Chapter 233: Hidden mechanisms
Back in Daisy’s room, Daisy was lying on the bed, tossing and turning.
Since the bed was rather huge, Angel had switched to the empty side, sleeping cocooned inside the blankets. And that left a lot of space for her.
Daisy could not stop herself from struggling. She closed her eyes repeatedly but sleep never came.
The thoughts of everything that happened just now were vivid in her mind. Her heart was thumping and Diana’s suggestive words from the day drifted to her mind again.
She had never felt that her younger sister was such a troublemaker before this day. Just a few words and Diana had managed to leave her all erratic.
After a few minutes of tossing and turning, Daisy turned to the side and stroked Angel’s blonde hair under the dim lighting of the room.
Her gaze drifted to the empty side of the bed and her thoughts to him.
Didn’t he say he will be here?
Hasn’t it been 16 minutes?
When will he be here then?
The questions popped in her mind.
Her lips thinned. Isn’t it better to sleep up there if he was going to be so late?
What is he thinking?
He...
’Click’
The bedroom door opened and Daisy instinctively closed her eyes.
She did not know why she did it so abruptly as if she was afraid of being caught stealing.
With a soft ’click’, the door closed again and Daisy could hear the sound of his light footsteps approaching in the direction of the bed.
The mattress dipped as he climbed onto the other side of the bed.
Daisy could hear the sound of her heart beating in her ears, loud and clear.
She stiffened when she felt a gust of cool air caressing her skin before his palm gently cupped her face.
Perhaps because he had just taken a shower, his hand was refreshingly cool. After a few seconds however, he removed his hand and stroked her cheeks with the pad of her thumb.
Daisy held her breath, not moving a muscle while she let him do whatever he wanted.
"You look cute while pretending to sleep."
"_"
Daisy was inwardly horrified. A hint of redness coated her cheeks at the embarrassment but she did not open her eyes.
She could hear the smile in the man’s voice as he continued speaking in a gentle voice, "And even cuter when you still continue to pretend even after I caught you pretending."
Daisy opened her eyes and looked at him, "I was just trying to sleep."
At some point, Angel had nestled into his arms, her little head using his arm as a pillow. Somehow, the little girl always did that. Whenever Ryle slept next to her, she would curl up like a shrimp near him.
Initially, Daisy had wondered why it was like that and why Angel was so fond of Ryle even though he was not always around.
But now she understood it had something to do with Ryle himself. He had the kind of presence that was so comforting.
Daisy was used to doing things by herself all her life but somehow, if Ryle was around, she had the feeling that she could let her guards down and stand back while he could handle everything.
Such a feeling was very foreign but she did not dislike it.
"Why are you awake till now? Were you waiting for me?" Ryle tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers caressing her cheekbone.
Daisy paused.
"Yes."
And then what Daisy witnessed left her stunned for a couple of seconds.
Ryle Harper was blushing, his eyes suddenly looking everywhere but her.
Before Daisy could say anything, she felt a darkness enveloping her vision as he covered her eyes with his palm.
"Sleep now. It’s already late and you haven’t had proper rest last night too. Such a miss prim and proper you are but now your sleep schedule is all messed up..."
"Why are you nagging?" Daisy blinked and in the process, her eyelashes tickled his palm.
Ryle felt as if his heart was scratched by a cat. The sweet itchy feeling.
Damn!
"Let me turn off the lights," he cleared his throat.
As he said so, he removed his hand from her eyes.
Daisy had just caught a glimpse of his red face when the room was descended in darkness.
"Ryle."
"Mmm?" he reached out to hold Daisy’s hand, his other hand palm resting on Angel’s back.
"Is everything alright with you?"
"Why do you ask?" Ryle was bewildered at the apparent concern in her voice.
Daisy paused for a few moments before she spoke up.
"You were pissed at Benjamin and he also stayed for a long time before leaving. He looked like he had something important to do."
Ryle did not respond to her words.
Daisy did not urge him. She knew that he would not be in any sort of trouble so easily but she was just worried. However, if he did not wish to talk about it, then she would force him to.
"He was acting weird so I was pissed," Ryle said.
It suddenly dawned on Daisy that Benjamin’s actions must have something to do with his misunderstandings regarding whom Ryle was keeping back in his mansion.
It was a good thing that the misunderstanding was nipped in the bud or else Benjamin would have incurred more disdain.
"And the reason why he stayed for so long is because I had asked him to look into a few things. "
"The Si Family matter?"
Ryle went silent but after a minute when he spoke, his voice contained a trace of surprise, "How do you know?"
"How can an ancestral mansion burn down just like that? People might not know but the ancestral mansions of the four great families have existed for centuries and they contain many hidden mechanisms. Over the course of time, they were renovated again and again and the mechanisms were also improvised."
"Mechanisms?" Ryle was taken aback.
"Yes," Daisy confirmed, "Actually, these things are not very publicized and even the four families don’t discuss it with each other but each of them are wary when visiting the other’s mansions.
In the Lu, Si and Qin families, I am uncertain if even the younger generation is aware of these things."
"Then, how do you know so much?" Ryle questioned.
