Louisa's POV
Josephine's face was turning red and white at the same time.
I knew she tried to come up with something to explain this whole situation, but she just couldn't say a word.
She admitted wearing those earrings last night.
Akela said she found the earrings in her tent.
I found a piece of silk handkerchief jammed in Akela's window.
Those soldiers saw Akela's maid wandering around Akela's tent.
I connected all those pieces together and concluded what happened last night -
Before Mana and Mata got into Akela's tent, Josephine sent one of her maids to check if Akela was at her tent.
Then, she got into the tent for some unknown reason and put a piece of a handkerchief in the window, so she could sneak into the tent later. But before she left, her earrings dropped to the floor, but she didn't notice. Then, Akela came to the tent and saw these two earrings. She must have put them up somewhere before Mana and Mata got into the tent, hypnotized her, and took away her jewelry. But Mata only likes shining stuff, so he must have ignored the black pearls. Anyway, this morning, when Josephine found out the earrings were missing, she immediately associated this case with Mana and Mata. She must have already learned that Lucas had accepted them as my personal guard, so she just had to make a scene by claiming they were thieves.
But in the end, she made a fool of herself and disclosed some vital information by herself.
But why did Josephine want to get into Akela's tent? Was she looking for something? Or was she going to sneak into Akela's tent and do something to her when it was dark?
My hair started to stand on my arms. If it weren't for Mana and Mata, Josephine may have hurt or killed Akela!
I immediately walked towards Akela and held her in my arms.
"Are you OK?" I asked her.
"Yeah... I've just had breakfast with Lucas and he introduced me to everyone..." Akela looked very confused and then she smiled at me, "Hey, I remember you! Are you the servant girl that wanted to help me get dressed in my tent? You look so pretty! What's that in your hand? Was that a comb? It looks so small! I had a similar comb when I was a girl and I used it to comb all my dolls. I've got a dollhouse back in Emerald Creek. I mean, a full house of dolls! I used to play with them and sing to them all the time. I've made so many beautiful dresses for them! I really miss them right now. I need to ask Lucas to move the entire house to this place before the wedding. They're very important to me."
Josephine looked outrageous. She twisted her hands together as if she was twisting Akela's neck. Then, she regained her calm and said, "Oops. I guess I shouldn't skip breakfast because now I'm feeling dizzy. I guess I've got hypoglycemia now. It gives me a headache and it makes me grumpy. I made a mistake, Akela. Those aren't my earrings. I remember that I had left my earrings somewhere else. I don't know whose earrings you're wearing, but they do make your nose smaller!"
Then, she gave me a dark look and wanted to walk off.
I said, "Josephine, you haven't apologized to my friends."
Josephine turned back drastically and said with a vicious grin, "I never apologize to lowbred creatures. Be careful of your dirty webbed claws and keep them off my property. If I catch you trying to steal from me, I will cut them off and put them in a jar of formalin and force you to drink it!"
Both Mana and Mata were so terrified that they had to cover their mouths not to scream out loud.
They didn't even dare to scream even though they knew people couldn't hear them.
Looking at the bruises and wounds all over their bodies, I felt so angry.
I physically blocked Josephine and said with determination, "You trashed my friends for stealing your earrings, and today you won't go anywhere without apologizing to them!"
Josephine narrowed her eyes and said, "Don't try to start with me, she-wolf! I'm really not in a good mood right now!"
Then, she roughly pushed me out of her way.
She was surprisingly stronger than me and I almost fell to the ground.
A pair of little hands caught me and I saw they were Akela's hands.
Akela held me in her arms and said, "It's really not nice to push people around, Josephine. You can't do things like this to servant girls. I've got a cousin who was really mean to her maids. And you know what? Those girls spat in her drink and put rats in her boots. They also messed up her hair before she went for a ball, and she was a laughing stick to everyone in the ball that night. You should apologize to her."
Josephine looked as if she was about to shift into a wolf and chew off Akela's face, but she couldn't do it.
So, she squeezed a word from her teeth, "Sorry."
"Do you have a name?" Akela looked at me with her giant doe-like eyes.
"Yes. My name's Louisa." I said.
Akela looked at Josephine and said, "You should say her name and apologize, so it means the apology is sincere."
She had a very serious look on her delicate doll-like face.
Josephine's body was trembling in anger, but eventually, she gave in and said, "Sorry, Louisa."
Akela smiled with satisfaction and nodded.
"Very good. Now, you have to apologize to those two little guys." Akela pointed at Mana and Mata. "You shouldn't blame them for stealing from you, because they didn't. They are really good and honest people who did some bad things in the past. But I don't think they should be treated like bad people for the rest of their lives. If a pair of leather boots don't fit, you shouldn't get angry and think they're bad. You should give them a second chance by placing them nicely on the shelf, so they can be purchased by someone else."
"What is that crazy red hair lady talking about?" Mata asked in a whisper.
"I really don't know. I guess she wants to use our skin to make leather boots." Mana said in despair.
I walked towards Mana and Mata and held them in my arms. Then, I turned my head to Josephine and said, "Apologize to Mana and Mata!"
Josephine looked as if she was going to pass out.
Then, she finally said the words -
"Sorry, Mana and Mata!"