Going back to the teacher's office, I thought of what the principal told me. A Liliana Humphrey was the person the principal was thinking of when seeing me for the first time.
He told me that her light blond hair and blue eyes, made her the school flower, throughout her whole education. It was around thirty-five years ago that she had graduated; the principal at the time was a teacher himself at this school.
Her age would allow her to be my mother. Was it really a coincidence that a girl who looked like me and could very well be my mother had gone to the same school Jude visited? Was Liliana not my mother but instead Jude's? And because of her death, Thomas ripped me away from my old life? But the butler mentioned Thomas' being an admirer of my mother...
Arriving and sitting before the computer in the nearly empty teacher's office, I thought about how to proceed. Regrettably, there were no student files from 35 years ago on the computer.
I searched the internet for Liliana Humphrey, but found no results. Having anticipated some life-changing news about her, I was left disappointed. Then I went for 'Dunken' family, 'declining family Dunken', 'Dunken company', and I found nothing as well besides the 'DunkenDrunk-Pub' that sadly closed its doors after twenty years of business. And a carpenter called Dunken Vedici, who built world-renowned kitchens. Naturally, there were also a few stars with a 'Dunken' in their name, but nothing else.
This should be impossible. At least one useful piece of information should show up.
The butler mentioned neither my parents' first names nor where they were. The things he nagged me with were just some stories about how they had visited orphanages, donated money, and were always kind to their personnel; there was no information that would help me find them.
Now that I think about it, there was not one picture in the living room of that house. Not one photograph in the corridor, and beside the butler, there was nobody else inside the house.
Massaging my temples, I felt a chill creeping down my spine.
Where had that house been? Where had the butler brought me? I have no idea. We had driven for some time, and I had soon lost sight of the direction we took.
I don't know where the house was; I have no full names; I have no information. The driver that had taken me away from that house was the one under Thomas Lennister, the one that brought me to the shopping center and seized me back from the airplane. I didn't think he would answer my questions, but I would try to sound him out soon.
"What the hell is going on here?" I mumbled while staring into nothingness, getting all paranoid.
There was another class I would have to torment before lunch break, so I dragged myself to the sports field and gave the students an additional round to run, just to calm my frantic mind.
For lunch break, I went to the cafeteria. There, I chose two desserts, and after getting another two of the beautiful little handmade plates, I was calm again.
The next step was to call the principal of my old school, as he was the one calling me out and allowing me spare time to follow the "butler of the Dunken family". This was the only introduction I had received.
Going to the empty sports field again, I made the call, walking up and down in the meantime.
"Hi. Do you know that butler who came to get me?" I asked.
"Lesly, how are you doing~? No, but he seemed rich, so I got you immediately." He answered, and I could hear him smile even over the phone. This guy was younger than me, always languidly putting his legs on his desk—not at all how a principal should behave.
"Had he introduced himself, or do you have any kind of information about him?"
"'Butler from the Dunken family', nothing else. What's wrong? Thought you struck oil?" He chuckled.
"Don't know. Ah yes, I will need to terminate my contract for now." Closing my eyes, I prayed for my premonition to not come true.
"Oh, directly after you left, the school got a donation, and the contract was annulled~" At least he was honest about taking bribes.
"You are such an annoying brat." Hanging up, I now have my suspicion confirmed. It didn't matter if I let myself get blackmailed by my cat and then got myself bribed by Thomas. They had decided that I would not return to my old life the moment they fetched me at my old workplace.
Remembering something, I texted the brat again to see if he had information about the people bribing him.
Answering that they were only people in suits and didn't say their names, I knew the trail on this end was lost.
Hanging up, I sat on a bench besides the running track, where I normally watched the students from.
While emptying my mind, I noticed a few shiny marbles on the floor, beside the bench. Curious, I picked them up; there were a total of fifteen. They didn't look very expensive, but they were beautiful, especially when held against the sun, making them shine golden. There were a total of fifteen little marbles, and while they weren't in a place where one could easily fall over them, I had to do my duty and bring them to the teacher's office.
I put the fourteen marbles into the lost & found box in the teacher's office, making sure the irresponsible student who positioned them by my bench could get them back anytime he wanted.