’’Miss Yu...’’ Rin panted, palms on her knees.
Ella closed the book and stood up.
The confused Riri curled on the couch, looking at them idly.
"Catch your breath first. Take it slow,’’ Ella rubbed Rin’s back.
Rin’s face turned a little red and she avoided Ella’s gaze.
But sensing how calm Ella was, she also composed herself and straightened up.
’’Now tell me what happened...’’
"I replied to your sister’s text... just like you wanted me to.’’
Rin pulled out her phone and turned it towards Ella.
In the morning, during breakfast, Ella convinced Adrian to take her to see Ruby.
And after he agreed, he first left to wrap some work.
So, Ella decided to go through the current trending news of the entertainment industry while waiting for Adrian to finish his work.
However, before she could start, Rin came to her and showed her Esther’s text that she had received just then.
Esther’s text read: [Rin, how is everything in the Eve Mansion?]
The question was very open ended and one would think Esther was just being harmlessly curious even if they read it.
However, Ella’s heart grew cold when she saw it.
She had pretended to be clueless in front of Ruby so as to not worry her. And even if Ella was initially in the dark about this whole kidnapping event, she would be a fool if she eventually did not try to join the dots.
Despite still having some confusion about her conjectures, Ella asked Rin to respond to Esther.
To Esther’s question, Rin’s text went like: [I am not sure what is going on in the mansion. Master is furious for some reason. I heard people whispering that it has something to do with Miss Yu again. Do you know something about this...?"
And to this, there was a reply from Esther a few minutes ago:
[Don’t try to meddle into things that don’t concern you. In some time, there will be a guest at the Eve Mansion. Remember, no matter what, you must make Ella meet the guest.]
Rin had brought her phone to Ella without responding to the text.
At this moment, a new text appeared:
[Remember, with me as your mistress, you will have a lifetime of comfort in the Eve Mansion. If you listen to my orders and do what I tell you, only a good future awaits you.]
Ella locked the phone.
As the screen turned black, Ella sighed.
Such schemes, manipulation... how can a 21 year old who hasn’t seen much of the world be capable of it?
Had she not known better, she would have thought Esther was reborn too.
The nature of her schemes mirrored the troubles she created for her in her previous life too.
The only difference was that... back then, she couldn’t see through a single one of the pits Esther had dug for her.
One by one, she kept falling into it. And it went on until she was far too damaged to crawl out of it.
It wasn’t until she held the gun against her head did she realize that the sister she had loved and trusted all her life, had always hated her to the point of killing her.
"Miss Yu, what do we do now? Who is the guest she is talking about?" Rin was a young girl and having witnessed Adrian’s bad temper a couple of times before, she was already biting her nails in anxiety, ’’Shall I ask her who it is? Or shall I... tell her it would be inappropriate to send someone over to the Eve Mansion...ahhh!"
Just as the girl was about to trip over the plush carpet, Ella grabbed her wrist.
She apologized and thanked Ella profusely.
Ella was a little speechless, ’’It’s fine.’’
’’But Miss Yu, you... It would be... It would be scary if Master comes to know about it later and...’’
At this moment, there were sounds of approaching footsteps first before the head servant, Bertha appeared in their view.
Her anxious face went a little pale when she spotted her daughter standing there with Ella.
’’Miss Yu...’’ Bertha approached Ella with hurried strides, ’’That person is here again... I tried to send him away but he insists on seeing you. What do we do?"
Ella lowered her gaze, ’’Hmm? So soon?"
Rin and Bertha were both stunned.
’’Miss Yu?" The mother and daughter called out at the same time.
’’The fish has finally taken the bait,’’ Ella suddenly looked up and walked out of the library calmly.
Seeing her daughter’s thoughtful reaction, Bertha turned to her, ’’Do you know something?"
Rin inhaled a deep breath and calmly explained everything that happened, ’’I was worried something would go wrong but now it looks like...’’
’’You were worried for nothing,’’ Bertha furrowed her brows, ’’She seemed to have planned everything from the very beginning, step by step.’’
The mother and daughter looked at each other and saw an identical fear in each other’s eyes.
In the garden area of the Eve Mansion.
A man stood with his hands tucked inside his pockets, facing the blooming roses.
Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, he turned around.
The girl who was walking towards him was dressed in a pastel green dress that reached past her knees, the flared dress gently swayed in the wind, her long hair cascaded down her shoulders, reaching her waist.
A few strands of her hair were swaying and framing her face in the wind. Frowning, she reached out to tuck them behind her ear. Yet, even an expression of displeasure did not look bad on that chubby face that seemed to glow.
The girl still seemed fat yet for some reason, she seemed weirdly appealing. He looked nothing like the desperate girl he once ignored.
’’What are you doing?"
The sweet voice seemed to be laced with poison.
Max flinched and snapped out of his reverie.
Watching him standing there in a daze, Ella showed a bored face, ’’If you have nothing to say then I think this conversation ends here. You can get going already.’’
The moment she turned to leave, Max grabbed her hand.
A/N: Support this work with your power stones and golden tickets~