Eva stared at the letter on the dining table in utter shock while Briana read it out for her parents to hear. It was so full of slander and jealousy that made even her parents raise their eyebrows.

I knew that she has an issue with Esmeralda but why does the second female lead of every world wish to kill the female lead? Is there no more wholesome or less antagonistic story? Eva was feeling completely fed up. She had enough of seeing the same thing repeat.

There are. It's just that the worlds that usually have bugs tend to be ones filled with stronger negative emotions.

At the same time, her parents were also commenting on the letter. "To think that our little miss would have someone so close to her wish for her death."

"A very strong wish for her death."

"Are we really going to do it?" Briana voiced out her concern for the first time. Briana could not help but feel something after serving Esmeralda for more than 10 years of her life.

"Why not?"

"It doesn't really make sense to kill her... She... Saddie's obviously just plain jealous. I never liked her."

"Esmeralda is a good person. She thinks for us, is genuinely concerned about us, and taught us how to read and write. What good would come out of killing her just because of some jealous girl's demand?"

Briana read out everything Eva wrote because she felt that it captured her feelings as well.

"Well, meeting this jealous girl's demand would give us a reward second only to what we got from killing Austin's parents."

"Can she really afford the amount she wrote anyway? I don't trust that spoilt brat. I don't want to waste our efforts." Briana pointed out.

Their parents considered Briana's words seriously. "We'll send her a warning then. She'll contact us again if she's serious about it."

Briana helped her parents write a letter to warn Saddie that her life will be taken if she does not have the promised amount.

While Briana was writing the letter, BaoBao informed Eva that there were people in the vicinity keeping watch on Esmeralda's estate.

This is a first... This isn't a good sign.

When her mother wanted to leave to send the letter to Saddie, Eva held onto her.

"What is it now, Eva?"

"Why not slip the letter into her bag tomorrow? I can do it. You can rest for tonight."

With Eva's reminder, they remembered that tomorrow was a weekend once more, which meant that Saddie would be coming to the estate with Dylan. "That's right. Briana, I trust that you'll complete this with no issue."

Briana took the letter back while nodding her head.

Eva looked slightly down that she still was not allowed to do anything. Her mother then petted her head and comforted her, "Your time will come."

For the whole of the next day, BaoBao kept Eva informed of the intruders' actions. Briana easily slipped the letter into Saddie's bag since their belongings were left unattended.

At the end of the day, her parents went to check the letterbox which they had access to from the under. To their surprise, they really received a reply.

Back at home, they sat around the table to read the letter again.

"That's fast." Her father commented with raised eyebrows.

"She's desperate."

"She's just spoilt." Briana corrected her mother with distaste.

"Anyway, it's decided. She has the money." Her mother said.

Briana looked a little mournful while she nodded her head.

Their parents shared helpless expressions and hugged Briana.

"That's our daughter. You're strong."

"This is why we advised you not to get close to anyone."

Just as they were seemingly sharing a loving moment, the sound of paper sliding across the table ruined it. They looked at Eva who was biting onto her bottom lip and avoiding eye contact, then looked down at the paper on the table with a frown. They knew what it likely wrote without asking Briana. Not only did they recognise the same phrase Eva always wrote, they could already guess what Eva was likely saying by now.

"Eva, even your sister has accepted it already. She has served Esmeralda for a longer time than you did. You should take it easier than her." Her mother sighed.

"Are you worried that we'd be found out?" Her father empathised.

Eva nodded.

"We already have a foolproof plan. All will be fine." He tried to reassure her.

Eva shook her head.

"Her paranoia's really something, huh? It lasted through the years even though she's been proven wrong time and time again." Her mother sounded tired.

"Maybe something's wrong with her?" Her father suggested.

"Austin's on us. Esmeralda's close to him. He'll find out for sure." Eva has been trying to find evidence of Austin being onto them but he was very careful. She only knew the things she knew now thanks to BaoBao. There was no way she could present evidence to convince her parents, so she could only hope that they'll take her word for it.

"And how do you know that he's onto us?"

When Eva tried to write something again, her mother suddenly hugged her. "Eva, dear, I know that you're concerned. But can you let your dear parents rest for the night, now?"

Eva's pencil hovered above her paper. They're just tired. They must be tired.

When her mother heard more scribbling, she sighed. 

"In that case, will you at least keep the lights in the house on the surface on? To make it more believable that we're living there? Just in case?"

Her mother took a sharp intake of breath while her father quickly pulled Eva towards him and away from her mother. "If we do so, can you relax and stop your incessant worrying?"

Although his tone was gentle, his words did not sound very nice to Eva. They're tired. They're indeed just tired. Eva nodded.

"Then everything's settled." Her father said with a gentle smile. "Both of you go and sleep now. I'll go up with your mother."

While the children did their things, BaoBao informed her of the conversation her parents were having on their way up.

"Why did you agree to this? It's a waste of resources. We're already starting to be tight on money because of so many hiccups in our assassinations in the past 3 years. Just brush her worries off as usual. Nobody has found any problems with our fake house for as long as it stood there, why would it suddenly be a problem now?"

"Your patience was growing thin, wasn't it?"

"..."

"Remember, when she was born, we didn't abandon or kill her because we decided that she still has a use. We need to keep being nice to her."

Her mother sighed. "I know... She's our life... It's just... I still have my limits to how much I can put up with."

"It's only a while more anyway. She'll probably be needed in our assassination this time round."

"Finally."

Does this mean you'll finally be involved? I know I ought to be happy for you but... But... Something doesn't feel right...

It's the most dangerous assassination of all with no chance of success...

Why would they plan for this to be your debut?

Perhaps their plan now requires more manpower to work... It's a mere coincidence.

You know you can't do this. Remember, this is a punishment world. You will not die so young, not this easily. If there's no chance of success, it only means that the rest of life will be full of suffering. And- And- Your enemy's likely Austin... Noooo!! What's with this?! Anyone but him!! BaoBao started wailing as he thought up of all the horrific things Austin could do to Eva. It did not help that the last time they met, Austin's sudden lack of interest in Eva towards the end of the meeting made it look like he reverted back to character.

While he started wishing for Austin to OOC, Eva felt ready to accept whatever consequences that came with protecting her family, even if it meant sacrificing herself. She had already done her share of fretting for the past 8 years.

As the days passed on, Eva stopped bugging her parents as promised. Since they were unwilling to listen to her, she would just have to sabotage their plans in secret. 

Oddly enough, her parents did not involve her in their plans despite saying that they would. 

First they tried to use a slow acting poison that would kill Esmeralda by increasing the toxicity of her blood to dangerous levels. 

When BaoBao notified Eva of their plan, she turned invisible after everyone fell asleep to change the poison in the bottle to plain water. Nobody suspected a thing because the poison was precisely colourless like water. 

The person to slip poison into Esmeralda's drinks was Briana. However, when Esmeralda still looked as healthy as ever, Briana tried increasing the dosage to no avail. Not understanding why the poison was not working, they decided to change their tactic. 

Their next plan was to kill Esmeralda by faking an unfortunate accident in the house. Both parents and Briana took part in this without letting the "innocent" Eva know. 

However, BaoBao let Eva know of the the furniture that was meddled with so that she could tweak it even more. As a result, accidents did happen as expected but not the way it was planned to happen. Things either missed Esmeralda by a hair's breadth or the timing was completely off. There were a few times when Eva was the one who was almost hit by dangerous falling items.

All of these were starting to happen once too many times for Esmeralda's parents' liking. They were getting upset with the poor maintenance of the house. However, they did not blame it on Eva's parents which was what they would have done in the past. Thanks to Esmeralda's influence, her parents started to feel more empathetic towards their servants as well, so they merely reminded Eva's parents that perhaps it was time to check on the condition of the house, and to let them know if the house required refurbishing. 

Briana finally got fed up with the repeated failures and decided to take matters into her own hands.

They were in Esmeralda's study room preparing to study together for the afternoon as usual. Eva was helping Esmeralda choose the books for today while Briana lit the scented candle by the window. At this moment, Briana's eyes lit up as an idea formed in her mind.

BaoBao informed Eva that Briana uncharacteristically pushed the scented candle dangerously close to the curtains after lighting it. 

While Briana was still walking back to settle down with them at the round table in the center of the room, Eva dramatically took a deep breath then smiled lightly. She caught Esmeralda's attention as she intended. 

"You like the scent for this month, huh?" Esmeralda inadvertently glanced at the candle while talking about it and noticed that the flame was already singing the curtains. Esmeralda panicked and quickly rushed to the narrow drawer to move the candle away. 

Eva continued her act as a concerned attendant so naturally got up to follow Esmeralda. 

Briana gritted her teeth in annoyance when things did not go as planned once again. However, watching the scene unfolding before her right now gave her yet another risky idea. She quickly stuck her foot out to trip Eva who was passing by her. 

Eva fell towards Esmeralda with outstretched hands. She had not expected Briana to do something like that and it happened too suddenly for her to react on time. Panic filled Eva's face. If she fell onto Esmeralda, Esmeralda would definitely be pushed out of the window. 

No!

Moving out of reflex and willpower, she grabbed Esmeralda by her arms instead, turned her body together with Esmeralda's in the midst of falling, and pushed Esmeralda to one side. This caused her to fall backwards out of the window. Just before she completely tipped over the edge, her hands caught onto the sides of the window. While she struggled to recover from the momentum of falling out of the window and pull herself back into the room, she heard a loud crash and received bad news from BaoBao. 

Esmeralda knocked into the bookshelf and passed out! The bookshelf toppled and is now blocking the entrance! The curtains are lit! The burning candle rolled over to the fallen books! The masked bodyguard is below the window now!

Just as he was done with the report, Eva heaved herself safely back in the room and rushing to blow the candle out. However, she was tackled to the ground by no one other than her own sister.

"Eva! Stop it!" 

Eva shook her head with fear and panic in her eyes. She then looked at the books quickly being burned.

How's it burning this quickly?! Where are the other servants?!

Just then, rapid knocking was heard on the closed door and different voices could be heard from beyond the closed door. 

Esmeralda's parents are just home too! They'll reach around the same time as the masked bodyguard!

Eva tried to shake Briana off and they rolled over a few times. However, they were caught in a deadlock. "Why're you always acting against us?" Briana bit out in a strained and hushed voice. "Perhaps keeping you alive was our parents' mistake."

What Briana said shocked Eva so much that she turned stiff. Sensing Eva's slackened hold on her, she quickly got up and pushed the table against the fallen bookshelf then tore out pages from numerous books to feed the fire.

Eva!! BaoBao cried out. The fire has grown to reach the ceiling but was not entirely out of control yet. 

Eva jerked in shock then got up to pull the table back. Briana reacted equally fast and tried tackling her to the ground once more. This time Eva reacted in time and tried to shove her away by using Briana's momentum and strength against herself. However, Briana recovered fast from her surprise and pushed back the table that Eva moved aside.

Just hold on! They'll be here in seconds! BaoBao cried out again.

Eva let go of the table in an effort to shove Briana aside once more, but Briana caught hold of Eva's wrist in a tight grip, pulling her away from the table as well.

When Esmeralda's parents' voices could be heard along with the consistent banging on the door, Briana suddenly started shouting. "Eva! What are you doing?! You shouldn't be doing this! When did you get so out of hand?!" 

What? What's she saying?

Stunned silence hung in the air for around a second before the bangs on the door increased in ferocity and frequency. 

Woah, he went crazy. BaoBao updated Eva diligently.

The table moved and toppled, the burning bookshelf began breaking and falling apart. 

Your mother ran off saying that she'll get help! 

Eva gritted her teeth in annoyance and frustration that she was not given the chance to process everything that was happening. 

Esmeralda started to stir among the ruckus and opened her eyes.

At the same time that Esmeralda regained consciousness, the bookshelf finally fell apart and the door burst open, and Briana used Eva's hand to slap herself hard enough to leave an imprint. Briana even fell back to emphasize how hard she had been hit. 

"What's! Happening?!" Esmeralda cried out among her coughing fit. 

The masked bodyguard jumped through the fire and into the room, his movements did not slow a beat despite the scene he was greeted with. He was moving purely out of anxiety for the safety of one person in the room.