6: A Visit To The Monastery

Madame Mildred was heartbroken after the old man died of illness and her own son also died unexpectedly. She had been living in the monastery for many years now.

In the past, Carra had never dared to take the initiative to meet the old lady, for fear of being tortured by the mother and daughter's combination of the Cawthorne family. She just wanted to stay quietly in the small courtyard until she got married.

But now, Carra was different. 

And at this moment, she was determined to withdraw from her arranged marriage to the royal family. A machan woman who had been disfigured, even if she was the eldest daughter of lord Livingstone Copperstone, in the famous Arthurian empire, she wouldn't be able to marry into any good family. And if she did, she would be treated worse than trash.

Therefore, from the perspective of her current situation, relying on the big support of Madame Mildred was also the best choice for her.

Early the next morning, Carra went to the monastery to see Madame Mildred. The monastery was built in an environment that was quiet and solemn, making it very suitable for self-recovery.

Carra stood outside the monastery hall for half an hour, before the Sister, who went in to pass her message, came out and said. "Miss, Sister would like to see you now, please."

"Thank you, Sister." Carra nodded to the old Sister politely, without a hint of arrogance. 

There was a hint of appreciation in the Sister's eyes, and she acknowledged Carra's calmness and composure. As expected of a child of the Copperstone family, this attitude was really appreciated.

Carra followed the Sister through the corridors and came to the door of a quaint room. The Sister stood before the door, tapped on the door gently, and said. "Sister, your grand daughter is here."

"Let her come in." A familiar and dignified voice sounded from the inside.

The old Sister opened the door and asked Carra to go in. Carra nodded her thanks to her, and then stepped into the threshold of the inner monastery.

The light in the room was slightly dark, and the decoration was clean and elegant. There was an altar by the wall, with incense swirling around it. 

Kneeling in front of the altar was an old woman dressed in white clothes with frosty white temples. Seeing Carra walking in, the old woman slowly turned her head, and Carra met a slightly majestic and scrutinizing gaze of her grandmother.

Carra respectfully bowed and said. "Good morning, grandmother." 

Madame Mildred continued to examine her grand daughter for a while.

Carra did not cower or try to hide. She calmly met her grandmother eyes. Seeing that her grandmother had the intention to get up from where she was sitting, Carra stepped forward and offered her help, saying. "Be careful, grandmother."

"Thank you."

After assisting Madame Mildred to sit down in the chair, Carra stood aside, and said pleasingly. "How is my grandmother doing? I know I haven't come to visit you for a long time now, please forgive me, grandmother."

"Mmm." Madame Mildred listened to her spoke truthfully, and nodded gently. "I heard about your injury. How is it now? And how are you feeling in general?"

"Thank you, grandmother for your concerns. The doctor said that as long as I continue to take care of my body, it will not be a major problem." Carra replied. "But he said the injury will be more difficult to treat, and it may take more time."

"Mm." Madame Mildred sighed softly. Looking at Carra's uncompromising appearance, it was the same as her mother's back then. It was precisely because of such indifferent temper that she loved her. "It's been really hard for you." 

In order to maintain the reputation of the Copperstone family, Sophia had fought tooth and nails, many times. But in the end, she, Mildred, had let a fox in the appearance of Angela Cawthorne took advantage of it. And later, she didn't even bother to care of the needs of the Copperstone family, leaving everything to lord Livingstone.

A year ago, after she came out of the monastery to formalize the arranged marriage between prince Algernon and Carra, she had only hoped that the girl could marry peacefully. Hereby, fulfilling the trust that the old man put in her before his death in creating a lasting friendship between the Copperstone and Arthur bloodlines. No power was greater than the combined might of an official Machan family and the ruling Lycan family.

Sadly, it had come to this. Now she only hope that the Royal Palace was understandable, and didn't come to annul the marriage just because this girl's appearance was a little bit ruined. Although, beauty was the deciding factor when it came to the Machans.

Carra didn't come to see Madame Mildred to remember the sad past. So, she put on a smile, and pretended to be strong. "Grandma, don't worry about it. I'll take whatever comes my way. It's just...". She trailed off, and knelt on the ground, "I have something to do, and I'm asking my grandmother to help me out."

"What's the matter?" Madame Mildred was suddenly startled by the current proceedings. "Get up and tell me about it."

"Thank you, grandma." Carra got up and said. "Yesterday, when I was feeling better, I went back to my chamber to check the place. Surprisingly, I spotted some clues to what caused the fire. And after thinking about, I believe that the fire was deliberate."

Slowly, but in details, Carra told Madame Mildred about her findings on the fire scene and her suspicions, bit by bit. Of course, she only talked about Lancelot, not about the mother and daughter of the Cawthorne family. Lancelot would be her focus at this time. As long as Madame Mildred would interfere, there would be no problem interrogating him. However, she was not ready to go against the Cawthorne's mother and daughter.

Madame Mildred had been in charge of the Copperstone family for decades, even before the death of the old man. She had suspected that the fire was a bit unusual. Now that she heard Carra say it, she knew she had to do something. Whether it was for the trust of the old man before his death or for the Copperstone family right now.

Naturally, there was no reason for Madame Mildred not to support her granddaughter. So, she told her to go and investigate properly. Also, she assigned Sister Celia to her as an assistant. In fact, it was more of a move to support her granddaughter in inspecting the scene.

No one at the Copperstone castle knew that Sister Celia was the person next to the old lady, and having Sister Celia was the same as having the old lady.

Sister Celia was the one who led the way just now. Carra thanked her grandmother, and showed enough respect for Sister Celia. The old sister had a good impression of the Copperstone family, and now that she saw Carra acting a lot like her mother, she appreciated her more and more.

With the support of the old lady, Carra had the confidence needed in handling small matters concerning her, like Lancelot. She didn't like procrastination in doing things. As soon as she left the monastery, she sent Nella to call all the servants of the Copperstone castle to the front yard, and sent some servants to inform her father, stepmother, half-sister and others of the house of Copperstone.

When lord Livingstone and his personal servants were approaching the front yard, they found that the servants of the mansion were all standing in the same yard. Carra was standing on the high porch, looking at the crowd in front of her coldly. And beside her was an old woman.

Lord Livingstone fixed his eyes on the woma, and realized it was Sister Celia. What was this girl planning to do? Lord Livingstone frowned slightly, and asked in a displeased tone. "Carra, what's the meaning of this? Why did you bring me down here?"

"Welcome, father, stepmother." Seeing that her father and her stepmother had arrived, Carra bowed to them. "Father, I invited you over today because I want you to oversee a matter regarding me."

"Carra, is this your doing?" Angela asked coldly from the side. "Even if you want your father to see to your needs, what do you mean by calling all the servants together? Are you afraid that your father would disagree with you and you want to threaten him?"

Lord Livingstone frowned deeply when he heard these words. He snorted coldly, and looked at Carra angrily.

Carra ignored Angela's provocative words, and confronted her father, saying to him. "Father, you know I was caught in a fire a few days ago and barely escaped with my life. Now I've found out that the fire was not an accident, but someone deliberately set the place on fire, harming me. So, I'm asking father to see to the matter and severely punish the culprit."

After speaking, she peeked at the expressions of Angela and Audrey. Angela was obviously taken aback and quite surprised, while Audrey's expression was neither of a surprise nor timid. Nonetheless, Carra saw a trace of panic in her eyes, in a matter of seconds before vanishing. Her hands were also clenched into fists and concealed in the the sleeves.

*This was a sign of tension. Could this fire be related to Copperstone?*