Chapter 42
When Paige returned and informed William who was sitting at the head of the table that Rose said she'd be out soon, he nodded his head and waved Paige off. However, Beatrice couldn't help but frown at Paige's report. 'Why do I feel something is off? What is that brat plotting?' she thought.
And just like she suspected, ten minutes passed and Rose hadn't come down yet to the dining room.Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.
Rose, who had already been done in her room, purposely stayed back and patiently waited for ten minutes to pass before she got up from the chair and headed outside. Just when she was going downstairs, she heard the sound of laughter and lively chatters from the people downstairs. She didn't need to be told who's voice they were.
At the same time, William was about to call one of the maids and have to go and call Rose again but paused when he heard footsteps descending the stairs.
Rose scanned the entire dining room with her usual lifeless eyes, she saw Sophia who was brimming with smile, Beatrice, who was also sitting next to William and finally her eyes landed on her father. Seeing the father she once admired and loved for the first time ever since she returned back to life, she felt an odd sense of déjà vu.
But, hidden under his neat and smart mask was a calculating malicious heart and she wasn't able to discover it until she died.
'Who could believe that this man murdered his wife, my mother?'
Why? Why did he do it?
Couldn't he just leave her if he didn't love her? Her mother wouldn't have argued with him, if he wanted a divorce.
Why did he have to kill her?
Wait. It was for money! She was silly. Why couldn't she see it?
'Anyways, what a happy family picture this is. However, isn't someone missing in this picture?' Rose thought to herself as she scanned everywhere but couldn't find Sophia's younger brother. "Roseline, my daughter, you're here already. Come over and have your seat. We have been waiting for you." William suddenly smiled sweetly at Rose, gesturing to her to take a seat next to him.
Rose nearly puked when she saw
that smile but she restrained herself from ruining her act, Rose grinned at William. "Hey, dad. Roseline has missed you a lot." She said, her face not having the expression of someone who missed her father. She acted like she hadn't seen where William was beckoning her to sit and made her way to the table and sat down at the end of the table, opposite her father and where she could see everyone properly.
Although William was a bit surprised at where Rose sat down which was about two chairs away from where both Sophia and Beatrice were sitting and three chairs from where he was sitting. However, he said nothing and simply gestured to the maids to serve the food.
It's been a few minutes since the
iel
food was served. While the other three people were eating, Rose on the other wasn't. Instead she was using her fork to play around with the food, with her usual blank. expression. Even though she didn't want to show her true colors to these people, that doesn't mean she couldn't get pissed off just by sitting with them.
“Rose, I just heard from your mother that you arrived a week ago. Why did you suddenly appear and not inform me about it?" William was the first person to break off the silence with his question for Rose.
Without dropping the fork she was
velinet
using to stab the food in front of her. "Like I told stepmother, I felt like coming earlier than we discussed. Plus, I wanted it to be a surprise. Why? Is my presence here disturbing you?" She replied and asked at the same time as she raised her head up and glanced at
William with a nonchalant
expression but a small smile on her
face.
William just stared at Rose's face in bewilderment. He wasn't sure what he'd call her expression right. She was smiling a smile that doesn't feel like a smile, yet she had that nonchalant expression on her face. "Why would you say that? Of course, you are not disturbing anyone here, right honey?" This time it was Beatrice who spoke up and glanced at William, gesturing to him to agree with her.
"Your mother is right, I was just surprised that you came earlier than you said you would. "William nodded his head.
"Is that so? Then it's a relief because I thought you didn't want to see me again, father." Rose said, her expression completely changed to another different one. She looked relieved like she had been nervous before. William rubbed his forehead in confusion when he saw her expression again. 'What is wrong with this child? Or am I the one having problems here?' He thought to himself.
Beatrice on the other hand, just silently glance at Rose, same as Sophia too. Ever since yesterday, they have both been having problems understanding Rose.
"Aside from that, I heard something happened yesterday when your mother took you out to the Will party last night." William started off and he looked at Rose to see if she'd have any new expression.
However, a smile adorned her face when she heard her father. 'Hehe, someone sounds like he is trying to mask his anger. Ha, what a sweet and protective husband my father made.' She thought to herself.
She took a quick glance at Beatrice, already knowing that she must have told him HER side of the story. Rose knew it was still too early for them to show their true colors as they had not gotten what they wanted. She had to be patient until the day she was prepared and could finally escape from them. For now, she would watch and play along.
But, it did not mean she would just allow them to take advantage of her.
'Treat others the way they treat you, they say. But if it is an unpleasant way they treat me, then I make sure they will be treated ten times more unpleasantly.'