Just as Eva thought, the mystery man did not die from the poison in her darts. She felt that it would be too good to hope for.

Around 3 months later, Eva fully recovered from her wounds only to be poisoned. She had just ingested a mouthful of food when BaoBao warned her that there were signs of poison in her body. 

Just as she found it weird that she would be the one poisoned when the target was Austin, an idea flashed in her mind and she immediately snatched the utensils from Austin's hand. However, he had already taken two more mouthfuls than her.

Later that night, everyone in the household fell sick like Eva expected. They started puking and itching so badly that they would have scratched their skin off in their delirium if they were not bounded up. Eva was the least affected, followed by Austin, Edwin, the doctor and his wife, and the other bodyguards. They had been at the table with Eva that night.

Since they were only lightly poisoned, their symptoms were bearable. Only the doctor's wife who was older and weaker could not bear with it so had to be restrained like the others. While the others were busy restraining the servants, Eva and the doctor worked fast together to develop the antidote.

It did not take too long for the antidote to be completed since Eva had already been working on it the moment BaoBao deconstructed the poison in her body, enabling her to come up with things that could neutralise the effects. Moreover, she was incredibly knowledgeable about the herbs and poisons of this world thanks to the constant studying and experimenting.

Feeling like this was a vengeful act for the poison she inflicted on him during their last exchange, she added yet another characteristic to their mystery man, hoping that it would round down their suspect list even more.

As time passed, Eva and Austin still had no luck with finding out who could be after Austin's life.

Austin had started by investigating the people closest to him, people who would gain the most from his death, and people who could have any sort of motive to kill him or Eva, yet came up with nothing. He then began to branch out his investigations into random people, got involved in the black market, and contacted information brokers. However there was no news of anyone interested in taking his life beyond those that he has already questioned and dealt with personally already.

Eva and BaoBao were also at a dead end. They could not get anymore clues from the subsequent attacks on them. It had no pattern, characteristic, or schedule. It did not reveal the personality of the culprit.

They could only understand the culprit as someone very careful and meticulous for having not been caught till this day. Either that, or he was simply very cowardly. He was so afraid of being caught to the extent that his attacks could now only be thought of as harassment ever since the security around Austin and the mansion was amped up significantly.

There were a few more attempted shootings that failed. Small bombs had been sent as parcels addressed to Austin but were detonated outside the mansion since they did not allow big parcels through the front gate. He continued to remain hidden despite trying to bait him out a few times by leaving Austin alone somewhere. Sometimes the bodyguards would be the ones attacked instead, as if to mock them for trying.

While the ones involved in the thick of all these remained relatively calm, the servants found it hard to relax. Edwin would receive daily questions about whether the culprit was caught already. Despite his constant reassurance that the household was now safe, some still chose to leave. They could not take the mental stress from seeing bodyguards come home injured every now and then, and hearing the occasional explosion near the front gate.

Before they knew it, yet another year passed and it was winter again.

After more than a year since Esmeralda's parents died, Esmeralda started to organise meet ups and small parties again. She also celebrated her 20th birthday. However, Austin had rejected all of her invites since he did not want to chance endangering his childhood friends' life or ruining a happy event.

In view of their better and closer relationship now, Eva decided to do something for Austin for his 20th birthday. Since he did not seem keen on celebrating his birthday, she decided to gift him something instead.

Austin has returned to his room to sleep ever since he hired more bodyguards to guard the premises at night and Eva created traps and contraptions around crucial areas of the house to amp up the security around the mansion. He also made Eva promise to wake him up in the future if she wanted to confront anyone in the middle of the night. 

Austin now, however, spends the nights after dinner with Eva in her room, where she would read while he worked. Sometimes he would spare some time to join her in her readings, brainstorm of new experiments together with her, and give his insights on her ongoing ones. He did not make pointless conversations with her since she did not seem to be the type to enjoy such things.

When Austin wrapped up his work for the night, Eva asked for his hand. He obediently presented his right hand to her with his palm up without a question. She turned his hand around and slid a silver ring onto his index finger. It has a black square onyx gemstone with pretty engravings that looked like vines on the side. There was also a tiny engraving of a scorpion at the base of it. 

Eva had made the ring with the help and guidance of the royal blacksmith who was the one who made the approved weapon designs. They have forged a friendly relationship overtime and he helpfully contacted a jeweler for her. 

Austin looked down at the ring with pleasant surprise. This was not the first time Eva gave him something since she would always equip him with anything new and useful that she invented, but this was the first time Eva made something that was unrelated to weaponry.

At least that was what he thought until Eva started to explain the two uses that the ring has. She revealed how he could twist the ring a certain way to reveal a tiny needle from the scorpions tail that could inject poison into whoever it pricked. After warning him to be careful with the ring, she moved on to its other use. Underneath the onyx gemstone was actually a small hidden compartment that held a capsule of an antidote that she has been developing for very long. Theoretically, it could counter many different poisons, or at least relieve the symptoms for a period of time while the proper antidote was being made. Unfortunately, she could not make a lot of it due to limited resources. The process was also difficult, long, and arduous. As such, she could not make a lot of it without being sure of its effectiveness. She was only sure that it was in no way harmful for a person so felt that it was okay to give it to him. 

"Happy birthday. May you stay safe from harm." The long note ended with a birthday wish.

Austin felt warmth filling his heart so full to its brim that he felt like it could burst. He pulled her in for tight hug. "Thank you. I really like it."

Eva smiled and hugged him back just as tightly.

He gently rubbed his head against hers and breathed in her scent. He pulled back from her, cupped her face tenderly in his hands and stroked her cheeks with his thumbs while he gazed into her beautiful eyes. Slowly, he leaned in closer and closer. Both of their eyelids lowered as their lips neared each other.

He stopped when he was only a hairs breadth away from kissing her. He tilted his head to touch his forehead against hers, making her open her eyes and blink in bewilderment. His eyes were closed and he took a slow and measured breath before opening his eyes to look into her eyes again. He smiled wryly while he explained, "I'm sorry. That was rude and improper of me. I'm just so happy right now."

Eva may have always been welcoming and accepting of his advances, but she had not shown him any signs of how she truly felt towards him. The fact that she put in the effort to make something she normally does not make, and that it was done specially for him, gave him a slight boost in confidence that he stood a chance in winning her affections.

Eva smiled back helplessly. She really did not mind either way.

Austin hugged her once more, then left the room after biding her a good night.

Eva laid in bed thinking about what just happened. Although Vlad and Austin are the same soul, they can never be more different in their self control, huh?

I'm glad that Austin doesn't touch you anywhere and anytime he can like Vlad did, but... I think Austin can afford to relax a little more?

Well... It's also cute like this, don't you think so?

Hmmm... In that case, can you tease him more? It's funny to see him trip up each time!

... You're really treating us as your entertainment, huh?

There's nothing else I can watch... BaoBao pouted and said in his defense.

Oh really? I'm sure there're some raunchy things going on between the serva-

No no no! Don't even mention anyone else! I'm only interested in seeing what happens in your relationships!

Eva laughed.

Several days later, it was Christmas.

The servants overdid the decorations in the estate as if they were trying to wash away the anxiety they felt. The entire place, from the front gate to the backyard, looked completely festive. Austin allowed Edwin to splurge a little more for the Christmas feast that the servants were allowed to take part in.

The servants finally began to relax in the warm and cheerful atmosphere, making merry while eating good food.

After they were done eating, Austin asked Eva to follow him. He brought her to the corner of the large dining hall where there was a large Christmas tree.

Edwin had wanted to follow him by habit but a hand on his shoulder held him back.

The doctor had been studying Austin for the past year that he has lived in the mansion and was pleased to find that Austin was now more commonly seen with a small smile on his face. More often than not, it was whenever he looked at Eva or spoke with her. Noticing that Austin was in a particularly good mood today, he helped to give them some privacy. 

"You dense dunce, can't you give the lovebirds some privacy?"

Edwin frowned and looked back at the doctor. "What lovebirds?"

"Oh stop lying to yourself already. You know how Austin feels towards that girl, don't you?"

Edwin pursed his lips. After a while he sighed with resignation. He would have to be as blind as a bat if he did not notice the soft expression that Austin made whenever he looked at Eva and how much happier Austin was even though it was a very subtle change. He did not deny that Eva was pretty exceptional for someone so ordinary. He has watched how she awed not only him with the way her mind worked, but also the royal scholars. She had managed to gain the respect of others, including the servants in the household, in her own way. However, it would have been easier to swallow if she was of noble birth.

They ended up looking over at the lovebirds in the corner of the room with smiles on their faces.