After lunch, Helen and Joseph were called to greet someone that had come to see them as they had come back from the academy.
Jacob and Aria, left alone, were wondering what to do.
"Hey! How about exploring the mansion? It's so big! I'm sure it will take us more than one day to completely explore the place!!" Jacob proposed.
Aria, who had already seen most of the mansion during her previous visits, frowned and was deep in thought for a minute. When she looked up at Jacob, her face had an angelic smile. "Sure. We can explore the mansion. Actually, why don't you go on. I have to quickly run to my room. I'll catch up." Aria said.
"I'll come with you." Jacob said.
Aria shook her head and pushed him in the opposite direction of her room, "You go ahead. I'll catch up."
As Jacob walked out of view, Aria's angelic smile turned into an evil one. She was finally alone and free do whatever she wanted.
Had Jacob been spending more time with Aria, he would have known that she never meant to catch up with him. "I'll catch up." was her usual excuse whenever she wanted to get rid of someone.
So, as should have been expected, Aria wasn't with Jacob when Joseph and Helen met him. They went to the library to search for her, but didn't find her.
Thinking that she probably was hiding somewhere with a book, they left her to it.
But problems arose when Aria had still not returned by tea time. Helen's mother enquired about her, but none of them knew where she was.
By the time tea finished, it was getting dark and people in the castle were getting worried. Aria might have sneaked out of the mansion.
Though none of the three kids were worried about her, they were very sure that Aria could take care of herself. But the adults were getting worried and people were actually dropping their works to search for Aria.
"This is just like her. Causing an uproar the first day back." Joseph sighed as the three decided to go look for Aria again.
Helen chuckled, "She is our troublemaker after all. Still, I wonder where could she be?"
Jacob scratched his head, "I get she wanted to be alone. But why isn't she coming back?"
"Let's check the library once again." Joseph said.
Jacob and Helen protested saying that everyone had looked in the library a thousand times and Aria was definitely not in there.
So the two of them went outside to search, while Joseph entered the library once again.
He met one of Helen's maid as he entered, she had been searching for Aria in the library.
"Any luck?" Joseph asked.
The maid bowed her head and greeted Joseph before replying, "No. I don't think Miss Aria is in here."
Joseph sighed to himself as he walked forward, "These people seem to underestimate Aria. She is a born fighter. She could be right in front of your eyes and you wouldn't see her unless she wanted you to."
"Still, I wonder why Aria's acting like that. She would never intentionally cause so much trouble for people. I wonder if she's okay." Joseph kept muttering as he thought over to Aria's favourite genre and where those books were kept.