“Have you heard of her? My grandma said she was a famous witch hundreds of years ago,” Richard said, and Evie smiled and shook her head.She did not know any Dolya who was a witch. Although she did not believe that the ancestor he mentioned was indeed a witch. At least, if it’s the same Dolya she had in mind, then it’s really the Goddess of Fate, Evie thought. But, of course, there was no way for her to verify this, unless…Unless there’s an awakened or a transcendent among her descendants…But, looking at Richard, although he might be considered as an “awakened” in her world since he could see and sense the dark elementals, he was closer to normal humans than deity. His celestial blood was too little.How did she know? Simple, she tried to release a little bit of her celestial aura, but the boy remained clueless. She wanted to gauge his limit, but she was not powerful enough at the moment and it would be a waste of energy, and so Evie decided to forget about it. In any case, there’s
“It means…”“It means that anyone who had contact with those guys can be infected in the future, and they in turn could also infect others. If left alone, we’ll have monsters swarming the city in months or years,” Evie completed their sentence, and the room fell into silence once more.“I will contact my cousin immediately,” Richard offered, and he took out his phone, excused himself, and left the room to make a call.Left alone, James continued to look contemplative. He remained silent, but his eyes were on Evie, studying her unabashedly. In this instance, Evie admitted that in spite of the colored hair, the scholarly aura he had in his blood and bones radiated from him.“Do you have questions?” she asked, knowing full well that he had tons of things he wanted to ask her.At least, that’s what his face told her— well, that plus logic. After all, she was totally unlike the Evely that they knew. The previous one would not care whether other people lived or died as long as it’s not in f
“Boss, are you alright?” James asked, and Evie’s attention returned to him.“Yeah. Why did you ask?”James did not reply immediately. His pair of blue-gray eyes studied her for a while as if not believing her but could not comment on it.“You just seem distracted so I asked,” he said afterwards.“Ah, I just remembered I promised mom I will not return home late and have dinner with them. Eli will be coming back tonight.”James looked surprised.“Boss, you really made up with your stepmother and call her mom now?”Evie looked at him. James had nothing else on his face and in his tone except for pure curiosity. She smiled.“Is that shocking?”James shook his head. “Not really. But it’s unbelievable considering how stubborn you are about hating her before.”Evie’s smile turned sheepish. Yes, Evely was stubborn and planned to hate Liz until she died. The previous Evely did not know that this promise never came true as days before her death, Evely found out the truth. By then, she had been
“Thank you so much, Miss,” Fanny gushed, followed by the other servants and the guards.It seemed not only the maids were given something, but also the guards. Her parents were really nice, she thought. She just wanted to get rid of Evely’s things. She had told the servants to take them, but it never occurred to her, in order to give everyone equal share, to sell Evely’s things. But, then again, if they sold those, it was fast.“Bernard sold everything so fast?” she asked as she walked towards the house, and the servants followed her.“No, miss. The madam asked Sir Bernard to audit all the things that can be sold. After knowing the price, the madam gave the money to Sir Bernard for all of us to share. But the things were all donated somewhere.”Ooooh…“I see,” Evie smiled, feeling amazed by how Liz was so generous.Evie was a demigod. Supposed to be, there was an ingrained instinct to protect and to make sure her followers were alright and taken good care of within her. But she had to
“Miss!” The nanny carrying Eli greeted her with a smile.She then shifted on her feet so that Evie could see Eli’s sleepy face clearly. Those heavy lashes that fanned his chubby cheeks trembled as he lifted his eyelids. He looked so disoriented that Evie fought the urge to smile at the cuteness, but failed in the end anyway. She now could understand why even the indifferent Evely was not able to resist her younger brother even if he was the son of the person she hated the most.The disoriented gaze became clearer and clearer. In a moment, the pair of little gray eyes similar to Evie’s stared back at her.“Vivi…” the little voice called, and Evie’s heart melted.Vivi was Eli’s exclusive nickname for Evely because he could not pronounce her name properly when Evely first taught him how to say her name. Before, even if Evely liked her younger brother, she was still cold to him and ignored him when her parents were there. This confused and hurt the little boy’s heart. It was a good thing
In another part of the world, near Shibuya and Meguro in Tokyo, Japan, stood a massive cedar gate. Beyond it was an equally colossal estate with traditional styled buildings. To those who did not know, the estate looked like a fancy house built around the Meiji era. But to the locals, this was the home of the country’s most influential family.It was known as the Homura House, or better yet, the Cedar Palace. There was no one in Japan and people who were involved in the government and business from other countries who did not know what it signified.The head of the Homura Family, Homura Ryuu, was one of the wonders in the business world, among Rockefeller Group’s founder, André de Lancy. Also, similar to André de Lancy, Homura Ryuu was equally mysterious as he rarely appeared in public.Homura International was handled by Kazehaya Gin, Ryuu’s cousin, and served as its CEO. Compared to the reclusive Ryuu, Gin was very sociable and his face that looked strange for a Japanese since he ha
What? Who died?Puzzled, Evie watched as her father turned pale as he suddenly stood up in shock. He then turned his eyes towards the living room, and he rushed to open the television without telling them anything. He switched channels a few times before it stopped on breaking news.“Around ten in the morning here in Altair, and four in the afternoon in Japan, Homura International’s CEO, Gin Kazehaya and his wife, Emi were on the way to the airport when the car they were riding suddenly exploded. The police have confirmed that there were no survivors in the accident. The couple was supposed to attend the International Business Conference to be held in Paris, France…”The voice of the news anchor droned on as Francis stared at the television showing the accident, and his legs suddenly trembled, and he slumped slowly on the carpeted floor like jelly. He was obviously very much affected by the news.Evie looked at the television where it showed the police trying to sort out the debris of
“What happened? Why do you look like that?”Eileen Russel looked up from the steak and potatoes she had been stabbing with the fork and knife as if she was murdering her food, to the elegantly dressed woman who just walked in the dining area of the equally elegant house.The woman was well maintained. Even if she did not look that pretty, she looked as if she was still in her late twenties rather than someone closer to forty years of age. She had an oval shaped face, and thin lips, thickened dramatically by lipstick, making it pouty. She had long chestnut colored hair that fell over her shoulders in soft waves courtesy of the salon. Unlike Eileen, whose real eyes were brown, the woman’s eyes were hazel— soft brown with flakes of green and gold in the middle. She wore an aqua colored chiton style dress partnered with a pair of silver high heeled sandals.“Why do you think so?”Eileen retorted sarcastically. She was in a very bad mood since the morning. All her carefully laid out long t
“Hi! Is Kyle Simmons here? I’m his cousin. He said he will help us look around.”Richard asked in a very friendly manner, and Wilson returned his smile.“You’re Richard?” he asked back, and when the other nodded, he pointed at the seats next to the booth. “Kyle already told us about you the other day. Just sit there and wait a bit. He will be here in a while.”“Thanks,” Richard said, and the three followed his invitation and sat on the plastic chairs on the side.Wilson returned to his group and helped them attach photos of the different places the club members had been to.Actually, Kyle, Richard’s cousin, was not a member of the hiking club. He’s a member of the urban exploration team. But since the number of people were not many, and the members of the hiker’s club weren’t a lot as well, their club and the Hikers’ Club shared a booth. It was such a coincidence, but a very good coincidence on their part.The three sat quietly as they watched the people get busy. They did not offer h
“Boss, you’re here…”Evie turned to her side where the pedestrian entrance to the university was and saw both Richard and James standing there, as if waiting.“Why are you guys still there? Why didn’t you go in?”“We want to wait for you here,” they answered plainly.She was perplexed. She didn’t know what to say. She clearly didn’t want them to suffer for her, but they were just too cute and acted like her real lackeys. She didn’t know why she deserved such treatment, though. She could not really remember their past interactions, and she doubted if that gloomy Evely treated them correctly.“Fine, let’s go inside, then,” she said, and all three of them went to the gate.Altair University was not as strict to its students. They could go in and out anytime they wanted using their passes. However, not just anybody could enter the school on normal days. One had to be a student, a faculty member, or staff at the school in order to enter.Today, however, was a special day. It’s an open scho
“Miss, the car is ready.”Evie looked up from her empty plate and saw Bernard standing a few steps away, looking regal as always. These days, she felt like a spoiled princess since the butler and all the servants took good care of her impeccably. Most often than not, before she even opened her mouth to ask for something, it’s either already prepared or already done.Bernard was really true to his title as the number one steward in Altair. He could anticipate well what his employers needed and prepared them in advance. If Evie was not sure that he was a hundred percent mortal, she would think he had an “all seeing eye”. It was a power similar to Dolya’s that could foresee the future.“Then I will go now,” she said as she picked up her bag and walked towards the entrance.Last night, she asked Bernard for directions to Altair University. Evely had never been there, as she had no memory of how to go to that school. She just knew that it was not that far from Altair City High School. But
Hazel was indignant. “Why do you talk as if you know anything? You were not there. What do you know?”Wil raised a brow at her.“Don’t deny it. You know that Eric’s brother is in your school and he saw everything.”Eric Wales was Wilson’s best friend and classmate. His younger brother was a year younger than Hazel and also attended Altair City High School. Since the incident happened at the cafeteria at lunch time, it was totally possible that her actions were witnessed by the boy.Hazel’s eyes turned glum. She was very upset with her brother and herself.“What exactly happened?”This time, Hazel had no choice but to confess. She was arrogant, but only in the premise that her powerful family had her back. But if she’s in the wrong, although they would side with her in the presence of other people, they would never let her off in private.“You did that?”Her parents looked visibly disappointed. Hazel knew that since returning to Altair and “changing” her personality, her parents had b
That same night, in a different part of the city, another soul was restless. Hazel Trent had been in her room since she returned from school. She had been in a bad mood since the incident at the cafeteria, and then her confrontation with her so-called friends in their classroom.“Hmph! What friends!”Hazel had been incensed since the group of people who went to the cafeteria with her had turned their backs on her.Traitors!Well, technically, they did not betray her at all. They just suddenly woke up from the trance of unreasonableness that had fogged their brains. In fact, even if they realized that Hazel had egged them on so they would tag along in intimidating Evely Hunt and get scolded by Hanz, they never blamed her, and had advised her not to do it anymore. There was no sense in antagonizing Evely Hunt, since the girl did not do anything bad to them, nor as they said, did she start any of the fights she had, even before.Also, in the week since class had started, the student hadn
“Of course not,” James hastily denied, making the others laugh again.“Hey Hanz, where do you plan to study next? Have you chosen your university?” Richard asked.“Altair University, of course,” he answered swiftly. “I’ll be going there tomorrow, by the way. They have an open school.”James, Richard, and Evie exchanged glances.“What’s going on?”“Nothing. We’re planning to go there too in the morning,” Evie answered.The open school would open at nine in the morning. Evie and the others planned to go there at the opening time or at least she was going to suggest they went there at the opening time before they were interrupted by the crazy group earlier. Most students arrived around an hour before lunch break onwards. Not many students went around the opening time.“Really? Let’s all go together then,” Hanz invited and the others agreed.Evie planned to rope Hanz in her group anyway since he looked like he would be hanging out with them a lot. As for James and Richard, they didn’t min
“You have scary fans,” Evie told Hanz in amusement as soon as the group left the cafeteria.The drama has ended, and so, the students who hung out at the canteen started dispersing. Actually, even if they disagreed with the group for being rude, it was still a fact that Evely Hunt was famous for her fighting skills, and so most of the students were afraid of her.Also, Hanz Jensen, the top student was also there and he just got angry at the group earlier, and so they did not dare hang out longer. Even those who were still eating hastened their pace. Why? Because they didn’t want to have the attention of the group consisting of Evely Hunt, Hanz Jensen, James de Lancy, and Richard Simmons, who were all famous at school.All four people, plus the missing Yann Bouchard, comprised the people who were not supposed to be crossed at school. Hanz was the top student and he had tons of fans who were ready to slap people who would dare cross him. As for the others, they were from the leading fam
“You…”The class monitor of Class One was shocked at how Hanz Jensen had spoken to them. The Ice Prince might be cold and aloof to others, but he never scolded nor criticized anyone. They had never seen him this angry either. They tried to defend themselves but Hanz cut them off.“We were just concerned—"“I don’t need you to worry about me. I can take care of myself. You should worry about yourselves. When you attack or harass other people with your self-proclaimed justice without bothering to know the truth, that’s called bigotry. You should reflect on your actions.”Evie mentally clapped her hands as she could not do it while the people Hanz just scolded were still there. Even if she agreed with Hanz and she was displeased with the group, she didn’t feel it was correct for her to visibly gloat over their public embarrassment.Yes, public embarrassment. Because the group had caused a ruckus when they suddenly arrived with scary expressions and started scolding Evie’s group, they at
“Excuse me?”The girl looked offended. Her expression was akin to someone who just got her shit thrown on her face, and it would have been funny if it were a joke. But the girl was seriously offended even though she was the one who was rude first.“I said you’re an idiot,” Evie repeated without mincing her words.The group looked shocked. It seemed nobody had ever told them that they were stupid before. But it was understandable considering the class they were from. But that was not the point.“Are you talking about me?”“Is there any other idiot here— ah my bad. You’re a group. Birds of a feather, flock together, and so you’re all probably stupid if you came looking for her with the same stupid reason,” Richard mocked.“How dare you call us stupid?”“But aren’t you? We’re quietly having our meal here and you came spouting nonsense disrupting us.”“We’re not spouting nonsense!”“Oh, and which part within your reasoning makes sense? Why do you claim that the boss is dragging Hanz Jense