To confirm the truth of Sophia Hansley's marriage with the king, although she felt very displeased, Karenina suppressed her pride. She decided to go to the streets and asked the homeless people she met along the way.
Finally, after days of searching, one of her men came and told her that he had found Valerie and Lucia Limberg. Without delay, Karenina immediately asked to be escorted to meet the two women.
Karenina was annoyed because the route she had to take was a narrow, muddy road, plus on one side of the road, there was a drain filled with garbage. The smell was so strong that she felt like throwing up.
"Here?" Karenina asked to be sure when her guards stopped their horses in front of two very shabby looking huts.
Karenina was reluctant to get off the carriage. She almost gave up her intention, but suddenly she saw two women in shabby clothes coming out of one of the huts.
"Who are they?" Lucia asked in confusion.
"We'd better go back in. Maybe it's the loan sharks who still want to collect our father's debt," said Valerie with a tense expression.
"Lucia and Valerie."
The two siblings turned back when they heard Karenina call their names. They glanced at each other for a moment when Karenina walked up to them, followed by two of her bodyguards.
Inside their minds, Lucia and Valerie wondered who the woman that was currently walking towards them was. She wore an expensive dress and from her appearance and her demeanor, they could tell she was a woman from a noble family. What did she want here? This was no place for rich people.
"Who are you?" Lucia crossed her arms and raised a brow.
"Are you Lucia and Valerie Limberg?" asked Karenina to be sure. "I am looking for two women with those names."
The two siblings didn't answer right away. They looked at Karenina's appearance from bottom to top. They didn't know who Karenina was, but when they saw the woman's clothes and jewelry, they knew that she was from a wealthy family.
"Who are you?" Lucia finally spoke up.
"My name is Cecilia." Karenina faked her name. She added, "Can we talk for a minute? There's something important I want to talk about."
Lucia and Valerie were silent. They just looked at each other.
"Don't worry, I know how to thank you. I just need some information and I was told that you could help me," said Karenina, to which Lucia and Valerie immediately agreed. Neither of them would miss anything that could bring them money.
They then invited Karenina and her bodyguard into the hut. Since there were no chairs, they had to sit on the floor.
"I hope you're comfortable," Valerie said as soon as Karenina sat down. Karenina just smiled and assured them that it was no problem for her.
Lucia and Valerie's current life was really poor. Neither of them married the son of a rich noble or the son of a royal official. Lucia was married to a farm laborer, and Valerie was married to a tavern keeper. Helga, their mother, had died due to an illness, and their father was still in prison for fraud.
Before long, Valerie, who had walked in, came out carrying a tray of water and snacks that Karenina would never want to touch.
"Thank you," said Karenina as she put on a fake smile.
"Sorry if I'm being rude, but I'm really curious about what you want to talk to us about. I mean, you look like you come from a rich family, and yet here you are, going to a slum just to see us, so it must be really important." Lucia was being very friendly because she knew the woman named Cecilia could give her money.
"Actually, I need your help," Karenina said without further ado.
"We'd be very happy if we could help you," Valerie said, smiling at each other with Lucia. "So, what can we do to help?"
"I want you to give me information about Sophia Hansley and Nicholas Ferdinand," said Karenina. It immediately made Lucia and Valerie feel surprised. They were very confused as to why Cecilia wanted to know about Sophia and Nicholas.
"Why... Do you want to know about them?" Lucia couldn't contain her curiosity.
"Do you mind giving out information about them if I don't tell you my reasons?"
"N-no. Not at all." Lucia's gut told her that the beautiful woman before her had something interesting that they would like to hear. She looked at Karenina curiously.
"Thank you for your understanding, but one thing you should know, I am a person who really hates Sophia," said Karenina. She remembered what the academy guard said about Lucia and Valerie, who always badmouthed Sophie. "I heard that you have issues with her."
Karenina's statement again surprised Lucia and Valerie.
How did you know? Who told you that?" Valerie asked Karenina.
"Someone in town. I was looking for Sophia Hansley. We were both from Hauntingen and the last time I heard she went to Hastings. So, here I am." Karenina explained. "I heard that she is your cousin?"
Valerie clenched her fists. She remembered her good life in the past. Her family was rich and she got everything she wanted. She also hung out with kids of wealthy and noble families. She was even a queen bee in school.
However, her family's bad luck started when they took that orphan in. She was bad luck! Not only was she fancied by all men that Valerie and Lucia liked, one day, she even destroyed their family.
Suddenly, Valerie's and Lucia's father was arrested for fraud and was sent to jail. It's been six years and he was still there. Their poor father. Their wealth was confiscated and now they had to live from scraps.
They suspected that Sophie had something to do with their fall from grace. Everything happened right after they bullied her and she ran away from home after stealing their mother's jewelry.
Valerie and Lucia eventually got their suspicions confirmed when they found out that Sophie married the mysterious Duke Romanov. They immediately understood that everything that they went through must have been orchestrated by him.
Even Richard Lancaster was beaten up to a pulp and ended up paralyzed from the waist down, and he finally killed himself. Only someone of Duke Ariam Romanov's level who could do that to a mayor's son and got away with it.
This made Valerie and Lucia terrified and they went low to avoid getting persecuted further. They only showed up again after they heard Duke Romanov and Sophie left Hastings. Both their hearts were filled with rage. However, there was nothing they could do against such a powerful man.
They could only keep their hatred to themselves. Today, however, all the rage and hatred had finally come up to the surface. Karenina smiled, seeing the two sisters' hateful faces.
"I see that she must have been awful to you," Karenina tilted her head to see them better, then she smirked. "Don't you want to make her pay for what she did to you?"
"I..." Before Lucia could say anything, Valerie had gripped her arm and looked at her with narrowed eyes.
"Let me handle this," she said coldly. Valerie was older and slightly wiser than Lucia. Yes, she held a deep grudge toward Sophie, but she realized in their situation, revenge wouldn't do them any good. So, she thought of something else.
She turned to look at Karenina and said, "You look rich and you went through the hassle of finding us, just to get more info about Sophie... when you already know some."
Karenina stared at Valerie, didn't say anything. She could tell that this woman was smarter than her sister. So, Karenina waited to hear what Valerie wanted from her. Because, of course, she must want something.
"I think the information you need from us is very valuable," Valerie cleared her throat. "I wonder how much are you willing to pay for it."
Karenina smiled mockingly. Ahh.. she should have known, poor people like these two rotten women before her were after her money. She looked at Valerie and Lucia carefully and assessed them. She could tell that these two women could look pretty if they wore nice dresses and took care of themselves, much like herself.
Losing all their family's wealth overnight must have been such a shocking or traumatizing experience for them.
"How much do you want?" Karenina asked back. She took out a money pouch from her bag and shook it. Valerie and Lucia could hear the sounds of coins rattling from inside the pouch. Karenina added, "This is all gold."
"I want 10 gold coins," Valerie said curtly. It was a lot of money and they could live a good life again with it. She didn't know if this woman would be willing to pay that much for the information, but she wanted to try and push her luck. If Karenina would haggle, then Valerie would take any money she could get.
"This is 50 gold coins," Karenina tossed the pouch onto Valerie's lap. "I think that's enough."
GASP! Valerie thought she just hit jackpot. Karenina must be a really wealthy woman that she could throw away that much gold without even giving it a thought.
And the information she needed about Sophie Hansley must be worth so much to her. Valerie wondered what did Sophie do to offend this very wealthy woman.
"This will do," Valerie said. She took the pouch and checked the contents. She smiled. There were a lot of gold coins in that heavy pouch. "Now... where should I start?"
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