The Unfinished Book✔️

CHAPTER XIX

Following her secretly, she took her leave while keeping herself at a sufficient distance enough that did not make her noticeable.

She was still following her when suddenly another sight blocks her view just as Lady Sarah enters one of those parlors.

It was Marquis Leander, Lydia's father.

"It's a surprise to see you here, Lady Rhea. I didn't expect you would be coming here."

"Ar....Duke Argus invited me. I came with him as his partner."

"I noticed. If I knew you were coming, I would've pressed Lydia more on coming here. She told me she would be quite bored here and didn't want to come. I'm surprised she didn't know you were coming."

"...."

Rhea blinks in surprise. He asked her to come but she refused? That's the opposite of what Lydia told her. It means one of them must be lying. As far as she knows, Marquis is not a person that lies. And what would he even gain by hiding the truth? Whereas Lydia, she's her dear friend. Why would she lie to her? Rhea was perplexed. Whom should she believe? She decided to ask Lydia about it later on. It's better to talk straight away to the person instead of dwelling over it and creating more misunderstandings. For now, she decided to pretend to be oblivious and go along with it.

"Is that so? I'm afraid it was all too sudden and decided at the last moment to come here which is why I couldn't inform her about my arrival. I thought that she shall naturally come here with you hence I was looking forward to seeing her tonight. It's such a pity."

"Ah yes, it is such a pity. Are you enjoying the event so far?"

"It is a pleasant evening so far."

"I'm glad. With all that happened to your family, I was worried that you all will not get a chance to relax and have fun. It's good you decided to come here. Please, enjoy yourself to the fullest."

"Thank you, I am planning to. I hope you have a good time as well."

He gives a gentle smile, politely nods, and then takes his leave. While she quickly rushes to the side hallway to go after Lady Sarah. When she stood in front of the room where she entered before, she pondered over if she should go inside or head back and tell Argus about it. She glance back into the ballroom, where she couldn't find Argus. Just where is he when she needs him? She recalls the conversation she had earlier regarding him forbidding her to go after getting the gem. However, the thought that she is just going to listen in to the conversations, made her open the door.

In her mind, she had created a plan. Since it was a public event and such rooms were open to the public, if they are all inside, then she can apologize and say that she'll go to another room.

Even so, for some reason when she could not hear any voices from inside, she had a feeling that they were not inside. As if her feelings were right on the mark, when she opened the door, she was met with an empty room.

Then her eyes quickly darted to another door. Usually, a parlor room was a single living room with mirrors and a dressing area. However, some rooms had a dining room in them which most people utilized to have private business dealings or playing poker.

Rhea quietly, sneakily tip-toed and eves dropped, to hear two unfamiliar and one familiar noise. The known one belonged to Lady Sarah while one of them, which she assumed belonged to her husband, and the third one was a middle-aged man's voice, that she tried hard but failed to recognize.

She was about to properly listen in to their conversations when the footsteps became louder and nearer and suddenly someone grabbed and turn the handle of the door.