The sun was setting by the time Austin woke up. Having remembered that he had not yet settled the issue with the servants, he left the room with the intention to do so. However, Edwin happened to be at the foot of the stairs and caught him there.
"Your grace, dinner's ready."
"I'll have it later."
Suddenly, Edwin bowed down low, making Austin stop in his tracks once more. "Sir, please let me handle the servants."
Austin frowned. "Why?"
"All these would not have happened if I had not been careless. Let me atone for my mistakes. Please."
While Austin looked at him contemplatively, Edwin asked once more. "Please have dinner with the miss while I handle the servants."
Austin was bought over by the idea but he did not want to let it show. "She's awake?"
"Yes, I checked on her earlier, so I've also made her dinner. I was just about to call her down for dinner."
"I'll call her then. I have business with her anyway."
"Tha
The new butler of Esmeralda's estate received Austin and Eva at the front gate."Austin?" Esmeralda appeared at the doorway to the sitting room on the first level. There was no cheer or liveliness in her tone. Her eyes were dull. There were dark circles around her eyes. It was obvious that she was still mourning her parents death. After a short pause, Esmeralda acknowledged Eva's presence as well. "Eva."Esmeralda took in a measured breath. "This is rare. What brought the both of you here?" She asked with a small smile."Sorry that I did not turn up at your parents' funeral... I should have known better than anyone else that you'd need support the most at this time."Esmeralda shook her head while she sat down with them. "Don't mention it. You and Eva were having it rough too, isn't it? While the both of you had to deal with things by yourself, at least I have Dylan here with me. He helped me settle and rebuild everything while I was down and out."
After Saddie did as promised, Dylan hesitantly voiced what had been bugging him since Esmeralda's question to Saddie. "Austin... You DO love Esmeralda, right?"Everyone looked at Dylan either weirdly or in surprise, while Austin frowned at suddenly being called out only to be asked something like that. "What?""It doesn't sound like Esmeralda is sure of your love. After all that she's been through, I'd like to give her a peace of mind, if possible." He sounded a little timid but his eyes showed his determination.Austin felt irritation bubbling up inside him. Somehow, he did not like all this talk about his feelings and engagement with Eva right behind him listening to it all. Before he could say anything, Esmeralda jumped in to pull Austin to the side. "Austin, Austin, I have to speak to you."Once they were both standing apart from everyone else, Esmeralda pulled him down lower by his arm so that she could whisper into his ear. "What do you honestly thi
Within the palace grounds, Austin's entourage stood before the royal couple who remained seated on their raised platform. The two guards handed Eva's parents over to the royal guards.Since her parents knew that they were on their way to their deaths, they acted boldly and tried hard to drag another down with them. "It seems our daughter will be let off.""They must have liked her smarts. Didn't we experience it ourselves when she tried to advise us in our schemes? ""I didn't know that simply not staining your hands in blood makes you less guilty of something."However, they were met with silence. Even a cricket's chirping would be heard in the large room of people. Somehow, this made them look, sound, and feel stupid. They turned red in the face and gritted their teeth."Well done, Austin, you've caught the murderers and avenged your parents." The old king with wrinkles and a head full of grey hair commended him."Perhaps I'll
Days after days passed.Now that Eva was Austin's bodyguard, she followed him around wherever he went, along with his other bodyguards. Since Eva stayed the closest to Austin, it did not interfere with or change the way the other bodyguards functioned. They were the kind that kept a small distance from Austin, ensuring that no one entered a certain perimeter behind him.Eva found that her job as his bodyguard was pretty easy.Her mornings started earlier than everyone else's. She would wake up just before dawn broke to practice her marital arts, play with the weaponry at her disposal, practice shooting, then experiment with whatever she could before it was lunchtime.When Austin incidentally found out that she had been waking up early to practice, he woke up early to practice as well. After he had caught her parents, he began neglecting his physical training regime. Now that the fire was lit again, he resumed his daily sparring sessions with his bodyguard
When the doctor saw the new guests being ushered into the house by his wife, he quickly finished up his consultation with the current patient he was seeing so that he could attend to them."What happened?" The doctor asked while he readied the instruments needed for the removal of the bullet in Eva's shoulder."An attack near the harbour. The person got away." Austin said through gritted teeth. "How's she?""Don't worry. She's lucky, it's only a flesh wound. A simple procedure is all it needs. It'll hurt though. Would you like to use local anesthesia?""Yes." Austin replied in her stead. However, Eva shook her head."I listen to the patient." The doctor shrugged then proceeded on to remove the bullet. He did not want to waste time and let the wound fester while they argued about whether to use anesthesia or not.Austin frowned. "Why did you reject it? It's not like money is an issue for me. Is it not painful?"Eva shook her head
Around the time when they would normally leave in the afternoon, Austin came out as expected. Having regained his composure, he acted as he normally would and went about business as they normally did.It was only after dinner did Austin do something different. Normally, Austin and Eva would retire to their rooms, while Edwin got busy with other matters in the house. Tonight, Austin stayed in the shower for an unusually long time, deep in thought. When he finally came out, it was to go to Eva's room.Austin knocked on her door and Eva opened it almost without any delay."May I speak to you for awhile?" Austin sounded a little hesitant.Eva nodded then stood aside to let him in.Although Austin said that it would only take a while, they ended up sitting at the table near the window in silence for quite a long time.He gazed out the window, clearly still deep in thought. Now that it was winter, the sky had long been dark. There was
[Eva! Wake up! Eva!] Eva's eyes flew open. She immediately raised her guard and looked around her dark room to check if there was something wrong while BaoBao filled her in. [Someone's breaking into the mansion. He's currently at the front gate.] /Keep me informed./ With the winter cold being the least of her concern right now, Eva merely put on a pants and shirt, equipped herself with her different weapons before heading out of her room. The entire house was enveloped in darkness but Eva made her way around and out of the house without a hitch. [He's heading towards the carriages.] /I can't tell if he's a coward or just stinking slippery./ Ever since they placed a bodyguard or two to watch the carriage, nothing happened to the carriage or the driver again. He had also taken flight so quickly when he first shot at them. He seemed to be avoiding any confrontation. Yet,
Time passed and Eva fully recovered from her wounds. However, it was to get poisoned almost immediately. The moment she ingested a mouthful of food, BaoBao warned her that there were signs of poison in her body.Just as she found it weird that she would be the one poisoned when the target was Austin, an idea flashed in her mind. She hastily snatched the utensils from Austin's hand. However, he had already taken two more mouthfuls than her.Later that night, everyone in the household fell sick like Eva expected. They puked so much that they continued to lurch even after there was nothing left to puke out. They itched so badly that they would have scratched their skin off in their delirium if they were not bounded up. Eva was the least affected, followed by the others who were at the table with Eva that night. Since they were only lightly poisoned, their symptoms were more bearable. Unfortunately, the doctor's wife was weaker, so she had to be restrained like the others.