Free Web NovelChapter 175: Treat (1)
"This is it."
Victor looked out the carriage window at the small home he was told belonged to the maid Marlene who was a friend of Noelle. He had managed to slip away from the party after being once more dragged in to discuss marrying the princess.
"I don’t know how long I will be. Just wait here," Victor told the driver. He got out of the carriage, already getting attention because of his attire.
If not for the party at the palace, Victor would have chosen a more casual attire to not bring attention to himself. Unfortunately, the carriage wasn’t helping him to blend in. The carriage was covered with the mark of his family symbol giving away that he had ties to a noble.
As Victor approached the home, a large man cutting wood moved to block his path. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
"Can I help you? This is my home you are walking up to and I don’t recall having business with the likes of you."
Victor took a step back.
"Young master!"
Victor closed his eyes, annoyed that the driver was being loud. "Stay in the carriage," he instructed the driver. "I sent word to a woman named Marlene-"
"My wife and again, I don’t think she has business with you."
Victor found himself in a difficult position since he had secretly sent out someone to find her and ask if she would meet with him. He got a response that he could visit today so why now is it like this?
"Steven, what is all the noise? Victor?" Marlene asked, surprised by how grown up the young boy she once knew was now. "Steven, this is Lord Kingsley’s son. Why didn’t you usher him in right away before everyone sees?"
Victor smiled while Steven looked like he wanted to toss him away.
"I forgot," Steven replied, placing the axe on his shoulder as he walked back to cut wood. He wasn’t thrilled with a noble’s son coming to see his wife. It was nothing but trouble.
"Come in," Marlene welcomed Victor inside. He needed to be out of sight before too many people saw him. "I am sorry for the mess." freeweɓnovel.cøm
Victor didn’t see the mess she spoke of. It was tidy as though they were always cleaning. "There isn’t a mess."
"My husband says the same but after being a maid for so many years, I see the mess. I was surprised to have you reach out to me. Truthfully, I thought it was Ian who wanted to see me. I have been hearing about him these days and wish to see him but our paths would not meet," said Marlene.
"I can let him know that you want to see him though our relationship is not the greatest so it is hard to reach him. Still, I will try my best. He would like to have someone around who knows Noelle," Victor said, pleased he had something to share with Ian.
Marlene smiled as she remembered her time working for the Kingsleys. How Victor was always chasing after Ian and the latter would try to shake him. "It’s been so many years since I last saw someone from your family. I got married and now I work for a lady close by."
"Steven is my husband. A wonderful hunter if you are ever looking for someone and he is good at making tools. Can I trust you, Victor?" Marlene asked, addressing him comfortably since he was in her home.
"I won’t speak of my visit to my parents and I am not here to get you in trouble. I want to find out what happened to Noelle. It is why Ian has returned," said Victor.
Marlene teared up because of the mention of her friend. "Your family took my friend from me. I know it. Your mother wanted us to ignore Ian. Treat him like he never existed but Noelle took a liking to him right away. Disregarded what your mother wanted and took care of him."
"With your brother’s mother not paying any attention to him, your father decided it was best to have Noelle be the one to look after him. She protected Ian like he was her child. You could have mistaken her for this birth mother."
"I do remember it being that way," Victor said. He remembered being confused in his youth by who was Ian’s mother. "She was kind to me."
"Well, you are Ian’s brother and she had hoped that the two of you would grow close. I must admit that she didn’t like the times Ian was punished in place of you because you kept going to the cottage. She hoped that with you being close to Ian, Ian might find it easy to live there in the future once you become old enough to speak up," said Marlene.
Victor felt ashamed of himself since that moment came too late. Ian had run away before Victor had the chance to fight for him and Victor wasn’t certain he would have ever spoken up then. He truly was a coward and he couldn’t blame Ian for not wanting to see him.
"I hope her dream will come true for you to be close to Ian. Noelle always wanted him to find a family. I don’t know much about the relationship I am hearing he has. I can’t always trust the gossip. I’ve gotten distracted from what you came for. I’m sorry," she apologised.
"Noelle started to act strange at one point. Normally, Ian’s dinner was similar to what was given to the servants, but one day it changed. His food was better and he started to receive many of the good treats or candy your father brought for you. I thought it was a good thing but Noelle didn’t like it. She went ahead and told Ian not to eat anything," Marlene said, remembering how Noelle once snatched the candy from Ian’s hands.
"Seeing how worried she was, I noticed that Ian never tried to eat what she didn’t like. He continued to eat the food Noelle would bring to him which was meant for the servants. I confronted her about it since he was a Kingsley. He should have the finest things. She revealed to me that she suspected your mother was putting something in the food."
Marlene continued, "It was something she overheard that made her think this. I can’t recall what it was. Eventually, she said it wasn’t the dinner. It might have been the treats. She was crazy enough to try them to see which one it was and I saw for myself that she started to look sick. Victor?"
Marlene worried she might have shared too much since Victor turned pale. "Victor?"
"What did she do with the candy? Noelle, I mean. What did she do with them?" Victor questioned, his left hand covering his face as something dawned on him.
"As soon as she noticed them at the cottage door, she would throw them out. She wouldn’t leave them around for Ian to get his hands on them," Marlene answered.
"Ha. I...I used to take some candy I found there when I went to play with Ian. I fell sick and no one could explain why," Victor said, angered by the fact that it might have been his mother’s doing all alone.
His mother might have ended up making the wrong son sick all this time.
