Chapter 226 Jinxed Her Own Fate

Chapter 226 Jinxed Her Own Fate
~Aveline~

I wasn't the type of person who tied myself to materialistic things, yet witnessing the bracelet snap made my breath hitch for a fraction of a second.
"My lady… are you alright, my lady?" Daisy questioned.
I was alright, but the bracelet…
I thought about it for a moment, but in the next second, my thoughts were interrupted by a noise from outside.
The sound snapped my attention back to the situation, and my focus shifted from the bracelet as my ears strained, picking up the faint sounds of muffled struggle beyond the carriage.
Then—
Squelch!
The noise stopped at once, but the sound before it had made one thing all too clear.
The coachman was dead.
And this… this was an attack.
Daisy went still beside me, as if she, too, had just realized what was happening.
I threw a glance at her and immediately pressed a finger to my lips—not that it was of much help. Seeing as they hadn't attacked some random carriage but ours, they definitely knew who was inside.
So that begged the question: who sent them?
The list surprisingly wasn't long.
However, with the sound of footsteps approaching, I knew I had little to no time to play guess the suspect. I needed to assess the situation.
I counted the footsteps.
Eight—four pairs at least.
I could take them… under normal circumstances.
My eyes drifted to Daisy. Her wide eyes darted around the carriage. She looked frightened, yet she was still trying to stand her ground.
Something in my chest tightened.
Why had I taken her with me today?
“Now's not the time for brooding, Aveline.” Serena's voice sounded in my head. “They're surrounding the carriage.”
I threw quick glances toward the blinds on both sides.
Sure enough, hooded shadows stood out amidst the blinds, seemingly uncaring of the fact that they were being soaked from head to toe.
“You cannot fight with the girl,” Serena stated the obvious. “There's a forest straight down the road. If you run into it, you can lose them.”
Easier said than done, I thought, but nonetheless found myself searching the carriage, my eyes settling on the umbrella.
I grabbed it and turned to Daisy, lowering my voice. "Listen to me, Daisy," I said, keeping my voice calm. "We're going to make a run for it. Once we start, don't stop running no matter what."
Her shaky eyes met mine, but she nodded with brave determination. I offered my hand, and she took it before we immediately turned toward the door.
If all four have surrounded the carriage, then it means there's only one person at the door.
I can manage.
Inhaling deeply, I held my breath, waiting for the moment when the noise amidst the rain shifted—the moment footsteps approached the door.
I targeted the instant the door began to open, then, with every ounce of strength I could muster, I kicked the door.
Hard!
It swung open and slammed straight into the incoming figure.
I didn't wait for his body to even hit the floor. With Daisy's hand in one and the umbrella in the other, I sprinted out of the carriage and straight into the rain.
Shouts immediately broke out behind us.
"Stop her from getting away!"
"Don't let them go!"
I didn't stop. I didn't even throw a glance back to catch who they were. In situations like this, such a move wasn't being cowardly—it was being wise.
The voices behind us mingled with the heavy pounding of footsteps as we ran straight toward the forest up ahead, its tall trees and thick bushes looming through the rain.
My grip tightened around Daisy's wrist as I pulled her along as the heavy footsteps behind us grew closer with every passing second.
Rain poured relentlessly through the canopy, soaking through my clothes and making the ground beneath my feet slick.
My eyes darted around, searching desperately for somewhere we could escape.
“Up ahead,” Serena suddenly said. “There's a hidden cave.”
Hearing that, I immediately increased my pace, tightening my grip around Daisy's hand as I pulled her forward.
We just needed to make it there.
But suddenly, Daisy stumbled behind me.
Her foot caught on something, and her hand slipped from mine.
My heart skipped a beat.
I immediately spun around, my eyes landing on Daisy as she struggled to pull herself back up. But at the same time, one of the hooded figures was closing in on her.
My eyes widened, catching a hand dagger that gleamed through the rain as the figure raised it.
In that instant, without hesitation, I threw myself in front of her just as the figure brought the dagger down.
Clang!
The dagger collided with the umbrella, and I heard several sharp cracks run through it from the force of the impact.
"My lady!" Daisy cried.
"Run!" I ordered, keeping myself between her and the attacker. "Hurry!"
Daisy immediately scrambled to her feet and took off running.
The guy drew his dagger back, and lunged for me. I twisted my body dodging his attack, then, taking the opening, I rolled the umbrella tightly in my hand and swung the hard corner straight into his wrist.
Thwack!
He cried out and the dagger flew from his hand.
Before he could recover, I hooked the umbrella around his neck, yanked him down, and drove my knee into his stomach.
A violent coughed ripped through his throat as he stumbled backward, struggling to regain his balance.
Just then, the others appeared in the distance.
"There she is. Get her!"
"Shit," I cursed.
Turning on my heels, I made a run fot it.
The trees blurred past me as rain fell relentlessly all around us, and my eyes scanned the forest frantically for Daisy.
What if she'd run into one of them?
From the looks of it, these people wouldn't hesitate to kill Daisy.
Something swelled painfully in my chest.
Fear.
No.
I immediately dismissed it.
I wasn't going to let anything happen to Daisy.
“Up ahead, Aveline,” Serena said.
I looked up and saw Daisy.
Relief flooded my chest, but it was short-lived when I realized she was standing completely still, a look of absolute horror etched across her face.
Why wasn't she running?
But the closer, i got, the more realization sank in.
Stopping beside Daisy, and my heart dropped.
"My lady…" She called, her voice small beneath the relentless rain.
Yet her words barely registered. Not when my eyes remained fixed on the vast space before us, filled only with towering trees and a distance that looked like no one could possibly survive.
It was a dead fucking end.
The sound of approaching footsteps made me turn around.
And now, no longer running, I watched as they piled in.
Not one.
Not four.
But six hooded figures, all surrounding the path we'd just come from, rain bouncing off the steel of the daggers in their hands.
My throat tightened as my eyes swept over the figures taking slow, deliberate steps toward us, and a clipped laugh slipped past my lips.
Good things from here on out, I'd said.
Ha.
I'd just jinxed my own fucking fate.