Living as the Villainess Stepmother

Chapter 85 - Mysterious Letters (1)

"It is!" He gleefully answered, awestruck in sheer wonder. He didn't take his eyes off the ring as it circled softly in midair.

"Have you ever heard of rings before?" Lila asked. The way the boy tilted his head to the side made it seem like it was the first time he heard of this. Lila gushed at how adorable he looked. "Hir, do you want to make a star like this one?"

"Me?"

"Yes." Lila replied, no hesitation in her words.

Hir lightly scratched his head as he took in Lila's words. "I can do.. this?" His eyes panned towards the ring.

"You can with practice."

Hir straightened his back and asked shyly. "How?"

Lila was pleased that the idea of making a ring interested him. She faced her ring and made it sparkle even more to the best of her abilities. The golden light was mirrored in Hir's own eyes.

"It will be difficult at first, but you would be able to do it as long as you keep practicing." Lila carefully explained the sensations one would feel when making a ring, but deemed her explanation lacking since she couldn't fully describe the mechanics of it. Hir listened close but was still unable to produce one, and Lila decided she would take him to Hizette one of these days.

*

"Madame, a letter came for you." Jane told Lila who was in the middle of reading a document.

"Place it there, please. Thank you."

Lila's arms ached after stroking Hir's back last night for quite some time. Jane placed the letter on the table and turned her heel about to head out when she halted. "Madame, is there something you would like to drink?"

"I'm fine." Lila answered, not looking up from the paperwork she's concentrating on. Jane reminded her to rest when she can. Lila nodded and muttered her gratitude.

The moment the sun rose and birds started chirping to signal a new day, Lila had been glued to her seat pretty much the whole time, working on everything she could get her hands on unstoppingly. She was only interrupted when Jane went to her room at noontime to inform her of the letter.

"Then I'll go ahead and prepare a lovely meal for the young master." Jane said, not wanting to disturb Lila any longer.

"Thank you." Lila said graciously. Jane flashed her a smile before closing the door behind her, leaving Lila to her privacy.

Lila looked up after a long while. She squeezed her eyes shut and placed her palms over her face. She could feel how tired her eyes were after spending the most of the day reading page after page. The things that concerned Doug Blake greatly took the energy out of her. While she knew that making Senior the head of the Hiln family was not an easy task, the obstacles that came with it were just overwhelming. Senior's personal connections were only a handful compared to Dawson's, and he had been the one who was brought up as the heir.

She should tell Senior to host a party, she thought. Senior needed all the connections she could get, seeing what she had at this moment was not enough. What Lila needed to do was to cement Senior's place among the aristocrats in order to get their utmost support. In order to put her plan into fruition, she needed to make everyone see that Senior was the second in command in the Hiln family, that she was an equal match against Dawson, not someone who was beneath him.

Inviting Doug Blake to the party also seemed to be a smart idea.

And maybe the party should be held right after Lila's marriage ceremony. She tapped her feather pen against her chin absentmindedly as she double-checked the fluidity of her plans. After a beat of contemplative silence, she decided to send a letter to Lacias using a carrier pigeon. He did tell her that he would figure out what the building, which Doug Blake went inside, was being used for, and she knew that he would contact her once he found out. That didn't stop her from wanting to send him a letter, though. She flattened a piece of paper on the table, and placed the tip of her feather pen on the sheet only to find how difficult it is to write one. It was the first time she had ever done this.

Hello, Lacias.

She started, but the two words seemed unnatural. She crossed the letters out with ink. She took another sheet and only wrote what was necessary.

Please let me know what the building he entered is used for.

The letter appeared to be short and abrupt, but she still rolled the parchment up and tied it with a ribbon. The only thing that's left for her to do was to ask Jane to bring her a carrier pigeon.

Lila stood up after several hours of just sitting. Her back ached as she twisted her body from side to side, noticing the elegant card Jane had left on the table a few moments prior. The card slipped from her mind completely. She decided to check it first before anything else.