Going up the long stairs, Abbot made it to the second corridor as he walked with measured steps, silently heading towards Jeremy’s room with an unfathomable expression on his face. He barely responded to the greetings of the servants that cleaned the corridors, as though he couldn’t waste his precious time giving answers to such undeserving lowly workers.
Not willing to let himself get irritated by their nostalgic presence, he tried to keep himself distracted, using it as an opportunity to figure out the best way to approach the subject he planned on discussing with Jeremy, regarding how to get rid of Cassian for good before he ruins his plan on becoming Duke.
He knew his brother hated Cassian just as much as he did, so if he can get the useless slob to do something meaningful with his existence, he’ll be hitting two birds with one stone by getting rid of Cassian, and becoming Duke since he would be the only one rendered compatible enough to honor the title.
Pushing the door open without knocking, Abbot was about to say something when he halted in his steps, looking speechless at the sight before him. On the bed, Jeremy was entangled with a brunette-haired woman he had never seen before. They were both naked, and their bodies were moving together in a way that left nothing to the imagination.
The lady’s pleasurable moans stopped, and Jeremy stopped moving when he heard the door open behind him. Turning his head to see who had interrupted his lustful moment, he could see Abbot standing at the entrance with a dazed expression, and he smirked his way.
"Brother, how rude of you to step in without knocking." He flashed a silly smile at Abbot, who chose to ignore what was happening in front of him, and he stepped into the room.
"Sorry for the interruption but we need to talk." He stated, going straight to the point while Jeremy, who was busy pleasuring the beautiful woman underneath him finally pulled himself out of her core, making her moan in satisfaction, and Abbot’s mind was far from what was happening.
"Why so fast? Come join us." He invited whilst lying back on the bed with his hand resting at the back of his head. Abbot’s gaze fell on the beautiful woman who seductively smiled his way before retracting his uninterested gaze to Jeremy.
"Thank you for the offer, but no, and also, she better not be around when father returns, you know he won’t fancy an unknown woman in his mansion."
"Sheesh, wait outside, will you?" Jeremy’s expression was immediately contorted into a look of annoyance, already getting irritated from having to hear his own brother preach to him.
Rolling his eyes, Abbot stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him and dismissing the image that he had to face.
Patiently waiting outside, Jeremy joined him after a few minutes looking dressed. He leaned forward against the bars, waiting for Abbot to speak.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Father isn’t going to let go of his title anytime soon, and Cassian looks interested in solving the missing people case."
"How do you know?"
"Cassian hasn’t used his study for a long time. He barely spends time at home and goes around thinking of ways to annoy father, but now he doesn’t do that anymore." Abbot was greatly disturbed by it as he released an exasperated sigh. "What do you think?"
"I say his wife is the main course of everything." Jeremy pointed it out clearly. "Didn’t you notice, after he got married he frequented the mansion a lot more, rarely goes out. I saw him with father once, and I couldn’t make out what the discussion was all about but it didn’t look insulting."
"His wife?"
"Yes." Jeremy scornfully gritted his teeth as the thought of that woman. "I don’t fancy her presence in this mansion, and I can’t say how big of a threat her presence is."
Abbot eyed his brother from head to toe, his gaze skeptical after hearing Jeremy speak of Cassian’s wife with visible distaste, but he chose not to question it since he was aware of how unbearable her presence is. He hasn’t forgotten the little stunt she pulled on him at the garden, and that smile on her lips silently aggravated him as he sighed out the anger in him.
"I’m guessing you’re right about that." He agreed. "But she’s a woman, I won’t take her company to be anything fatal." His gaze darkened. "Cassian is my main goal, if he solves this case then a lot of things are at stake. I can’t let his wife give birth to a child before mine, it won’t happen."
Jeremy’s brows lifted. "Even if you get rid of Cassian, do you have any plans on solving the missing people case. Did you read the news? A lot more have gone missing, and it’s becoming rampant in Carmarthen."
Abbot scoffed. "They’re the ignorant fools who still step out after twelve. No one has been able to solve the case, father tried his best to end it last year, but not even his connections could make it work."
"But don’t you ever get curious about what is out there?"
"Hmmn... I don’t know, if you’re curious, you can always wander off and come back to tell me what you see." Abbot suggested with a nonchalant gesture of his shoulders, earning him a glare as Jeremy backed away.
"Why am I not surprised that you’d want me dead?" Jeremy’s eyes narrowed suspiciously at Abbot who chuckled at his question. "If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t cover up your sins. But anyway, it’s good you don’t trust me, I won’t advise you to trust me."
Looking at Jeremy, he gave him a pat on the shoulder before saying. "Stay away from the missing people case, I heard those who get involved hardly make it out alive."
"What?" Jeremy’s baffled expression was all he needed to see before he turned around and left the corridor, and he could feel Jeremy’s gaze piercing straight into his back.
Watching his brother exit the corridor, Jeremy huffed, not willing to bother himself over Cassian and his brother. "Do whatever it is you want to do, brother, but I have my own plans hiding under my sleeves."
He smirked, bringing out the bottle from his pocket and staring at the content.