Landlord Wears A Mask

Chapter 6: Petty Gratification

Meanwhile, Adam Graham finally made the decision to contact the most open person in Linda's neglectful family. Her second brother, Jake, accepted the random online person's invite without thinking.

He didn't seem all that careful.

"Who's this? I've never seen you before." Jake said arrogantly crossed arms. A scar near his lips certified his identity. There was no way he wouldn't recognise the scar Linda made when the two of them fought.

"I'm a newly instated aristocrat. As I don't have any familiar connections, I wanted to reach out to someone. Your account just so happened to come into view." Adam lied without feeling guilty at all.

It wasn't like this antisocial outcast was that good of a liar, but he wasn't bad at it either. Confidence in the truth woven within the lies was what helped sell this farce. After all, nothing he said was wrong.

Adam, for the most part, really DIDN'T have connections right now. Plus, it wasn't like he was used to how feudalism worked. Having someone do socialise with even briefly would be a great help.

"..." There were no words spoken at first, but his expressions weren't hard to read. After a brief but suffocating moment of total silence, Jake asked: "Do you not know about us? Why find me specifically?"

"About the Arcadia dukedom?" Adam tilted his head.

"So you at least know our title." Jake scoffed at the audacity of this bastard. Knowing who he was but still daringly wasting his time. Seeing how calm and collected the youth sounded, Adam found it strange.

Jake's personality was usually 'hotter' than this.

That's why he didn't go into too much detail in the beginning. He wanted a closer connection to him emotionally. However, a part of him found thinking before saying a lot of words super annoying to do.

The only thing he wanted most of all was how Linda was doing lately. Since he was still alive, that girl was likely not influenced by him. She should be following the 'plot' laid out by the synopsis of that game.

The backdrop he'd always skipped in the intro.

"Did something happen recently?" Adam did not let his emotions control his voice, but that only made the lack of it in his words scary. The sudden sharpness in his voice frighted the young master.

Jake's hairs stood on end, but he quickly spoke:

"Don't misunderstand...! Many have been avoiding my family lately because of nonsense. False rumours might blind you." Finally, Jake was revealing his hand without the latter even pushing the subject.

The whole reason this guy was reached out to.

"Yeah... So..." Adam wasn't sure what to say from here to get what he wanted, so he didn't commit to an act. This seemed to get a response he wasn't quite expecting: Jake rang him on the Virtual Chat.

Rather than controlling puppet-like avatars, this was a way to get face-to-face with his opponent. The only thing was... Adam wasn't confident in being able to hide his expression in front of the real thing.

"Oh well." Adam thought. Seeing that the worst that could happen was getting blocked, he had accepted it. A large virtual reality window opened up almost like a portal. The gap let him peek into Jake's room.

On top of the screen was the familiar face.

But somehow, the second young master he remembered seemed more tired and unkept compared to his memories. It looked nothing like the virtual avatar they used to chat not too long ago.

"Are you feeling alright?" Adam had to ask.

This didn't seem right.

"I'm fine." Jake rubbed his untrimmed beard. His voice showing complete composure. There was a dissonance between his words and actions. It made Adam unable to truly believe these sweet words.