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[Emma's POV]

Emma walked towards her room, her face showing clear annoyance and rage. The news had made her angry more than anything.

'Incompetent idiots! How could they let that happen?!'

She gritted with rage, feeling mad at the assigned guards for letting her brother get kidnapped.

'And why the hell did he want to go out today anyway?! That was so stupid! Damn it! If he hadn't gone out today, this wouldn't have happened! I should have stopped him. He dropped his training for 'that'! Now he's got himself kidnapped and making mother and Olivia cry.'

She entered her room and shut the door loudly in the face of the maid following her, completely ignoring her very existence.

She didn't see the surprised and then gloomy face of the maid who then walked away embarrassingly. (A/N: F in the chat for the poor maid.)

…

She had walked inside from the main hall after training only to find a few knights kneeling and the petrified faces of her mother and older sister.

She'd paused to hear what it was and was shocked to know that her brother had gone missing—no, he was kidnapped!

'What?!'

The news was jarring.

'How?!'

Hearing more of their explanation caused rage in her when she heard that it happened due to the knights' negligence. She barged in to confront them but was annoyingly ignored as her mother instead gave them orders to find Alex at all costs.

She wanted to complain, and she did. But had to calm down when she saw her mother and Laura trying to pacify her. Especially since her mother seemed like she was barely holding on.

…

She remembered the anger and frustration her mother showed when she was demanding to have Alex back as soon as possible. But she became gloomy soon after.

She had never seen her mother this angry. But she had seen her this sad. The only other time she'd been this sad was when…

'On 'that' day…'

The accursed day when the news of her father's demise came.

She shook her head, trying to shove away the sad memories creeping in.

Why was he kidnapped? Was it for ransom? Or was it from the people who didn't like the Marquis family? Who had the gall to kidnap the son of a Marquis anyway?

She didn't bother with those thoughts, because she knew they were beyond her to think and come up with answers for. She could demand answers from the knights, but the "incompetent fools" were still searching for the answers themselves.

So instead, she imagined her brother's situation.

'I hope he's okay. He's not weak anymore. Almost as strong as me. Almost. He's still weaker. Whoever took him shouldn't dare harm him if they knew what was good for them. Once he's found and rescued, I'll kick him for going out today. That was dumb. Idiot. Stupid. Why did he have to go and get kidnapped?! Damn it! I should have gone with him. Damn it…'

She rubbed away the wetness in her eyes.

'If he doesn't come back, I swear I'll…'

She rubbed her eyes once more, trying to stop the tears that seemed to threaten to leak.

At last, she couldn't hold all of them back and some still managed to fall off her eyes.

'Please be okay. Please…'

She sniffed, trying her best to not do it.

'Stop it, me! I'm not weak. Not anymore!'

Alas, her heart wrenched more and more and her sniffs turned into sobs and tears constantly fell from her eyes.

'Please… not again… please…'

A creeping dread entered her heart, wrenching it. She couldn't stop remembering the day when she saw her father's dead body. Everything was fine, they were getting constant news of victory, but then one day, suddenly, they received his dead body, covered in white sheets inside a fancy wooden crate.

She still remembered that day vividly.

How could she forget that accursed day? It was the worst day of her life.

*Sniff*

She wiped off the tears from her eyes and then looked towards the window, her eyes somewhat blank and still wet.

'Please come back… Alex…'

[End of Emma's POV]

***

[Laura's POV]

Laura walked towards the infirmary section hurriedly. Before this, she had to support her Madam and console her friend Olivia to prevent her from falling apart after the knights left.

Elizabeth tried to act strong in front of her children and console Olivia and calm the infuriated Emma, even though it was clear that she was shaken too much by the news herself. Imagine her dread and guilt when she found out about it.

Olivia was quite hard to manage. She started bawling the moment the knights left. She sobbed like a little girl, constantly calling for Alex. Praying that he was fine and that he comes back quickly. She stopped behaving like a lady and acting reliably the moment she saw there were no outsiders.

It had been very difficult. But with much effort and with the help of her Madam, she had managed to calm her down a little. Still shaken and depressed, but at least she was not crying.

She didn't even know how the youngest sibling would react to the news. She adored her brother. She would become a sobbing mess as well if she had to guess. And it would be painful to see the adorable and polite girl feel so depressed. It was painful to see anyone in the family depressed. If it were up to her, she would do her best to hide the news from Alice for as long as possible. So that Alice doesn't turn into a sobbing and depressed mess. But she knew it would be futile. Besides, Laura had some poor experiences with hiding important things. She wouldn't dare to do it again.

Inside, Laura was shaken too. But she didn't show that. She couldn't, even if she wanted to. She had to be a reliable pillar of support in their times of need.

She finally reached her destination, her mind filled with worries about her Madam, Olivia, Emma, Alice, and above all, her Master. She could only pray that he was okay. She didn't know what she would do if… No, she didn't even want to think of that possibility.

After a curt knock, she entered the room and after a quick look around, found the person she was there to visit.

"Sera."

She called out to the maid that accompanied Alexander on his disguised trip outside. How big of a mistake that had been. She blamed herself for not supporting her Madam when she argued that it was not a very good idea for Alex to go outside alone.

She couldn't help but sigh dejectedly. Of course, she did it inside. On the outside, she was proper.

"H-Head maid…I'm so sorry… This is terrible… Young Master… *Hicc* Poor young master is…"

Sera couldn't speak well as her face morphed into a pitiful sorry state. She started sniffing and sobbing. Seemed like someone had already told her what happened.

When Sera came back, she was still unconscious. So, she didn't know what happened to Alex.

"Sera. Don't blame yourself. It wasn't your fault. I was the one who asked you to accompany him. If anyone is to blame, it's me. Nobody will blame you.

And young master will return. He will. Madam has put all the forces at her disposal in search of the young master. It's inevitable that we'll find him soon. And the perpetrators will be punished severely."

Sera seemed to calm down hearing the reassuring words. It was unusual for the cold and stoic Laura to act so kindly. But she was currently trying to keep others from falling apart.

Laura spent some time talking to the inflated Sera. Sera told her all about their journey and about how Alex thought something was off and had the carriage checked. Laura was especially alarmed by the strange tattoo that the man seemed to have. There wasn't much to know after that since Sera soon lost consciousness.

Laura then talked to the medic currently checking in charge of checking all the wounded. Other than Sera, there were a few knights as well who were getting treated in another room besides this one.

She decided to hear their point of view as well. At least the ones that were still conscious. The main person who was the captain of the assigned guards was still unconscious.

And the medic had told her very concerning news.

"Dark magic?"

"Yes. I believe someone used a fairly high-level spell from the darkness element. He doesn't have any wounds or signs of poisoning. But he's simply unconscious. It's surprising to see a Tier 7 knight fall for it so easily. I wonder what happened there."

Laura frowned, pondering the new information she had just received.

"Have you reported this yet?"

"No. Not yet. But I was going to after I was finished with the last 2 of them. It's just some minor injuries, though. Nothing a potion can't fix."

"Hmm. No need to do that. I'll go and report this myself."

"Oh, understood."

She left the room soon after, her destination being her Madam's office. She hoped this little piece of information would help somehow. She truly wanted to have Alex back home as soon as possible.

She didn't know how the family would take to another tragedy.

[End of Laura's POV]

***