Rachael walked toward the main door and stopped right in front of it. This day was not going to be a good day for her.
'Ugh, this sucks. The guard on duty is a bitch, and he will make things difficult for me. I wish I could trick him and go back to my room.'
Rachael walked to the front door and looked at the guard. He was half-asleep and did not seem to notice his surroundings. But he jumped like a startled cat when Rachael approached the gate.
"How can I help you, miss? Ah, it's just you? What are you doing out here currently? Isn't this a school day?"
This guard was the one who saw Rachael the most, except Emily. And yet, he could not even tell when Rachael went in and out of the Chlorance Estate. She did not know this guard was incompetent or uninterested in her well-being.
'It's not even a question. Of course, it's the second option.'
Still, Rachael decided to approach this problem as best as she could.
"A sudden dungeon outbreak destroyed the school. Authorities had us stay the night to check for any delayed damage or effects. Can I head in now?"
Rachael asked while looking up at the guard. But he was not interested in what she had to say.
"You want to get inside the estate? Then, bribe me, and I will let you go in."
The guard sounded tall, not looking at Rachael even for a second. He was busy playing games on his phone.
Despite his inattentiveness, Rachael knew the guard would not let her pass unless she paid him toll.
The reason Rachael could get past the guard and head inside was Emily. Emily had the guard on a leash and could make the guard bark if she wanted.
The guard did not try anything funny in front of Emily. But when Rachael was alone, it was fair game. The guard could do what he wanted and make conditions as he wanted.
"I do not have any money with me. I can get you some if you let me inside."
Rachael promised, but the guard did not fall for her tricks. He had been tricked by Rachael a lot and had now built an immunity against her.
"No way, kid. If you cannot bring money, you do not get to enter the Chlorance estate."
The guard stopped Rachael from accessing her home. Luckily, Luca had called Emily to come and pick Rachael up from the front gate. Emily will have to come. Otherwise, she risks causing trouble for herself with the authorities.
"By the way, you said your school was the victim of a dungeon break, right? How did someone worthless like *you* survive that? Did you sacrifice someone else to save your life?"
The guard taunted Rachael. She was about to reply to him when Emily decided to show up. The guard fell quiet and looked at Emily like a lost puppy.
"E-Emily, when did you arrive here? How much did you hear? Nothing is my fault. This kid was an ass, so I played with her. You are not mad, right?"
The guard asked while looking at Emily. Emily sighed and clutched her head in agitation.
"Forget about it. Rachael, if you were going to stay out, you should have told me about it. I would not have made dinner for you as well."
Emily complained while looking at Rachael. This was not for Emily to do, and Rachael gave her an annoyed glance.
"What? If you have something to say to me, then say it. Don't hold yourself back."
Coming out of anyone else's mouth, these words would have seemed like words of care. But since Emily spoke them, they sounded like a curse.
"Emily, you got called by the relief center four times but did not pick up. It is not my fault you were unaware of me not coming home."
Rachael reminded Emily. The remainder flushed Emily before she paled and looked at Rachael concernedly.
"So, wait! Is the news about a dungeon opening inside the school real? Thank fuck you are alive. I did not want my paycheck to be cut if anything happened to you."
Emily looked relieved, and she tried to calm herself down. She grabbed Rachael's arm and dragged her inside.
The guard did not try to stop Emily because he was too busy looking at Emily and day-dreaming.
Once they reached the tower, Emily let go of Rachael and positioned her in front.
"Now, tell me everything that happened. I want to know how you got out of the dungeon and what you did inside. Did you get any rewards? What about curses? You are not infected with anything, right?"A
Emily asked these questions in quick succession. She was unsure what happened to Rachael inside the dungeon, but she needed to report everything to the head of the Chlorance family.
He might have called Emily just now because he wanted her to gather more information. But he will soon run out of patience and end up calling her.
"You want to know what happened? Well, nothing grand. The dungeon burst open; we were asked to stay still. In the end, we were rescued because Dark Matter showed up. Both Luca and Shiva cleaned up our mess."
Rachael's words gave out no information. Emily did not like it, but nothing could be done. If Rachael refused to tell her information, she relied on news sources to tell her more about the situation.
And at that point, Emily might as well give up.
"Are you sure nothing happened? Hiding your injuries is not a good thing?"
Emily tried one last time to get Rachael to confess. But the younger was tight-lipped.
*ding*
Emily looked down at her phone when it flashed. It had a simple line of text displayed. But that line made Emily's heart skip a few beats in fear.
[Come to the main house. Master Rocx wants to talk with you.]
The number belonged to the head maid. And if the head maid called Emily, the news she was about to get was rather grim. She did not want to face Master Rocx's anger.
'But this is a direct call, so I cannot ignore it either.'
"Rachael, I have some important work to do. Do not head out of the tower under any circumstances. Do you understand me?"
Emily's orders were firm, and she did not want to be disobeyed by Rachael right now. Her mood plummeted, causing her to feel annoyed.
She looked at Rachael, daring her to go against Emily's orders.
And Rachael decided to surrender. She did not want Emily to remain pissed at her. It would make life difficult for her.
"Fine, I get it. I will remain inside today. I think you might also need to discuss a new education plan for me since the school would remain closed-"
Emily smacked the door on her way out. She was not gentle with her actions, and it made Rachael flinch.
"Tsk. Emily must work harder to hide her emotions, or she will be taken advantage of in the future."
Rachael opened her bag and took out a few books she had borrowed from Luca. He had an abundance of books he was never going to read. So, Rachael had helped herself to some of them without asking. She did not think Luca would mind.
She took the stuff from her bag, only to discover a surprise waiting for her. A phone lay at the bottom of her bag.
It was not a flashy phone but a durable one. It was one made explicitly for those heading into a dungeon.
"Wow, now this is a surprise I did not expect to see anytime soon. Did Luca slip it into my bag?"
Rachael was sure that this phone did not belong to Luca. He had used another model, and his phone screen was also different.
Then, this phone belonged to Rachael alone, and she would use it well. She turned on the phone and was immediately scared when it started to ring.
"Hello"
Rachael picked up the phone, but her heart was beating faster by the second. She did not know who called her or for what purpose. But she picked up the call and waited for the other side to answer.
"Oh, so you picked up the call from an unknown number? Don't you know how dangerous doing that is? What if I had bad intentions?"
Elias's voice washed away all doubts Rachael had. She was also thankful that the person on the other side was someone she knew.
"Did you ask Luca to put this phone into my bag?"
Rachael asked with a straight voice. She wanted to know the truth but was not angry at Elias. He also realized that because he did not hesitate to tell Rachael the truth.
"I might have given Luca an extra phone, but I did not ask him to put it into your bag. It looks like Luca gave you the phone because he wanted to."
Rachael did not believe that for a single second. She was sure that Elias had asked Luca to give her this phone. Maybe to harass her or something.
'But I will make sure not to fall for his teasing. If I can keep my cool, I am sure I will be able to use this phone how I want to.'
Rachel was optimistic about things. She looked at the phone and was about to tell Elias that she did not care.
But Elias was the one who surprised her with his following words.
"Rachael, please take care of yourself. I will not be able to meet you or help you out. So please, do not do anything that will endanger you."
Rachael looked at her phone with mixed emotions. She did not know what to feel at that moment.
She wanted to tell Elias that she did not need his help. But she had also been saved so many times because Elias helped her.
"When will you be back?"
Rachael had not wanted to ask that question. But it had slipped past her lips, and she could no longer take it back.