I Was the Stepping Stone novel Chapter 5

Chapter 5

My hair was in disarray, cheeks swollen, blood seeping from the corner of my lips.

I stumbled out of the general’s estate like a stray dog driven from the gates.

Passersby stopped and stared.

Some whispered. Others sneered, spittle flying as they jeered.

To them, a woman like me-shameless and ruined-deserved such an end. It was satisfying to watch.

Yet I held my spine straight, my chin lifted under the knife-edge of their gazes.

In my previous life, I had been born to a merchant family-not noble, but well-fed.

In this life, with all ties severed, what reason had I not to start over?

I tied my hair up in the style of a working woman and set my sights on a tea-house district in the south.

As I examined the façade of a few vacant shops, a familiar carriage stopped at the street corner.

It was Alaric Thorne’s personal manservant.

He had not come to take me home, but to urge me to stop disgracing myself.

I pretended not to understand and shut the door coldly in his face.

He left empty-handed, his expression shifting from contempt to something colder.

Meanwhile, in the general’s manor-

“She’s returned, hasn’t she? Don’t let her eat without my order.”

Alaric sat at his desk, leafing through ancient medical texts, fingers stiff on the pages.

Since returning from the snowy pass, he had not left his study.

The High Princess had been frostbitten in the mountains, and he sought every remedy to heal her.

The servant stepped forward timidly. “My lord… the lady refused to return. She… cast me out.”

Alaric’s hand paused on the page. After a long moment, he looked up and spoke coldly,

“She grows more insolent by the day.”

His eyes drifted to the half-ground ink left by the inkstone.

After a moment of silence, he asked, “She didn’t say anything?”

The servant shook his head. “Not a word, my lord.”

Alaric’s gaze darkened slightly before his lashes fell. A faint, humorless smile appeared.

Chapter 5

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“She’s looking to rent a shop, I hear. What for, I’m not sure.”

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