♚♚♚
WITH their strategy settled, Ebel headed straight for the room where Lady Alexis was waiting. Ludovicus showed Rock and Phoebe to the adjoining room.
It looked like a normal reception room at first glance. There were sofas, an oval marble table, a fireplace, and a china cabinet, much like the room they had just been in.
However, a display shelf with a door facing the adjoining room caught Rock and Phoebe’s attention. It was a gorgeous piece with detailed carvings, but it was so different from the rest of the furniture, its splendor stood out abruptly.
“This is an observation window,” Ludovicus explained with a dashing smile as he opened the shelf door.
The inside was empty except for the light spilling in from the other side of the wall. If Rock looked closely at the hole, she could catch a glimpse of what was going on in the other room.
“I’ve never seen a trick shelf like this before. It’s so neat.”
Phoebe glared at Ludovicus while Rock was admiring the peephole.
“Does every room have one of these? Don’t tell me you’ve been peeping on us all this time—”
“Shh. They will hear if you are too loud.”
Ludovicus held a finger in front of his lips, coolly dismissing Phoebe’s valid question.
They could see three people in the other room through the display case. Ebel was seated to greet his guest, Johanna was quietly waiting on him, and then—
“Ah…”
A gasp slipped past Rock’s lips when she saw her. Seen up close, Lauretta Alexis truly did resemble her mother, Vale.
Her wine-colored hair was exactly like her mother’s, except for the streaks of gray mixed in. Her face was beautiful but showed signs of exhaustion. She was clearly older than Rock’s mother when she’d passed away. And her eyes were much sharper and foxlike than her mother’s as they cautiously yet gracefully scanned the room.
Rock didn’t know what happened between this lady and her mother. But she couldn’t conceal her shock when the woman looked so much like her to be a mere stranger.
“I sincerely apologize for my sudden visit, Your Excellency.”
Rock was shaken further when Lauretta spoke. Her aunt even sounded like her mother.
“I am delighted you made time for me despite my not having made a prior appointment,” Lauretta continued, unaware of Rock’s petrification in the adjoining room. Her tone was clipped and matter-of-fact—it didn’t sound the least bit delighted at all.
Sensing the same thing, Ebel calmly responded in kind, “Let’s stop with the stiff formalities, Lady Alexis.” He didn’t look tense or nervous from what Rock could see through the peephole. “What are you doing here? You must have a good reason to show up out of the blue against all decorum.”
He prompted her with a sarcastic edge, his gold eyes narrowing like a wolf watching to see what move its prey was going to take next.
Lauretta defiantly stuck her nose up in the air.
“Very well. In that case…” without a smile or a shred of emotion, she cut straight to the point, “I have come here today to ask you to hand over the wine-haired girl said to be in your care, Your Excellency.”
So that is it. Rock sucked in a breath.
She heard Phoebe click his tongue beside her.
Meanwhile, Ebel’s expression remained the same.
“What do you mean by that?” Ebel asked back, provoking her with his tone and unrelenting gaze.
Her response was cold and indifferent.
“I heard her name is Roxy. She is undoubtedly the daughter of my younger sister Valencia who’d absconded years ago. I had tracked her down to a small mountain village but lost her whereabouts completely after my sister passed away and have been searching for her ever since.”
Her face and voice perfectly mirrored Vale’s, but her bearing was entirely different. Rock was creeped out by how she kept all emotion out of her facial expressions and voice. And most of all, she shuddered to think that the woman had been hunting her down without her knowledge, as Phoebe feared.
“I don’t know why she has come into your care, but as long as she is my sister’s daughter, the Alexis family has every right to take custody of her,” Lauretta insisted without an ounce of emotion.
“You speak of her as if she is an object you own,” Ebel said with a contemptuous smile. “I will admit that Roxy is here since you have already figured that much out. However…” He purposely paused to give his words more power, his lips curling in a snarl. “What rights do you have to a child you didn’t even raise?”
“I am related to that child by blood.” Lauretta’s assertion was said in such a way it made Rock’s blood run cold for the lack of affection there. “That alone grants me every right and responsibility for her.”
“Do you believe that will hold up in the courts, dear lady?”
“This isn’t a matter for the courts. It’s a matter of ethics.” She didn’t even bat a lash at Ebel’s argument. “I am ashamed to say my sister’s loose morals led to her unfortunate and miserable death. I couldn’t even care for her on her deathbed, but I have since been searching for my niece to do for her what I could not for my sister. I will make her happy when my sister could not. I believe that is a very legitimate reason to take her in.”
Her dispassionate words made it impossible to get a read on how she really felt.
Nevertheless, her remark definitely offended both Rock and Phoebe.
“That damn woman…!”
Rock could hear Phoebe grinding his teeth.
There’s no way Rock wouldn’t take offense at her mother being slandered too. Her mother was the complete opposite of a woman with loose morals—she loved but one man her entire life. Rock knew that painfully well as the person who cared for her before she died.
Ebel also seemed offended by Lauretta’s remark.
“Do not speak ill of her mother in my house,” he ordered with a deep scowl.
“Forgive me, Your Excellency.” She apologized on the spot, though even that was frigid and devoid of emotion. “However, I needed you to understand where we are coming from. She is a miserable and unfortunate child. It is not such a strange thing for a blood relative to want to make her happy.”
Apparently, Lauretta had arbitrarily decided that Rock was living a miserable and unfortunate life. Of course, that was far from the truth, and Ebel argued the point.
“The Roxy I know is not miserable or unhappy with her life.”
Rock closed her eyes to show she agreed. At the very least, she didn’t view where she was at now as miserable. If anything, she was happier than ever.
“She has me. And there are many more who care for her,” Ebel vouched, and Rock could see Johanna eagerly nodding in agreement beside him. “As far as I have seen, she is plenty happy right now. Surely because your younger sister did a splendid job raising her.”
“…Impossible.”
Lauretta’s eyebrow twitched. Her expression didn’t change much, but the comment definitely got a reaction out of her.
“Besides, she still has her father,” Ebel continued, and her shoulders visibly trembled.
“Did you just say she has a father? You can’t mean that man—”
“Do you know her father, Lady Alexis?”
Lauretta didn’t answer his query. She merely squeezed her hands together until they turned white on top of her lap. Catching a glimpse of her reaction, Ebel seemed to perceive it was time to move on to phase two of their plan.