Two weeks later.

The entire village was thoroughly searched.

“Did they catch the culprit yet, Master Henry?” asked Astoria, sitting next to Henry.

“No, unfortunately, no,” he said, shaking his head. But he wasn’t interested in her question. He was too busy admiring her beauty instead.

Astoria recognised that gaze. It was the same gaze that those two drunkards had given her when they assaulted her on the first day she visited the village.

It was a gaze she hated.

But she smiled through her disgust.

“Oh, they have already searched the entire western part and southern parts of the village, where else could he be hiding?” She asked curiously.

“Well for the next week, they will be searching the eastern region. They have also strengthened the defences on the village walls. The guards did not report any man with the appearance of the intruder leaving, so he and his helper must still be within the village.”

“Oh! I’m sure you’ll catch him eventually master, but what if he comes back to steal from the treasury again? Are they not going to increase its defences still?”

“Haha, you don’t need to worry about that,” laughed Henry, placing his hand around her.

Astoria wanted to chop his hand off, but she smiled.

“There’s no way he would dare to come back to this mansion and even if he does, I’ll protect you!”

“Thank you, master, you are so kind!” she replied. Henry laughed and moved his hand down her waist. As he reached her thighs, she suddenly got up.

“I just remembered something that the headmistress asked me to do, please excuse me, master!”

He wanted to stop her, telling her that he would deal with the headmistress but then stopped himself.

Maybe she’s just not ready yet. He thought to himself. She will be one day; I’ll just wait for a bit.

In this way, during the search, Astoria would get information from Henry on where the search party was and would tip Sam off. They would occasionally meet and continue discussing how they could get the Zenith pill recipe, making a more detailed plan this time.

But what Astoria did not know was that she was being followed. The headmistress hired someone to follow her due to her suspicions. Astoria was wary of the headmistress so did not meet Sam directly in any public places. She would mention the relevant information in a letter and give it to a homeless boy and pay him money to deliver it to Sam. She would also pay them to run some other errands for her. Otherwise, it would look too suspicious if someone noticed that she always only asked the homeless boys to deliver a message to a strange man.

When she wanted to meet Sam personally, she would inform him beforehand through a homeless boy to book a room in a particular inn under a particular name. Then she would ask the inn owner what room that person was in, and she would directly talk to him in that room, where no one could see or hear her.

The headmistress’ spy noticed these behaviours. He wanted to pay the homeless boy to deliver the letter to him instead, but Astoria would use a different boy each time and he didn’t know who the boy would be beforehand to bribe him. Hence, he just reported his findings back to the headmistress. He also followed the homeless boy and saw that the boy would occasionally meet with a suspicious-looking man. Additionally, when Astoria tried to visit Sam in person, he would ask the innkeeper what the girl wanted and found out that she was going to the room of a particular person. It was a different person each time, at least, the name was different.

The headmistress found all of this very suspicious. Looking at the pattern of when the boy would meet the strange man and comparing it to the pattern of the search party’s movements, it made sense for her to conclude that that man might be the intruder and Astoria was tipping him off.

What are you up to Olivia Higson?

She had seen enough. The headmistress directly confronted Henry one day when he was alone in his room.

“Yes, headmistress, how can I help you?”

“I want to talk to you about your servant, Olivia Higson, young master,” the headmistress said politely.

“Oh, what is it? Speak!” he said curiously.

So, the headmistress took a deep breath.

Astoria was just returning to Henry’s room, but she stopped upon hearing a familiar voice. She slowed down and placed her ear close to the door to listen in.

The headmistress voiced all her suspicions. From how she was unable to locate her family in the south, to how she would often ask strange questions about the treasury, and how the guards of the treasury had actually fallen asleep and Astoria had changed their food on that same day, how she thought Astoria would have been the perfect person to release the intruder, and how she entered her room late that night, and how she had recently been paying homeless boys to deliver messages to a suspicious man and how she would visit the rooms of random people.

Astoria was horrified, she didn’t realise how close this woman had gotten to the truth!

The more Henry heard, the more he frowned and the more serious he became. After she finished, he didn’t say anything for a long while.

“Do you have proof?” he asked simply.

The headmistress sighed. “Unfortunately, I don’t young master. But I’m sure she’s that man’s helper! Everything only started going wrong once she came!”

“Enough!” yelled Henry, slamming the table and standing up to face the headmistress.

The headmistress and Astoria were taken aback.

“You should know better than anyone how hard Olivia works at her job and her well she takes care of me. All you have is speculation and circumstantial evidence at best. If anyone else had accused her of such grave crimes without proof, I would have had them exiled from this village!”

The headmistress was speechless, but Henry continued.

“Look, Headmistress Lydia Greyrat. You have worked so hard for my family for so long and I know you have my best interests at heart. However, all you have are speculations. So, her family isn’t famous in her neighbourhood? Doesn’t mean she’s lying. Olivia asks me many questions about many things all the time, but she’s a young girl from a poor neighbourhood, so it’s only natural that everything is new to her and she’s curious about it. And a lot of it is just to understand me better so she can better serve me which you can see from her actions. And you really think she drugged the guards to make them fall asleep? What would she get from that? Even if she did steal something from the treasury, what could she do with it? If she tried to sell it in the village, we can easily trace it. She’d get nothing from stealing apart from losing her job and a death sentence. Who would want to take such a big risk for a quick buck? She’s not an idiot. And you believe she murdered the guards? Did you not see how gruesomely the guards were stabbed and beheaded? Do you think she is capable of something like that? This is just ridiculous. And what she does privately and who she meets is none of our business.”

The headmistress was at a loss for words. Indeed, without proof, all her suspicions could be explained away. Was she just overthinking everything after all?

No! If what she needed was proof, then she’d get it. Once and for all, she’ll find proof of Astoria’s treachery and convince Henry, or see the lack thereof, and convince herself that she was just overcomplicating everything.

“I apologise, young master. Please excuse me.” The headmistress bowed. Henry sighed and got back to his work.

“That’s okay. Please don’t talk to me about this again. You may leave!”

Outside, Astoria quickly ran and hid behind a corner.

She peeked and watched coldly as the headmistress left.

This woman is in my way…

After some time, Astoria calmed down and returned to Henry’s bedroom.

She bowed to Henry and silently started cleaning the bedroom with a million thoughts racing through her mind.

This headmistress was too dangerous. She had to deal with her somehow. Poison? She couldn’t access her food. Hire an assassin? No, she couldn’t afford one and there are too many ways for it to go wrong. Maybe she can silently kill her at night?

No! She couldn’t do anything to her now.

If something happened to the headmistress as soon as she started voicing concern about Astoria, even someone as stupid as Henry would become suspicious.

No, she just had to work quickly, get the pill recipe, and leave this hellhole.

The search party was going strong for two more weeks.

“So, after all that, you still couldn’t find them?” Byron asked coldly. The guards hung their heads in shame.

“Useless, useless, USELESS!” Byron screamed.

It took a few seconds for him to catch his breath.

“That’s enough, call it off.”

“My Lord?” the guard asked surprised.

“What? If you have more time, do you think you can find them?” The guard looked down again. “Humph! We have wasted too much time and resources on this already. If it weren’t for the two guards being killed, I might have called it off sooner. But if we haven’t found him for this long, then it is likely that he and his helper have left the village already.”

“But my lord if so-”

“If so, what?” Byron snapped. “You incompetent idiots would have spotted them at the gate and stopped them, would you? WOULD YOU? You couldn’t even spot them running around in our own mansion!” The guard who spoke hung his head in shame again.

“I said call it off, that is my final order.”

Later, in Henry’s room.

“So, they finally gave up, master?” Astoria asked.

“Yes, that’s right,” Henry sighed and leaned back on his bed. “I did not think that they would actually get away.”

“Do you think he’ll come back, master?” Astoria asked timidly, clutching her broom.

Henry got up laughing. “Those cowards don’t have the guts. And even if they do, I already told you right, I will protect you!”

Astoria relaxed greatly upon hearing his words, but then she became worried again.

“You are kind as always master. However, it is not proper for you to risk your life for a lowly servant like me. If anything, should those intruders arrive, I will be your meat shield!”

“Hey!” Henry yelled. Astoria jumped back. Henry got up and approached her confidently. He took the broom from her hands and chucked it away. Then, he took her palm in his and placed the other hand on her hip.

Get off me you piece of shit!

“Don’t ever say that, Olivia. You are much more important to me than just as a servant, I hope you know that already.”

“Um…” Astoria blushed and looked down shyly at her feet. “I’m not sure what master means by that.”

Henry released her hand and lifted her chin up to make eye contact.

“It means, I love you, Olivia.”

I want to puke!

Astoria pushed him away and backed up against the wall.

“What is master saying? A lowly servant like me, I am not worthy, master, I’m not worthy.”

“You are, Olivia. I meant what I said. I-” Before he could finish the sentence, Astoria tried to run but Henry grabbed her hand.

“Please wait. It is okay if you genuinely don’t like me, I won’t force you. But if you have feelings for me too-”

Who has feelings for you, you pig!

“-then just let me know. I will deal with my father and everyone else. I will fight the whole world if that’s what it takes for us to be together.”

Astoria hesitated. “Living with master forever…” she muttered under her breath in a dreamy tone, as if she was mesmerised by the idea.

“But it is not possible for master to fight everyone. I cannot possibly expect master to take such a huge risk for me,” she said defiantly.

Henry pulled her closer to him again, rolling her close as he held her by the waist.

“Then we’ll run away. You just need to say the word and I will drop everything and run away with you in an instant. We can go anywhere you want and start a brand-new life together. Just you, and me.”

Astoria blushed and looked away shyly once again. Then she freed herself from his grip and ran towards the door, but stopped just as she reached it.

“If master is serious… then I will think about it and let you know.”

Without waiting for a response, she left.

What an idiot.