“Thank you, thank you”, the man kept on saying noticing that Andrew has come back, he could now feel rest assured knowing that he could keep his life intact. Andrew does not pay attention to the man and instead stares at Olivia before asking, “Happy now?”. To which she just smiles and just walks forward to pat his head, this time around, Andrew does not evade her hands. It wasn’t that hard to have allowed her to win though, he didn’t have any issues with her from the start.
After a period of smilingly ruffling Andrew’s perfect hair which didn’t seem as beautiful as before, Olivia says, “This is how a kid should behave”, to which Andrew just snorts in reply. “You should do well to stop calling me a kid though”, he says further down. “Hate being called a kid? But that’s what you are”, replies Olivia. Andrew doesn’t reply for a while and just stares intently at Olivia.
“Can we go now?”, after a period of seeing nothing happening and no further words being said, Andrew got bored and asked.
“Of course, we can. Follow me then”, replies Olivia while leading Andrew towards the entrance of the hospital. The girls followed behind them, and they all left the hospital, leaving the male janitor behind.
If Olivia had stayed behind for a bit, they would have seen the man’s face turn ugly, with a flash of anger and unwillingness in his eyes.
‘Damn them all. I just did something little outside the law and she had wanted to sacrifice me for that boy. Is my life not worth a thing at all?’, he says everything inwardly.
He didn’t dare say any of it out for fear of it being heard by them, he understood perfectly well that he was nothing but a bug in their eyes which they could squash under their feet. Killing him probably won’t do anything to their reputation and his death can be easily covered up.
There was a flash of ill intent in his eyes, if he ever had the chance, he had to repay this debt, hundreds of folds. But that would be if he could ever be able to touch the helm of their garments though which would be a talk for another day.
They got into the carriage together with the girls, but Eve still insisted on going along with them. Olivia was smiling while staring at Andrew while the carriage keeps driving on towards his new home. He had thought at first that allowing Olivia to win this one wouldn’t be too bad, after all, he didn’t want to harm his conscience and change from his initial upbringing of settling karma. Since he had gotten the man into this mess, he believed that leaving him behind would seem too cold-hearted. But seeing her this way made him think that he could have just gone ahead with what he had been doing. He hated the smirk which was ever present on her face, hence he couldn’t stop his mouth from moving.
“I didn’t do this for him, I did it all for myself. Staying with you would enable me to save up a lot of money. You know money is always important and saving up is never too much. That was what changed my mind at the end”, Andrew says in one breath. “But you still had to come with me”, replies Olivia without a change in her facial expression.
“When I get to your house, I would cause endless problems for you and you won’t be able to rest at ease”, Andrew says once more in an attempt to try to erase her smile. But it doesn’t work a bit as she replies, “You not causing some troubles would seem like something unimaginable. I would think that there was something wrong with you. Hence I indulge you to do just that. My family has always been known for its troublesome nature”. This was the first time that Andrew was stump of words while arguing with Olivia. But in one hopeless final attempt, he tries, “Then I guess I would just have to behave properly and not do anything troublesome a bit”. “Eh”, Olivia sounds while looking at Andrew oddly.
Andrew was about to continue down this line, thinking that it was working perfectly well but Olivia cuts him short as she says, “That would work well too. It would make you look like a cute and obedient kid. You will be well loved”.
On hearing those words, what he was about to say got stuck in his mouth, never to come out as he just finally gives up while saying in a low tone, “Old woman”. But with the heightened senses of Olivia, there was no way she could not have heard that but instead of continuing the conversation, she just let this child in front of her continue bickering. Hence she just leaned back on the carriage, with her eyes closed as if meditating.
It was nice seeing him act like the child he was. The two girls who were beside him exchanged glances but kept quiet at the end.
They understood that Andrew can’t make a comeback this time, and silence reigned on the carriage for a while before Andrew asks, “How did you find out anyway?”. “Find out what?”, Olivia who has her eyes closed, opens them while staring at Andrew but instead of answering his question, replies with a question.
“You know what am talking about, so no need to act”, replies Andrew while staring deeply at Olivia. “Ohh, about that..”, she starts off.
It happens to be the day before, after she came out of her sister’s office with a serious face as if in thoughts, on her way to her carriage, obviously to handle some serious matters, she caught sight of the man who was behaving suspiciously and since the man works at the hospital, she didn’t want to endanger the life of her sister and thus followed after him. That was when she saw him slipping the wine jar to a position perfectly underneath his window. There seems to be a thin, barely seeable string which was strong enough to hold the weight of the jar and since Andrew could even pull it up quickly before such a string snapped, he was able to get the wine. Probably that was the reason he always stood and stared at the window as if contemplating something. Andrew had never expected to be caught just a day before he would be discharged just due to a bit of suspicious behaviour on the part of the man. But the man couldn’t be blamed for acting that way, he very well understood the laws guiding the hospital and if he was caught, he would be in very deep trouble. Losing his job would be a foregone conclusion then.
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After a little discussion, they arrived at the mansion. Andrew was the second to step down after Olivia. After which he looks around, totally awed by the setting of the mansion. It was huge, easily occupying a large span of land. He rarely saw personal properties like this back on earth and he usually daydreamed about getting one such as this formerly but now he would be living here. ‘This is where I would be staying for a while huh? Seems perfect for me. But I would get a bigger one in the future’, those were the thoughts of Andrew while stretching.
“Huh, what are you doing?”, Olivia who saw his behaviour asks. But Andrew just ignores her and turns to help Marian and Eve down from the carriage.
The old madam was in the compound in a place which seems to have been built for resting, as it creates a perfect shade and peaceful environment. There she was sipping some tea while going through some papers.
“Mother, I have brought him”, Olivia says on getting there. “Hmm”, the old madam just sounds out while staring at the young boy in front of him. After a period of staring, her eyes lands on Marian, who immediately jumps to hug her. “I don’t have to leave your side anymore”, Marian says. She has gotten close to this woman during her little stay in this house. To all these actions, Andrew just knits his brows, after which he turns back to normal. “I would be in your care from this moment henceforth. Please take care of me”, Andrew gives a formal bow to the woman in front of him. The woman just smiles at the behaviour of Andrew before saying, “No need to be that stiff, we are all family”.
On hearing such words, Andrew’s face almost turned ugly but he held on to his facial expression. After all, Michael had told him the same thing and ended up betraying him. He can’t trust anyone that easily in this world he came to if he wanted to stay alive for a bit longer.
As long as nothing that seems unexpected happens, he would indulge in their fantasies for a bit. They just talked a bit after which Eve went back to her home. It was now just a few weeks before resumption and she has been dilly-dallying and now needed to focus in order to achieve her dreams. After all, Andrew was good now and he won’t have to fight any dangerous battle in the kingdom at least.
After settling down in one of the rooms, he just jumps on the bed while facing the ceiling. He appears to be in deep thought. Later on, though, he took the help of one of the maids to go purchase some new clothes, he had to look good after all, and Marian escorted him. They had a pretty fun time during this little outing of theirs and they both enjoyed it.
He didn’t forget to also visit a tavern to purchase some wine, it was needed after all. After making the purchases, he quickly headed back to the mansion. It was late when he and Marian got back and they were greeted by a table filled with meals.
Olivia was nowhere to be found at this moment. Only the old madam came down to eat with them.
It was only after being through with his meal that he got to know from Marian that Olivia was in her training yard getting to free up her muscles. It was her usual routine before eating. He just ignores everything and heads back to his room. Marian joins him later, to which they chatted a bit and she quickly fell asleep. Not willing to disturb her, he just let her lie down on his bed and he gets towards the window with a bottle of wine in his hands. He was looking in one particular direction, which happens to be where he had formerly stayed when he was in the capital.
‘I am sure they would have forgotten all about you. But I can’t help wanting to take some bit of revenge’, he says inwardly. ‘Sigh, guess I would just let them be. If not for them, I won’t be able to reincarnate into this body and find myself in the village. I won’t have gotten to this stage I currently am’, he consoles himself with such words. Although he wouldn’t shriek from trouble, he wasn’t the type to just go start it on his own. After a bit more contemplation, he went to lie down to sleep.
The next day though, Andrew woke up pretty early to do some warm-ups. His muscles have been too relaxed from his continuous injuries and bedridden state, so it was important to get this done at least. Marian still hasn’t woken up though, and he let her be.
After doing some bit of juggling and a little weight lifting, some footsteps could be heard behind him. Without turning behind, he says, “I don’t believe I did anything wrong for you to be looking for me at this time of the day”. A low laughter could be heard behind him before which a voice sounds out, “You are the boy whom that brat took in right?”. “I thought you would have forgotten about me by now”, this time, Andrew turns behind to meet the person while saying, “Madam Dorothy”.
He was talking to the old madam of the house. He was quite acquainted with this old madam as the previous owner of the body has met her on a few occasions and although she had not treated him too shabbily, he still didn’t want to take any chances with her.
“Although you have come to be that handsome, you haven’t changed that much. And after all, I can’t just forget someone whom I have met on more than one occasion can I?”. This time, Andrew doesn’t reply to her and just stares off at her. “You don’t need to be on guard. I don’t know where you have been to all these while and how you ended up in that village and back here. But I can see you have grown more perfectly than you were before. As long as you don’t have any evil intentions, I don’t have any issue with you”, she says. “I should be the one questioning your intentions ma’am”, replies Andrew coolly.
She laughs again, before saying, “I like you boy. But you shouldn’t be stressing yourself, after all, you haven’t fully recovered”.
After saying her piece, she walks off while waving her hands, bidding goodbye to Andrew. Andrew just stood there contemplating what has just happened, but after a while, he let everything go. Thinking too much won’t cause any change to the situation after all, hence he continues with his training.
At a side hidden, stood Olivia, “I knew something was off with her behaviour”, she says in a low tone before moving away. She has stayed with her mother since birth and hence noticed every little change in her behaviour. She suspected something was off with the way her mother quickly stared at Andrew and withdrew her face. She hasn’t done the same with Marian after all, so it was just a little bit shocking. And she understood that her mother usually left the house to see a nephew of hers who was formerly in the military but has now been deceased. “So he has formerly been in the capital huh. That’s interesting enough”. After which she quickly left to start her training.