CHAPTER 296: SEARCHING FOR THE TWO CRIMINALS

Aristia and Owen entered the carriage heading home.

She checked the time using the pocket watch. "There’s still time until the next class." She murmured.

She had finished her morning classes earlier than usual so that she would be able to leave.

Now that she checked the time that had gone by, there was still time until the afternoon class.

’Millie, ask Adeline to arrange for two rooms.’ Aristia told Millie through the link.

In the mansion, Millie nodded. "Okay,"

She jumped down from the tree she was standing on, landing nimbly on her feet.

Despite the tree being quite tall, she still landed on four feet without even falling or losing balance.

She just shook off the little amount of dust that had settled on her body before going off to find Adeline.

She found Adeline coming out of Aristia’s room and closing the door.

She hadn’t even gone too close when Adeline suddenly turned around, her eyes landing squarely on her.

"Oh, Millie. It’s you." Adeline said.

"Mm. Aristia say you should arrange for two rooms. You should already know that it should be close to hers." She said.

She usually relayed messages from Aristia to Owen, Alaric, Adeline, Kai and sometimes Catherine on Aristia’s behalf when Aristia wasn’t around or nearby.

Wilson possessed a daemon and could easily communicate with his daughter whenever he wanted to.

Adeline’s pupils dilated.

Plop!

"What?"

Millie and Adeline turned to the end of the corridor to see Alaric standing with his jaw lowered and brows furrowed.

A book lay flat on the floor.

"She’s bringing more people?!!!!" His voice booked across the whole corridor.

***

Back in the carriage.

Aristia and Owen were blissfully unaware of Adeline and Alaric’s reactions.

Aristia leaned back against the plush leather material of the carriage and hummed a tune to herself, a smile making its way to her face.

"You’re happy." Owen’s statement interrupted her humming.

"Is it very obvious?" Aristia asked, still smiling.

"You’re still smiling." Owen nodded.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Aristia rolled her eyes. It was just impossible to not smile. "Do you have any idea how useful the twins’ inventions could be?" She asked instead.

Owen nodded. "I guess, maybe a little bit. I think I have a rough idea."

"Well, their inventions are going to be very useful to the restaurant. Maybe even beyond it." An evil cackle escaped her lips.

Owen sighed. He had been thinking that the princess had turned ’normal’. He should have known she was still that little demon in angel’s clothing that he had met two years ago.

"Princess, we’ve arrived." Lucas said, stoping the carriage and going to open the door and help her get down.

Aristia came down from the carriage, but when she looked up, she was stunned.

[Oh. Mama’s back.]

Wilson, Catherine, Alaric, Kai and Adeline were standing there.

But that wasn’t the problem. It was the expression on their faces.

All except Kai were looking on with narrowed eyes.

Aristia turned confused. [Is something wrong? Why are they acting like this?]

She turned to Millie but Millie only told her,

’You’ll see.’

She had no choice but to turn back to her parents for an answer.

"...Mama... Papa?" She asked tentatively, but their gazes shifted from her to the carriage behind her as if waiting for something.

Aristia turned to Owen behind her, but they weren’t looking at him. She exchanged glances with Owen, who looked equally confused.

Seeing her look at him, Owen shook his head.

He had absolutely no idea what was going on.

But their gazes remained on the carriage.

After whatever they were expecting to happen didn’t happen, Alaric walked forward.

"Al, what..."

But he walked past her as if she hadn’t spoken.

He went straight to the carriage and suddenly opened the carriage door.

Then he peeked in. His eyes were narrowed in suspicion.

But after conducting a thorough search, the suspicion faded and only confusion remained.

He came down from the carriage.

The faces of those watching turned confused.

"Okay, can someone tell me what’s going on?" Aristia asked.

"You asked Adeline to arrange for two guest rooms." Alaric said.

"Yeah, so?" Aristia asked with raised brows.

Wait. Could it be that her parents didn’t want to house extra people. Was that why they were standing there with crossed arms and frowns on their faces?

Then this was going to be a problem.

"So... Where are the people?" Alaric asked.

"They’re not here." Aristia said. She shook her head and walked towards the mansion’s entrance. "Let’s talk about this inside?"

Wilson sighed and followed her, Catherine joining in a second later.

He could have asked Aristia about this using their daemons’ communication links but he preferred to have her explain herself face to face.

It was now only Owen and Kai standing outside. Adeline had already followed Aristia’s parents ages ago.

Owen glanced at Kai who shrugged his shoulders with his palms spread out, showing that he didn’t know either.

He and Owen followed the group that was heading inside.

Aristia took a seat in the parlour.

Wilson nodded at her to speak.

"Yes. I asked Linny to prepare two rooms. But the people who will use the rooms aren’t here... Yet." She finished.

Wilson pinched the bridge of his nose. His daughter wanted to bring two more people to the mansion.

And he was sure they were boys.

What would the mansion turn to? How many more boys would she bring home?

He couldn’t take this. He would refuse. She couldn’t keep bringing these boys home.

Maybe it was time to stop her from going out, since anytime she went out, she would come back with someone.

He readied himself to refuse his daughter, regardless of whatever reason or tactic she planned to use to persuade him otherwise.

But before he could speak, Aristia beat him to it.

"Before you refuse, I want to say something very important. A few weeks ago, I and Owen went out disguised. I helped two sisters who were running away from their home. They had no parents and were mistreated by the people who raised them, so they decided to run away. I took them to Willows Haven as Aristia."

Wilson and the rest listened intently.

"I visited Willows Haven today, as you all know, including the reason why. And I decided to see how the sisters were doing as ’Aristia’, not as ’Aris’. By pure chance, I found different designs of things that could take The Vanilla Courtyard to the next level." She finished and took a deep breath. "I need these inventors, Papa."

She looked up at Wilson with big eyes.

"Wait, so the people you’re bringing back... aren’t boys?" Wilson asked.

"Eh? That’s not the answer I expected, but yes. They are girls... not boys?" Aristia replied.

"Then that’s not a problem." Wilson said, smiling as if relieved.

"No. It’s still a problem. It’s just better." Alaric said with a displeased expression on his face.

Aristia bringing home a girl was just slightly better than her bringing a boy back home, or worse, boys. But that didn’t mean he liked it or approved of it.

That just meant more distractions, and more people to share her care and attention with.

Aristia sighed at his stance before turning to Wilson and Catherine.

"So, can I bring them back? The girls have already agreed to work for me and Dahlia’s already making the necessary arrangements. I told them I would come for them in three days."

Catherine nodded. "They can come."

It was okay as long as it wasn’t more boys.

Now that the problem was settled, everyone got up to leave the parlour.

"It’s almost time for my next class." Aristia said.

"Oh. I’ll make you some snacks, princess." Adeline said quickly, turning to leave.

Aristia hadn’t had lunch yet, but there wasn’t time for that.

She could only prepare some snacks that were easy to make.

"Okay. Thanks Linny." Aristia said.

In the blink of an eye, Adeline was gone from the room.

Aristia left the room and Millie followed her out too.

Aristia smiled, bent down and carried her up.

Millie’s eyes curved in amusement. ’They thought it was boys you wanted to bring back home.’

Millie had already met Heidi and Penelope.

"I know. I think they were overreacting." Aristia stifled her laughter.

It was just so funny, imagining the way they had all reacted, Alaric most especially.

The way he had searched the carriage like he couldn’t wait to catch a criminal hiding inside it was just outright hilarious.

"Oh, I have something for you." Millie said, not speaking in her head again but instead speaking out.

Hearing this, Aristia became curious.

"What is it?"

"It’s in your room." Millie said.

Aristia increased her steps to her room.

Once they arrived, she put Millie down.

Millie jumped on top of her drawer, and pushed it out with a paw.

Then she pushed out a plain looking envelope.

She nudged Aristia with her head.

Aristia collected the envelope from her.

"This is..."

"It’s from Vivian Quentin."