Chapter 44: Chapter 44Alexander waited patiently to see when Mathias would come out of the room he entered with a woman. He had almost missed Mathias as he had to slow down to not be seen but he had managed to witness him entering a room with a woman who lived in the brothel.

    Alexander was quick to recognise parts of this brothel as they were forced through the day to sometimes work here during the time they were going to be sold. This was where Rose was to end up and all along, Mathias knew exactly where to find it.

    Alexander gripped his sword. He was hoping that Mathias wouldn’t betray him this way by hiding where he knew Rose to be. They wanted different things and that was fine. Mathias shouldn’t be meddling hiding where Rose might be.

    ’Don’t,’ Alexander repeated in his head. His body wanted to move to open the door and confront Mathias but he couldn’t yet. Not only should his focus be on Rose but Alexander was not ready to confront his friend for keeping this brothel location a secret from him.

    After what he said about Rose being the one to push for Mathias to come along, how could Mathias not share that he was coming here when they had just spoken about going to find Rose? He could take that Mathias did not want to go back to the past but he could not bear with the lies.

    Alexander moved away from where he stood before he could do something stupid. His hand was shaking due to the anger he felt and from experience, he knew this anger could be misplaced and someone might end up dead.

    "Excuse me," Alexander stopped a young girl passing by him. His grip on his sword tightened as he saw the black mark under her eye when she looked up. Sёar?h the novёlF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    He recalled the days when they would be beaten for not listening to their orders. He hated to think the mark under her eye came from a customer. She looked too young to have anyone going to her.

    "Do you know of a woman named Rose? She has brown hair. Maybe," he said as some had found ways to change their hair colour.

    "S-She has gone missing. Excuse me."

    Alexander didn’t get the chance to find out more about Rose going missing due to the young girl running away. "Missing?"

    Alexander was conflicted as he wanted to celebrate that he was in the right place and Rose was still alive but she was missing. He was finally just where he needed to be to find her and now Rose was missing.

    Alexander looked around for the next person he could question to find some clues as to where he had to go next.

    ...

    Back at the home Zayne owned, Rose returned inside with the little bird which had fallen out of the tree once more. She had been waiting for a bigger bird to come to care for it, but she lost hope that the bird’s mother was going to return.

    It was a noisy little thing but Rose enjoyed the company. She was normally so used to being alone but the brothel had always been quite loud. The silence was starting to get to her fast so the little bird was a well-needed friend.

    Rose left it by the opened door which led out to the garden at the back of the home while she continued to clean. Should the mother return, it should be easy to get to the little bird.

    The leftover stew she knew the soldiers had reluctantly given to her was being warmed up over a fire. Her first day working as Zayne’s maid was going well and should end on a peaceful note if it continued this way.

    Her work was soon disturbed by a knock on the door. Rose stared at the door at first, worried that it might be an intruder though it didn’t make any sense why an intruder would knock.

    ’Relax," Rose said, trying to calm herself. One of the guards would have seen someone coming here so it had to be one of the two of them.

    Rose still cautiously walked to the door and opened it, surprised by the sight of an older woman smiling at her. There was a cart filled with bags not far from the front door.

    "You must be the one they spoke about. Rose, was it?"

    "I am," Rose answered. "You are the one who will cook?"

    She remembered Zayne saying he would find someone but she wasn’t expecting it to be this fast. Rose found comfort in it being a woman who would be staying here to do the cooking. She was not ready to live with a man.

    "Yes, I am Janice. The cook from today onward. Do you mind helping me take the things out of the back of the cart? I already asked strong young fellows there to help me but only one could help since they both could not leave the gates. It is fine if you can’t," said Janice, not wanting to trouble Rose with extra work.

    "I can help you," Rose replied, stepping outside to join in bringing inside what Janice brought. "Is it your things to stay here that we must bring in?"

    "I only have two bags. I was told I needed to buy a lot of food to last the week. The money they gave me was far too much but they said to spend it all so I did. I think I made the right choice with the dresses," Janice said, trying to imagine the dresses she bought on Rose.

    "Dresses? You bought me dresses?" Rose asked. Why would Janice do that?

    "Food and a few dresses were on the list of things I was to prepare. Were you not informed of it?" Janice asked, confused as to why she was the only one who knew about it.

    "I was to get the help of whoever came to buy me dresses. I did not know you would come with them before we met. I have some money to pay you right now. I won’t be able to pay the rest until he returns to pay us for our work," Rose said, apologetic that she was without enough money for the dresses.

    "But I was given the money for that as well. I must buy dresses for a lady but not ones that are of fine quality as she will reject them. I found many of them that only need a little mending. Forgive me but there were dresses a dressmaker in town sold cheap because they were returned for being ruined. I got some for less than a few silver coins," Janice said, proud of her negotiating skills.

    Rose couldn’t believe a dress could be so low. "How is that possible?" She asked, following Janice to learn more.