After four years, the young master finally put on women's clothes again. She had to hurry and find her mother.
While she was hesitating over whether this hair colour would be too conspicuous, the maid Peppa thoughtfully reminded her that so many years had already passed. If even her hair colour had changed, how could her mother possibly recognise her?
Hearing that, Callian finally felt at ease enough to head out. She hired a carriage.
"Please wait for me on the north side. I'll come out from there."
Unexpectedly, a noble young lady was actually so familiar with the roads in the slums. After carefully instructing the driver to make sure to wait until she came back out, Callian set foot on the road home with a nervous heart.
Just a little farther ahead, and she would arrive. As long as she turned that corner, she would be able to see the mother she had longed for day and night.
Callian ran excitedly towards her mother. Who would have thought that she would crash into someone at the corner instead? With a bang, she slammed straight into the other person's arms. The strong impact made her fall backward uncontrollably. At the critical moment, someone caught her tightly in their arms.
She was still feeling relieved that she had not fallen when Claude above her was already too shocked to speak.
"Callian?"
Hearing that familiar voice, Callian's heart instantly skipped a beat. The moment she looked up, she met the young duke's disbelieving eyes.
Why was Claude here?
Callian could not react for a moment, and under Claude's repeated calls she suddenly turned around and pulled up her hood to cover her face. The young duke's sudden appearance made her whole body tremble in fear. If Claude discovered her true identity, the consequences would be unimaginable.
But in the next second, the man apologised in a low voice.
"My deepest apologies. I mistook you for someone else, miss."
At this moment, Claude even began to wonder whether there was something wrong with his own mind. How could this woman possibly be Callian?
Faced with Claude's endless questions, Callian merely shook her head lightly and did not say a single word. If this continued, sooner or later she would give herself away. Callian kept backing away in fear, but the young duke still refused to let her go, pressing forward step by step. He lowered his head, wanting to see this woman's face clearly.
"Can't you speak?"
She had not expected that her clumsy acting had actually fooled the man. As if grabbing hold of a life-saving straw, Callian nodded frantically.
"So you can understand me. If you're lost too, then come with me."
On one side was the lost Claude, and on the other was the mother Callian had been yearning for.
Very soon, Callian carefully noticed that Claude had been leaving marks on the walls all along the way. It seemed he really was lost. What should she do? She could not just leave him here and ignore him.
After hesitating again and again, Callian finally gathered her courage, ran in front of Claude, and spread her arms. Then she pointed in the direction of the exit, signalling for the man to follow her. In the end, she still chose to lead Claude out first.
The woman before him was obviously very familiar with the roads of Ruber. "Are you a local?"
But Callian still gave no response at all.
Before long, they arrived at the agreed place. Thinking he had been deceived, Claude's expression suddenly darkened.
"Hey. You're pretending to be mute, aren't you? Who exactly are you?"
If she was exposed here, then everything would be completely over.
Thinking that this might be a trap, Claude gently placed his hand on his sword. Who would have expected that in the very next second, the woman would directly abandon him and run off? This sudden escape caught Claude completely off guard.
Callian quickly jumped onto the carriage, and even the driver was startled by the scene before him.
"What, miss? Could you be a criminal?"
"No. If anyone asks where I got on the carriage, tell them you picked me up south of Leon Bridge. Then take me to the front of the Saint Matthew statue."
"What a dangerous young lady you really are."
After taking the money, the driver finally drove away. And just like that, Callian escaped smoothly.
Claude's personal guards also arrived belatedly. Unexpectedly, even he had got lost, and they had only found this place by following the marks left behind by the young duke.
"Help me investigate the carriages that crossed the bridge tonight. It was a dark green landau carriage."
"We've finally found the man we were looking for."
The young master had sneaked into the slums at night, only to unexpectedly run into the young duke at a corner. Fortunately, her clumsy acting was not seen through. In the end, she returned home safely despite the scare.
But even so, Callian was still so worried that she stayed awake all night. She had clearly been just a tiny bit away from reaching it. Yet she had happened to lose focus at exactly that moment.
The maid Peppa burst in, flustered. She immediately started tidying up Callian's room.