A MAZE OF GREED

Mrs Payne's carriage entered a village which was her destination. Lester's two spies were following her carefully all this time. The carriage rode in the direction of the village market.

By the time they reached the village, it was already late hours of the afternoon. It was expected that the market would be silent at that time, as people usually prefer to rest a little after lunch.

On the contrary, this market was still bustling with people. The village was surrounded by farms and a shoe-making factory on the outskirts. The labourers from both places came to the market for lunch and to buy a packet of cigarettes and other things.

This market had no afternoon nap in its fate.

The carriage came to halt on the roadside. The coachman jumped down from it and walked to the backside. He helped Mrs Payne to get down the carriage. He handed her the stick Ruth had bought for her and her bag.

"Thank you so much, son!" Mrs Payne smiled at the man who was in his early thirties.

She paid him the fare that was predecided.

"Madam, do you want me to drop you directly at the doorstep of your relatives? Your niece has told me to take you there carefully." He asked politely.

Mrs Payne shook her head. "That is not needed, son. I left in rush and got no chance to buy anything for my relatives. I am meeting them after a very long time, and I want to buy some fruits and other things for his grandchildren.

Their house is not very far from here. I will go there safely. Thank you for taking me here." she smiled again.

The coachman left after that. Mrs Payne put her bag down for a minute. Although in the middle of a market, she could not help but stretch her limbs and neck. Her back was tensed after a six-hour-long journey.

She picked up her bag and first went to a nearby food shack. Lester's spies were hot on her tail but with caution.

They camouflaged themselves in the market crowd, but their eyes followed the old lady closely. Until now, they had not found a single thing out of place.

Mrs Payne bought a glass of pineapple juice from the shack and sat on the nearby bench. She enjoyed the cool drink deliberately, taking her own sweet time. After finishing it, she walked to the next shop that sold fruits.

The two spies watched her bargaining with the seller over the price of oranges. She then visited a couple of more various shops. The spies were only watching her, and after seeing her checking out the whole market, they became confused.

They spoke with each other about what she might be doing after they saw her entering a shop of glasses. The shop was stuffed with mirrors of different shapes and sizes.

Wasn't it strange to run a glass shop in such a humble village?!

Two minutes turned into five and the five minutes turned into fifteen. Now the two men got suspicious. She should have returned by this time, yet there was no trace of her.

Ten more minutes later, they decided to go in and look for her. And they did just that.

They walked inside the shop to see its walls covered with various mirrors and other glass articles. Walking through the lobby, they entered the square-shaped room.

A man was busy checking and noting down the items in his shop. The old man looked in his late seventies.

"Excuse me", One spy called.

The old shopkeeper turned around with shaking hands.

"Yes? How may I help you?" He asked.

Glancing around the shop, the second spy inquired, "where is that old lady?"

The shopkeeper pushed his glasses up on his nose.

"Who are you talking about?" He asked, puzzled.

"The lady who came here about twenty minutes ago. She had a bag and a stick in her hands." The first spy explained.

But the look on the shopkeeper's face did not change.

"No such woman has came in my shop. In fact you two are the first ones coming here since morning."

"What?"

~"He is an old man. He might not know that she came in here."~ The second spy spoke through the mind link.

"Is there any other exit?" The first spy asked.

The shopkeeper shook his head. "No. this is the only way to enter and go."

That only confused the two spies even more. They searched the whole shop and the market thereafter, but could not find even her hair. It was like she disappeared into thin air.

Worried, they contacted Lester.

~"My Lord, we are having a problem."~

~"What happened?"~ Lester asked.

~"We have lost Mrs Payne's track."~ The man explained the situation in detail to Lester.

~"How can she just disappear from that shop?"~ Lester's voice boomed in his mind, its ringing sensation made him cringe.

~"We... we do not know My Lord. But we are sure that she has not left the shop. We searched the market but she is nowhere."~

Lester cursed loudly in anger. He suspected that the old woman would give him a hard time, but this was just insane. Although he was aware of her knowledge about the werewolves, he risked sending werewolf spies behind her because he was sure that she could easily fool human spies.

~"keep looking for her and search her relatives in that villege."~

Lester was angry. He could not believe that a human fooled his men and thus him.

*

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Mrs Linlithgow screamed so loud that one might misunderstand that she was thrown in a pan of boiling oil.

"OH MY GOD! MY DRESS!! MY BAG!!!"

She instantly stood up with a horrified look on her face. Theodora also stood up, feigning shock.

"I... I am so sorry Lady Linlithgow! I..."

"SHUT UP!!"

Ruth clamped her mouth shut at that loud voice of the woman. Ruth was still finding it hard to wrap her head around what just happened.

"You bitch! Tell me why you are targeting me like this? First you ruined my dress and now you are trying to kill me?!!" Mrs Linlithgow turned so red that she resembled a ripe tomato.

"No, please. It... it was an accident. I did not mean to-"

Before Ruth could complete her sentence, Theodora's long nails dug into her skin. She whirled Ruth around to face her.

"What sin I have done that the God crossed our paths?! You were always disrespectful to every person in the family and now you are trying to harass our guests!" Theodora thundered dangerously.

"Look at her. See how you have ruined her dress and bag. That tea even burned her hand. Who is going to take its responsibility now?" Theodora continued.

Ruth did not understand how she could make such a mistake. She was careful, especially with these two ladies. If that table had not hit her, then this might not have happened.

But now was not the time to think about 'ifs'. What was done was done, and now Ruth could do nothing about it. All she could do now was defend herself.

The chaos and Mrs Linlithgow's loud cries drew Augustus's attention. When he appeared with a scowl on his face, Ruth knew that she had no escape.

"What happened? What is this commotion? Mrs Linlithgow?" Augustus had no idea of what happened.

He heard the loud voices and thus came to see what was wrong.

"Lord Augustus! Th-this maid of yours... she... she attacked me with an intention of harm." Mrs Linlithgow recited the whole incidence while not forgetting to spice it up.

Ruth was shocked at how effortlessly she spat lies. She waited for Theodora's reaction, and the woman did not fail to prove Ruth wrong.

She agreed with everything Mrs Linlithgow said. Instead of pointing at the lies, she even dared to add some more from her side.

That woman had no shame and no morals!

By the end of their description of Ruth's so-called attempt on Mrs Linlithgow's life, Augustus was boiling in anger. His sharp grey eyes cut through the walls of Ruth's confidence like a knife cuts a melon.

"Ruth!"

Ruth was startled at his booming voice as she braced herself for what was coming her way.

"I-"

"Shut up! Since the day you have stepped into my house, all of our lives have been disrupted because of you. You were trouble for family and now you are aiming at our guests! No, this is not acceptable.

You need to learn a lesson!" Augustus glared at her heatedly.

"But My Lord, it was just an accident!" Ruth tried defending herself.

"So you mean I am lying? My Lord, she is already kicked out from the place of her previous work. She ruined my anniversary gift and acted like she did not know anything about it.

The owner of the shop- Mr Cooper, himself threw her out of his shop. She has this old habit of harassing people and then playing innocent." Mrs Linlithgow added.

"She must have fooled Elsie in the same way, Augustus. I do not think otherwise Elsie would have given her this job without any required experience.

These beggars are jealous of us, our life, our wealth. They cannot see our happiness and thus try to ruin it. I do not want this dirt to stain my home!" Theodora was taking good advantage of the situation.

Augustus could not throw Ruth out of her job as it was only Edwin's right as he had recommended her name in the first place. So he decided to do what would teach Ruth a good lesson.

"Kneel in front of Mrs Linlithgow and Lady Theodora. Apologise to them!" Augustus declared.

Ruth felt like the sky had parted, and the bolt of thunder directly aimed for her.