Dearest Anonymous, Let Me Be

Chapter 41: ARC 2 - The Woman in the Painting

To be fair, possessing dark curly hair in this world is not entirely uncommon, so Umi insisted that she is not to be blamed for not recognizing Ezra earlier.

Moreover, the original Vera hadn't seen this young boy ever since her marriage. This fair gal came from another country and she had only seen baby photos of Rara. Earlier, she was consoling the little boy for not being able to distinguish someone through a black and white photograph. Now, her level of sympathy had only reached its new height.

Now that the two brothers were standing side by side, Umi can see the resemblance indeed.

Needless to say, this slip-up was the result of her lack of vigilance. Still, Umi believed that there are no problems that can't be solved, unless you were already dead then you have no way to solve that problem, but anyway…where were we?

Snapping out of her thoughts, Umi was then alarmed to have just realized that she was caught staring at Ezekiel's right hand extending for a handshake for who knows how long.

The esteemed Ezekiel Fraunces, with no regard for courtesy to anyone other than his family, was offering a friendly handshake to someone who was supposed to be a stranger?

"Delighted to make your acquaintance, Master of the Fraunces Mansion," Umi readjusted herself and finally replied with a confident tone. As it was improper to keep someone's hand hanging in the air, she then reluctantly stretched out her own.

Out of all times, why did she forget to wear her gloves now that they were absolutely needed?

With a raise of an eyebrow, the man carefully held the lady's unexpectedly cold hand and brought it to his face, "You know me?"

Before Umi can reply, shivers suddenly ran down her spine when the man's lips gently grazed the back of her hand. It goes without saying that the woman was startled, but when she raised her head to see if she was only hallucinating, she automatically flinched when the man's eyes were glued onto her hand, as if he was afraid of missing any tiny detail on it.

Retrieving her hand in a rather abrupt way, Umi cleared her throat, "Should you still be surprised? The news of your excellency would never escape the ears of my home country."

Umi truly wanted to meet this man when revenge was due. Yet, with this unexpected setup, she can only pretend to be a stranger in front of him. The timing is simply not right.

"You're from another country? So the news of you being a distant relative of the Malcolm Couple is true then?" the man implored, his eyes still glued on the woman's hands. The shadows of her wide-brimmed hat disabled him to get a glimpse of her face yet the darkness of the night couldn't conceal those fair hands of hers.

"How did you know?" Umi was calm on the outside, yet her insides were oddly boiling without anyone knowing.

"I told you, Rara told me everything he knows about you," Ezekiel was unperturbed, he held no shame even if Umi had far realized how his eyes traveled to every bit of her body.

Umi then gave the little boy a look, but Rara simply couldn't read the atmosphere and only smiled cheekily.

Just...what else did you tell him?

"It is late, I suggest you start heading back now," Umi uttered as she crossed her arms, attempting to hide her exposed skin from the man's radar.

"Not now. I should say something to that boy living in that manor. You might not know this, but we have already crossed paths before. We have…things to discuss."

Truth be told, Umi never knew how Ezekiel regarded Lucian after Vera's death. It was unknown to her if he was still blaming Lucian for something that the youth didn't do. Ezekiel's character is complex. He might have not known that Lucian was innocent, just like Vera.