Steward Gray frowned. Although he was not sure if the lady before him was from Duke Thompson’s household, he was not willing to take a chance. After all, he still wanted to live a good life.
"I do not have the power to lend you the caravan. They belong to my Lord. If you can wait one day, my Lord will be around to make the decision," Steward Gray said after carefully thinking about it.
Anastasia smiled and whispered to the guard beside her.
"Steward Gray, my lady does not have a day. You will send the caravan to the house at the exit of the village in five hours at most. The goods to be transported are already waiting. You can ask your men; my second is already collecting evidence of how you kidnapped citizens of Nixel. I am sure the young lady today is not the first. As long as an investigation is carried out, there will definitely be evidence. I wonder what will become of Steward Gray by then. The choice is yours," the guard said.
Anastasia did not wait to see the Steward’s response. She got up and left the meeting room. Once outside, she signaled for the young lady to follow her out of the place.
The young lady looked at the men from earlier. Seeing that no one was stopping her, she followed Anastasia happily. She secretly thanked God for sending a kind lady her way to save her.
"You can return home to your family," Anastasia said after they exited the residence.
"My lady, I promise to serve you for the rest of my life. You have spent so much money, and all I can do is serve you," the lady said.
Anastasia paused. She had not expected the lady to still want to honor her words. She was pleased with her determination.
"You should go back. Following me would be dangerous," Anastasia said. She felt that the young lady was smart and that her family would need her. Any servant she bought would be a body double for her. This might be very risky.
"I told my lady that I am willing to die if she could save me," the lady said, determined. She felt that Anastasia had saved her from a life of humiliation. So it did not matter if she died serving her.
Actually, when she learned that she would be sent to the inn to serve men, she had wanted to end her own life. But she worried that if she did, her two brothers and mother might be sold into slavery. No matter what, her brothers were still young, and the thought of her mother leaving her father to take care of himself scared her.
So, no matter how much she did not want to live such a disgraceful life, she still followed them out of the house.
Seeing her insist, Anastasia also wanted her to follow. After all, they had spent so much time already. There was not enough time to go to the hall where slaves were sold. It would take even more time to find someone suitable.
"What is the young lady’s name?" Anastasia asked.
"I am called Elfrida Ashcombe, my lady," the lady answered.
"Take this twenty silver coins and go give them to your parents. Then come meet me at the shore by midday," Anastasia said. The most update n0vels are published on nοvelfire.net
"My lady, this is too much. I cannot accept it," Elfrida Ashcombe refused to take the coins. She felt that Anastasia had already spent so much to save her from Steward Gray. Those men had threatened her, and she did not know how much Anastasia had to offer before being allowed to take her away.
"This might be the last time you see your parents if you follow me. Giving them this money means they will have something to survive on. You said it yourself, your father is just recovering. He needs to eat in order to fully recover. You can settle things at home before coming to meet me at the shore later," Anastasia said.
Elfrida Ashcombe got on her knees before anyone could stop her. "I thank the kind lady on behalf of my family. I shall return home and tell them the news. Then I will immediately head to the shore to meet my lady," Elfrida said in a single breath.
Anastasia was moved. "Get up quickly and go your way. I hope to see you at the shore," she said.
Elfrida got up, bowed to Anastasia again, and then left.
"Your Highness, shall I follow her? What if she takes your money and does not show up later?" the guard beside Anastasia asked.
"I trust her to come back," Anastasia said, shaking her head. She truly trusted the girl.
Just then, the second guard returned with all he could gather about Steward Gray. He was not a steward working directly under Lord Williams. He worked under the steward of Lord Williams’ family who was in charge of the family business. Although he did not work directly under Lord Williams, he still had six caravans under his control, and there were currently two at the residence they visited earlier.
"Had there been cases of him taking daughters from their families before?" Anastasia asked.
"Yes, I found five young ladies this year. Their families were unable to pay their debts. I feel something is strange about these families’ situations. At first, each should have been able to pay on time, but they suffered misfortunes shortly after borrowing money from Steward Gray, causing them to be unable to pay," the second guard explained.
Anastasia also thought that this was not a mere coincidence. If her guess was true, then these ladies were targeted by Steward Gray because of their beauty. There was no time to confirm her suspicion, but she was certain that if Steward Gray was guilty, he would deliver the caravan on time.
"Your Highness, do you think he will send the caravan?" the guard who was with her the whole time asked.
"Yes," Anastasia said.
She was confident that even if Steward Gray could not confirm her identity, he would not want to make any mistakes. He would send the caravan, but there would be spies among the men; first, to monitor their activities and ensure they did not commit any crimes, and second, after he had investigated her, if she was not really the daughter of Duke Thompson, he would know where to find her and take revenge.
The most important reason why he would deliver on time was because he was guilty of breaking the law and would not want the situation to be investigated thoroughly.