When fate plays its hand

Chapter 1071

The gifts remained untouched in the storage room, and Carissa hadn’t even bothered to glance at them.

After dinner, she took a lamp and went inside alone.

Rafael offered to stay with her, but she refused, insisting she wanted to open the gifts by herself. Even Violet’s attempt to join her was turned away at the door.

Though Rafael was uneasy, he moved a stool just outside and sat, keeping vigil from the hallway.

Dylan had returned with news. When Barrett learned of Aurora’s death, he had thrown. himself against a wall in a violent fit. His wound bled heavily.

Dylan was still in shock. He had seen it with his own eyes–Barrett had slammed into the wall with such force. Dylan felt as though Barrett was trying to end his life right then and there.

Luckily, in his rage, Barrett had stumbled, which lessened the blow. Otherwise, there was no doubt he would’ve died on impact.

Confused, Dylan asked Jacob, “Why would he do that? If he wanted to die for Aurora, why didn’t he just go with her when she was taken? That would’ve shown his feelings for her. Why wait until now, after Aurora has been executed, to throw himself into death?”

Jacob thought for a moment, equally perplexed by Barrett’s actions. “Did they manage to save him?”

“I don’t know. When I left, they were carrying him inside. His wife was screaming in a panic, and the whole estate was in chaos. Oh, and his younger sister came charging at me. She almost scratched me up–I was lucky to get away.

Dylan’s voice still held a trace of fear as he recounted the incident. That woman had been ferocious. She looked like a wild animal, mouth open wide as though she wanted to devour him whole.

Jacob patted him on the shoulder. “With that family, you can’t make sense of things. Best to keep your distance and avoid getting involved.”

Dylan, still rattled, nodded. “I’m glad I went to tell him myself. If he had come looking for answers at the estate and then slammed into the wall, I would have been in trouble. My mouth wouldn’t have been able to get me out of that mess.”

Jacob nodded in agreement. “Right. Go rest now. Don’t dwell on it.”

Dylan reluctantly agreed, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling. He had to talk to Violet and Travis about what had happened. He had never seen anything like it before. Barrett had

Chapter 1971

never seemed particularly devoted to Aurora, but he now seemed to be putting on a show of deep affection. It didn’t make sense.

It was hard to tell it Barrett’s behavior was genuine or just a performance. It didn’t make sense who was he trying to fool? I the king ever found out, Barrett would be reprimanded. The entire court would only look down on him, and even his wife would be nothing but heartbroken and disappointed.

Jacob moved a chair over to the storeroom door to speak to Rafael about it..

Neither Jacoby nor Rafael could understand Barrett’s actions. Perhaps they both felt it wasn’t important enough to dwell on, so they didn’t push the matter further.

Inside the storeroom, Carissa finally opened the chest her seventh uncle, Wade, had sent. She stood in front of it for a long while before moving, the lamp aside and unlocking the

chest.

The gift from Wade was rather unique.

It was a row of syringes. When she twisted the cap off one, inside was a thin steel needle short, about the length of half a finger, as delicate as a seamstress’s needle.

Curious, she counted the syringes. There were thirty in total, each containing fifty needles.

She wondered what this could mean. Why would he send her needles? Did Wade want her. to focus on embroidery from now on?

As she picked up one of the needles and examined it under the lamp, she realized it wasn’t an embroidery needle at all. It had no hole for thread–one end was sharp, while the other end was flat.

Just as she was starting to wonder, she noticed a small carved cherry wood box in the left corner of the chest. The box wasn’t very big, about the size of a jewelry box.

She opened it, and inside was a bracelet. The bracelet was made of pure gold, with two gemstones set in it–a ruby and a sapphire.

It wasn’t particularly refined–If anything, it was a bit crude. The clasp was visibly damaged, and she could make out a tiny crack along the seam. The crack wasn’t glaringly obvious, but if one looked closely, it was clear enoug

She also noticed the sapphire seemed to move. Curious, she pressed on it and heard a soft click as the gem shifted, revealing a small hole underneath. She pressed the ruby, and It slid to the side, uncovering a small opening about the size of her pinky finger.

Carissa was unsure of the bracelet’s purpose, so she set it aside for now and opened the chest her third uncle had sent. When she saw what was Inside, she couldn’t help but laugh

inside the box were numerous small willow leaf knives.