The Predator’s Contract Partner
chapter-245

The patriarch took a walk in the garden at a certain time every day.

While out for his daily walk, he found Elisha drinking tea in the garden. The Head approached Elisha.

“Elisha, why are you out here at this hour?”

Lucerne usually did not like Elisha coming into contact with other people without his permission.

The head of the family often clicked his tongue at his obsessive management of his wife. So, usually, Elisha would stay in her room when Lucerne went out, except for a short walk in the garden. It was practically his first time seeing Elisha outside in a long time.

“It was a beautiful day, so I came to have some tea. I interrupted the Lord’s steps.”

“What interruption? I was going to see you anyway.”

Gaju was often surprised at himself when he was with Elisha. It wasn’t because of something she did but of his own generosity when dealing with her.

“I’m glad you’re always so gracious. Would you like some tea?”

“Sure, I would like that.”

Elisha prepared the tea herself.

“Elisha, do you remember what I said to you last time?”

She paused. Ostensibly, the Head was pressuring her to have a child. She lowered her eyes as if she had heard something troubling.

“I’m sure you’re thinking about it carefully, right?”

She nodded slightly.

“Alright, I understand. Don’t worry anymore.”

“Thank you, my lord,”

Elisha spoke humbly.

“Can I have a cup of tea? The smell of the rose tea is strong today.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Elisha stopped while pouring tea.

“Gaju, sorry. I think I brewed the tea for too long because I was nervous. I will taste it first before I serve it.”

“Even a child like you makes mistakes.”

The patriarch viewed Elisha in a very good light these days, so he seemed fine with this rare laxity.

She first tasted tea sprinkled with rose flowers. She was shocked.

“The tea tastes a little strange.”

“What?”

The next moment, Elisha covered her mouth with her hand. Then she coughed a few times. The sound of her coughing was mixed with the harsh noise of wheezing.

Crash!

Then, Elisha fell off her chair. Her face looked like a sheet of paper as she fell to the floor.

“Elisha!”

The servants standing behind the head of the house were startled and ran over.

“… … Head.”

Elisha caught her breath.

“There was poison in the tea… … . In the tea… … .”

“Call the doctor right away! And preserve the teacup!”

shouted Gaju. Elisha barely opened her blurry eyes, and then she slowly closed them.

Suddenly, Elisha’s hand fell.

***

The carriage moved with a steady sound. Lucerne left the Officers’ Club and headed straight to the Duke’s estate.

Lucerne was leaning his head against the carriage wall.

Everyone remembered the anniversary of his grandmother’s death. It was a day commemorated in sorrow. However, the anniversary of Lucerne’s biological mother’s death was a day that no one talked about. Unfortunately, he was too young to remember the exact day when his mother was murdered.

‘They say the black thorn tree blooms only one day in the fall. He told me. Look. Today is the day Autumn comes.’

These were words his mother once said when he was a child. Coincidentally, she died just a few days after the flowers bloomed. After that, when Lucerne wanted to remember her death, he would often set it as the day after the Fall Lunar Festival that year. Today just happened to be that day.

Lucerne often had nightmares about his mother’s death lately. When he came to the Duke’s house, violent memories would come back to him.

He paused to think for a moment.

The emotions he had never experienced before were like poison. As he increasingly wanted Elisha more, the desire to lock her away and only see him increased. She gradually grew into a big variablevariable. The head of the family was particularly and overly fond of Elisha.

And it wasn’t just Gaju that favored her. Even Lucerne himself liked her too much. So, it was only a matter of time before Jacob would target her.

She was nothing short of a walking weakness of his.

His thoughts turned again to her mother.

Elisha had thought of her biological mother as a sanctuary. That’s why she was obsessed with monasteries.

However, when Lucerne harbored affection for someone, that person he loved always died. It was the most certain thing in his tumultuous life. Even just a couple of years ago. Very miserably in the hands of family members.

Therefore, Lucerne also thought of the love he received and gave from and to his mother as poison. It was too short to be sweetly glorified.

Children first begin to perceive objects after the age of four or five. His memories of being loved were vague and faint. However, his memories of her death were intense and vivid.

His mind returned to reality again. Lucerne stared at the wall of the carriage.

“You go first.”

Lucerne crumpled the letter in his hands.

“You’ve broken the rules, Elisha.”

He was a little pleased. At last, Elisha finally gave him a reason to fall into his possessive grasp.

Now, she could not protest no matter how she was treated by him. Unfortunately, her small struggle became a crime for those in power; many things were unfair between her and him.