Chapter 277 Wayward Daughter (1/2)

In the middle of a room made bright from the wide stretch of glass window planes, and gentle sunlight shining in, a figure was cast in darkness as his face was unable to be seen from the bite of sunlight.

There, a man sat before a desk made of mahogany, the darkness of his face a direct contrast from the gentle sun rays.

There was nothing about him that could be called gentle right now, and just looking into the man's eyes would have caused a shiver even in the most hardened individuals.

The room was completely silent except for the heavy but steady tapping of a finger thumping on the wood. It was steady, coming in exact intervals, almost like clockwork.

Outside the room, the man's assistant sweated from the sheer feeling of the dread and worry that crept up onto his spine.

It wasn't that he was afraid of the man, but rather the bad and pervasive mood that his master was in. Nothing had been able to break it for the past couple of days, not that anyone dared to in the first place.

But the servants in the mansion all knew the cause of the master's bad mood.

It wasn't a secret, but no one dared to speak of it out loud, almost as if the man would swoop down on them the moment they uttered it aloud.

It wasn't the master's wrath that they were afraid of. The servants were doing their part because they genuinely liked the young miss, and some of them had even helped cover up for her short disappearances in the past.

Now, however, the days had stretched on, and the mood of the house sank in accordance to the number of days that passed.

Originally, the servants of the house thought that the young miss had just gotten caught up in whatever new fancy that took her as per usual – that was, until her friends came back empty-handed and shaking, facing down the master's stare.

Nonetheless, the two friends had delivered the news. The worry for Lucielle was a welcome one, but the assistant silently thought to himself that if they were so worried, they should have followed her instead.

The young miss had not been sighted in a number of days, and the only clue they had to go off was that she had been besotted by a young man that had been seen in the crowds.

Not only that, she had been rejected!

The assistant paused and repeated it again in his mind.

Rejected!

Who in the world had the gall to reject the young miss of the Hartknight family?

Lucielle Hartknight was a young miss that had been born and raised as a noble, and she was graceful and beautiful. Not only that, she was widely renowned as a genius that had captured the hearts of men far and wide.

As a mistress, she was fair and just to the servants. While she never treated them like friends, she was never unkind, and they served her with loyalty in their hearts.

Time trickled on, but the steady tapping inside the room never once stopped, and the assistant felt his sweat grow.

The master was becoming impatient.

While the master's face didn't appear like it could grow any darker, the assistant could feel the blowout that was sure to come if the hidden guard didn't return in a timely manner.

Still, the assistant steeled himself, because he too treated the young miss as a mistress.

Should anything happen to her, the assistant would join his master in war to right whatever wrongs had been done to her.

So, the two, master and servant, waited with increasing tendrils of impatience that were barely being constrained by the promise of information.

”Too slow,” the master's low voice rumbled, and the assistant didn't have to look to know that the master's eyes were boring holes into the door as he waited for the appearance of his hidden guard.

Raegan contained the explosive sigh that wanted to leave him. It was both a boon and a blessing to have such a talented daughter that she may be able to shake off her tail so easily.

She even disabled the tracker that she had on, so Raegan couldn't find her with it either.

The furrow in the Hartknight master's brow deepened at the thought.

While his daughter may enjoy her freedom, she wasn't acting like herself, without any regard of other's concerns.

Still, the man had a gut feeling that it was of her own volition. What bothered him was whether or not her 'own volition' had been tampered with.

The Hartknight family had many enemies, and so did Lucielle and Raegan themselves.

There were knives hidden in every shadow, and one could never be too careful.

While they were usually very careful, Lucielle was acting out of his expectations.

She had not even sent a single message, other than the one that had been told to her two friends.

The window slid open just the barest amounts, and Raegan's tapping on the desk finally stopped.

Looking at his hidden guard that had been sent out to gather information, Raegan laced his fingers under his chin, waiting for the guard to start talking.