CHAPTER 218: CHAPTER 217. ALIKE

Amber had never thought that the mansion she had lived in forever could be this quiet and depressing.

The bossy madam had gone, locked up in a mental institution. The chirpy next madam stayed with the chairman in a hospital. Despite the lack of authority figures, the house staff did not dare to slack off or act casually at all. When the housekeeper left, everyone was afraid they would get dragged somehow--because, what if they blamed the staff who carried the poisonous food from the kitchen to the chairman? What then?

Thus, they spoke in whispers among themselves during break, and worked quietly in case something they said accidentally triggered the remaining members of the family.

Thankfully, there were only three of them these days. The two youngest children also had been quiet, nervously staying in their room as if they were waiting for a verdict.

Perhaps they were.

In limbo, not knowing what would happen in the future, Ruby and Jasper suddenly regretted how they used to act toward the staff members. Even their attendants and guards acted rather distantly, as if their job would end anytime; as if the siblings could be thrown out anytime.

It was so nerve-racking at the house that Axton’s situation looked so much better. He used to call Amber every week asking when he could return home, but since Mason lost everything by assaulting Sarah, he had been really quiet. Especially after Mason’s identity was revealed, rather than asking to return, he stayed where he was stationed, blissfully becoming his useless self and asking Amber to take care of him in the future.

At least, he had a self-awareness about how useless and skillless he was, and how he should support his twin sister instead. He stayed quiet out there, trying to be invisible. It was better than suddenly getting dragged into the family drama.

Still, it was annoying. Here she was working hard for recognition, busily stacking points for the chairman and trying to get the executives’ support, while her brother was being paid without doing anything, and still asked her for allowance money from time to time.

And that mother of theirs, who was only useful for giving birth to her...

Amber couldn’t believe the audacity of her mother to ask for help after treating her less than her brothers. After all the hurtful stuff that woman threw at her, she still dared to ask for money for rent and a lawyer! The nerve!

Leech! A bunch of leeches, all of them!

But the one irritating her the most right now was none other than Sarah.

Amber had thought about it for the whole day while waiting for any call or text--anything at all--from her father. There was none. Even after falling asleep and waking up, there was still nothing, and the chairman was still not back home.

She asked the house manager if he knew why the chairman was in the hospital, but the house manager just gave her a sad face, talking about how the chairman didn’t trust him anymore--so useless. Amber went even further and asked their family doctor and the hospital, but everyone just gave her vague answers.

Clearly, the chairman didn’t need any urgent medical procedure. Did he really fake a hospital stay just to talk to Sarah in secret? So no one in the mansion would know?

She’d be damned if she still didn’t find this suspicious.

It wasn’t even about the succession anymore. It was the blatant favoritism; the same thing that their grandfather always did.

"By this time, she should have talked to you about the deal, but there had been nothing, Miss," her attendant told her the next morning. "She had never given you a concrete answer either."

"That’s right," the oldest attendant--someone a bit older than Amber--said with a nod. "From the start, it’s only a verbal deal between the two of you, Miss. Nothing is written, so she could just ignore it--that is, if she had any intention of honoring the deal in the first place."

Amber frowned. Thinking back, the deal had always been vague. She had asked for shares, and Sarah only said she would give Amber her support. Even at the New Year party, she looked like she had forgotten about the deal altogether.

"Are you saying...she had been using me?" Amber narrowed her eyes.

The attendants glanced at each other. "If her objective is to get rid of her own obstacle, then..."

Amber bit her lower lip; if she looked at everything in that way, it made sense. Was that why she asked for Mason’s assets as compensation? Even with Jeong Mina, she told Amber to investigate their uncle, too; people who could be obstacles for her in the company.

Could it be that while Amber was running around collecting merits and doing investigations, Sarah had been trying to cozy up to the chairman and the executives?!

"The nerve of her!" Amber slammed her vanity table, prompting the attendants to scramble, catching the stuff tumbling over the table.

"It’s still a speculation, but I don’t think you should trust her anymore, Miss," the oldest attendant said. "Definitely don’t let her know, though."

"I know," Amber gritted her teeth, trying to calm herself down.

"But...what are you going to do about her, Miss?" the youngest attendant asked.

Amber fiddled with the lipstick in her hand, eyes narrowed in contemplation. As her eyes looked up at the mirror, her brows furrowed deeply. It was annoying how she could see some kind of resemblance in her features with Sarah, reminding her that they were indeed sisters--even if only half.

She clenched her jaw and threw her lipstick at the mirror, causing a little crack. It only annoyed her more as the distorted image around the crack made her look even more like Sarah.

"Fuck! We are not alike!" she screamed at the cracked mirror before turning around--and stopped.

"Miss! Are you alright? You’re not hurt, are you?" The attendants rushed to check on her, but Amber’s mind was on something else.

On the bedroom door at the other side of the second-floor gallery that she could see from her own place. And her lips started to stretch.

"Miss?"

"Perhaps we’re alike, after all."

* * *

"This woman is desperate," Austin spun his spoon in the air. "She’s still holding on because she thinks her daughter will still help her."

For the first time, Sarah finally let someone else enter her mother’s apartment other than Hajin. They were supposed to meet in Helios as usual, but Austin was whining about how he was missing his old caretaker’s paella and wanted Hajin to make it for him.

So there he was, at their kitchen table, on his second helping of Hajin’s very delicious cooking while talking about the shares the first wife had. Honestly, Sarah was grateful for this request. She would have eaten it more if she had room in her stomach.

And perhaps because his princess was eating with sparkling eyes, Hajin wasn’t that annoyed at Austin anymore.

"Honestly, if she’s smart, she should already have asked for the shares in exchange for a little help," Sarah said. "I’m surprised she hasn’t."

"Pity?" Austin tilted his head. "Or maybe she’s not as smart as she thinks she is."

"Well, you did tell her not to engage with her mother too much," Hajin said.

"I’m surprised she followed it," Sarah shrugged. She couldn’t shake her bad feeling when she found out that Amber had visited the hospital, however. "But I think she won’t trust me much from now on, so you need to push that woman harder, Austin."

Austin watched the flashing concern in Sarah’s face, but decided it wasn’t his business. His business was to manage their ammunition.

"I’m going to talk to the condo’s manager," Austin said between scoops of rice. "Should we use the artist, too?"

"What, they’re still together?" Sarah arched her brow. "I thought she’d kick him out already."

"Maybe she likes his face too much? He does look like their lost son," Austin scoffed.

And then he paused, the spoon stopped in the air as his brain was cooking another kind of dish. He blinked slowly for a while before looking at Sarah awkwardly.

"...will we go to hell if we make some fake lead about her son that would require her to eke out a lot of money?" he whispered, as if the underworld’s emissary wouldn’t be able to hear him if he spoke quietly.

Sarah and Hajin glanced at each other. "I’m going to hell anyway," Sarah shrugged nonchalantly.

Hajin chuckled and kissed Sarah’s hand. "I’m going to follow you even to the deepest part, Princess."

"Shut up, you loverbird!"

Sarah laughed. "Thanks for the idea, though. We’ll take care of the fake clues, so just get ready for the negotiation."

"’kay," Austin nodded. Well, these people knew about this kind of scheme more than him, anyway. "What about the rest? You can’t buy anymore, so your only hope now is the executives."

"Yeah, I have been thinking about it," Sarah sighed. "The thing is, if I start making a direct move, Amber will realize it."

And that woman knew several things that might trouble Sarah, including the stuff with Mason and Jasper. It wouldn’t matter after she reached her goal, but if their reluctant alliance broke before then...

"Well, I can’t do anything about that," Austin shrugged, raising his plate. "Can I have more of this, though?"

Again? Sarah raised her brows, feeling envious of men’s stomach capacity. Before Hajin could serve another plateful of paella, however, the intercom rang.

"Huh? Who is that?" Austin turned his head toward the door as Hajin moved to answer it. "Did you tell the twins I’m here?"

"If it’s them, you’d already hear Sua screaming about how unfair it is that you’re here first," Sarah said.

"True," Austin grimaced. "Maybe management?"

Hajin, however, returned to the kitchen without answering the door. He looked rather confused, which was even more surprising.

"Princess..." he glanced at the door. "It’s the Chief Secretary."

"...huh?"