"Edward Frost has a lot of enemies" Angelica tossed the documents and leaned on the desk.

"And they are not going to sit back and observe when he is at his lowest possible state"

"To those men, I'm just a thorn that suddenly appeared from the countryside to take away everything that almost fell in their laps"

"And when they saw an opening. They sent a bunch of professional killers to get rid of the thorn" She took in a deep breath and looked at Clive.

"And they did nearly succeed if it weren't for me holding on to a root sticking out of the side of the mountain"

"An-An...." Clive pulled Angelica to his chest and hugged her.

"It was the inevitable" said Angelica, holding Clive's hand.

'It would have happened no matter what you did'

"Now about your punishment" Angelica pushed his hands and smiled as bright as the sun.

"What...." Clive took a step back. He could feel a sudden change in her temperament.

*thunder*

The shadow of the branches beyond the window made it look like she had grown demon horns.

The corners of Angelica's mouth were curled into a wicked grin.

Clive gulped at the sight. He could feel it in his gut that something worse was headed his way.

"Don't kill me" He pleaded, standing in front of her.

"What? I'm not going to kill you" Angelica shook her head as if it was a ridiculous statement.

"Why do people always say that to me?"

"Then what are you going to do?"

"...." Angelica did not answer his question and simply winked at him with folded hands.

"...."

"...."

"No.... no no"

"Yes"

"NO!"

"Anything but that" Clive's eyes grew wide from the shock.

"Yeah...wait till mom and dad finds out what you did"

"Mom....Dad..." Clive trembled from imagining the worst-case scenario. He was capable enough to handle any kind of bad situation but there was no escape from his parents if they found out.

Clive and the Howard twins worked very hard to ensure that their parents were oblivious to their antics. If there were to find out....

It would be a straight road to doom.

"Why would I waste my energy when they will do it for me...huh?" Angelica stopped talking when she looked at Clive's face.

"Ha..ha...ha" Clive laughed in a broken voice. His voice was no different from a pale ghost. He looked like a man who has given up all hopes in life and awaited death.

*woof* *woof*

'You broke the stupid hooman'

Chirpy walked over and sat next to Clive, looking at him with a pitiful expression. It was not because he was worried, but if something happened to Clive, he would lose his unfavorite human.

"Chillax...bro" Angelica put a hand on his shoulder.

"I was just messing with you"

She tried controlling her laughter, only to fail miserably. It was just a small threat to see if she could scare him after all these years.

'And I still got it' Angelica smirked, feeling proud.

Besides, there was another important reason as to why she was refraining from cracking the truth to Lorenz and Rosaline.

"I'm not going to kill the golden goose that fell into my hands"

"What do you mean?" Clive asked, confused. There were tears on the corners of his eyes.

"That's right. Get ready for a lifetime of favors cause you just handed a slave contract"

"Does that mean?"

"I won't tell them..." Angelica wiped his tears with a handkerchief.

'He can be a helpless baby at times'

She felt like she was taking care of a child who was afraid of being told by his parents. But the thing was, no matter how cute he played, it didn't work on her anymore.

"Although we still have to come up with a story for my sudden disappearance. So don't give up on living just yet"

"But before that. Repeat after me.." Angelica caught Clive's cheeks and stretched them like an elastic string.

"Owwww" Clive winced.

His cheeks were already stinging from being stretched earlier. And Angelica showed no signs of reducing her strength as she continued stretching his cheeks mercilessly.

"Communication"

"Communication...." Clive repeated,

"IS KEY"

"Is....keyyyyy"

"Now. Take a paper and write that statement a thousand times so it will be forever engraved in your mind"

Angelica watched as a whining Clive wrote the same statement over and over again a thousand times. For she had given her brother the most valuable lesson a person living in a novel world could ever learn.

'Half of the problems in the universe could be solved if people would just talk instead of beating around the bush' She sighed.







Since Clive was a fast writer, he completed his punishment in less than an hour. I was sitting on top of the desk to his right while observing him write, I was able to witness it firsthand.

"Wow...Your handwriting is as flawless as ever" I exclaimed, impressed by his penmanship.

Clive always had beautiful handwriting compared to me and it hasn't changed in all these years.

"My hand hurts, my head hurts, my body hurts" Clive complained, sprawled all over the desk. He was feeling more fatigued than he had ever felt in his life.

"What are you going to do now?" He suddenly asked, straightening his back and looking at his sister who had faked death.

"Hmmm...." I pondered while holding my chin.

"Haven't really thought about it. But traveling the world sounds like a good idea"

"Are you just going to let them think you died?"

"Yes. I intend to"

I turned towards Clive. He became stiff from understanding the seriousness in my voice.

"Listen to me carefully Clive" I looked straight into his eyes as I voiced out each word.

There were some things that need to be explained to make sure everything follows the flow of the novel. It was imperative that Clive does not diverge from the plot to avoid any kind of nasty branches in the story.

"Edward Frost will wake up in eight months' time. And when he does, the first thing he is going to learn is about the existence of his short-lived wife"

"Why are you so sure that he will wake up in eight months?" interrupted Clive, his brows knitted, leaving a deep crease on his forehead. He was confused by the mention of the specific time period.

"He will" I sighed and continued,

"Because someone who is capable of breaking his curse will appear around that time. Now stop interrupting me!"

The heroine Helen Layton. She is the only one with enough holy power to break Edward's curse. She will be the first one he sees when he opens his eyes.

Edward will fall in love with Helen at first sight and so the romantic story of the century unfolds.

"And as soon as he wakes up he will go into a killing spree in the name of avenging his dead wife"

"Me" I pointed to myself.

"And You" I pointed towards Clive and added,

"All you have to do is sit back and enjoy the show. Don't let that manipulative b*stard reel you into becoming one of his henchmen" I said, knocking him lightly on the head.

Although it was not mentioned accurately, there are chances of Edward turning the family members of his dead wife into his allies in the novel.

I can say this because there is no way the notorious members of the Ashford family would sit still after hearing that their precious daughter was murdered.

My dad for one will go on a rampage destroying anything and everything within his sight. And I have to make sure that none of that happens.

"Keep dad as far away from that b*stard as possible" I said, in a definite tone. This was something that cannot be compromised in any situation.

"I still can't understand why you are so sure?" asked a puzzled Clive. To be more precise, he was curious as to how I was absolutely sure about the future.

"Also, you act like you know him too. But as far as I know, the two have you have never met"

"Heh" I scoffed.

"I can read him like an open book"

Because I did!

"He's the type of trash you know is bad, but still keep it anyway" My face twisted just from thinking about him.