156 2.1.7: Reclaiming Her Identity

The guard that went inside saw the recovering Alistair scolding a servant.

Despite being a bit injured from being ambushed by bandits, Alistair was still full of vitality and made sure his authority wasn't forgotten. After his experience with the bandits, it seemed like the Duchess' main lackey had gained more confidence and become more tyrannical. No one dared to oppose him either since he did have a big backing for his reign of terror. What Ingrid and Xiao Yunhua had seen was just his haughty aspect of his personality. He was very cruel and most servants considered him as a tyrant but couldn't complain in fear of offending the Duchess.

"Mr. Ainsworth," The guard spoke politely, fearing the butler's wrath. As expected, Alistair turned to the guard with fierce eyes at being interrupted and dismissed the servant, who looked at the guard with relieved eyes. "there is someone here with a letter sealed with the symbol of the Duke, claiming that the Duke's daughter is here." When Alistair heard his words, he paled. Didn't the bandits say they killed everyone when he woke up? He specifically asked about the little girl who was the reason he had to go to such a rural and disgusting village. They had confirmed she was dead, so who was this person?

He couldn't wait to see who dared to claim to have ties with the Duke of Warrington!

He wanted to follow the guard outside but then suddenly had a devious idea. He was going to make them pay for interrupting him. He ushered for one of the servants to tell the Duchess and Duke that an emergency had happened and that they needed to be in the main room. Of course, Alistair never had the guts to summon his superiors, but out of his petty revenge and since it was such a serve issue, he did. Besides, this would further solidify his loyalty to the Duchess that he took care of what she wanted.

He went to the main room of the mansion meant for taking specific guests in, knowing that such a hassle would probably make them even angrier. As the Duchess and Duke sat down in their respective seats, they looked at Alistair curiously for telling them that an emergency was happening.

He quickly explained that someone was claiming to be the Duke's daughter, which caused them two different reactions. The Duke was shocked because he had assumed that the daughter had died and he would never see her again after her birth. He was a bit relieved because she was his daughter, despite her peasant bloodline and unfamiliarity with him. As for the Duchess, she was calm but her eyes gave away her true feelings. She glared at Alistair, who was calm and motioned for her to not worry.

Getting the hint, she wondered what game the butler was playing now. It was certainly going to be amusing, possibly in a punishment for whoever claimed to be the daughter. She hated dirtying her hands to hire bandits to kill someone, especially a child, but she couldn't allow her precious Vivienne to suffer in heaven by being replaced with the daughter of a peasant. The illegitimate daughter that she did not know existed until her husband saw how much she was grieving over the fact that her daughter died. He assumed that revealing his infidelity would make her happy, but it caused her to harbor a bit of resentment. But despite her minor feelings of guilt, she would still do it again because her Vivienne didn't deserve to be disrespected by a village peasant.

Her eyes turned to the door where the servant guided in an old woman and a very dirty and malnourished girl. She narrowed her eyes at the little girl who shyly averted her eyes and bowed her head.

"Greetings to Your Graces," Ingrid politely spoke. The Duke dismissed the formalities and he began to recognize her as the woman he assigned to watch over his daughter seven years ago, albeit looking much more aged. His eyes turned to the little girl and he felt his heart hurt over how small she appeared. Seven years ago, he had no choice in sending her away in fear of her life. Now, he had already lost his first daughter so he would make sure to protect his only other daughter.

Alistair interrupted her and explained that she was claiming that the little girl was the daughter. He then explained that he had already seen the dead body of the girl, so these two were most likely swindlers who had gotten their hands on the letter.

Ingrid kneeled and began to cry. "Your Grace, my name is Ingrid Abbot, the woman you told to watch over your daughter seven years ago in Hollywood Village." The Duke's eyes recognized her even more and nodded, asking to see the letter. Alistair froze. He hadn't expected for her to be personally assigned by the Duke! It seemed like the little girl really was the daughter! He felt the Duchess' eyes burning a hole in his head and he gulped.

"But then who was the girl I saw?" Alistair snapped anxiously.

"Mr. Ainsworth, that was merely a servant girl that was named Juliet who had been planning to come with us, but unfortunately met her demise. She was the same age as the Young Miss, hence it's understandable that you had mistaken her to be dead." Ingrid was very patient in her explanation to Alistair. The more she spoke, the more he realized that he had screwed up the mission by the Duchess. He made a mental note to contact the bandits again, but he didn't know that the bandits had purposely made sure to disappear. After all, they had went against the mission for their money and the girl was alive. If the powerful person who hired them found out, then they could only await death.

Unfortunately for Alistair, he didn't recognize Xiao Yunhua as Juliet. If only he had treated his mission more seriously and taken a proper look at Evelyn, then he would've easily been able to refute Ingrid's lies.

As for Xiao Yunhua, she turned her eyes and they met a pair of cold and unfriendly eyes. She realized that she was looking at a very regal face that belonged to a woman in her thirties who had long, black hair and green eyes. Based on the way she dressed and by sitting next to the Duke, Xiao Yunhua realized that this was the woman who had tried to hire bandits to commit the murder.

As for the man next to her, he looked very similar to Evelyn in terms of his blonde hair. However, his eyes were blue, similar to Juliet's. It seemed like the original Evelyn had inherited her facial features from her mother, including her brown eye color, but her hair color from her dad. But for Juliet, she looked pretty similar to the Duke with her blonde hair and blue eyes and average features, so that also helped eradicate any future suspicions upon her.

"Violetta... come here." The Duke kindly said. He wanted to see her up close, but then her stench hit his nose and he finally registered her dirtiness. He ushered for servants to go and clean both Juliet and Ingrid.

The matter that Alistair had hoped would be entertaining had only led to the realization that he had failed his mission. As well as the wrath of the Duchess who was still glaring at him.

"Make sure she is dressed and cleaned properly by supper time." The Duke ordered and disappeared back in his study to work on some documents. The remaining people slowly disappeared too, including the fuming Duchess that had a terrified Alistair following her.

The couple of servants that were still there told Xiao Yunhua and Ingrid to follow them...