Chapter Two
To Hunt A Husband
“My lady, are you sure you’re well enough to undertake a visit to the town?” Bella fussed over my hair, anxiety written across her freckled face. “It’s only been ten days since you woke up, and you were unconscious for two weeks.”
“I’m sure, Bella. Besides, you’ll be with me, won’t you?” I smiled at her in the mirror.
I still wasn’t used to my new appearance.
In my past life, I’d had short blonde hair that barely skimmed my shoulders, brown eyes, and a passable face, alongside a relatively regular physique.
You know the type; could lose a few pounds but gaining a few wasn’t the end of the world, worked out religiously for two weeks then didn’t touch a dumbbell for a month kinda girl.
All right. Three months. Whatever.
In this life, I had emerald-green eyes, long, golden brown hair, and the kind of face that would stop traffic, plus—and excuse me for saying it like this—one hell of a banging body.
It was a fantasy novel, after all.
I couldn’t say I was mad about it. I’d always wanted to try dying my hair darker, and having supermodel level looks would only help me in my quest to find a husband.
That’s right.
I was officially on the hunt for a husband.
I’d agonised over it for the last three days, but it was the only solution I’d come up with.
If I was married or even engaged to someone else, then my father would have a difficult time agreeing to Grand Duke Kalon’s proposal.
Although there was a chance that he could demand I marry him instead thanks to his high rank, my father could also offer my half-sister’s hand in marriage to fulfil the business deal.
I had yet to see Sophia since waking up, but the memories that had been left behind meant I had no love for my younger sister. In fact, I’d relish the chance to send her to the bitterly cold Stein with Kalon instead.
Let her freeze her murderous little butt off in my place.
“Are you sure everyone is out, Bella?” I asked, pausing at my bedroom door and peeking out.
She nodded. “Yes, my lady. The marquess is at the palace, the marchioness is at Duchess Trelawney’s tea party with Lady Sophia, and aside from Lord Edward who is still away at school, Lord Vincent and Lord Michael are at the knightage.”
Right. Edward was the youngest of us all at fourteen and had an aptitude for magic, so he was studying at the academy run by the Magic Tower.
Sophia did next to nothing with her days except shop, gossip, and sup tea on her way up the social ladder, and my brothers Vincent and Michael were both knights in the royal order, although Vincent would soon leave to work with Father on the family business before he inherited the title.
This was my chance to get out and get back before they all did.
Not that running into Vincent would be all that bad. He was the only one of my four half-siblings who was nice to me, and that was probably because he was the heir. We were both different.
“Then let’s go!” I grinned at Bella and skipped out of my room, grabbing my skirt as I did so. I still wasn’t used to the manner of dressing here, but my thanks went to the author for having the fashion not be completely conservative.
Ankles weren’t considered sexy here, thank God.
There was no way I’d survive wearing floor-length dresses twenty-four-seven.
The previous soul had clearly felt the same way, given that a good portion of my wardrobe was fitted out with knee and midi-length dresses and skirts.
She’d had excellent taste. I hadn’t been much of a dress girl in my last life, but I couldn’t wait to dive into her wardrobe.
My dress today resembled a blouse and skirt more than anything, with a white off-the-shoulder bodice with short floaty sleeves and a light blue skirt that clinched in at my waist. The hem of the skirt was embroidered with a pretty floral pattern, and Bella had affixed a matching blue flower accessory to my hair.
I looked every inch the noblewoman, which was why I’d requested two cloaks from Bella earlier today.
I didn’t want to be recognised where I was going.
Not until I needed to be, anyway.
I got into the carriage with the helping hand of the coachman and took my seat. Bella quickly followed me, pausing only to relay my instructions of where to go to the coachman.
He glanced at me with surprise but said nothing as he secured the carriage door. Really, even him looking at me like that was cause for admonishment in this world given how strict the social hierarchy was, but I just wanted to get this show on the road.
Acting like the perfect noblewoman was going to be hard as it was.
“Are you sure that’s where you want to go, my lady?” Bella asked, fidgeting with her pouch in her lap. “It’s quite out of the way and not where you usually go.”
I nodded. “There’s something I need to find out. Do you have the cloaks?”
She opened the basket next to her and handed me one. “It seems dangerous.”
“Would I ever put you in danger, Bella?”
“Of course not.”
I smiled. “Then relax and trust me. I promise you that where we’re going is perfectly safe.”
“Yes, my lady.”
I understood her apprehension since the area that I’d instructed the coachman to take us to wasn’t the kind of place nobles walked around freely, but it was vital I went there today.
I had the one thing I needed to survive here—vast knowledge of this world.
Information here was traded, and to get such a thing, one went to information guilds.
They took on many shapes and sizes. Some were disguised as fancy tea houses, some were trading companies, and others were just downright hidden.
The ‘downright hidden’ type was where I was headed.
Illusion was the most infamous of all the information guilds in the empire.
It could get the kind of info that others could only dream of with unimaginable speed and discretion.
While it was fronted by a tea house, it was a rundown, shabby space in the poorer side of the town that not many people knew about—and even fewer knew of what it hid behind a magical passageway.
In the book, Alicia happened upon the guild master, Ezra, after she’d already married Kalon. She and her knights saved him from bandits, and he promised to pay her back whenever she needed it. She’d eventually called that favour in to get information on Lillia to destroy her.
It was almost impossible to get a meeting with him, and he kept his identity shrouded in mystery.
Even Alicia hadn’t known that Ezra was the guild leader—she’d always been under the impression that he merely worked there.
His appearance in the book had been fleeting, and I couldn’t remember him ever showing up again.
Even when Lillia and Torin had visited later on, he’d only allied with them from the shadows, speaking to them via one of his men.
This time, I would be the one making the first move.
Information was the key to changing my fate. I knew meeting him would be hard, but I had a trick up my sleeve.
I knew exactly who Ezra was and what he did in his free time, thanks to the book, and I was counting on that to get me the meeting I wanted.
I wasn’t above a little blackmail.
The carriage came to a stop, and I met Bella’s eyes. “Are we here?”
“I think so,” she replied, eyeing the door.
Two knocks rapped at it. “We’ve arrived, my lady,” the coachman said.
“Put on that cloak,” I instructed Bella. “And don’t say a word, do you understand?”
“Of course.”
I put on my cloak and secured it before pulling the hood up over my head. The hood was huge, and it hid almost all of my face with shadows. It was perfect.
The coachman opened the door, and I took his hand as I got out.
“Are you sure the carriage is hidden?” I asked him quietly.
“Yes, my lady. Exactly where Miss Bella instructed us to pull up. Nobody will recognise this as a carriage of House Vermillion anyway.”
“Good. Please wait here—we shan’t be long.”
“As you wish.” He bowed his head.
“Let’s go, Bella,” I said, motioning for her to follow me.
Luckily, the way to the guild had been detailed in the novel after Lillia and the Crown Prince had visited to get information on Kalon’s planned treason. They’d stopped a nondescript carriage in the exact spot I’d instructed Bella to tell our coachman, so I knew the correct path to take.
I led Bella through the rundown streets until we reached a small tea shop. It was nothing like the tea shops Alicia had frequented in my memories, but it was the exact place I’d seen described in the book.
The door creaked when I pushed it open. Despite being a front for Illusion, it served as a functioning tea shop for the lower class, and there was a low hum of chatter throughout the rundown store that was occasionally pierced by the laughter of children.
I approached the counter. “I’d like a milk tea with sugar and honey on the side, please.”
“Would you like to sit upstairs or downstairs?” the young woman asked me with sceptical eyes.
“Upstairs.”
She nodded and flicked her wrist. “Allegra. Show this lady to a seat upstairs while I make her tea.”
I turned to Bella. “Order what you’d like and pay. I’ll wait for you upstairs.”
Bella opened her mouth to say something, but as if my words from earlier resounded in her mind, she quickly stopped and instead turned to the woman behind the counter.
“Please follow me, miss.” The young woman who’d been called Allegra motioned for me to follow her, and I dipped my head as she guided me towards a staircase in the back of the shop.
We carried on up the staircase until we reached the top. There was a door to the left with a sign for no entry marked on it and an archway that lead to a small seating area. I assumed that was the waiting area in case there was nobody here, and I half-expected her to take me there.
Instead, she ran her hand along the panelled wall, muttering under her breath. She stopped and pushed on the wall, and a click filled the empty air as the wall gave way to a doorway.