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xvii. House of the Lords

told the Lords about what happened and trusted them whole-heartedly about every single information without any omissions. It didn't take a lot of time for the high-ranking men to accept the circumstances considering the previous occurrences that happened for the past year.

All that they could do was assist with the plans and actions of the incoming mission to bring justice whatever action there may be.

Three female servants with the same height, hair length, and colours entered the room of Enola Holmes. Guineviere and her then made them wear the outfit they would wear in the House of the Lords as disguises. I'm sure you already know what these servants' roles are and what they are going to do.

Y/N has borrowed several men's outfits and inserted necessary weapons that she can hide in them for emergency purposes. The outfits were meant to be her friends in a few.

Tewkesbury was knocked out cold, but he did help with the weapons and practiced his lines for his voting. Half of his work was unfinished for he flirted with the girl all day long.

When they were all done with their tasks, they all gathered in the wine cellar where they were secured from the sight of anyone.

Lord Cosko was upset about the wedding and didn't bother anymore. Moreover, he went back to his own estate which made everyone take this as a chance to twist things to their advantage.

"Elliot will be on the right side from what I heard," Lord Barron said. Y/N nodded and labelled the right private box in the house of the lords.

"I'm assuming Lisette will be on the left." She said and circled it.

"Guineviere will handle the men that will enter from the left entrance of the Parliament. The Lords have their own weapons hidden in their coats and are assigned to fight the men entering the main entrance and the back."

"Enola handles Elliot."

"Whatever you do, we have to protect each other. If one of us dies, the vote assurance decreases. We are a link — all of us." Tewkesbury said.

"We also have to protect the Minister, Lord Tewkesbury. Without him, we're not sure a declaration of votes will be made." Lord Allastair said.

They all hummed in response and nodded. "The House of the Lords will be closed and the voting will begin at exactly eleven. That means, we have to keep our eyes out. We will be the main target of all. So, we'll have to leave the others be. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't help the people in need."

"We will spare them as much as possible. Do you understand?" Enola asked.

They all nodded.

"If I find out my son is killed, You will know the tip of my blade." Lord Barron said.

"We promise we won't."

"After everything, we expose them and their dirty schemes by the letters you two have found. They will safely be in the hands of Lord Theron."

"If you all notice anything suspicious, just ease your scratchy throats and cough. It's enough to echo through the corners of the quiet house."

"All right. Then what do we have to do now?" Lord Theron asked.

"Now, we wait."

⋆·˚ ༘ * 🕯️

A few hours later, the girls' clones and the lords pretended to arrive as they got off their respective carriages. Y/N watched from a distance as her impersonator laid her hand on Tewkesbury's arm. Although it was for their ploy, it made the back of her head itch with jealousy. She squinted her eyes, watching Tewkesbury's movement carefully.

Much to her relief, he wasn't engaging in any actions that he knew might spark Y/N's temper — even if it's for the sake of this step of the plan.

"If that girl loops her arm even more on Leucrion, I will literally slap her after this." Guineviere said.

"Hey! That's rude! She's helping us." Enola scolded.

"Did someone just make an outburst of jealousy?" Y/N taunted.

"Hush. Admit it. You're jealous too. Some other girl's holding your dear Tewkesbury." Guineviere taunted back.

"They're going inside — "

"Merlin, I don't walk like that!" Guineviere complained. "The press is going to mention this in the newspapers! This is a disaster!"

"Don't worry about that now, Viere! We have to go inside!" Enola said in a hushed yelling tone.

⋆·˚ ༘ * 🕯️

Y/N, Enola, and Guineviere all stood somewhere hidden and watched as Lords, Ladies, Dukes, Duchess, Barons and Baroness entered.

As Lisette entered with Elliot, they squinted their eyes.

"Targets are here." They all whispered at the same time.

⋆·˚ ༘ * 🕯️

The huge doors of the house closed. "This is where we part. Good luck!" Y/N whisper-yelled. Enola then quietly made her way up the building on her station, hidden as Guineviere stayed somewhere on the left entrance.

Y/N walked up the left private box and hid behind the burgundy curtains. She waited for seconds and finally heard footsteps. Then, there stood Lisette with a bow and a few arrows in a container behind her back. The girl sighed and started to prepare herself.

"He's going to regret saying yes to that stupid reform voting." She mumbled to herself and sat on a chair, grabbing a glass of champagne, sipping on it.

"That stupid little — Gah!" She exclaimed furiously and threw the glass on the floor, causing it to shatter. "If it wasn't for that invasive lord, I would've been married to Tewkesbury now! I even got myself in trouble. Now I owe Sir Whimbrel and Lord Cosko half of my land!"

"And that Y/N." she seethed. "Oh, I'm going to have fun killing her. That scheming little bitch. Why does she have to be so — " she grimaced.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but why does she have to be smarter and prettier?! I mean, I'm a lady too. I know how to fight, I know a lot of stuff. How is she any better than all I am? Am I not valuable enough?"

"I do wear wigs, but at least I'm pretty! I have my own land and riches unlike that girl who has nothing but a- stylish, aesthetic looking building full of dresses that- What am I saying?!" she scolded herself.

"I hate her! I hate her! I hate her!" she whisper-yelled and threw the champagne bottle to the solid ground of thick wood.

'I don't know if that's genuine or if she's just convincing herself.'

A few more minutes passed, the girl was getting tired of listening to Lisette's rants about how much she held a grudge for the littlest things Y/N had done to her over the course of days she's known her and how disdainful everything about her is. However useless the things the lady of Deliarine uttered, she had gained an important piece of information that warned her about the fact that the King was present yet hidden.

Y/N prepared herself and saw Lisette walking to an open balcony where she watched and listened.

"And this is the time to vote. Let us begin . . . " They heard. With that, Lisette walked back to the chair and grabbed her bow. She took her arrow and positioned herself low and behind the balustrade of the private box.

A cough echoed throughout the House of the Lords. That was the cue. As Lisette paid more attention to her aim on Y/N's clone, the original subject of her focus stepped out of the curtain, grabbing her knife from the pocket of her pants.

"I can wait to have tea over your grave," Lisette muttered under her breath.

"As of Basilwether's standing rebuttal to Lord DeVonne's, Lord Tewkesbury?" The Minister queried.

"I've said it countless times before, yet I won't get tired of saying it again. Men and women are equals. They are partners with different anatomy yet all the same capabilities," the young lord started to speak as Lisette started to pull the arrow, ready to send the shaft whipping past the air.

Just then,

"Careful. Don't want your wig falling off again." Y/N said. Lisette's eyes widened and turned around to see the girl, smirking. "Missed me?" she asked and waved her hand tauntingly.

"No!" she shouted. Y/N quickly grabbed her hand and with that, two arrows came flying across the building, coming from the left and the right. Many people witnessed this and looked up to see the struggling young girl and Lisette, fighting over a bow.

They looked on the other side to see Enola and an unfamiliar young man fighting Elliot who had his bow split into half.

"Now!" Lisette screamed. After the verbal signal, a few more arrows came flying around uselessly, hitting nothing but clothes, walls, floors, and absolutely nothing at all!

Deafening screams and piercing shrieks filled the House of the Lords as everyone stood from their seats, fleeing the structure. Countless groups of men started entering with weapons that they all did not expect. Y/N and Lisette groaned as they continued fighting for the bow.

The once delicate and feminine girl now in a man's clothing kicked the Lady of Deliarine, sending her to the ground. She then threw the bow out to the open box. Lisette stood up and did her fighting stance. With that, she swiftly charged towards Y/N who took a deep breath.

She isn't good at combat arts and this Lisette seems to be perfectly well at it.

Y/N was hit square on the stomach with one of her kicks as she fell on her back to the floor with a groan. The girl stood up as fast as she could and tried to do a sweep kick when Lisette jumped to avoid it. They started throwing punches only to hit nothing but air.

"I thought you're good at everything, Y/N?" Lisette taunted.

"Whoever told you that must be an avid fanatic, but they're clearly incorrect about that information. I'm impressed you know this art very well."

"I guess I'm better than you, then."

"Don't even hope. Disappointment is a horrendous feeling."

The Lady of Deliarine got even mad at this and finally hit the girl on the cheek causing her eyes to water and cry in pain. Y/N gasped for air and tried to compose herself but all she could hear was the static ringing in her ears. Her sight was blurry. The girl was stunned.

Lisette then dragged her over to the balustrade by gripping her hair tightly in her hand. Once Y/N regained her normal self, still with the stinging pain that she inflicted, she groaned.

"You have an advantage."

"Oh, I do, and it pleases me," Lisette replied in amusement, "Very much."

"Stop. You're cringy." Y/N complained, causing herself to get in a lot more trouble.

Lisette had pushed her off, but luckily, she still had her hands clutching the metal rails as her last desperate home. A brief scream escaped her lips, hurting her throat, and making her heart drop to her stomach with fear.

"Do you really want this, Lisette?!" She yelled. "You're so good at these kinds of things and yet you're wasting it all just to what? Marry Tewkesbury? Be a Marchioness yourself? Gold? Glory?"

"What good does this do?" Y/N continued. "You're so much more than what you think you are, Lisette. You have a chance. You have a choice, and I'm giving you an opportunity to use it. Join us, and you'll be free with your life. If you kill me, there will be nothing but illusions left for you."

"Killing you is my happiness, Y/N. Without you, I can marry Tewkesbury, be of a higher use to the King, live with eternal wealth, and be a strong powerful woman you thought you needed a reform to reach, and I will get myself to the top. Joining your fading weak little group will get me nowhere. You will all perish and will be nothing but a dot in the history books. Accept it, ( last name )." She said and watched her as her left hand slipped.

"You can never change the world." Lisette continued and grabbed an arrow.

Those words were the most painful ones out of all the words that were supposed to hurt her more. She has dedicated her life to something so wonderful, dangerous, and ambitious, yet when she heard her utter those words, she started doubting herself. What if it was for nothing? What if they fail eventually? Lisette seemed certain enough.

How could she?

L/N was holding on with one hand. If she falls, she'll lose Lisette to escape, or she'll weaken her functioning body and lose a fight just waiting below. She didn't know if she could really change the world at this point. Disappointment seemed to have also taken over her head.

'At least I tried.'

With that, her other hand slipped. She was ready to fall until a hand gripped hers. "How many times do I have to tell you that I can't lose you, you stubborn woman!" she heard. The girl opened her eyes and looked at the eyes of her saviour.

"Tewkesbury!" she exclaimed. The boy pulled her back up with all his strength and embraced her immediately. The Marquess of Basilwether kissed her forehead and sighed in relief.

"Don't you fucking do that again!" he scolded. "Don't you dare just close your eyes and slip your hand without even thinking who you're going to leave behind! Falling down there is a one way guarantee of giving your enemies the satisfaction of winning a fight against you — all because you had a disadvantage!"

"I'm sorry." She whispered and hugged him back. The girl then saw Lisette on the floor, unconscious.

"Is it over?" she asked him.

"Not yet. They're targeting the minister, and Guineviere is hurt. Lord Leucrion has a wound on his side. Lord Barron is unconscious, and Enola's friend whom I know nothing of is injured badly. I saw them. This is going to be bloody and if it doesn't stop soon, they'll be nothing but cold bodies. We need to move, Y/N."

"I hate this life." She mumbled.

And then, the fight goes on . . .