Chapter 28: Escaping from the Palace

  Outside the Earl of Edward's study, a beautiful woman dressed as a maid took out a small mirror from her pocket and carefully looked at herself. With a satisfied smile, she put away the mirror and adjusted an extremely charming smile before knocking on the door of the study. Soon, there was a sound of footsteps inside the study, followed by the creaking of the door opening to reveal a narrow slit just large enough for one person to enter. A man's large hand reached out and scooped up the smiling woman.

  Bang!

  The door closed, and the words of the countess that morning still echoed in his ears: "Charlotte has long been in bed with the count, you don't believe me, I can take you to his bedroom now." Lestin felt a surge of fire rising from the bottom of his heart, and finally he couldn't bear it anymore and punched the wall.

  The day the king was assassinated, the palace was in chaos and Charlotte took advantage of the guards' absence to sneak out of her cell. She didn't leave the palace immediately but instead searched for Lydia everywhere. The incident happened so suddenly that everyone in the palace was flustered, and many secluded areas were left unguarded. Charlotte walked very easily through the palace, being extra careful. As she passed by a pine forest, she wondered how such a large pine forest could exist within the palace grounds. Inside the forest, she vaguely saw a low and exquisite palace, and Charlotte had a premonition that this was where she would find the person she was looking for. After spending quite some time walking through the forest, Charlotte couldn't help but feel that living here was truly isolated from the world. Normally, no one would come to disturb anyone who lived here, as it took half a day just to walk in. Charlotte became even more curious about who could be living here.

  As she walked out of the pine forest, the beautiful scenery in front of her made her eyes light up. However, after a while, Charlotte became worried. It turned out that to reach the palace, she had to cross the lake in front of her first. The lake was wide and deep, and it was necessary to take a boat to get across. But Charlotte not only didn't know how to row a boat, but also had a fear of water due to the incident with the female demon last time. At this moment, she felt like giving up and turning back. Just as she turned around, she seemed to hear someone speaking beside her ear, and Charlotte stopped in her tracks to listen carefully.

  "Charlotte, it's Xiao Bai. Your mother is in the White Dew Palace right now, and this is a good opportunity. Hurry up and go rescue Lydia, then escape from Princess Ero's Ganluo Palace through the secret passage under her bed."

  Xiaobai! Charlotte looked around and confirmed that there was no one else around except herself. She anxiously shouted out loud,

  "Xiao Bai! Xiao Bai, where are you?"

  The voice of Xiao Bai came again in the air, only this time it was no longer urgent and seemed much weaker.

  "Charlotte, I'm fine, don't look for me, hurry up and leave the palace. Once the king is dead, Princess Ero will be even harder to deal with, you have to be careful yourself."

  After finishing speaking, there was no more sound. Charlotte was worried about Xiao Bai, but now she didn't even know where Xiao Bai was or how he was doing. From Lydia's tone, it seemed like the situation wasn't good. Without delaying any further, Charlotte gritted her teeth and pushed off from the shore in a small boat, rowing towards the opposite bank.

  Pushing open the heavy golden gate, Charlotte had imagined many times the desolation of Bailu Palace, but she didn't expect it to be like this. The flowers, grass and trees in front of the hall were neatly arranged, with white granite paving a straight road leading to the hall door. The road surface was clean and refreshing, showing that someone often came to sweep and repair here.

  The exquisitely crafted palace elicited applause and admiration from every visitor, but Charlotte's purpose for coming here was different. She didn't have the leisure to appreciate the legendary beauty of the palace. Charlotte pushed open door after door, scanning each room repeatedly, ensuring that no one was downstairs before she nervously ascended the stairs. Her bare feet made no sound on the wooden staircase, and the silence within the palace evoked a deep-seated fear.

  Crack!

  The faint sound of the door closing upstairs made Charlotte's blood flow backwards for a moment, her footsteps lightly falling. She tried to hide her presence as much as possible, staring tensely at the corridor. The faint sound of footsteps made Charlotte let out a long sigh of relief - it was a person after all! Judging from the sound, it was a petite woman who was walking towards her. Charlotte quietly retreated to the bottom of the stairs, only exposing her head to gaze up at the corridor. The footsteps got closer and closer, and an old maid with a tired expression appeared at the top of the stairs. She hesitated for a moment, looking back inside before letting out a sigh and coming down the stairs. Charlotte's eyes widened in surprise - wasn't that Emily?!

  Charlotte quickly ran up the stairs and blocked Emily's way.

  "Emily! How did you end up here?"

  Emily's face was a picture of shock, her mouth agape. Her cry was stifled by her hands before it could escape. Charlotte found it strange that Emily would react this way to seeing her - shouldn't she be warmly embracing and kissing her instead?

  Emily's voice trembled as she began to speak.

  "Are you human or ghost?"

  Charlotte was chilled to the bone by her own words, and she shuddered all over, shaking off gooseflesh. Charlotte took two steps forward, and Emily hastily retreated a few steps. Charlotte lowered her head to look at the smooth handrail, where her pale face, cyan-colored lips, and blood-red eyes were reflected.

  "Emily, it's Charlotte, you probably don't recognize me, I really am Charlotte."

  Emily stared at her with a more shocked expression than seeing a ghost, although she still didn't dare to get close to Charlotte, but her tone was very severe.

  "What have you done with Miss Charlotte! Give her back to me at once!"

  Charlotte pouted and didn't want to discuss Charlotte's boring topics with Emily anymore.

  "Emily, you just went to take care of my mother, didn't you? She should be upstairs, I'm right?"

  "How did you know?"

  Reacting too late, Emily hastily covered her mouth, Charlotte couldn't help but laugh in her heart, this old woman is always so silly. Charlotte was about to go upstairs, Emily, although afraid of her, still insisted on blocking Charlotte's way and not letting her leave.

  "Emily, must you make me say it?"

  Emily looked at Charlotte in puzzlement, wondering what she was going to say.

  "That sapphire necklace, do you remember it? Actually, that was Uncle Lauren's gift to you. Natalie picked it up and gave it to her mother. You saw it but were too embarrassed to say it was yours, so Uncle Lauren thought you had refused his gift. Am I right, Emily?"

  Emily had heard halfway and was certain that she was Miss Charlotte. After Charlotte finished, Emily was so excited that she cried, regardless of whether Charlotte was ugly or not. Emily tightly hugged her icy and stiff arm, pulling Charlotte upstairs, skipping the part where King forced Lydia, Emily told Charlotte about their experiences in the palace, which was already enough to sadden Charlotte, if she knew the truth about Lydia's injury, Emily feared that she would go crazy.

  Charlotte clearly knew that after her father was exiled, their family would be completely ruined. Her mother and Kitty, as criminals, would suffer greatly when sent to the palace. But when she heard it with her own ears and confirmed it with her own eyes, she finally understood what "blood is thicker than water" meant. Lydia lay weakly in bed, Charlotte couldn't see the bloody scissors, but she could still feel the heart-wrenching pain.

  "Where's Kitty?"

  Charlotte didn't see Kitty on her way here, so she asked Emily,

  "Miss Kitty is all right, she'll be back in a minute."

  Emily replied too quickly, Charlotte couldn't help but feel a little suspicious.

  "Emily, you have to tell me the truth, today I'm going to take you guys away from here."

  "Miss, you can leave!? That's great!"

  Emily didn't question Charlotte's words at all, and upon hearing that she could leave, a happy smile spread across her face.

  "Emily, first you have to tell me where Kitty went, then we can go."

  Emily's expression became tense, worried that Charlotte would get angry, twisting her fingers and not daring to speak. Charlotte didn't urge her on, only gazing calmly at the top of Emily's head.

  "I'm sorry miss, Miss Kitty, she...she plans to assassinate the king! No matter how I begged her, Miss Kitty was unmoved. Sorry, I couldn't protect her."

  Emily apologized non-stop, things were already troublesome enough, and Katie still had to make trouble for herself. Charlotte was almost driven mad by her. Is the king so easy to kill?! Don't end up being killed instead and then thank heaven!

  What to do? Charlotte thought rapidly in her mind, maybe Kitty had already made a move, no wonder the palace was so chaotic. Xiao Bai reminded herself to take her mother and escape quickly, fearing that Princess Ero would calm down and come looking for trouble. After weighing the possibility of going to the assassination scene to rescue Kitty, Charlotte decided to leave with her mother first.

  "Never mind, it's her decision, nothing to do with you, just carry your mother and follow me."

  Emily carried Lydia, Charlotte rowed the boat and the two of them left the White Dew Palace, taking a shortcut to the Sweet Dew Palace. Today, the Sweet Dew Palace was exceptionally quiet, and it seemed that there were no people inside. She instructed Emily to hide outside the door now, and Charlotte quietly slipped in to take a look. The people who used to be here laughing and chatting had disappeared cleanly, and the palace people who were proud and arrogant also hid. Charlotte saw this situation and felt slightly relieved, calling out to Emily to come together, they secretly snuck into the central palace of the Sweet Dew Palace.

  Ganlu Palace and Bailu Palace differ by one word, but their styles are vastly different. Bailu Palace advocates for nature, with every corner having orchids and dew drops. Ganlu Palace yearns for luxury, with golden bricks paving the way, stretching for ten miles without hearing any water sounds.

  "Is this where Princess Ero rests? Emily, you've been in the palace for a long time, don't you think it's here?"

  Charlotte was somewhat uncertain. The palace they were in was indeed luxurious, but it had no life at all. How could a princess's bedroom be so dull?

  "Miss, I'm not qualified to enter the Ganlu Palace. The attendants here have all served by the king's side. This doesn't seem like a good place for us, let's go take a look at another palace."

  Charlotte also agreed with Emily's suggestion, and they left the palace with Lydia on their backs. Charlotte was worried about which road to take. They didn't have much time, Princess Ero might come back at any moment.

  Not knowing which road to take, Charlotte simply let nature take its course and chose a direction towards the sunset. Whether it was walking towards destruction or rebirth, this road was her destiny.

  The end of the road was not as dazzling as I had imagined, and unexpectedly saw many palace people.

  "With so many people here, didn't they all leave with Princess Ero?"

  "Miss, we can't get in, and this way is easily discovered by them. It's worrying to death."

  Emily muttered in her ear, a sense of frustration spreading through her mind. Charlotte was fed up with her own unlucky attribute, why did everything she do go wrong!

  "After I'm gone, you must get rid of the bad luck."

  Charlotte muttered under her breath, but Emily didn't hear her, she was still stretching her neck to look at the palace not far in front of her, talking incessantly. After being worried for a while, Charlotte touched her cheek and smiled slyly.

  "Emily, your mistress has thought of a good plan."