Grace couldn't let any of these scenarios turn into reality. His nights were often spent worrying about such matters but every day he consoled himself by thinking that he would soon be able to save enough money to buy Taylor's freedom from the Hunter family.
Until the day Taylor could be free, Grace couldn't let the information about their affair leak even by mistake. Therefore, he was always cautious whenever he went out to see Taylor. Whenever they met, it would always be at locations that were devoid of any prying eyes for example a cabin in the heart of the forest or in the middle of nowhere surrounded by water in a boat he kept solely for their clandestine meetings.
He had taken enough precautions to keep the matter under wraps so as to avoid suspicion from both the families that might ruin his happiness.
As usual, Grace headed out towards the cabin that was his usual rendezvous point with Taylor, full of expectations and longing for his loved one. He was making the list of the things he wanted to ask her in his mind as he changed directions several times in the city to throw off any pursuers that might be following after him. Even though he knew that there was no such person after him, he couldn't take any risk when it came to his beloved.
Leaving the city with hurried steps, he looked around discreetly and made sure that he was alone before changing direction once more and took a long detour before heading towards the cabin in the woods that was secluded away from the heart of the population where nobody ever stepped even by mistake.
As he approached the cabin, Grace had a feeling that something was wrong. Although, it was always quiet when he came here, there were always some birds or insects or critters making all kinds of noise. Today, it was as if the woods had gone into a lull.
Pushing back on his instincts, Grace looked around carefully and made sure that he was truly alone before approaching the door of the cabin. He would have turned back on the slightest suspicion from his surroundings but there was nothing that could arouse his suspicion in the vicinity. There were no fresh tracks or a sound of any kind that might give him a hint. There were no weird odors in the air even after he attempted to smell it twice.
As soon as he opened the door to the cabin, something swung straight towards his head. Even though he was still blinded by the sudden darkness of the cabin, he could feel the intent of his attacker. The aim was definitely his head.
With no time to pull out his sword or to dodge out of the way, Grace could only raise both his hands above his head in an attempt to block whatever it was that was about to cave his head in.
At the same time, Grace leaned his body to the side in an attempt to divert the force of the blow so as to avoid hurting his sword arm which he needed to fight out of this situation.
The attacker hadn't imagined that Grace would be this skilled. He not only managed to sense the attack despite his limited vision but also managed to successfully block it with his hands without suffering much harm.
He reached out his hand to the longsword behind his back and pulled it out before assuming an attacking stance. Despite the darkness shrouding his vision, he was able to sense the general direction of his opponents based on the sound made by the creaking of the wooden floor of the cabin and the heavy breathing of his opponent.
He successfully defended against another two attacks in succession before his eyes got used to the darkness and he found out the grim situation he had found himself in.
The sound of applause came from the center of the cabin which made Grace divert his attention from his attacker to the man slowly clapping his hands as if to mock him.
The moment he recognized the source of the applause, Grace felt as if the ground underneath his feet had turned into an abyssal hole that was calling out to him.
The man was none other than Nelson Hunter; the son of the leader of the Hunter family. The man had been after the eldest lady of the Windsor family for a long time and had been rejected countless times by her. But his shamelessness truly knew no bounds as he was relentless in his pursuit and was willing to go to any extent.
Violet had been extremely wary of him because she had found out about his ill intentions and had been constantly been on guard against him. Even Clara had snubbed him on countless occasions or had become the buffer to keep her elder sister out of his reach.
Grace truly lost his composure when he saw the tied up Taylor beside Nelson. It was then that he knew that his attempts at hiding his romantic escapades had been a failure. The hunter family probably knew about it a long time ago and had only been waiting to make use of him at a critical juncture.
Taylor was whimpering next to Nelson but the piece of cloth that had been stuffed down her throat burned her insides and kept her from making a sound.
Grace's heart was in tatters as he watched his beloved in such a condition. He couldn't help but blame himself for putting her in such a dangerous situation despite knowing that they were from two opposing factions.
Grace put all his weight on his leaning leg in preparation of a dash straight in the direction of Taylor with his sword drawn but his attacker was faster. He pulled out his dagger and put it on Taylor's neck before he could even make a swing in Nelson's direction.
The threat was more than enough for Grace to put down his sword with hesitation in his eyes. Taylor was everything to him and he couldn't watch her die right in front of him.
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