Living as the Villainess Stepmother

Chapter 135- Revolted From Rings (2)

Lacias, who'd been staring at the Senior with an expressionless look, swiftly lifted the edges of his mouth to smile at Lila.

"What do you think? Is there anything that comes to your mind so far, Lacias?" Lila prompted again.

"I do have a hunch actually."

"You do?" Asked Lila with her eyes filled with hope.

If we can find out what caused Senior to faint, then we'd be able to take better care of Hir's conditions.

"Yes, but there's something I need to check before I'm fully convinced."

"What is it?" She questioned hastily.

At her question, Lacias strode his way across the parlor to the sofa where the Senior was seated.

"Ms. Hiln was without doubt repulsed by the ring," stated Lacias as he held up his hand right in front of Senior's face.

"...? Lacias, what are you doing?" Lila looked puzzled, but she hoped he had something in mind.

Soon, a blue aura, which was as dark as midnight, formed around Lacias's arm. Although the pace was slower than usual, his ring was surely being summoned.

Why was he summoning his ring? He was clearly aware that the Senior had a strong repulsion against the ring. Although Lila was confused by the idea, she decided to stay quiet out of her own mild curiosity.

"Take a good look at her, Lila," responded Lacias, as if reading her mind.

Take a good look?

Lila meekly obeyed him and studied Senior's face carefully. To her surprise, she was only blankly blinking her eyes when Lila had expected her to retch.

"How come Senior's response was different from my expectation?"

If she was repulsed by her own ring, it only seemed right for her to feel the same for Lacias's ring. Lila racked her brain, trying to think of a plausible reason.

Senior didn't seem affected at all by Lacias's ring on contact either. Then, could it be that it was only her ring which the Senior was feeling repulsive against?

After calming down his summoned ring, Lacias broke into a smile when he saw Lila, who was deeply lost in her thoughts.

"Lila, I bet you had also thought of Hir when you saw Ms. Hiln's symptoms am I right?"

"You're right, I did. As the symptoms Hir had shown corresponded with the Senior's."

"Yes, that's what I've been pondering on as well ."

Lacias seemed to have noticed something upon his realization that both Hir and the Senior shared the same symptoms. Lila was all ears when he spoke again.

"As we both know, Hir had thrown up right after he saw my ring. However, he showed no sign of repulsiveness when he saw yours or Hizette's ring."

"Now that you mention it...."

"Why is it that they are only repulsed by a specific person? What could the reason be?"

To Senior, that specific person was Lila while it was Lacias to Hir. She tried to think of a similarity between the two situations.

It was my ring that the Senior had first come into contact with. But it was also my ring which Hir first witnessed when he fell into the lake.

She remembered summoning her glimmering ring as she told Hir that she would show him something amazing.

"No."

"I beg your pardon?" Lila almost forgot about being in an active discussion with Lacias.

"What you were thinking about right now is not the cause. You've overlooked something important," said Lacias as he composedly shook his head.

Lila wondered what she could possibly be missing out on. "What is it?"

"The 'thing' Ms. Hiln had just told us about and the 'thing' that Hir had tried to grab on at the lake. It seems like one would pass out once they come into contact with this 'thing' and they are likely to show strong repulsion against the first ring they see after they come around."

"But wasn't it my ring that Hir had first come into contact with?"

As Lila doubtfully raised her question, Lacias stroked tenderly at her nape as he said, "No, it wasn't. The ring that had first come into contact with Hir after the incident was mine."

"..."

"Try to recall carefully. You could've been too agitated to remember but it was me who scooped up Hir at the lake."

Lila thought carefully through her memory of that day and faintly remembered seeing Lacia's ring. "Ah ... right, you did. Now I remember," said Lila as what actually happened on that day sprang back to her mind, correcting her distorted memory.

Lacias was holding her in his arms when a splashing sound was heard from the lake. By the time she opened her eyes to the sound, Hir was almost falling into the water. It surely wouldn't have been possible for her to catch him despite springing to her feet in an instant. But thanks to the rapid response from Lacias's ring, Hir was safely returned to Lacias's arms without any harm.

"You're right. That's what actually happened that day ... thank you.", said Lila with her face clouded over as that day's incident flashed across her mind. Lacias, who was staring at her tearing eyes, gently lifted his hand and softly brushed across her under-eye.

"There's no need for you to thank me for that. Just how many more times do I have to remind you that Hir is our son?"

"Our son...." Embarrassingly, she felt a sudden flutter in her heart when he said 'our'. With that, her sorrowful expression turned into a cheery one.

Our son. The words seemed to echo in her mind. No other line could have made her heart race more than that.

"We should investigate further into the matter for the sake of our son." Repeated Lacias.

"Yes ... we definitely should if it concerns Hir...." Lila came close to burying her face into Lacias's chest as relief surged through her whole body. She would have done so if it wasn't for the 'tut-tuts' of disapproval coming from the other side.