Several days passed and the snow had dissolved, while the sky turned clear with rays of sun falling on the land and forest that surrounded it. And as happy as everyone were with how things had turned out to be peaceful, and all culprits had been caught, one couple was unhappy behind the dungeon cell room.
It was none other than the Hooke couple, who sat on the floor with their hands on their heads. Lady Aurora heard her husband groan as if hungry as the prisoners weren't given enough food.
"How many days has passed, Aurora?" Mr. Hooke asked his wife.
Lady Aurora raised her head to look at her husband, and she then squinted while turning to the little window of the cell. She said, "Five years must have passed since we have been here."
"Five? I thought ten years has passed and they would let us out by now," Mr. Hooke shook his head, "Let us just beg for forgiveness and then everything will be alright. I cannot sit in the same cell, staring at only one person and the walls that surround it anymore. I feel like I am losing my mind, Auro."
Lady Aurora softly huffed and asked, "Do you think I am enjoying watching you look like a skeleton and hearing you groan?" Her eyes held a look of bewilderment in them. She said, "If you had only listened to me, but no! You wanted to do whatever you wanted and brought us not just on roads but dragged us into the dungeon."
"Ugh, how many times are you going to keep mentioning it? What happened is done. There's no point in bringing it up over and over and OVER AGAIN!" Mr. Hooke turned irritated.
The nearby guard heard the prisoner creating a commotion and he came with his baton in his hand. He warned Mr. Hooke, "What did I tell you yesterday about causing a ruckus?"
Mr. Hooke's mouth was quick to close as he didn't want to be whipped on his back. His back was sore from the previous lashes, and he asked, "When are we dying? I think it is better to be executed than to be left here."
Lady Aurora turned to look at her husband and glared. She threw the empty metal glass at him and said, "Die? I am not planning to die, and neither are you." It would be hard to pass through days if her husband died and left her alone. She said to the guard, "We have been here for so long, and we didn't do anything. We loved Camille and didn't kill her."
The guard stared at the pleading vampiress and stated, "You don't have to whine, you will be let out soon."
Hearing this news, Mr. Hooke and Lady Aurora's ears straightened, and a sudden burst of energy entered their mind. Lady Aurora laughed in a feminine way, by bringing her hand to her mouth and asked,
"Will we be let out? Why weren't we told about it?"
"Because you are the offenders. Prisoners in the dungeon," the guard deadpanned, and Mr. Hooke pointed at the guard and moved his index finger.
"Oh! You have brought us good news! We will finally be out and free. Auro," he turned to his wife and said, "We will start fresh!"
But then Lady Aurora remembered, as her mood slightly dampened as she muttered, "We have nothing to start fresh with... We are... paupers."
"Don't worry about that! We will go to Rosetta and use her help," Mr. Hooke nodded and began to plan what to do, while Lady Aurora didn't look pleased. But it wasn't as if she and her husband had any other options.
Suddenly curious, Lady Aurora turned to the guard and asked, "Who is letting us free? Which councilman took pity on us finally? Was it the Head Council?"
The guard stared at them, before he replied, "You will meet the councilman tomorrow," without sparing any more words to chat, the guard moved away from the cell.
When the next day did arrive, the guard returned to unlock the gate and bring Mr. Hooke and Lady Aurora out of the cell, and then the dungeon. Lady Aurora had a big smile on her face, and she exclaimed,
"It feels so good to smell the fresh air!"
"It definitely does! Mr. Hooke couldn't agree more with his wife's words. Finally, there was light, and they were free after many days.
"Oh, look! There is councilman Thomas! We should definitely ask him to return the favour," Lady Aurora walked towards the other building, raising her hand, she called the person, "Councilman Thomas! Councilman Thomas!"
But the man never turned and only did a U-turn on seeing them as if he didn't want to associate himself with the Hookes so that he could still have a clean image at his workplace.
Lady Aurora gritted her teeth in anger, because it was obvious that he was ignoring them. She huffed before smiling in anger. She said, "These men forget the good things we did!"
Mr. Hooke pulled his wife to the side so that she wouldn't cause any commotion and said, "You forget that we have been living in the dungeons for days now, and everyone thinks we killed more than one person."
Lady Aurora turned to her husband, while following the guard who was leading them to the transport, "But we killed only one man!"
"Shhh!"
"My my, aren't you chirpy after coming out of the dungeon," Vincent remarked on seeing the couple.
"You!" Lady Aurora exclaimed on seeing Vincent standing next to the carriage. "What are you doing here?"
"He's the councilman who got you both released," the guard chimed before bowing, "Mr. Moriarty, I shall take my leave."
"I think death was better," Mr. Hooke murmured, and his wife whispered, "We should go back in the dungeon."
Vincent chuckled in humour, grinning wide to show his sharp fangs. He said, "I would love to see you try to kill yourself, but considering how you both are a coward and reek worse than any rat in the sewage, I don't think you can handle another day of whip when you have tasted freedom. Hop in the carriage, we are going home."
"Home?" Lady Aurora asked the pureblooded vampire.
"Where your daughter is, of course, unless you are planning to live as wild creatures in the forest," Vincent climbed inside the carriage.
When Mr. Hooke was about to step inside the carriage, Vincent placed his foot cross to stop them from getting in. He leaned forward and said, "There are some rules that both of you will need to follow if you want to stay with your daughter. Of course there's no option of refusal, but I decided to be nice enough to warn you to not try anything that will end up with worse than whips," he offered them an innocent smile, before pulling back his leg.
Mr. Hooke replied, "We will be very good!"
"Wonderful!" Vincent watched the couple weakly climb inside the carriage and Mr. Briggs closed the door. He said, "Let us get moving, everyone are very eager to see you," his eyes twinkled in mirth.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺