188 Lonely
Everard immediately sprung out of the water and gasped for air as though someone was holding him down in the water and was choking him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked breathlessly when he saw Lorenzo standing right next to him. Furthermore, he jerked his hand right away from Lorenzo’s wrist when he realized that he was grabbing that man.
Lorenzo bowed his head as low as he could and then replied, “I was just trying to help you get out of the water, Your Highness.”
“Help me?” Everard stepped out of the tub and then grabbed the bathrobe to wrap himself with. While slipping inside the bathrobe, he recalled some pieces and fragments of his conversation with Lorenzo.
He cleared his throat and then asked while looking over his shoulder, “Did we have a meeting?”
Lorenzo’s heart skipped a beat because Everard sounded different than earlier, almost as if he was suddenly a different person. To be more precise, he almost sounded menacing.
Lorenzo didn’t dare to lie anymore. He was sure that Everard was now sober. He kept his head down and said in a low voice, “I thought I would check up on you and give you company since tomorrow is the big day for you. When I met you a few days ago, you said that you didn’t want to feel lonely anymore. So, I thought I could cheer you up a little.”
“I was drunk when you met me the last time?” Everard turned to look at Lorenzo and asked while frowning because he didn’t recall saying that to anyone.
Lorenzo clasped his hands together and replied, “You might have been, Your Highness. There were a few bottles of alcohol in the room at that time.”
.....
Everard sighed in disappointment. He was disappointed in himself for relying on alcohol to forget about his problems for quite a while now.
He had started drinking so much that he was mostly under the influence for the whole day and he couldn’t tell dream from reality. He was also having problems remembering a lot of things these days.
“Thank you for coming, Lorenzo. I was indeed feeling lonely.” Even though he was already sober, Everard accepted how he was truly feeling and walked out of the bathroom.
“Why don’t we sit down and talk for a while since you are already here?” he asked as he sat down on the chair in his antechamber.
Lorenzo was so glad that he wasn’t thrown out of the chamber after lying to get inside. He followed Everard out of the bathroom and took a seat beside him.
Lorenzo finally lifted his head and looked at Everard. He was already lost in his deep thoughts, sadness was prominent on his face. And he couldn’t help but feel pity towards Everard.
“Are you okay?” he asked in a way that showed genuine worry toward Everard.
Everard’s pupils still looked dilated when he replied, “Yes. As okay as a frog resting inside a boiling pot.”
“Everyone needs to leave this Earth eventually. It’s only a matter of time...” Lorenzo mumbled melancholically.
Everard closed his eyes and kept on nodding his head. “I know... I know...” That was all that he could say.
Lorenzo stared at Everard’s face for a while. He wondered if Everard had accepted his father’s death yet. He couldn’t tell.
Everard could see from the corner of his eyes that Lorenzo was staring at him. So, he asked, “What do you have in your mind? Are you also here to say that I should stop drinking?”
“I would never say that. Everyone grieves in their own way,” Lorenzo replied in the most polite manner.
There was silence in the room for a while. Lorenzo was there to talk well about his alpha. Although Romulus already had a few meetings with Everard by now, something wasn’t working well between the two of them. And Lorenzo was there to show his alpha in good light so that Everard would start favoring Romulus.
However, seeing Everard, he knew it was no time to talk about business. So instead, he quietly sat by Everard’s side. He believed that at times like this, someone’s mere presence would make the mood a lot better.
After a while of silence, Everard turned his gaze at Lorenzo and asked about the very person Lorenzo was thinking about, “I never got to ask this to you before. You are close with your alpha?”
“Alpha?” Lorenzo was a little startled because he was caught off-guard. “Oh, I’m not that close with him. I just run some lowly errands for him,” he hastily replied and gave a nervous laugh.
“Hmm...” Everard furrowed his brows and said while furrowing his brows, “He never fails to mention your name when we meet. And I also saw you traveling together with him the first time I saw you here in the castle. So, I thought you two were very close.”
Though Lorenzo wanted to establish a better relationship between his alpha and Everard by using his friendship as leverage, he also didn’t want to accept that he was close with his alpha and make it backfire on him. He didn’t want Everard to think of him as a spy for Romulus. He wanted Everard to keep on seeing him as his friend.
So, he lied again, “No, we are not that close. But I think he sees me as a hard worker and thus, remembers my name. He even gave me a ride that day because we were going to the same destination.”
He took a pause to look at Everard’s reaction. And when he saw Everard listening to him attentively, he emphasized, “He really cares about each and everyone in his clan. I respect him a lot. In fact, everyone respects him a lot.”
The two of them then talked about Romulus and the Atkinson clan for more than an hour.
Lorenzo couldn’t be any happier when Everard actively asked questions about his clan. That way, he got to boast about his clan as well as his alpha.
Everard, on the other hand, didn’t care much about the clan and the alpha. All he cared about was the time that was easily passing by as Lorenzo rambled on about everything in detail.
When there was nothing more to ask about the clan, Everard took Lorenzo by surprise when he suddenly said, “Lorenzo, by any chance, has Ruby contacted you?”
“Ruby?” Lorenzo furrowed his brows and asked, “You mean the lady who I met in Lavinya?”
“Yes.”
“Er... No...” Lorenzo wasn’t sure why Everard was suddenly asking that. So he questioned, “Why do you ask?”
Everard heaved a deep sigh like never before. He closed his eyes and mumbled, “I had brought her here with me. I had promised to take care of her and also said that I would find her family. But...”
“But?”
He stared at the blank ceiling and grumbled, “I said some awful things to her. And now, I cannot find her anywhere. To add to that, I haven’t heard anything from the people I sent to Sorvando. I don’t know what’s taking them so long. I thought she would come here on her own if I found her parents.”
Lorenzo’s heart started to beat faster when he heard Everard. He didn’t care about Ruby or her parents. All he cared about was that small piece of information.
‘He sent people to Sorvando!’
He tried not to get too excited because this was something his alpha would like to hear. He calmed himself down and then asked unsuspectingly, “When did you send people to Sorvando? They might be on their way back.”
“It’s been more than two weeks I guess.” It was evident that Everard was still optimistic about their return. “Maybe her parents shifted somewhere else and they are still looking.”
Lorenzo pursed his lips and thought restlessly, ‘How can he miss something so obvious? If it’s been weeks then...even their bones must have rotten by now.’
He didn’t say that to Everard though. He wanted to deliver that information to his alpha first. He clasped his hands nervously and decided to take a leave for today.
‘Something might already be brewing between the Kingdoms because of his one foolish act. I should inform the alpha right away.’
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