CHAPTER 51: CHAPTER 12 SEVERE ADDICTION

After Jude left, Ireya quickly closed the room door and walked to the wardrobe. She opened it and kept muttering to herself.

"It’s all over, my reputation is done for. Jude will assume the worst and think I’ve hidden a lover! That guy has such a big mouth, and by tomorrow the whole castle might know!"

Li Yu stepped out of the wardrobe, straightened his suit, and said, "I told you to be ready on the third night; I would return from the Divine Country."

"And you have the nerve to talk about that?!" Miss Rabbit couldn’t contain her anger, "You said two days, and how long have you disappeared for? Eight whole days! A full eight days!!!

"Leaving without a word, not even a message in between. I thought you had just left me and wouldn’t come back!"

The more the girl spoke, the more aggrieved she became, staring at someone, her eyes soon turning red and her chest heaving with emotion.

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you before I left."

This was indeed Li Yu’s fault, wanting to return earlier but being overruled by Xu Mengyuan, so he was very straightforward in admitting his mistake now.

But Miss Rabbit seemed truly shaken this time and was slow to forgive Li Yu.

And once again, she employed her unique skill of pretending as if Li Yu did not exist, sitting alone on the bed cosplaying as a statue.

In an attempt to make amends, Li Yu took the initiative to ask, "How have you been doing as the Lord while I was away? Did you encounter any problems?"

Li Yu wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but after he finished his question, he saw the girl’s body tremble slightly before she vaguely responded, "Um, it was okay."

"What does ’okay’ mean, were there problems or not?"

"A few problems, but nothing too serious; with Fosto’s help I’ve mostly resolved them," Miss Rabbit replied impatiently.

Just as Li Yu was about to ask more, Miss Rabbit suddenly held up a finger, "Wait a minute, don’t talk now, the ancestor’s spirit is calling me; it’s time for my training."

Having said that, Ireya took off the necklace around her neck and started engaging seriously with the Electronic Pet Egg, playing the hopscotch game.

At first, Li Yu didn’t take it too seriously since Ireya treated the electronic pet as the Ancient Spirit of the Arias family and taking care of it seemed reasonable.

However, when Miss Rabbit played the game repeatedly for a whole half-hour without any sign of stopping, Li Yu finally realized that something was off.

After about another ten minutes, seeing that Ireya had finished a round of the game, Li Yu saw his chance and asked, "Can I have a look at the necklace?"

"No, this is the Arias family’s supreme treasure; no one but the Family Head can touch it!"

Ireya clutched the Electronic Pet Egg to her chest, looking as protective as a hen over her chicks.

Her excuse was pretty lame because if it weren’t for Li Yu changing the batteries, she wouldn’t have been able to see the Ancient Spirit inside.

She probably said that because she was worried Li Yu might discover something from the Electronic Pet Egg.

Seeing her reaction, Li Yu didn’t insist but advised the girl to rest early and returned to his own room.

The next morning, Li Yu went to see the castle’s steward, Fosto.

Before the Foreigner had a chance to explain his purpose for coming, Fosto let out a long sigh, "Miss Irelia probably became like this three days ago."

"You know what I want to ask?"

"Of course, actually, Lady Alisa, Anton, and many others had tried to persuade Miss Irelia before. However, every time this happens, she brings up the Arias family’s ancestor’s spirit, saying that it is the noble and urgent mission bestowed upon her by the Ancient Spirit.

"This mission is so exalted and pressing that she simply has no time to deal with the various secular affairs of the domain. She must devote herself entirely to serving that great existence."

"How long does her ’service’ usually last each day?" Li Yu asked.

"All the time, apart from eating, sleeping, and some necessary daily activities, Miss Irelia is almost always holding onto the necklace."

"Heavily addicted, huh."

"What did you say?"

"Oh, nothing." Li Yu paused before asking again, "Why three days ago?"

The wrinkles on Fosto’s face deepened, "I can actually understand why Miss Irelia would want to seek help from her ancestors, because since she became the Lord, life has always been tough.

"She faces a more tricky situation than her father and grandfather did back in their days. Almost nothing has gone smoothly; there’s hardly any capable helping hand around her. She lacks experience and doesn’t know whom to trust. Her situation is very bad now, and..."

Fosto paused and then looked at Li Yu, "And the one person she could rely on the most has abandoned her. I believe that blow was greater than all of the previous troubles combined. All she could do was pray devoutly to the ancestor’s spirit, hoping that person would return to her side, but that person has never shown up again, and in the end, she became like this."

"That explains it," Li Yu nodded, "What is the biggest problem the domain is facing now?"

"To be honest, at present, everything in Green Field is a mess. But if we’re talking about the worst, it’s the financial troubles. We are almost out of money, but there’s still some time before the next batch of radishes is harvested. If there’s not enough income this month, we’re afraid we’ll have to borrow money," the steward said.

"Got it. I’ll go handle this issue with Ireya right now."

"If I may speak frankly, if it were three days earlier, you probably could have persuaded Miss Ireya to pull herself together again. But now... it’s going to be much more difficult. We’ve tried almost every method and none can shift Miss Ireya’s attention away from that necklace.

"I even considered having someone steal the necklace, but Sir Alfred firmly opposed the idea, and he informed Miss Irelia about it, which made her guard the necklace even more tightly and refuse to speak to me since then."

"That sounds like something Ireya would do," Li Yu said.

"Do you really think you have a way to persuade Miss Ireya to leave her room and fulfill her duties as the Lord?" The old man’s tone was filled with doubt but also a hint of hope.

Like the expectant parents outside an internet addiction treatment center.

"Hmm, serving the ancestor’s spirit is just her way of escaping from reality," Li Yu said. "At times like this, blocking is worse than marshalling. The key is to let her experience the joy of being a Lord. She’ll willingly come back, and to achieve this, we need to make a little use of her nature."

"Nature, what is Miss Ireya’s nature?" Fosto seemed puzzled.

Li Yu didn’t give an explanation but simply said, "When you see Ireya, apologize to her. Whatever your motivation was, stealing the necklace was a bit too much, especially at a time like this. What Ireya needs most is a sense of security."