"Good afternoon." The deep and alluring voice Eva dreaded to hear traveled from the doorway to the sitting room. 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 everyone stood up, Eva and the other servants kept their heads lowered in a small bow as their greeting.

Austin strolled in and sat on the grey single couch that was beside the long couch Esmeralda was sitting on with Dylan. Saddie was at the opposite end looking a little peeved that she was so far away from Austin.

"The same as usual. How about you?" Austin had kept his reinvestigation into his parents' death a secret from the three of them, so they thought that he was simply busy with work.

The group began with their usual chat which mostly included updating Austin about the activities they were up to every weekend such as playing games and getting to know the people from lower classes. Saddie never forgets to remind him that he was always welcomed to join them anytime, and the others would agree. Everyone carefully avoided talking too much about their parents or any family matters as they were afraid of making Austin feel lonelier than he probably already was.

"What about you? Why's your sister not here today?" Austin directed the question at Eva.

Eva looked at Esmeralda.

"Go on and answer. I'm not like your sister who always speaks for you." She said with raised eyebrows. "You have your own mind and heart." Esmeralda encouraged her with a smile and took out the little notebook from Eva's pocket.

Eva held onto the notebook in her hand and her pencil hovered above it for awhile. She hesitated about what she should write. She had to be careful with what she said to Austin to prevent giving anything away. To others, she simply looked like a shy servant hesitating to speak directly to someone far out of her league.

"A cold." Eva decided to keep it simple and told what was told to Esmeralda's family.

He looked at her notebook then frowned. "How bad is it?" He was instinctively worried about her catching the cold from her sister.

BaoBao informed her of his frown and she worried. Does he suspect something?

The last assassination attempt was quite recent and her sister has not recovered yet. Unlike her parents who had grown used to working with the pain, Briana's pain tolerance still had to be trained.

"Not too bad."

"Not too bad? She's been sick for a week already!" Esmeralda pouted.

"A week?" Austin's eyebrows drew closer together. There were only a few families he has not investigated and that included the people in this room now. The timeline fits... Is this just a mere coincidence?

Esmeralda continued to grumble. "I've been asking to visit Briana because I was so concerned but both her and my family worried about the cold being passed on to me. In the end, all I could do was to get a good doctor for her and pay for her medical bills. I do hope she's alright." 

"Not too bad now. She'll be back tomorrow." Eva hastily corrected her sentence and shoved her notebook between Esmeralda and Austin with force.

Austin looked at the notebook then studied her expression. However, he could not read her as usual. With her gaze still trained on the ground, she revealed absolutely nothing. It was frustrating. But what frustrated him the most was how she never once made eye contact with him again ever since that day when he was 10. He could never forget the feeling he got when he made eye contact with her. Deep inside him, he was dying to know if it would happen again, and if she had experienced the same thing too. As it turned out, finding an excuse to talk to her did not help at all. 

As his gaze burrowed into her, he noticed that she was getting paler. "Hey, did you catch the cold from your sister after all?"

Eva had actually been so anxious about how long he was looking at her. She could not tell what he was thinking. Despite her perfect slack expression, she could not keep her complexion from paling. Nonetheless, it worked in her favour and Austin's reaction gave her an idea to make Briana's condition sound more believable.

She pretended to wobble as if she was dizzy while trying to write a reply on her notebook. This made everyone except Saddie stand up in a panic whereas BaoBao rolled his eyes at the scene. I should remember this moment, this is probably the most dramatic I'd ever see you.

Oh shut it, BaoBao.

Austin had his hands ready to grab onto her but Eva ended up falling towards Esmeralda instead, leaving his hands hanging awkwardly in the air. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice it.

"You should go back."

"Perhaps we should return?"

"We'll be going now, Eva should rest."

Austin, Dylan, and Esmeralda spoke at the same time. This made Saddie frown. She felt left out. "Let's go then." She tried to chime in while standing up.

"I'll help." Dylan offered as he extended an arm towards Eva.

Suddenly, Austin snatched Eva out her Esmeralda's hands and away from Dylan's grasp. Everyone looked at him in surprise. 

BaoBao's squealed excitedly at this scene. Was that an OOC?! Did he just OOC?

Eva was barely able to hold back the frown from forming on her face. BaoBao's sudden shrieking slightly jarred her. Seems like your fanboying tendencies hasn't changed, huh?

Austin cleared his throat when he realised what he had just done then he awkwardly explained, "I'll help to send her back. It'll be bad for any of you to catch the cold. You have families to care for."

He brought up the very topic no one dared to touch, rendering them speechless. Esmeralda pursed her lips and nodded reluctantly. She was once again forbidden from helping someone else just to protect herself. However, she did not want to argue with Austin. 

Dylan patted her head to comfort her, while Austin carried Eva in his arms.

"I'll call for a doctor and you'll pay for it. Alright?" Austin told Esmeralda. 

What? So that wasn't an OOC? BaoBao felt disappointed.

Esmeralda smiled with gratitude. Austin was a really smart and considerate person. It was a pity that such a tragedy had to befall his family, making him into the stoic person he was now.

Everyone left the room with Saddie trailing behind the two of them, feeling forgotten. She pouted and frowned. Esmeralda, Esmeralda, Esmeralda. Is she all everyone sees?! I used to be the only one my brother doted on, until he met her! As if sharing my brother isn't enough, now Austin only sees her too?

She recalled all the times Austin was with them and had noted she found Austin gravitating to Esmeralda's side more time than it would have been if it was merely by chance. If Saddie wanted to be close to him, she had to be the one to approach him and place herself closer to him. Even so, she never seemed to enter his notice. 

Without anyone knowing, except for BaoBao who then told Eva about it, Saddie stared daggers at Esmeralda's back.

As I guessed. But this is not supposed to happen. Why's she leaving me alone here? Why didn't she insist on taking me back more?

BaoBao snickered at Eva's rising panic. What're you so afraid of?

... Do you know you've been getting increasingly snarky ever since you upgraded?

I don't know about that but it's just entertaining to see the way you behave whenever it's related to something you hold close to your heart.

Huh?

Have you not realised it yourself? You act differently. You don't keep as cool or calm. You get emotional, usually pessimistic and-

Stubborn, right? I know. I do. 

An awkward silence dragged out for a while. 

Suddenly, Eva sighed. Sorry... I just... can't seem to help it. 

... No, I'm sorry... I should have known better than to say things like that. I got carried away... 

Ever since the previous world when she stopped obsessively drowning herself in reading and work, her mind was the complete opposite from how it was before. It was noisy and chaotic. He personally witnessed her daily battles with herself in her mind. Pessimistic and negative thoughts automatically spring up in her head all the time and she never stopped fighting it till now. It was worse in this world since there was nothing she could do but fret. 

The only other times he noticed she was able to be fully present in the moment without the need to dive into work was thanks to Vlad. This was part of the reason why he was excited for Vlad to make his appearance in this world again and help Eva. BaoBao knew that he lacked the emotional intelligence to know how to help her himself.

The butler saw the guests out then called for a doctor, while Austin carried Eva to a guest room near the sitting room they were in. 

Eva was gently placed down on the white soft bed before Austin sat on the edge of the bed. His eyebrows were creased in worry. His large and warm hand covered her forehead then he raised that same hand to touch his forehead. He cocked his head then used his other hand to touch Eva's forehead again, while keeping the one on his forehead in its spot. 

She doesn't seem to have a fever... He put down his hands and continued to stare at her without a word. Perhaps I should check again just to be sure. 

This time he lowered his head till his forehead touched hers. After a short while, his eyes grew wide and he sat upright very quickly. He had felt her head getting hot. She also looked slightly flushed now. "I knew it." He said under his breath. 

He felt relieved that he decided to check once more, but he soon started to pace around. It felt like an eternity before the doctor would come. What can I do in the meantime...? 

He thought back to his past when his parents were still alive. He did not realise yet that this was the first time since their death that he could think of them normally without any flashbacks to the night they died. 

With an expression like he recalled something important, he walked briskly out of the room. 

Are you done laughing yet?

I'm sorry, yeah I'm done, I'm do- Pffft! BaoBao burst into another fit of laughter. 

Seriously, what's so funny?

It's not like you've never been kissed by him before, but you're acting like some shy virgin!

... Don't talk like you're some experienced adult when you're not. Also, the person I kissed was Vlad. Not him. And I was properly awake all the time Vlad kissed me. It was voluntary. 

Pssh. They're the same person and-

I still haven't gotten used to it even if they share the same soul.

Aaaand this wouldn't be the first time Vlad kissed you while you're asleep. 

What? Whe-

He's baaaack~~ BaoBao was clearly enjoying himself at the expense of Eva's peace of mind. 

Thanks to BaoBao's constant teasing, her face remained beet red which continued to give Austin the misconception that she was indeed having a fever. 

Austin put down the bowl of ice cold water that has two small white towels being soaked in it on the bedside drawer. He wrung one towel before placing it on her forehead. 

After doing so, he leaned against the bed post near the foot of the bed and simply stared at her in silence. Eva found that she was unable to relax. 

Tsk. I should be used to his stares by now. She could not help but think to herself in an effort to calm herself down.

That's because you always had something to do. 

That's right, I haven't tried cultivating in this world yet. How did I forget?

Because you did not need to do so in the previous world? BaoBao reminded her. He did not bother reminding her to try because it seemed highly unlikely that such a normal world would have something like spiritual energy in their bodies. Eva was clearly grasping at straws to keep herself distracted.

In the end, BaoBao's assumption was right. Although she could feel some energy circulation within herself, there was no way for anything to leave her body or enter it. As such, she helplessly laid there under his scrutiny. 

Her nervousness ended up making her perspire, which happened to be the time when he approached her to change the towel. Upon noticing that her neck was damp, he touched her neck to be sure then checked her clothes. They were indeed slightly damp. 

While everything was going on, Eva was desperately thinking to herself. Leave me be. Leave me be. Leave me be. Don't be a nice guy.

Unfortunately for her, Austin got worried about her sleeping in damp clothes. Perhaps I should change her clothes.