happened?" Dorothy asked the man sitting in the middle of candles— black candles, his robes covering his features. The man was facing a skull and chanting something that she could not understand. "What is happening? I thought you said it would be easy to kill her. Am I not paying you enough?"

Dorothy paid the man a hefty amount of money just to send a snake to Rosalind.

"Why aren't you answering me?" she hissed, her eyes wide.

"For some reason, I lost contact with the snake," the man answered, his voice sounding low and ominous. It was as if three people were speaking to her at the same time. "Someone must have intervened. You did not tell me about anyone guarding her."

"What? Are you saying that I'm lying? I did not lie! Rosalind was alone — that maid!" Dorothy took a deep breath. "That's right. That maid must be the one responsible for— can you send another one?"

"I can… but only with the right amount of—"

"Jeames!" Dorothy yelled. Almost immediately Jeames appeared next to the man.

"Kill him."

"What?" the man chuckled. "Miss, if you think you can harm me inside my own house then you must be very disturbed and perhaps a little stupid."

"You are nothing but a fake sorcerer! Jeames go on!"

"Young Miss I think we need to leave."

"What?"

"This place— " Jeames spoke. "We cannot just threaten the owner of this place. I understand that you hate her, but you must act with diligence. You cannot just —"

"Are you trying to tell me what to do?"

"I—"

"She has lost her mind," the man wearing the hood uttered. "Let her drink this. It will calm her down." The man handed Jeames a small vial but Jeames did not accept it. Instead, he tossed a gold coin to the man and carried Dorothy out of the house.

Using his light technique, he lifted her and he started running as fast as he could.

"What are you doing! Jeames! Let me down! I said let me go! How dare you disobey your master! I am your master! Jeames… I said let me—"

Jeames suddenly stopped and slowly put her down. Just as her feet landed on the ground, a loud slap echoed. She had slapped her knight.

"How dare you disobey me! Did you really think I would not hurt you just because we grew up together?"

"You can hurt me," Jeames said.

"What?"

"But you cannot hurt yourself."

"You—" Dorothy felt all the anger that she had vanish when she heard his words. Her lips trembled, and her eyes started tearing up. Then her knees turned weak.

Just as she was about to fall, Jeames caught her and swept her up, and carried her like a princess.

Dorothy was not able to hold back anymore. Her shoulders shook, tears streaming down her cheeks as she started crying.

"Why? Why did you stop me?" she asked.

"The sorcerer is known for his black magic. We cannot offend him."

"If that man was good with black magic then… why is she still alive? Did the snake not work? I—"

"Shhhh—" Jeames tightly hugged her. "It's alright. You can cry on me…"

"Jeames, what should I do? Wahhhh— I do not want to marry that man! This was all Rosalind's plan! I knew she was jealous of me but I— " Dorothy continued sobbing in Jeames' arms.

Since the night of the Awakening ceremony, everything changed. People no longer respected her and their treatment had greatly changed. Her parents were slowly drifting away and had been wanting to send her away to marry that Duke.

They wanted to punish her for not having the Blessing! They wanted her to die!

All Dorothy wanted was to stay with her mother so she wanted to make Rosalind marry that Duke instead. On that day, Dorothy wanted to ruin Rosalind's reputation so their grandfather would easily send her to the North.

But something else happened!

The Duke schemed against her!

And Rosalind took advantage of everything.

Now, everything about her was in tatters. Rosalind ruined her life!

Why?

Why did they abandon her just because of that Blessing? Was she not worth anything without it?

Everything just came crashing down as she cried and cried until she found it hard to breathe. Seeing her struggle, Jeames took her to an unfamiliar place.

"I really hope the young lady does not mind. This is my mother's house. I just cannot think of another place to help you calm down before we go back to the mansion. Please- take a seat. I will get you a glass of water."

Dorothy did not say another word. She looked at the interior of the house and found a place where she could sit. She knew she was a mess and Jeames was right. She could not just go back to the mansion in the state that she was in.

She bit her lower lip and Jeames came back. Then she accepted the glass of water and finished it before returning the cup to him.

"Would you like some tea?" he asked. For a few seconds, she said nothing. Then she lifted her eyes, meeting his concerned gaze.

"No…" Dorothy whispered. "I would like you to do something else," she continued.

"What is it?" josei

Dorothy hesitated for a few seconds. She was not sure if Jeames would do it as he was always the kindest man that she knew.

"I— I want you to seduce my sister?"

"What?"

Dorothy narrowed her eyes. "After what she did to me… she cannot leave this place. Alive. So… I want you to do everything to make her stay."

"Dorothy—"

"I know we all grew up together, but are you really going to let her get away with this?" Dorothy asked. "Jeames, that woman… that woman wants me to be miserable. She was— she had been jealous of me since we were younger. She tried to harm me over and over again and now she is going to get away with it and earn her freedom away from my family! I cannot let that happen. So please—" she got up and held both of his hands. "Please… do this one thing for me. Will you?"