Clentine:
"It’s okay, I’ll go fetch it," I said quickly.
I knew where I had been when I was reading the map, so it would be quick.
However, she began to hand a flashlight through the small opening.
"Thank you so much," I told her, grabbing the flashlight.
"Did you get the watch?" she questioned.
"Yes," I replied, turning on the flashlight and lifting the watch to show it to her.
"Are you sure it is the real one?" she asked.
I gave her a small smile. I guessed that because they had let her go, she was very anxious.
"Yes. I did not die in the castle collapse."
As soon as I said that, she slapped her forehead.
"Show it to ."
She suddenly reached her hand through the small opening between the bars, her fingers stretching toward as she asked to give it to her.
I raised the watch in my hand and watched her fingers slowly brush against the silver chain.
At that mont, I just kept staring at her.
Her fingers stretched a little too far, almost impatient.
"Clentine, co on, what are you waiting for?" she asked .
With a gulp running down my throat, I placed the watch in her palm after I cleaned the dial with the back of my pants.
She pulled her hand back fast. Her smile suddenly changed.
It stretched too wide, higher than what looked natural.
The corners of her lips twitched, almost like she was struggling to keep them still.
A cold rush went over my arms.
"I’ll go and get the key," I stated, forcing myself to look away.
I began to wander back when she did not respond. After only a few minutes of walking, I was already thinking about what I had just seen.
Wasn’t she a little too happy? I pushed the thoughts aside and decided to search for the key.
There it was. I found it on the ground. Thankfully, I secured it and ran back at full speed.
At one point, I wondered if, when I returned, I might not find her.
The way she had snatched the watch from made it seem like she was more interested in the watch.
And I was already beginning to wonder if I had made a mistake, if she had tricked , if she had wanted the watch from .
However, the minute I reached the gate, she was still there.
I let out a sigh of relief. She was still staring at the watch, though.
"Found it," I said, and she looked up, her smile fading.
She gave a small nod.
I quickly slid the key into the lock. This kind of lock, I did not think I could even pick.
There were different patterns, even in the key, that should have clicked with the lock inside.
However, I turned it and twisted it. Nothing clicked, no shift, only silence.
I took it out and tried again and again until I finally realized it was not working.
So I looked up and saw Miss Rue standing still, her arms folded in front of her.
The sa wide, strange smile had returned to her face. She was not blinking.
Her eyes were fixed on , and her stare was so stiff that my stomach dropped.
A chill ran up my spine, but I forced an awkward smile.
"Miss Rue, the key is not working," I told her.
She tilted her head far to the side. The movent was slow and puppet-like, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
"Oh, is it not?" she asked in a taunting tone.
"What is going on? Are you okay?" I asked her since she was acting odd.
She was actually creeping out.
She tapped her finger against her chin while still watching .
The tapping was rhythmic, but the rest of her body did not move.
"Well," she muttered as if speaking to herself while staring at the sky.
"Let think. Am I okay?" Her head leaned back as she looked up at the trees, then she snapped her fingers sharply, almost as if she had just figured sothing out.
"Oh, I rember," she remarked, widening her smile and finally looking down to stare right at .
"Doesn’t it feel bad," she asked softly, "when soone leaves you in danger?"
"I don’t understand what you’re talking about," I asked her in confusion.
I could feel my throat drying up at this point.
She stepped forward until her forehead nearly touched the bars.
Her eyes never blinked, and she never looked away from .
"You’re scared, Clentine?" she mumbled, and I swallowed hard in her presence.
My shoulders were already tense. I did not know what was happening with her, but this was not normal.
I could already tell she was going to do sothing reckless.
Her lips twitched again as she continued to whisper.
"Riv must have felt the sa."
The mont she said that, my heart dropped.
"When you left her in the ditch for the ogres to squash her," she murmured until she suddenly yelled, "he squashed her because of you."
The sound echoed through the woods so loudly that I felt my blood run cold.
My body started to shudder, and my hands began to tremble.
Riv.
The na struck sothing in my mory.
She was the first crusader who died during the transition stage, the one everyone said did not survive early because of .
"What does Riv have to do with all this?" I asked.
My eyes and my voice started to shake even though I tried to steady them.
Miss Rue raised her chin with a very deliberate movent.
Her smile faded into sothing cold.
"Well, you do not know, huh?" she replied, stepping closer again, and this ti I could see her face clearly. "Let tell you, am I not here for revenge?"
She asked that, and it was the mont I finally began to see the resemblance she had with Riv.
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