While Eva was still unconscious, Austin had been doing some research into ways that he could help Eva in the event that she really lost her hearing. This was how he found out about a small community that started teaching something called sign language. It took two weeks for Austin to get someone he could trust from the community to be a live in tutor since they were from a faraway town. In the meantime, Eva pretended to practice lip reading and improved quickly. Eventually, the only difference from the past was that people would now have to make sure that she was looking at them before they spoke.

By the time the tutor arrived, Eva has largely recovered and was well enough to resume her exercises. Her wounds left pretty bad scars all over her body and scarred slightly more than half of her face. If she was already unattractive before, it was made even worse now.

Somehow Eva did not feel that bothered about her looks. Although she knew that her appearance right now could be deemed as unsightly by some, maybe most, the only thoughts that ran through her head was how she never felt attractive from the start anyway and how it did not make such a big difference to her. She even wondered if this would help her look more intimidating as a bodyguard or if people would only treat her as a freak. It did, however, make her think twice about accepting Austin's love in this life. They looked far too different now. She could not imagine herself standing next to the brilliant looking Austin.

Eva and Austin put their all into learning the sign language. The doctor felt that it was an interesting and useful thing to pick up so joined in the lesson, while Edwin joined in purely to show his support. 

Probably because of Austin's insane motivation and high intellect, Austin was the fastest at picking it up. On the other hand, Eva was just barely keeping up with the doctor and Edwin in memorising all the signs and learning to string them together. This time, she was learning something new from scratch without help from knowledge and skills built up over her life in different worlds, so her true learning speed finally reared its head once more. Luckily, nobody seemed to think too much about it. While everyone mastered it by a month, she took slightly longer.

With flowers blooming everywhere, the day of Esmeralda's wedding arrived. There was still no news of Drey having been caught so Austin was still debating about whether he should turn up for her wedding the night before Esmeralda's big day.

They were in Eva's room as usual. Her doing her readings while he kept himself busy with his work. However, Eva noticed how Austin looked distracted even though his eyes were on his document. He had been staring at the same piece of paper for a long while already. She tapped his hand lightly and signed to him when he looked up. "What's wrong?"

Austin smiled reassuringly. "Nothing."

Eva pouted a tiny bit to show her displeasure with his answer. She now saw themselves as each other's confidantes so she did not like it that he intended to keep his worries to himself.

Austin saw her expression and could not help but laugh a little. "It's really nothing for you to worry about."

Knowing him, he would brood over it to no end if he did not discuss it with someone, so she made her guess. "Tomorrow's wedding?" That was the only thing that was different that could impact his mood.

Austin was surprised that she immediately got it right so he was slow in giving a reply. He considered rejecting it or brushing it off but he felt that Eva would be too perceptive to overlook the lag in his reply. As such, he chose to nod. "I'm thinking of giving it a miss."

Eva's eyes went round. "Why?"

"It's still not safe."

"How long do you intend to stay cooped up at home?"

"However long it takes to catch the bastard."

"What if he never gets caught?"

"I don't believe that he'll never be caught, but if that really happens, I'm happy staying home for the rest of my life."

Eva finally frowned. "You'd have to go out eventually for your work, right? There's also your monthly homage visit to the royal couple?"

"Worst comes to worst, I'd just lose it all. I don't care as long as I have you." Austin felt like this discussion was proving to be helpful to his thought processes in the end.

Eva stared at him seriously with a deep frown. She was almost sure by now that all this paranoia was because of her. She thought for awhile before responding to him. "That sure sounds passionate of you but you know that's not practical. Why would you give up everything you have now for me? Also, if you're talking about safety, having the resources to build up security is safer than being unable to afford a secure place to stay, secure food source, strong bodyguards- You catch my drift?"

A frown now formed on Austin's brows as well. He understood what she meant very clearly but he did not like it. He did not like the feeling of exposing her to any form of danger regardless of the reason. As he thought about it more, the harder he clenched his jaw. He clenched it so hard that a vein could be seen popping out near his jawline. Suddenly, he felt warmth on his hand. He looked at it to find that Eva has placed her hands over his fists. The warmth seemed to calm him down a little.

"We can't stay in your fortress forever. This isn't the happiness you pictured for yourself, is it? You'd want to bring me to places, wouldn't you?"

Talking about such topics perked Austin up a little more and his expression softened further. He nodded.

"Let's face this danger together, shall we?" Eva smiled encouragingly.

Austin stared speechlessly at her. Unable to go against that smile of hers, he very slowly nodded his head. "We'll drop by."

Eva nodded and looked proud and happy at the same time. Although warmth filled his heart at the sight of her smile, it could not get rid of the anxiety he felt. He raised his hand to stroke her wrinkled cheek then cupped it while she leaned her head against his palm. It was now their most intimate and comforting gesture. Austin was already able to restrain the lust he felt for Eva, saving it for the right time when he could love her thoroughly.

It was late in the morning the next day by the time Austin and Eva turned up at Esmeralda's estate in their best attires respectively. They had missed the entire ceremony at the church since Austin did not want to spend a lot of time outside. He only intended to personally congratulate Esmeralda and stay for the minimum amount of time that was considered respectful before leaving.

Eva did not show any signs of protest about his decision to do so since he was at least willing to leave his house. What she felt a little odd and excessive about was how he insisted that she would have to be dressed like a woman who was in the same social class as him and wear a hat that has a translucent netted veil large enough to cover her entire face. He also gave his bodyguards that have since increased in number a reminder to remember who they were supposed to protect.

Everything went as planned. The reception was held in the large backyard of Esmeralda's house. They were personally received by the newly weds and Austin presented his gifts to them. Understanding that Austin would not be staying for long, they decided to chat for the remaining time that he would be there. For the entire time, no one recognised Eva in her new get up and when they asked about her, she was simply introduced as his love. He skillfully brushed off any further questions about her or "Eva" and directed the conversation towards catching up on each other's lives and wishing each other well.

Time crawled by before they finally finished their conversation and it was time to return. 

On their way out, Austin placed his empty champagne glass on the tray that a manservant was holding onto to serve drinks to the guests. Just as he did so, the manservant lost control of the tray and it tipped towards Eva. The manservant and Eva reached out reflexively, wanting to catch the tray. At the same time, the servant's movement of suddenly lunging towards Eva's direction triggered Austin's reflex to turn and take Eva into his arms. As a result, the drinks spilled onto Austin instead of Eva, while the glasses shattered on the ground. Austin's bodyguards immediately sprang into action. They surrounded Eva and Austin while two of them pulled the manservant out of the circle and holding onto his arms and shoulders to restrain him.

With all the movement and sound of glass shattering, everyone's attention were drawn to the commotion. An audible gasp resounded though the crowd that made Eva's lips purse. She knew that she was the cause of the crowd's reaction. Her hat had been knocked off when Austin took her into his arms. Although she did not mind how she looked, she would still feel something when people reacted this much to how she looked. What made matters worse for her was that she knew how she would not be seen as intimidating in any way with her current get up.

While Austin was busy with checking Eva from head to toe, completely oblivious to his surroundings, Esmeralda whispered out in shock. "Eva...? You're Eva, aren't you? What happe- Ah!"

Esmeralda cried out in shock when Austin suddenly turned around to haul the manservant up and off the ground by his collar. The manservant cried out in fear and peed his pants. He had already been so terrified about making such a terrible mistake that he lost all strength in his legs. He could not run and hide even if he was not restrained by the bodyguards.

"You're in cahoots with Drey, aren't you? What were you trying to do? Where's Drey?!"

The poor manservant's face was already covered in tears as he spoke incoherently, "I- I don't know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Please spare me. Please spare my life."

Austin's climbing rage was so clearly reflected in his expression that everyone held their breaths. They were sure that the manservant would get a beating at the very least. However, no one expected for Eva to jump in and pull on Austin's arm, albeit ineffectively.

Austin angrily turned his head towards the person who dared to interrupt him, only to find hands firmly placed on his cheeks the moment he did.

Eva shushed him with calm expression, like a mother would do to a crying child, while her thumbs stroked his face.

Austin felt the anger, irritation, and anxiety slowly melt away as he gazed into her eyes, felt her calming touch on his face, and listened to her soft shushing. His arms slowly lowered before letting go off the manservant. When he did, he immediately hugged Eva tight and took a deep breath in. She hugged him back tightly and continued to stroke his back. She could tell that he was still in need of comfort since his body was trembling.

All of a sudden, he abruptly pulled away from her and signed, "We should go now. It isn't safe."

Eva nodded and they left while holding hands.

A while after Austin's entourage left, the stunned crowd started whispering and murmuring to each other.

Esmeralda and Dylan followed Austin and Eva through the house and to the front gate with burning questions of their own. However, as much as they wanted to get answers, it was clear that Austin did not look interested in talking now, while it would be hard for Eva to reply with her hand held tightly by Austin like that.

Just before they entered their carriage, Esmeralda finally spoke up. "Austin! Eva! If there's any way we can help, just let us know, okay? You're not alone!"

Austin spared only a second to glance at her before nodding then entering the carriage after Eva. 

Esmeralda and Dylan looked worriedly at the departing carriage. With a clenched fist over her chest, she leaned against Dylan who stood right beside her. She whispered, "Let's pray and hope with all our hearts that they'll be fine..." He nodded and hugged her without taking his eyes off the carriage.

Meanwhile, in the carriage, Austin kept one arm around Eva to hold her firmly against him while his other hand held onto her hand. Eva used her free hand to stroke his hand that was holding onto hers. The 2 bodyguards opposite them cleverly kept their eyes on the passing scenery outside the window.

BaoBao, is Drey still in the vicinity?

No... He made use of the secret tunnel and escaped into the darkness. I can't believe he's able to navigate his way in that!

So he's became this familiar with the tunnels... No wonder he could not be found even though no rock was left unturned...

While she was busy comforting Austin, BaoBao had informed her of how Drey appeared in the vicinity and was using a binoculars to peep into the reception party.

When Austin was back home, he doubled the security around the perimeter of the mansion, leaving the house almost empty of bodyguards. Having been left at home to ensure that nothing would be tampered with, Edwin got his update of whatever happened earlier from Eva. When the doctor later heard it from Edwin, he sighed. He could only picture how Austin would get more paranoid after this.