“He...”
Arthur rubbed his head as he walked down.
“He told me.”
Hearing those words, Charlotte, standing by the door, let out a long sigh of relief.
Thank goodness.
Although she didn't know what excuse Al had used to fool him, at least she had a way out of this situation.
“So, how was your night out?”
Arthur asked casually.
He felt terrible right now, his head filled with a buzzing echo.
How was it?
At that question, Charlotte’s hands, hanging at her sides, suddenly clenched tight.
Her nails dug deep into her palms.
Images from the previous night flashed uncontrollably through her mind.
Specifically, the sight of Victoria in the isolation ward—her brittle, white hair and those empty sleeves.
How could that be considered having fun?
How could she possibly be happy?
But she couldn't show it.
“It was alright.”
Charlotte suppressed the sorrow in her eyes, replacing it with the typical pout and dissatisfaction of a young girl.
“Mostly, Mary’s brother was extremely annoying.”
“I don't know why, but he insisted on challenging Al at every single stall.”
Charlotte curled her lip, her acting flawless.
“It made Al very unhappy.”
Hearing this, Arthur, who had been rubbing his head, suddenly stopped.
He looked up at Charlotte.
His professional instincts as a detective overrode his headache for a moment.
“Then, on Al’s clothes...”
Arthur frowned, his mind flashing back to his brother from the night before, who had been reeking of a foul stench.
“That black, smelly gunk... what exactly was it?”
Charlotte’s heart skipped a beat.
She cursed that bastard Elias ten thousand times in her mind.
Al was such a huge idiot!
He must have done something last night and run home without even cleaning up!
It was fine that he ran off, but he left his sister here to clean up his mess!
What a terrible brother!
The next time they met, she was definitely going to give him a piece of her mind!
“Oh!”
Charlotte acted as if she had just realized something.
“That must have been engine oil from the trick stall owner’s power meter!”
Engine oil?
That was the most logical explanation Charlotte could think of.
“Al and George.”
To add credibility, she dragged that unlucky guy out for another verbal beating.
“That’s Mary’s brother.”
“The two of them were testing their strength at the power meter at a trick stall,” Charlotte described vividly.
“Al beat George.”
“But the old steam power meter happened to break, and the pressure valve exploded.”
“The waste engine oil inside sprayed all over Al!”
After finishing, Charlotte peeked at Arthur’s expression.
“Engine oil?”
Arthur’s eyebrows knitted together tightly.
He tried to recall the smell he had encountered the previous night.
As a policeman, he felt the scent wasn't quite like the engine oil he usually encountered; it seemed to be mixed with a lot of putrid, fishy stench.
But...
Having slept through the night in a daze, he wasn't entirely sure if his memory was correct.
Furthermore, given Charlotte’s vivid description and the plausible backstory, Arthur chose to accept the explanation.
It... did seem somewhat like the smell of oil.
It was much more believable than saying his brother had just crawled out of a pool of blood at a murder scene.
“Al won?”
Arthur’s focus suddenly shifted in a strange direction.
“He won.”
Charlotte nodded vigorously, confirming the victory.
“Hmph.”
Hearing this, Arthur let out a proud snort from his nose.
He puffed out his broad chest.
“Trying to bully my brother? He clearly didn't know who he was dealing with.”
When it came to being protective, the eldest son of the Rockland family always sided with his kin over logic.
However, after only two seconds of pride, Arthur suddenly froze.
He looked around.
Quiet.
The house was unnervingly quiet.
“Where’s Al?” Arthur turned his head in confusion. “Is he not in his room?”
Charlotte was also stunned and asked back, “I slept late last night...”
Arthur scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed.
“It was a bit sudden.”
“I was still a bit out of it when I woke up this morning, so I didn't notice if he was up or not.”
As Arthur spoke, he turned and strode upstairs.
Stepping on the creaking wooden stairs, he pushed open the door to Elias’s bedroom.
A second later, Arthur stood frozen at the doorway.
The room did not contain his bastard brother sleeping sprawled out.
The blankets were neatly folded.
The bed was cold.
Most importantly, the battered suitcase that Elias always threw carelessly into the corner was nowhere to be seen.
“Al’s gone?!”
Arthur’s eyes widened upstairs as he shouted in shock.
His voice was filled with disbelief.
“What?!”
Downstairs, Charlotte was also completely dumbfounded by that shout.
She never expected her brother to leave without saying a word!
What was this about?
After everything that happened last night, he left her alone at the asylum and just ran away today?
She had planned to give him a proper interrogation when she got back today.
She wanted to ask how many things he had kept from her! How many secrets he still had!
Who would have thought that the bastard would pack his bags and flee?
“That jerk...” Charlotte gritted her teeth, cursing him in her heart.
She hurriedly gathered her skirts and ran upstairs, squeezing in beside Arthur at the bedroom door to look into Elias’s empty room.
“Again!”
“He did it again!”
Arthur slammed his hand against the doorframe, shouting in anger, making the door panel vibrate.
“It was the same when he went to Hastings Port!”
“He just left without a single word!”
Arthur’s chest heaved with rage.
“Where the hell did he learn this damn habit!”
Would leaving a note or saying goodbye in person have killed him?
After the two of them vented their impotent fury upstairs, they walked back down with heavy steps.
It wasn't until then that Charlotte’s anger-clouded mind began to cool down slightly.
A realization slowly dawned on her.
Al’s sudden departure...
Perhaps it wasn't entirely because he was afraid of her questions.
It was because he had dragged her and Victoria into that terrifying disaster.
Victoria lost her arms.
She herself had nearly turned into a monster.
Al must have been filled with such deep self-reproach that he couldn't face them, so he chose to flee and leave.
At this thought, most of the anger in Charlotte’s heart miraculously dissipated, replaced by a twinge of heartache.
That stupid brother...
Just then, her peripheral vision caught something in the living room.
She saw a folded piece of stationery sitting abruptly in the center of the coffee table.
“Arthur, look!”
She quickly waved to her eldest brother, who was still sulking.
The two of them hurried to the coffee table and leaned in together to read the letter Elias had left behind.
The handwriting on the paper was a bit messy, as if written in a hurry.
But the content was surprisingly earnest.
【Dear Arthur and Lottie, I am very sorry to leave you a message this way again...】
It was a short letter, but the two siblings read completely different meanings into it.
From Elias’s repeated apologies at the beginning, Charlotte saw his deep guilt for involving her and Victoria in the supernatural world, which led to irreparable consequences.
Every word carried an unspeakable weight.
But what Arthur saw was his brother’s guilt and apology for leaving without saying goodbye twice and failing to fulfill his responsibilities as a brother.
“Hmph.”
After finishing the letter, Arthur let out another dissatisfied snort.
But compared to his earlier rage, this snort lacked conviction; it was more of a stubborn compromise.
“Since his apology is so sincere,” Arthur carefully folded the paper, “I’ll let it slide for now.”
“If that damn Wayland company sent a letter urging him back to work, then there’s nothing to be done.”
Arthur sighed; as a policeman, he was powerless against the exploitation of capitalists.
“Look on the bright side; at least he spent the Spark Festival at home this time,” Arthur consoled himself.
Then, he looked at Charlotte apologetically.
“It’s just that I’ve been so busy lately, with so much to do at the station. I haven't had time to properly accompany you.”
“It’s fine,” Charlotte hurriedly shook her head to reassure him.
However, the touching scene of sibling warmth didn't even last a minute.
Arthur’s gaze swept over the last line of the letter again.
His brow furrowed, and he suddenly asked a piercing question.
“Wait.”
“Why did he tell you to ‘protect yourself’ in the letter?”
Arthur pointed at that line, his gaze instantly becoming sharp.
“What does that mean?”
“Is he acting like I don't exist?”
As a backbone of the Hope County Police Station, who could harm Lottie with him at home?
There was clearly a hidden meaning behind those words.
“Or rather...” Arthur suddenly turned to stare at Charlotte, his tone serious. “Have you offended someone recently?”
Was it those loan shark gangs? Or street thugs?
Charlotte was startled by Arthur’s sudden intensity.
She waved her hands frantically, her head shaking like a rattle.
She knew exactly what “danger” Al was referring to in the letter. It was cultists lurking in the night, it was eldritch monsters!
But she absolutely could not tell Arthur!
“No, no!”
Charlotte’s brain went into overdrive again. In her desperation, she could only pull out the perfect shield once more.
“It’s George!”
“That George likes me and has been pestering me!” Charlotte shouted with a flushed face, mixing truth with lies. “Al must be referring to that!”
“He’s afraid I’ll be bullied by that annoying guy, so he told me to protect myself!”
As soon as she finished speaking, the temperature in the living room seemed to drop several degrees.
When Arthur heard this, his mature and steady face slowly, inch by inch, turned toward her.
“Oh?”
Arthur let out a highly dangerous sound from his nose.
He cracked his knuckles, the joints making a crisp popping sound.
“Who gave this George the nerve?”
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