Schemes deriving from love

Chapter 3

Third person P.O.V

The light was blinding her. That was the first thought Grace had. She opened her eyes and shielded them to prevent the sunlight from seeping through them.

"Mother, one of them is awake!!" A girl yelled at the top of her lungs, causing Grace to groan in frustration. Seriously, she never had such an alarm. While she was settling in her surroundings, she noticed a few odd things, all of which seemed to have been unmodified. They were weird, but not more weirder than what she was wearing. Before she could observe and understand the position she was in, the little girl came back, tugging a long light brown along with her. 

The person being dragged along was a young woman, who in fact, look quite young to have a kid in the first place. She had jet black hair, which looked silky. Her eyes were matched with her hair and she had an air of elegance about her. Grace sat up, and like the cautious woman she was, she decided to find some sort of sharp weapon. Luckily, her clothes and twin daggers were still there. 

She snatched it from the top right hand corner of the shelf beside her, where everything was neatly placed and folded. The action went unnoticed by the mother and daughter pair, and she sighed at relief at that. "Looks like you are awake. How are you feeling? Are you in pain?" The woman asked gently, like a calm mother soothing a hurt child. Grace noticed that, but didn't lower her caution. After all, you couldn't trust anyone that was a stranger. They could poison you, frame you, or even stab you.

It was honestly mind blowing how cautious she could be. But, she couldn't help it. After all, if she wasn’t so vigilant, she might as well be dead. It was something that the entertainment world had taught her. "It is alright. You are safe. Do not worry," the mother assured her kindly, "By the way, my name is Yuna. I am an embroider. May I ask who you are? Your clothes are quite the peculiar ones."

Her innocent gaze told Grace everything. She wasn't a threat. "I am Grace, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Thank you for helping me, but may I ask where we are? What is our location?”

“You mean here? Right now, we are in East Shikoku,” the woman explained. Even though it was obvious she was giving Grace confused looks, her answer was simple. Grace frowned and then turned pale from fright. Her hands started shaking and her luscious red lips quivered. She brought her white knees to her face, making herself seem like a protective shield. Her blonde locks cascaded down her face and she felt confused and terrified.

How could she be in Shikoku? Wasn’t this place in Japan? Weren’t they on the other side of the world, in Paris? Something clicked in her head then. So she decided to get up. She cautiously moved down from the bed, letting her feet slowly go down. She waiting for the hellish pain to come from the injuries. She closed her eyes, and braced herself for the pain.

But nothing happened. She slowly opened her eyes, and looked at herself. It looked like she had light bruises, nothing else. She was surprised, but didn’t care. The little child mentioned her as one of the people to be awake. Then the other two must be here. She hastened her steps and went towards the far end of the room. What she saw was shocking for her.

In front of her, two women lay unconscious. They had cuts, bruises, and swollen wounds. She slowly covered her mouth and for that brief point, it felt like her old self had returned. A scared i***t who always felt helpless. Then the dam broke.

Tears sprang from her crystal clear eyes. Her knees went weak and she collapsed on the ground. Seeing her fall in this way, Yuna grew worried. She knew that the three had to be family, due to the similarity in their looks. She quickly went over to comfort and help her up, with her child following in tow.

“W-what happened to them? W-w-why are t-they like t-this?” Just when Yuna was about to give, Grace spoke out. She was stammering and barely managed to get her words out.

“You mean these two women? They were like this when I found you with them in the forest behind our village. We were collecting firewood when we saw blood coming out of the bushes. We decided to see what happened. When we found you three, I was really surprised. These two had their arms wrapped around you like they protecting you. Their wounds were terrible. They are the most bloodiest people I have seen!!! I am surprised they even managed to live since they are women.”

Yuna’s answer horrified her even more. She sobbed and wailed loudly like there was no tomorrow. Even the child next was trying to comfort her. But there was just no way they could stop her sudden outburst.

“Who made her cry?! I’ll kill you!!” Suddenly, a booming voice resounded inside the small, wooden room. Just by hearing that sentence, Grace calmed down. She knew who it was. It was someone who hated it when she saw that someone had bullied her.

“Sis, stop it!! She’s helped us. You can’t lash out at her!!” By the time Yuna realised what was going on, she looked frightened. But it wasn’t because of the sudden intrusion of a new person, but because of the state she was in…….

“You need to lie down right now, young lady!! Do you have any idea what state you are in?!” Yuna was worried sick about her, because the wounds that she had spent so much effort in were again being opened. Mia’s complexion darkened and her brows came together in a frown. She glared at her sharply, which made Yuna feel a bit intimidated.

“Stop Mia. I’m being serious,” Grace said. After realising what was going on, and the constant explanation and reminders of Grace, Mia calmed down. She immediately put on an apologetic expression. Although she was a seasoned politician, that went flying out when it came to anything related to Grace.

But even before Grace moved her lips, a hoarse yet calm voice sounded from their backs, “I…apologise on… h-her…. behalf…Forgive her, she…she….didn’t mean….harm…... I as-assure you…She isn’t a…. bad person,” It Was Maria’s turn to make an entrance.

Mia’s frown became even more deeper than before and she clicked her tongue in annoyance. Her hands casually folded across her chest to show that she didn’t like what she was hearing. She tapped her foot unhappily, waiting for her to explain why she was covering for her.

It was just like before. Whenever they would make a mistake, she would be the first one to clean it up for them. Maria thought that she needed to do that, but Mia thought far from that. She knew that every single time someone tried to mess with her in politics, they would vanish without a trace. Mia didn’t even need to investigate, because obviously none of those whom she played around with, were this generous.

Since she was also hated by many, no one would try to cut any deals with her either. So the only option was Maria. Just thinking about all this gave Mia a headache. But she had her own ways to tell her to mind her own business. It was just that she never listened, so Mia went ahead and decided to give up.

Right now, she was doing the exact same thing. So she did what she thought was best. She prepared a full list of snarky comments in her head, and decided to have her eldest sister take a full blow. But in the next second she thought against it. Because right in front of her lay a literal corpse.

Arms wrapped in bandages with visible blood flowing out, broken ribs and legs, both tiny and large cuts and bruises littered her slim body. She had her head covered too. Her lips were busted and a crimson red stream of blood was also coming out from it. When she talked moments before, and kept pausing and stuttering, it was because of the torturous pain she felt coursing through her body. Due to the heavy pain, beads of tears were already coming to her dark grey eyes which were a very dull colour at that moment. She looked really horrible and that was an absolute solid fact.