"By the way, Mariam," Anna continued once the atmosphere settled, "there’s sothing I want to ask you."
Mariam nodded again, silently giving her permission.
Anna shifted on the couch, folding her legs up in a habit everyone around her had long stopped questioning. Ladylike or not, it was her, and they were used to it.
"It’s about Daniel’s family," Anna said slowly. "Ever since I ca here... I’ve never seen them."
She recalled the past too—how she had never t anyone related to Daniel. It was always just him, standing alone in a mansion that felt far too large for one person.
And after Daniel talked about his mother last ti, she was more curious to know the people who birth him.
Mariam hesitated.
Just that tiny pause made Anna tense. Mariam rarely hesitated—unless the topic itself was delicate.
"Madam..." Mariam began slowly, choosing her words with unusual caution. "Master Daniel’s family... is not an easy topic."
Anna blinked. "Not easy? Why?"
Mariam lowered her gaze to her hands, fingers fidgeting slightly—a sign of discomfort Anna rarely saw in her.
"Because he never liked to talk about it," Mariam finished gently.
Anna’s brows furrowed.
She leaned back slightly, studying the older woman with renewed suspicion. Mariam’s hesitation wasn’t random—Anna could sense there was more beneath the surface. Much more.
She recalled sothing from her past life. Daniel had never spoken about his family—not once. Even when their marriage was arranged and Hugo had casually asked Daniel about his parents, Daniel’s response had been eerily simple:
I don’t have anyone.
Back then, Anna had simply assud he was an orphan. A self-made man who climbed to power with nothing but his own will.
But now?
Mariam’s words were cracking that assumption wide open.
"I... don’t know if I’m the right person to talk about this," Mariam admitted, voice trembling with old grief. "But I’ll keep it simple. Master Daniel lost his parents when he was very young."
Sadness flickered in her eyes—soft, painful, and unmistakably genuine.
Anna felt her chest tighten.
It shouldn’t hurt to hear about Daniel’s past. They weren’t in a fairy-tale marriage, nor was he the soft kind of man one imdiately sympathized with... yet sohow, the heaviness in Mariam’s tone made Anna’s throat sting.
"Was he all alone?" she whispered, eyes welling despite herself.
"No," Mariam said, shaking her head slowly. "He was brought up by his aunt... Aunt Norma."
Anna blinked.
Aunt Norma.
The na sparked sothing—faint but familiar—like hearing a lody she couldn’t place.
Where... have I heard that na before?
She rummaged through her mories, but they blurred. Past life, present life... sowhere, that na had crossed her path.
But no matter how much she pushed, she couldn’t recall anything clearly.
Mariam continued softly, unaware of the storm building in Anna’s thoughts.
"Aunt Norma is the only family Master Daniel had left," she said. "She raised him as her own. She is... she is a strong woman. One of the few people he ever truly listened to."
"Where is she now? And... why didn’t she attend the wedding?"
Anna couldn’t hide the confusion in her voice. If Aunt Norma was the woman who raised Daniel—soone he trusted—why had she stayed away from such an important mont?
Mariam shrugged lightly. "I don’t know the reason, Madam. Maybe she is busy."
Her answer was simple, almost too simple... and yet Anna could sense that even Mariam wasn’t entirely convinced by it. Or perhaps Mariam truly didn’t know what happened to Aunt Norma.
Either way, it left Anna with more questions than answers.
She fell silent, processing every piece of information Mariam had just shared. A part of her wanted to ask more—to dig deeper, to understand the void around Daniel’s family—but she held herself back. Mariam had already said she wasn’t sure if she was the right person to discuss it.
Pressing her further would only make the woman uncomfortable.
"I should go check on the lunch preparations," Mariam said gently as she stood.
Anna nodded, not stopping her.
Once Mariam left, the room felt too quiet—too empty. And her thoughts, no longer restrained, began spiraling in all directions.
Aunt Norma? Who is this woman?
The na lingered in her mind as she absentmindedly picked up a piece of fruit.
If Daniel had soone so close, soone who raised him...then why hide her?
Why never talk about her? Why did she stay away from the wedding?
And why did she feel like she’d heard that na before?
The more Anna thought, the louder her thoughts beca.
And with each passing second, the mystery around Daniel only deepened.
***
anwhile, back in the Stewart household, Fiona paced across her bedroom like a caged animal, her heels clicking sharply against the polished floor. She tried—tried and failed—to calm the storm twisting inside her.
Her hands trembled. Her jaw clenched. Her eyes burned with the humiliation still stinging her pride.
Fredrick Stewart—her father, the man who protected her, pampered her, and treated her like royalty—had just scolded her.
Not just scolded. He had shouted at her. For the first ti in her life.
And all because she had "failed."
The mory of his words replayed viciously in her head.
"Useless."
She stopped pacing, her breath hitching sharply.
She had always been his princess. His pride. His precious daughter who never heard a raised voice, let alone an insult.
But now? Now, because of those Bennetts—because of Anna, Roseline, Kathrine—her father had turned his wrath on her. He had called her incompetent. Told her she couldn’t even handle a simple task.
Fiona’s nails dug into her palms.
How dare he? How dare they?
Her anger simred, rising with each passing second, scorching away the humiliation until only bitterness remained.
"They think they can ruin everything for ," she muttered under her breath, her voice trembling with rage. "Because of them... Dad shouted at ? ?"
Her eyes hardened. No. She wasn’t going to let this go.
"I am not useless, Dad," Fiona hissed, anger flaring hot in her chest. "And I’m going to prove it to you... very soon."
Her eyes narrowed with determination, the humiliation twisting into sothing sharper—vindictive, poisonous.
With a snap of movent, she stord across the room and grabbed her phone off the dresser.
Her father thought she had disappointed him. He thought she had failed.But what he didn’t know— what no one knew—was that Fiona had already been working behind the scenes.
Scheming. Planting seeds where no one would think to look.
She unlocked her phone, her lips curving into a cold, satisfied smirk as she opened her secret chat.
A ssage notification blinked at the top of the screen.
DarkKnight_07
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