Free Web NovelChapter 183: The Guardian’s Decision
Ruelle wondered what had happened three nights ago. She noticed her father’s throat bob and for a brief second he looked like he didn’t want to be here. To escape the weight of Lucian’s gaze boring into him like a blade finding flesh but then his expression hardened.
Mr. Belmont folded his arms against his chest and replied, "I already told you. I was running from the debt collector. It was in the town of Dunwich."
"What was his name? The debt collector?" Lucian’s voice remained mild, almost conversational. But there was a predator’s patience in it.
"It was Hemingway. Jack Hemingway," Mr. Belmont answered before adding, "You can ask him."
"And you were alone?" Lucian asked.
For a moment, something flickered behind Mr. Belmont’s eyes. "Of course I was alone," he replied. "Who else would be with me?"
"Those debt collectors must have been persistent. Three days on the run and you never once managed to let your wife know you were alive?" Lucian questioned. "Or if she would be looked for next."
Ruelle watched her father’s jaw tighten. He exhaled, "I was worried they would trail me somehow and harass my wife."
"It seems they were well updated with your relocation then," Lucian’s observation came smooth and he clicked his tongue quietly. "And yet you refuse the one thing that would make them stop." His gaze remained fixed on Mr. Belmont. "So how did you spend your time dodging?"
"I remember getting away from them and I must have slipped or hit my head," Mr. Belmont explained, looking down at his hands. "Because the next thing I knew, I woke up in the middle of the forest. My body was hurting quite a lot. Mostly my neck. My hands too. My chest felt like something heavy had crushed it," he then looked up at Lucian and asked, "Why did it happen?" freewebnovel.cσ๓
Ruelle felt the room grow tense.
"Perhaps they caught up with you after all," Lucian’s suggestion came like bait cast into water, waiting to see what would take the hook.
"I don’t know. It feels like my—my mind has been blank," Mr. Belmont wore a puzzled expression as if he was trying hard to remember but only failed.
Lucian stayed quiet for a second, his face deep in thought before he offered,
"You should get yourself checked in the courthouse infirmary." He noticed a brief flicker in Harold’s eyes—surprise, perhaps, or fear or the recognition of a trap being sprung. "Like I said, what matters to Ruelle matters to me. It will be free of charge and they are very skilled."
"Maybe you should, Harold," Mrs. Belmont urged out of concern. "Maybe check your head," and hearing her words, Dane coughed.
"What a dusty room," Dane muttered and when Ruelle’s eyes met his, he winked at her.
Mr. Belmont’s jaw tightened before he stood up abruptly. He questioned, "When will we find out about Caroline’s whereabouts?" the deflection swift.
"Sit. I am not done questioning." Lucian’s words were sharp. His eyes turned darker as he wasn’t happy with the way things had turned out today and his presence became heavier.
Mr. Belmont’s hands turned into fists but the knuckles didn’t turn white. Slowly, he returned to his seat. Ruelle felt something unfamiliar stir inside her. Seeing how her father was powerless against Lucian soothed a corner of her mind. He said,
"Instead of finding her, you are interrogating me, but if you didn’t put Caroline behind the bars, this would have never happened."
Lucian paid no heed to the human’s words and instead asked, "You said you woke up this morning? What did you find around you?"
"It was a forest. Trees?" Mr. Belmont asked as if the pureblooded vampire was asking stupid questions.
Lucian repeated dryly, "How descriptive." Mr. Belmont’s jaw clenched again. "What exactly did you find around you?"
"I already told you. A forest."
"A forest has more than trees. Was there a road nearby or a stream or any signs of another person you might have caught?" Lucian’s questions continued with relentless precision, each one designed to corner the person.
Ruelle noticed how her father tried to appear brave and she wondered how long it would take before he would crack.
"Does your body still hurt?" Lucian asked and Mr. Belmont nodded. "It must have hurt worse earlier?"
"Yes."
Lucian’s lips twitched. "You woke with pain in your neck, chest and hands yet you were capable of walking." He then asked, "Mrs. Belmont, were these the clothes your husband left in that evening to go out?"
Mrs. Belmont turned to look at her husband and she shook her head. "No."
"Do these belong to him?" Lucian pressed.
"No..." Mrs. Belmont wondered if the second person in her family was going to end up behind bars. The thought made her gulp and she wrung her hands together.
Lucian’s fingers tapped on the wood once again, like a clock ticking. He then remarked, "Did you treat yourself with new clothes when you could have gone to your relatives’ house and change? You must have had no time to bathe then."
"Yes. I didn’t want to get caught in case the debt collectors were waiting for me," Mr. Belmont huffed. "Seriously, I—"
Suddenly a knock on the door interrupted them.
The door was pushed open to reveal Minister Carnifex, followed by Minister Sylvan inside the room. The atmosphere shifted immediately. Noticing the ministers, Ruelle was about to get up to offer her greetings when Lucian placed his hand on her shoulder to keep her still.
"It looks like there’s a family discussion going on in there," Minister Sylvan hummed, his eyes moving through the people before it fell on Ruelle. He offered a polite smile and Ruelle returned it with a bow from where she sat. "I didn’t know Dane Slater was part of the investigation."
A smile spread on Dane’s lips and he replied, "I was chaperoning Ruelle. Didn’t want to disappoint the assistant," his eyes fell on Peyton, who stood at the back.
Minister Sylvan only continued to smile, his eyes carrying amusement at the fellow pureblooded vampire’s words.
"It is good that everyone is here," Minister Carnifex began, drawing everyone’s attention to him. When the elder minister glanced at Ruelle, she didn’t know why, but she didn’t have a good feeling about whatever he was going to say right now. Why else would he actively seek them out?
"Mr. and Mrs. Belmont, I gave some thought about your current predicament," the elder minister continued to speak. "Lucian has been generous enough to close all your debt accounts and from the courthouse’s side, we would like to offer you a house. It isn’t going to be a mansion but a decent one, enough to see your daughter off respectably."
Mrs. Belmont’s fleeting joy knew no bounds at the thought of finally having a roof over their heads. The last few days had been difficult for them and she was glad to hear it. Now only if Caroline could return too, she thought to herself.
"With the recent issues, Peyton will be returning to work with me for a while," Minister Carnifex informed them. So they won’t be chaperoned like before? Thought Ruelle.
"What do you mean, ’see her off’?" Lucian hit the nail on the head, as he didn’t care for the rest of the words spoken.
Minister Carnifex let out a sigh before he said, "The council wants both parties to fulfil the conditions. They w—"
"No," came the clipped words from Lucian.
Ruelle felt the familiar chill she had experienced back in the mansion return, the air turning heavy and suffocating before it was returned to its original state.
"If the conditions aren’t fullfilled, the marriage date will be pushed forward," Minister Sylvan decided to speak and Lucian’s eyes narrowed. "A bride sleeping under the same roof as the groom is not right when she isn’t an orphan."
"It isn’t far from the truth," Lucian replied, his eyes turning colder. "We’ve already had this discussion. You will have to let go of this condition. A minister is dead. Parchments were burned. People disappeared from a guarded dungeon and yet you are asking me to hand Ruelle over and trust that nothing will happen."
"Guards will be stationed around the house for their protection," Minister Sylvan offered calmly.
Ruelle’s stomach sank as she didn’t want to live with them. The thought of it made her skin crawl. She had made her peace when she had been kicked out of the house and spent the night crying.
"Minister Sylvan, are you trying to joke?" Lucian’s voice dropped and the temperature in the room seemed to plummet. "The guards here couldn’t keep the prisoners in and you want to leave what’s mine in someone else’s hands?"
"The council doesn’t agree with the failed condition," Minister Carnifex pinched the bridge of his nose. "The treaty was not written only for situations that are convenient. Let her stay with her family for a week at least."
"Ms. Belmont," Minister Sylvan turned to Ruelle and questioned, "Do you not want to spend the last days with your family?"
Ruelle could feel everyone’s eyes on her. It felt like sunlight passing through a magnifying glass, focused entirely on her. Like being dissected while remaining conscious.
"Ruelle," her stepmother’s voice came soft, reaching out to place her hand on the young woman’s hand. "We miss you."
With the ministers present, Mrs. Belmont was determined to remind everyone that her family was functioning like any other normal family did. They would have to bear the young woman only for a week before sending her away. In the meantime, it would also help gain help in finding Caroline, she thought to herself.
How odd, Ruelle thought as she stared at her stepmother’s hand on hers. The memories last night had opened a floodgate she had spent years trying to keep shut. Even now, she could feel the remnants of the fear her father had planted in her bones.
"Minister, Ruelle is under the weather today," Dane said, giving her an easy way out.
"I am fine..." Ruelle whispered. Mrs. Belmont’s hand remained over hers, warm yet unfamiliar. She gently withdrew her hand and placed it back in her lap. "I want to stay at the Slaters’ mansion," her words came with absolute certainty.
To support her decision, Lucian proposed, "If proximity to her family is the concern, then let the Belmonts stay at Slater estate until the wedding."
Mrs. Belmont blinked and Mr. Belmont’s eyes sharpened.
"This isn’t something Ms. Belmont gets to decide on her own," Minister Carnifex stated, his eyes settling on Mr. Belmont. "Her guardian agreed to the treaty, and that decision falls to him."
Ruelle felt a trickle of worry work up her spine. No, she thought to herself. She saw her father staring at Lucian. The anger he was suppressing until now finally surfaced and he decided,
"If that is what the treaty requires, then Ruelle will stay with us. We will comply to it."
"Then it is decided," Minister Sylvan smiled as if the matter were concluded.
Ruelle felt a numbness seep into her because no one could refute it. Even Lucian and Dane’s expressions had hardened.
She stared at her father, who stared back at her. Why now? He had always spoken of how she didn’t bring him any luck and wished death upon her. He should have been happy that she was going away, so why did he want her to come live with them now?!
The fever that had dulled earlier seemed to return all at once. Her stomach twisted.
As everyone stepped into the corridor, Lucian’s hand came to rest against the small of her back as if telling her he would find a way out of this. She turned to meet his darkened eyes.
Then a familiar voice echoed from further down the corridor.
"Father-in-law. Mother-in-law." When Ruelle turned, she noticed Ezekiel walking towards them.
