News of the death of Austin's household and the miracle of his survival dominated the headlines and people's gossip for months.
In light of their good relationship with Austin's parents, the royal couple gave Austin new servants to fill his house, bestowed him with riches, assigned strong bodyguards to him, and promised that they would help him find the culprits who killed his parents.
Many people went to his parents' funeral to give their condolences. His parents had formed a lot of connections and everyone liked them for their upright and strong nature. However, thanks to the power and position they held, it was inevitable that they would have enemies as well.
For those fighting to replace his parents in the political scene, they insensitively used the funeral as another chance to network with the important figures, especially since the royal couple would be present as well. They pretended to have been on good terms with his parents by saying pr
"Good afternoon." The deep and alluring voice Eva dreaded to hear traveled from the doorway. As usual, she was careful to not let anything she felt show on her face."Austin! How are you faring?" Esmeralda chirpily greeted him. While their masters stood up, Eva and the other servants kept their heads lowered in a small bow as their greeting.Austin strolled in and chose the grey single couch beside Esmeralda. Saddie looked a little peeved at being so far away from him. Now, Esmeralda was in the position that she wanted. Austin on one side, her brother on the other. Since Dylan shared the long couch with Esmeralda, Saddie felt a little excluded. So, she inched as close as she could towards Dylan. Dylan noticed her fidgeting and seemed to know that she was in distress, for he patted her head. Saddie's smile immediately returned and Dylan turned his attention back on the conversation."The same as usual. How about you?" Austin had kept his reinvestigation into his
/It won't be good to sleep in damp clothes./ With that thought, Austin went to the room that used to be his parents' to get one of his mother's old dresses. It would still be in a good condition since he ordered for the room and everything in it to be kept in good condition despite him never taking a step in it.He stopped right before the door and hesitated going in. A maid happened to pass by and saw him hovering in front of the door deep in thought. She decided to grab onto the rare chance to talk to him."Is there something I can help you with?" She asked in the nicest voice she could manage.Austin looked at her and walked away without a word. /How stupid of me, if others saw her in different clothes, they'd still know that I'm treating her differently. Defeats the purpose of me not asking the maids for a change of clothes./He returned back to the room and stared at Eva with a frown. He felt like he could not leave her
When the carriage finally came to a stop, Austin's butler helped Eva to step out of the carriage. She then showed them to sitting room before informing Esmeralda's family of her return and Austin's visit."Austin!" Esmeralda's family greeted him with surprise."Why the sudden visit?" Esmeralda's father asked."Sorry for coming by unannounced. I decided to use this chance to see you. I haven't made a social call in such a long time.""No, no, please join us for dinner if you're free to!""And please excuse our brazen daughter. I can't believe she thought that it was a good idea to let you care for one of our servants like that.""No, it was I who insisted."As they continued to chat, Esmeralda headed straight for Eva with a concerned look on her face, completely ignoring the fact that her parents were speaking ill of her."Are you feeling better already?"Eva nodded."Go rest for the rest of the day, just in case."
Now that everyone got their books, except the three people who either had no interest in reading or did not know how to read, they settled down. Esmeralda and Dylan sat beside each other on a couch near a large window. Austin sat across Esmeralda with a short coffee table between them. Saddie intentionally sat beside Austin. Briana and Eva leaned against the window sill, while all the other servants stood behind their masters. Only after their masters got absorbed into their books, did they start to relax and find an appropriate place for themselves to sit as well.Unbeknownst to everyone, Austin had been covertly keeping his attention on Eva, even though his eyes stayed on his book. It was a very convincing act, completed with a perfectly timed flip of a page. So, he noticed the little nudge and teasing grin that Saddie's attendant gave Dylan's butler before she left him alone. What disgruntled him further was the blush that Dylan's butler had while he approached Eva. Austin
Eva stared at the letter on the dining table in utter shock, while Briana read it out for her parents to hear. It was so full of slander and jealousy that made even her parents raise their eyebrows./I knew that she has an issue with Esmeralda but why does the second female lead of every world wish to kill the female lead? Is there no more wholesome or less antagonistic story?/ Eva was feeling completely fed up. She had enough of seeing the same thing repeat.[There are. It's just that the worlds that usually have bugs tend to be ones filled with stronger negative emotions.]At the same time, her parents were also commenting on the letter. "To think that our little miss would have someone so close to her wish for her death.""A very strong wish for her death.""Are we really going to do it?" Briana voiced out her concern for the first time. Briana could not help but feel something after serving Esmeralda for more than 10 y
Days crawled by for those watching over Esmeralda's estate.Nobody stayed as vigilant as Austin. Many began dozing off or chatting in hushed tones. Whereas, Austin laid in wait for an infiltration, no matter how uneventful a day may seem. Sounds of crashes and things dropping in the estate occasionally rang out and broke the silence in the area./Was there someone so clumsy in this household all this time?/A bad premonition slowly grew in his heart.It had been another mundane day of observation when Austin saw something that made his heart drop. Although he could only see the back view of the person falling out of the window, he dashed to the window before his mind even registered the identity of the person. He stood below the window, ready to catch her in case she failed to pull herself back in. The sight of him shocked the servants in the room below the room that the trio was in, and delayed their response in running to the source of the loud
Austin was in a foul mood.He was so close to killing that woman decked in black. She was obviously worn out and he would have caught her if not for the interference. The father-daughter pair crashed into him, then repeatedly fell over themselves when trying to get off him in a haste. Their clamouring kept him down and gave the assassin a chance to flee.Fed up, he grabbed the back of their collars and threw them off of him like a pair of rag dolls, then chased down the escapee. The father-daughter pair still wanted to follow him, claiming that they wanted to help. While Austin ran past his men, he glared meaningfully at them. Understanding the unspoken order, his men stepped in to restrain the pair.He chased her all the way to the rundown house, where she seemingly disappeared into thin air. His guts told him that the truth was likely as he guessed. /Prove me wrong. Please, let me be wrong./ He thought to himself while he turned the house inside out i
The entire ride to Austin's mansion was silent. There was only the clip clopping of horse hooves, the rickety sound of the moving bandwagon, and the chirping of crickets. The atmosphere felt incredibly heavy.Most of the men hopped off their bandwagons along the way back to Austin's mansion. In a bandwagon of their own, Eva sat beside Austin. Opposite them were more men who were in charge of keeping watch over her parents, while her parents laid unconscious on the floor of the bandwagon.The sky was already dark by the time they reached back.While the drivers returned the bandwagons to the person who supplied them, the four people in charge of Eva's parents brought them to the basement of the west wing that had been prepared to hold them. Austin continued to hold Eva by her elbow and brought her to the second level of the central wing and into a room to the right of the staircase. Nobody, including his dumbfounded butler, understood Austin's intentions or