Rosie's Games-Chapter 353: Permission

"Federico is still alive," Rosalind suddenly said just as they were about to reach the gates.

"What?" Lucas was sitting next to her, silently looking outside of the carriage where people were shouting for his name. He was planning to get out of the carriage when they reached the gates to greet everyone.

"I can feel it," Rosalind said. The news of Federico’s disappearance caused her to quickly spiral off into different lines of thought, contemplating all possible scenarios. The timing was simply too suspicious.

"I think they want to pin this on you." She couldn’t shake off a sense of unease about the situation. Something was wrong and her intuition was telling her to run and leave this place.

The fact that Dorothy wanted to see Lucas last night and then this happened.

Rosalind could not ignore the fact that she no longer saw the darkness around Dorothy. The last time that she saw her, the woman had something dark around her. When she saw her again, the darkness around her was no more.

That, in and of itself, was a warning sign.

She should have just asked Lucas to leave the Empire.

"They want to frame you," Rosalind reiterated.

"I can see that coming from a mile away," Lucas said.

"And?"

He shrugged. "I have more important things to attend to than playing their games."

The man did not seem to understand the urgency of this situation.

They wanted to frame him and perhaps make him stay in the Empire.

"We need to leave." Rosalind will not let that happen.

"What?"

"Go to the Black Market." This time, she reached out his hand and pulled him towards her. "We need to leave. Now." Her feeling of impending doom was growing increasingly stronger.

"Those people bullied you," Lucas uttered. That made her pause. She blinked.

"And?"

"We are not leaving."

Rosalind frowned. She thought about the past and could not help but agree with his words. Indeed, they bullied her in the past, however, she was able to change her life. She was able to stop it from happening again.

Now that she carefully thought about it, she should not have any reasons to fear them.

She already had a new life. One that involved Lucas.

Rosalind Lux was dead. Gone.

So was her old life.

She swallowed as realization sat in. She panicked.

She knew that they were scheming and she was prepared for them.

She just never thought that they would include Lucas in their plans.

However, she should have seen that coming.

She panicked because she did not want them to succeed. In her panic, she had forgotten that they were scheming against Lucas. Her Lucas.

That last part made her blush.

How could she claim him as hers?

She looked outside, pretending not to notice his gaze.

"Stop the carriage! Stop the carriage!" someone’s voice echoed outside.

"Your Grace, His Blessedness Martin is outside," Denys said as he knocked on the window. "Shall I tell them to leave?"

"There is no need for that," Lucas answered.

This time, Rosalind looked at him.

"You can stay in the carriage if you want," Lucas said. "There is no need to entertain the people you dislike," He assured her with a smile.

"Thank you," Rosalind uttered. However, his words earlier seemed to change something inside her.

Those people bullied her in her past life and in this life.

When she realized that she somehow turned back time, she immediately did her best to run away from them. Was she going to continue running away?

She met his eyes and, for some reason, it felt like he was reading her mind as he smiled and nodded at her as if he was giving her permission to do what she wanted. It was as if he was telling her that he would be there for her no matter what.

She felt something warm in her heart.

Earlier, she realized that the reason why she panicked was that she did not want her family to make him suffer with their schemes. The plan to drag him here and act as everyone’s hero was something that Rosalind liked. She even volunteered to come here to gather the relics herself.

She knew that the Blessed Families would turn their attention to him and a part of her liked that. She wanted the people to like the Duke more than they liked the Blessed Families.

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

Upon deeper reflection, she acknowledged that she was simply using him as a means to achieve her own goals.

While he had been doing his best to protect her.

She pursed her lips.

"Do not think too much," the Duke said. Without warning, he leaned in and kissed her forehead before leaving her inside the carriage. The sudden contact left her in a daze.

However, it was once again reminded of how she used him to punish Aster.

Since they met, the man had been nothing but kind and accommodating to her.

Yet here she was…

She took a long, deep breath.

She could already hear Martin’s voice outside. She slowly opened the curtains and narrowed her eyes when she saw Dorothy next to Martin.

Just as she expected, the woman was clearly scheming something that involved the Duke.

Meanwhile, the commotion already gathered the attention of the people outside. Many were here to see the Duke but they did not expect to see Martin Lux and the ’Saintess’ Dorothy too.

Seeing three important individuals in one place like this was not very common. As a result, a wave of excitement swept through the crowd, and people began shouting their names.

Little did they know, trouble was brewing in the background.

"Your Blessedness, If I had known of your intention to see me off, I would have personally extended my welcome to you in my carriage," said Lucas, speaking first. He was smiling at them, but his emotions were obscured as his mask covered half of his face.

"Your Grace…" Martin’s lips twitched. How could someone be so nonchalant after what he did? "Should we talk somewhere else?" Martin asked. He forced himself to smile but the sinister glint in his eyes was enough to inform Lucas of his real intentions.