Living in a Rewrite of My Own Book World

Chapter 9 - The Rewrite in which I Halfway Successfully Predict a Kidnapping

It took a little bit of time, but eventually I pulled myself together. No matter how the plot changed, or how terrified I was, I could not let Autumn get kidnapped tonight. That was the only path I refused to go down. All I could do was trust in my preparations.

I got changed, leaving the blue ball gown behind and changing into my black sparring clothes. I tied my hair back and wrapped my hands to protect my fists. Poisons went in one pocket, antidotes in another. I strapped knives to my arms, waist and legs. Feeling better now that I was armed head to toe, I went in search of Captain Alexander.

When Autumn and I had first come to the capital, he and a group of the guards I frequently sparred with all volunteered to follow us and arrange for security. Although not thrilled about losing the captain of his guard, Autumn's father agreed that in the end, his daughter's safety took first priority. I was thrilled to have a team that I was already close to, and as the dreaded night that I had worried about for so long approached, we had met multiple times to plan out how best to protect her.

"Tonight's the night." I smiled at the Captain as I entered the room, trying to lessen the tension somewhat.

He took in my outfit and multiple weapons and sighed quietly. "Any chance I can convince you to stay in Lady Autumn's room tonight and let us handle protecting both of you?"

He really was a kind man, but his concern was wasted on me. I shook my head, ignoring his disappointed expression at my refusal. We spent some time going over patrol schedules and guard placements. Alexander had done his job well, there was someone I trusted at every major path to Autumn's room at all time. It would be nearly impossible for any intruder to reach her. I thanked him, but before I could go check on my other preparations, there was one last thing.

"Did you get the thing I asked for?"

He frowned, pulling out a small red vial with an attached strap. "The container has been made to your specifications. I'm afraid to ask what this liquid is that you had me place in here, or where you got it from."

I took the vial from him, strapping it to my wrist. "Thank you for this. It's better that you know as little as possible about the contents."

"Can you at least tell me what it is for?"

I placed a hand over the container, focusing my magic. An illusion hid the vial from sight, leaving only the appearance of bare skin. Thanks to my training with hands over the last year, this illusion spell should remain in place for twelve hours unless I consciously removed it or I ran out of magical energy. I hoped I wouldn't need it at all. I considered Alexander's question, staring off at the wall my mind already filled with considering all the terrible possibilities.

"It's my last resort, for the worst case scenario."

With that I left and went to check on Autumn. As I entered the room, she raced towards me, eyes wide. She grabbed me by the shoulders, nervously questioning me.

"Are you okay? Why did you run away from the party?"

"..." it was kind of hard to easily explain.

Autumn leaned forward, whispering. "Did Duke Harrington say something to you?!"

She stepped back, muttering to herself. It was difficult to completely understand her but I caught the words "idiot" and "make him regret..." I laughed and gave her a hug.

"Duke Harrington was a perfect gentleman. I left the party for a completely different reason."

"He really didn't say anything at all to you?" She stared at me in disbelief.

I briefly thought about his communication spell which warned me to be careful, but that didn't seem to be what she was looking for. I shook my head. "No."