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For a moment, Eve couldn’t hear or see anything as if frozen. Becky could be a name… but it could also be short for Rebecca, which was her mother’s name. Yesterday at the ball wasn’t the first time she was told that she resembled someone faintly. There had been another time in the past when someone told her that she looked familiar but she had brushed it away.

Gathering her thoughts, she asked, “Becky?”

The woman frowned and repeated, “Becky? That wasn’t her name.”

The blacksmith shook his head, “That’s her name.” His wife gave him a look as if his memory was working well in remembering something so unwanted, and he explained to her, “A lot of men used to talk about her.”

“The whole town used to talk about her,” his wife rolled her eyes. “Anyways, a decent lady like yourself should not bother yourself with something like that.” The woman then took her husband along with her, and walked away from there while leaving Eve standing there alone.

From where she stood, Eve turned around and looked at the houses and poor buildings.

She clutched the iron bolts in her hand, and instead of walking toward the carriage, she walked on the deserted streets of Brokengroves town. Her blue eyes scanned the trees and the walls of the buildings. Lanterns burned outside the houses, some inside the house, where light glowed.

“I can’t remember anything,” Eve whispered.

She was too young to remember where she lived with her mother.

Did her mother… accompany the wealthy man and share bed with them? Eve questioned herself. No, that wasn’t possible. Her mother earned her livelihood as a maid, isn’t it? Now she wasn’t sur–

She suddenly heard a rustle behind her. Turning alert, she noticed the tall shadow behind her. She whirled with her good foot and used her umbrella to hit whoever was standing behind her with force.

But the person caught it before it could hit him and Eve’s eyes widened, “N-Noah?”

“Careful there,” Noah softly chuckled as he let go of her umbrella. “I think one of these days this umbrella is going to injure me.”

“What are you doing here?” Eve asked him confused.

“I was heading back to my mansion when I caught sight of your servant on the way. He told me you were here. Sorry for startling you. Earlier, I called your name, but it seemed like you didn’t hear me,” Noah apologised to her.

Eve turned embarrassed for having almost hit him with her umbrella and shook her head, “I should have been careful and heard you. Sorry for the…” she raised her umbrella.

Noah chuckled at her, without taking her action in a wrong way, “It’s totally fine. Did you get what you came for?” Eve nodded, and raised her hand to show the iron bolts. “Let me take it,” he stretched his hand forward and she didn’t protest but gave it to him without a word.

Eve dusted her hands against the sides of her dress. Her gaze turned back to look at the houses in here, and Noah noticed it before he asked her,

“I noticed you were walking in the opposite direction. Your coachman and the carriage are on the other side.”

“Ah, yes,” Eve smiled, looking straight into his eyes.

When they started to walk back, Eve’s eyes took in the streets before deciding she would come here some other day to verify. If she and her mother had lived here, thought Eve to herself. Maybe that way she would be able to track the person who had murdered her mother.

“You have to be careful on this side of the forest. The paths are slightly uneven because of the last few days of rain. It has caused the loose mud to come out of the ground and has left holes,” Noah explained to her as they walked next to each other.

Eve did her best to walk straight without wobbling her foot. She replied, “Thank you for the information. The bridge near Timberport was broken, and the officials said it would need to be fixed.”

“I did hear that the bridge had broken down. I am glad that you or no one else was caught in the middle when the bridge broke. That would have been terrible,” stated Noah, and Eve agreed.

They were lucky that the bridge didn’t break when she and Eugene crossed it. That would have been the worst. She then heard him say,

“It is good to see you are fine, Genevieve. I was a little worried on not seeing you last night before the ball ended.”

Eve was surprised by his words, and she turned to look at him while Noah looked in front of the path they were walking in. Somewhere, it made her happy and she said, “I thought you left the ball early too.”

“Is that so? I did leave the ballroom for some time as I had to talk to someone from work, but by the time I returned to the ballroom you had left. Seems like we missed each other,” said Noah, and Eve returned the smile he gave her.

The night was quiet, except for the distant voices coming from inside the houses. Eve could hear the breeze move around them and the crickets chirping amid the bushes. She felt a little shiver run down her body.

Even though the little awkwardness had taken place between them, Eve had behaved as if nothing had happened because Noah behaved the same. She wondered if perhaps he had only leaned forward by mistake. It didn’t mean she didn’t feel a little strange, as if seeds of thoughts and doubts had been sowed in her mind.

“How far is Woodlock from here?” Eve asked him.

“Probably an hour.”

“Oh.” That was far, thought Eve.

“You must be familiar to be able to find the town from where the carriage broke down,” said Noah and his eyes shifted to look at the young woman, who looked ahead of her.

“It was the tower bell that led us here. Else I doubt we would be able to take help from the blacksmith,” replied Eve, and Noah nodded. “People here return home early, don’t they? Even in Meadow they don’t get inside the house this quickly. If it weren’t for the lights, I would think it is an abandoned town.”

“Not many families live in Brokengroves now. Most of the families have moved to a better place, and the ones who live here are the people who have nowhere else to go. A few years ago, there was an attack, and the bloodshed scared those living here. The authorities believe it is for the best. To take shelter before the moon rises up in the sky,” Noah explained calmly.

Eve nodded without commenting on it. She had heard the name of some of the towns and villages that had experienced such gores, where the creatures out of control massacred the living.

“If I may advise, try to avoid walking into these places at night,” Noah advised her.

“I will keep it in my best,” replied Eve, offering him a smile.

Noah paused his footsteps, making Eve wonder what had happened. On turning to face each other, the Duke said,

“I want to apologise for yesterday.”