Second Female Leads' Playbook

37 |Present|

In the end, the misunderstanding was cleared up by Georgia bear hugging Arina. Arina was thoroughly confused. The girl hugging her seemed familiar, but who? From the time Carlisle appeared, she always got this sense of deja vu she had no idea where it came from. She was a bird, she should not have known them. And she did not understand why Carlisle was determined to find her and bring her back. She was merely a bird. A bird that could not fly. 

"Is your mind still with me?" Carlisle drawled sarcastically. 

Arina was still thinking through all the questions she had. She responded a few seconds after Carlisle called her.

"A textbook respond that you're not listening." Carlisle smiled gently and said, "Very courageous of you." 

Arina knew instantly that Carlisle was planning something bad from just the smile on his face. 

"No," she quickly refuted. "I just have poor reflex. Didn't you always laugh at me for having poor reflex as a bird?" Her voice trailed off towards the end. "Did you?" She squeezed her eyebrows together, clearly not sure. 

Carlisle widened his eyes. Was her memory coming back? 

Arina looked around her surrounding since the first time Carlisle brought her here. He had brought her to a lake, a very beautiful and clear lake. A sense of deja vu washed over her again. She turned around to find Carlisle sitting on a bench and looking at her with a half smile on his face. 

A scene appeared in her brain. A blue finch. A young man. Red bean cake. The young master toying with the blue finch with an evil smile on his face. 

"Are you my master?" Arina asked. "Am I your pet bird? But why did you go all the way to find me? I am just a pet bird, you can simply replace me." There's a wistful and bleak expression of her face. As soon as the words left her mouth, her heart ached again. She knew she had touched on some sort of truth. 

Carlisle's hand shook slightly at her words. Those were just the cruel words he had once told Arina. Now they were being thrown back to him. He knew at that instant in his chase of power and revenge, he had crushed Arina's heart with his own hand.Beyond repair. Could he ever be forgiven? 

Probably not. Turned out he was not that different from his father after all. 

He stood up and pulled Arina into his embrace. Stroking her hair, he whispered into her ear, "I am not your master. I am no longer your master. You're free, Arina."

Tears slid down Arina's face. 

Drip. Drop. 

She was finally released from her gilded cage. 

"Bring that girl out," a big burly man demanded. He was different from when I first saw him, I thought. I tilted my head in confusion. But where was the different?

"It has been four days, I guess you no longer wanted to be toyed with by my mother, right?" the man in front of me said. "You have been tortured enough by your power repercussion. So spill everything you know about Carlisle. What's his weakness?" 

Don't say anything. A voice appeared in my head. So I closed my mouth. I didn't even chirp. 

"Are you deaf?" he shouted. "If you don't want to lose your arms or legs, you better speak."

After drenching several buckets of cold water on me, my brain finally became clearer. That's Ralph in front of me. He was finally done with his torture and my brain had shattered in the process as well. It's harder to focus and think straight for me these days. My thoughts were like a bird more and more often. If I didn't say anything now, he might really amputate my limbs. Even if I lost my mind, I still wanted my limbs intact. 

"Master Carlisle," I croaked, "was bad at sword. He was so bad that Lord Atherton likes Master Clark so much more." 

Carlisle was not bad at sword at all. But as a tool of Carlisle, I could not expose his secrets, could I? Or maybe I could. He betrayed me first. No, he didn't betray me. He simply treated me as a tool. No feelings attached. A tool had no pride, no feelings and no future. It's silly of me to think otherwise. 

"Are you treating me as a fool? I can get that after a walk in the market! Secrets! Weaknesses!" 

I lowered my head. I was just a discarded tool, if I didn't save myself, no one would. Ralph was about to kill me too. So, Carlisle you should not blame me. 

My mouth ticked up and I said, "I do know something. But in exchange you have to release me, do we have a deal?"

---------------

"Master Ralph of Orion Manor," announced that servant who stood at the entrance of audience hall. His guards were not allowed to go inside, so they had to be left outside of the hall. 

I peeked inside, all important ministers were standing in front of the throne. The throne was empty, but there was a smaller one next to it. Duke was sitting on it regally. He looked slimmer than when I last saw him. His cheeks sunk in and his eyes were dim. Master Carlisle was already present, standing at the front, holding a long box in his hand. 

Master Ralph smirked then he covered the cage I was in with a cloth. He took the long box holding the sword from one of his guard with one hand and then the cage with another. He then walked slowly into the hall. No doubt basking in all the attention from the ministers. 

"Your Grace," he greeted his father. 

"Two months ago, I have declared that the one who gets hold of the Sword of Fate would be my heir. Now show me what you have under the witness of our respected ministers. Both of you open the box you're holding," the Duke said regally. 

"Wimp, what are you doing here? You didn't bring an empty box, did you?" Ralph spat out. 

"My dear brother, always so impatient." A small smile appeared on Carlisle's face. "You'll know soon."

"Open your box!" the Duke demanded. 

"The two swords look the same." 

"Which one is the real sword?"

"Doesn't legend say the sword only allow the one it approves to hold it?" 

"Yes, twenty years ago someone found it too. And his hand rotted because he wasn't deemed the rightful owner!" 

"What do you mean by bringing a fake sword, brother," Ralph said sarcastically. He burst out in laughter, "I am sure I got into the cave before you did. My guard transfer me into the cave with his power. So while you're climbing that mountain, I already got the sword and returned to the capital. Many people can prove that."

"That cave is warded. One cannot teleport or be transferred into the cave. Otherwise, why did so many people die at the paw of the beast guarding the sword?" Carlisle replied calmly. "Are you sure you get into the right cave?"

"That's not possible! I was transferred into the cave. And the Sword of Fate was there!"

"Maybe you could be transferred into the cave because the ward has been broken?" Carlisle suggested calmly. "Maybe your sword is the fake one." A sound of a sword being pulled from the sheath and a collective intake of breath from the ministers. 

Carlisle continued to say, "It was recorded in the historical record that the sword had a notch at the edge from the time the first Duke fought with the rebel leader. There was also a carved stamp at the base of the sword indicating it as the work of the master craftsman." 

"Master Carlisle's sword has all these." 

"Maybe you just forged those on your fake sword. Everyone knows that from the historical record," Ralph defended.

"I think it's only fair if we check Ralph's sword as well, Your Grace," Carlisle said. 

All ministers agreed with that. 

"He is a liar! The sword was charmed, I could only pick up the sword with a pair of copper gloves and a potion to protect myself. And look at what he did! He picked up the sword with his bȧrė hand!"

There's a collective gasp and then another sound of sword sliding out of its sheath.

"No notch, no stamp. I think it's apparent now that your sword is the fake one," Carlisle said in fake sympathy. 

"No that's not possible!" Ralph shrieked. "I got there before you!"

"Why are you so certain? Maybe I got in the cave before you. I even fought with the beast guarding the cave." 

"That night you still hadn't set out! I got there the next morning."

"Maybe I got there that night, when you're still sleeping."

"That's not possible. You said yourself that no one could be teleported into the cave! And none of your guards can teleport. Or else why didn't you teleport directly to each destination? You went everywhere in your carriage!"

"We cannot teleport into the cave, but we can teleport close to the cave. As for the power teleportation..." 

Carlisle had teleportation power. Then everything made sense. He was not transferred into my prison cell like I thought, he teleported himself. The reason why I was often caught off guard even though I didn't hear him coming. Why I never saw him passed by me by the lake every time he appeared. He was able to teleport. 

Someone cleared his throat and said, "Master Ralph, maybe you forgot. Master Carlisle's mother was famous for her teleportation." 

"Then why did you go by carriage?" Ralph shrieked in anger. 

"Now you have your answer. If I go everywhere in teleportation, how could I fool you, brother." Carlisle chuckled. 

"Then how come you could touch the sword with your bȧrė hand?" Ralph was losing, so he was trying hard to attack Carlisle. 

"Maybe the same reason why the first Duke can touch the sword." 

"The sword acknowledges him," one minister whispered. The whole audience hall buzzed with excitement. 

"I won, brother."

"Not just yet.." Ralph finally picked the cage up from the floor, seemed like he finally remembered me.