Chapter 41: Eyes Of Resentment

                                    

                                          
"So this is the reason why you disappeared from the ball, My fair Lady Gabriella."
My eyes went to my opened window when I heard a voice. I glared at the familiar man as I hushed him while patting the back of my adopted son, Lulu.
The blue-haired man with an eyeglass shrugs his shoulder as he went down from the window. The man smiled at me. He suddenly opened the glass door of the veranda before signaling his hand for me to follow him.
A frown appeared on my face as I followed him to the veranda. I glanced back at Lulu for the last time before going to the veranda. As soon as I entered, I immediately saw the man sitting on a chair while crossing both his legs.
"What's with the sudden bullsh*t, Leonardo?" I asked while crossing my arms. "You almost woke up my little baby child, don't you know how hard to make a child asleep?"
The Master of Merchants, named Leonardo, smiled at me.
"Haven't you missed this loyal merchant of yours? I've been staying in your father's domain, but I never had a chance to talk to you yet," Leonardo replied. 
"So you resort to sneaking into another person's room?" I asked while staring at him with a scary smile on my face. 
"Well, you used to do that to me when we were younger. You used to sneak up into my room when we run away from my Mother when you wanted to go to the city," Leonardo chuckled while reminiscing the past. "You even taught me how to jump on our house's veranda when we escape. We used to be naughty children, haven't we?"
Darn it, yeah, I remember all of that.
"Tch, yeah, I remember..." I said in an annoyed tone. "So what do you want? How's your business? Why are you here instead of partying? Do you have any problems? I am sure that my brother will solve it all."
Leonardo adjusted his eyeglasses.
"Have you ever heard what happened to the mystical forest?" Leonardo asked. His tone suddenly lowered as he glanced at the night sky. "The place where the previous king was imprisoned?"
I immediately halted when Leonardo opened the topic.
I was suddenly reminded of Duk--- I mean, Evan's face when he told me that he'll be gone for months.
"I do," I replied as I sat in front of him. "The Duke told me, in fact, the king decided to send him to the border in order to fix the problems," My charcoal eyes stared at the man in front of me. "What do you want to talk about the mystical forest?"
Leonardo remained silent.
I leaned to my body on the table as I lowered my gaze. My eyes observed the serious look on Leonardo's face.
I took a deep sigh.
From the look on his face, the things that he wanted to talk to me is not just about the mystical forest.
"I see, it's not just about the mystical forest," I mumbled while nodding my head. "Are you worried that the Previous King would escape from his prison? You might be worrying for nothing, the Previous King is completely sealed."
My brows raised when the original plot suddenly entered my mind.
In the novel, the Previous King of the Ibanez kingdom who made the real Gabriella his concubine never escape from his prison. He'll forever stay in that place according to the novel.
But...
This isn't a novel...
Anything can happen since everything is far from the original novel...