Chapter 12

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The Curtis Mansion was on the East Coast of Waltz. The East Coast was home to the city’s wealthy people with their extravagant summer villas and mansions. To get there, one had to board another train at Waltz Central Station for about twenty minutes and then get off at another station on the city’s outskirts. The Curtis Mansion wasn’t within walking distance from the station based on the map.

Following Mr. Larson’s instructions, Judith sent him a telegram of the expected time and date of her arrival two days before she left for Tyson. She said in the letter that her train would arrive at Platform 4 at 2 PM on June 1st.

New passengers filled the train she boarded to Waltz, and it left the station soon after. Judith was left alone on the platform, glancing anxiously at the clock tower.

It was already 2:42 PM.

Mr. Larson seemed punctual, so something must have gone wrong for him to be late.

“Should I just hitchhike?”

Judith walked alone, following the station’s exit sign. She climbed the magnificently-designed marble stairs, which looked too fancy for a train station. Upon reaching the top, the bustling streets of Waltz appeared before her, and she let out a sudden gasp of awe.

“Oh, my god…”

Before she left Kinsley, she had been collecting photos of Waltz’s panoramic views and sticking them onto her scrapbook to prepare her mind. But nothing could compare to finally seeing it with her own eyes. The amazing landscape in front of her was no longer just a black and white photograph.

Enormous skyscrapers surrounded the city, and Judith was in awe of their beauty.

How many floors were there in that building? She bent her neck and looked up as much as possible, but motion sickness took over before she could even begin counting the floors.

The sky above the towering buildings looked like blue puzzle pieces. Some of the buildings were in the middle of renovations, so many wooden structures hung on construction sites.

Gentlemen in sophisticated suits and ladies wearing the latest, fashionable dresses line up the streets of Waltz. Judith had seen similar dresses in her closet but never tried wearing them. Newsboys holding newspapers in their arms shouted, “One Shield! One Shield!” and squeezed through the crowd.

Judith tried to dodge an oncoming newsboy but accidentally stumbled onto the edge of the two-lane street. At that moment, something red passed in front of her eyes with incredible speed. A red luxury car had nearly run her over.

The short-haired lady sitting in the passenger seat turned around and waved her hand.

“I’m sorry, baby! He’s a rough driver!”

Judith couldn’t hear the rest of her words clearly as the car accelerated and drove away at a threatening speed. She looked at the car that had become a red dot beyond the crowded city center and got back up with help from a kind gentleman.

“Be careful, young lady. The streets are dangerous here.”

“Thank you…”

Before she could straighten her back, the gentleman who helped her was already gone.

Judith looked around dumbly and went back to the Central Station to avoid the busy streets of Waltz. She sat down on the bench near the stairs.

“I feel like Alice who fell into Wonderland.”

Waltz was a completely different place than Kinsley and Kilgeny, where she spent her childhood. Judith would bet her entire fortune that Millian would have fainted from awe if he had been with her. She could see now why young people dream of coming to Waltz.

Judith placed her bag on her lap and waited for the time to pass while looking around the bustling city.

Thirty minutes, one hour, and another one and a half passed.

She felt hungry and bought a sandwich from the bakery in front of the station. She was surprised to know just how high prices were in Waltz.

However, as time passed, no one came to pick her up. But she could feel a piercing gaze from her right side.

“…..”

Judith reached the point where she could no longer ignore the stare, so he finally turned to her right side and let out a long sigh.

“Excuse me, but how long are you going to stare at me?”

A man stood with his back leaning on a street lamp about a meter away from her bench. The first time she saw him watching her was when she came out of the bakery.

With his arms crossed and his body turned towards her, Judith realized the same man watched her on the train.

His face was expressionless, but she felt like he was judging her with his gaze even though he hadn’t said anything to make her nervous.

The man replied cooly.

“As long as you sit there.”

Judith contemplated what to tell him but got up and picked up her suitcase instead.

“I’ll just go then. Make yourself comfortable.”

She spoke to him because she thought he would be polite to her since they both came from Wortherford. Before she could turn around, the man barked an order.

“Stop.”

She pretended not to hear it. Whether or not the man was from Wortherford, Judith knew she was better off not getting herself involved with him. No one in their right mind would want to hang out with a gangster. She didn’t want to get into trouble on her first day in Waltz.

Judith took a step as if she didn’t hear him, and the man’s voice got louder the farther she walked.

“Don’t be foolish unless you want to be dragged back.”

Clearly, the man didn’t like to repeat himself, and he wasn’t kind to those who refused to listen to his orders. Judith felt a slight headache when his men, who had been watching her the whole time, showed up from the alleys.

Judith was on his third warning when she walked back and sat on the bench again. She remembered the woman’s warning from before.

‘The scariest and most ruthless man in the alleys of Waltz.’

‘Director, how did you raise this child in the past?’

Five years ago, he turned his back on her like he didn’t care. At that time, she didn’t think he was a bad person, even when he was cold to her.

Fortunately, it didn’t look like he intended to harm her, as long as she didn’t provoke him.

His eyes were dark gold under the sunlight, and he had no manners or morals.

He didn’t follow any rules or proprieties. He wasn’t one to follow any guidelines of what to do when you just met a person.

Judith felt like she was under his scrutiny.

His stare became too uncomfortable that she habitually fiddled with her necklace until he finally asked her a question.

“Is this your first time in Waltz?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“It’s amazing how you don’t look surprised. People who come here for the first time can’t keep their mouths shut.”

Judith thought to herself bitterly. The man was taking away her chance of admiring the city. Whether he was aware of it or not, he didn’t care and wasn’t interested in the first place.

“I’m stuck alone in a strange place, but I’m not scared.”

“There’s nothing to be scared about. You’re not a child anymore.”

Although she was alone in a big city, she had money and could send a telegram to Wortherford in case of emergency. Judith pretended to smooth out the wrinkles on her one-piece skirt dress, subtly checking if the holster attached around her thighs was still in place.

The only danger here was that man.

The man muttered to himself.

“Seeing you wait foolishly, it doesn’t seem like you have the courage to walk the streets of Waltz alone.”

“Did you stop me from leaving just to tell me this?”

“No, I just wanted to make fun of you for being ignorant and stupid.”

“Because there are gangsters everywhere?”

“You could say that.”

Judith became increasingly anxious. If the telegram hadn’t arrived, no one would be picking her up from the Curtis Mansion. Then she would have no choice but to go there herself, and there was still a way long to go.

She pretended to play with a button on her blouse, then raised her hand and touched the pedant hidden beneath her clothes when the man started talking again.

“I don’t think the person you’re waiting for is coming to see you.”

It was like he had read Judith’s mind even though she guessed it already.

Suddenly, pieces of details started to form a thought in Judith’s mind.

First, he was the man who picked her up when she arrived at Portham’s port and accompanied her to Kinsley at the instruction of her sponsor on Christmas Day five years ago. It meant he was probably acquainted with Mr. Curtis or was under his direction.

Second, her sponsor invited her to Waltz, and she coincidentally bumped into the man again after five years. He still remembered her and had been watching her since they were on the train.

Third, the person who was supposed to pick her up still hadn’t shown up for hours now, and he’s the only person who has connections with her sponsor here.

‘If that’s the case… then…”

For a moment, Judith thought about what to call the man. Director Rachel called him ‘Heath.’ Most of the children from Wortherford Orphanage commonly adapted the director’s surname, and there was a high possibility that he did the same. Hence, his full name was probably ‘Heath Wortherford.’

“Excuse me, Mr. Wortherford.”

“Heath Ardmore.”

Judith shrugged off her earlier assumptions. He seemed to have a different surname.

“Okay, Mr. Ardmore. Could it be that you’re the one who’s supposed to pick me up?”

As she spoke, Judith had a strange nagging feeling about this whole thing. Why would the most famous entrepreneur in Waltz be associated with the boss of a notorious gang?

Heath Ardmore, the man who had been casually leaning against a street lamp the whole time, finally straightened himself up.

“Think what you like.”

“What do you mean?”

He closed the distance between them in just a few steps. Heath was in front of her instantly, grabbing her wrist and forcing her to stand up.

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Miss Lassie’s Corner

Introducing our first ML candidate, Heath Ardmore. Let me know who’s your bet in the coming chapters!