Under the Veil of Night

"Why didn't you tell me that Kevin and the others were coming?" Jason asked Laura when the two of them were painting the back house.

Laura shrugged. "Is there any need for me to tell you that?"

Jason smiled wryly. If he knew that they were going to come over, he wouldn't have come because he didn't want to make things difficult for Kanae. If others knew that they had a close relationship, the two of them would be in huge trouble.

"It's fine for them to come, right?" Laura arched her eyebrows. "Sis seemed to be really happy when I said that we can invite them here."

Jason was certain that Kanae would be happy to see Kevin again considering how the two of them have been interacting so far. The real problem lay elsewhere because he didn't want to let others know about their real relationship. After all, he first met Kanae when he roamed on the street at night.

"How do you know she's happy?"

"Her eyes are sparkling," Laura answered. "She rarely shows me her emotions when it's about other people. Because it's rare for her to be excited about someone coming over, I thought it'd be better for me to agree with her request."

"You're right," Jason nodded in agreement. Kanae would not even feel flustered if a high-ranking official came over to meet her, but it was different when the one who came was Kevin. After all, she has feelings for that man.

"Okay, it's finished," Laura said proudly as she looked towards the small house in front of her. It was painted in a peach color.

Jason nodded. "Now, let's clean up."

"Not so fast," Laura grinned slyly. She raised her brush. "Let's play a bit."

Jason's expression dropped when he saw the brush heading towards his body. Hey! He didn't come here because he wanted to be covered in paint! With no other choice, he ran across the place with Laura chasing behind him with her brush at the front.

"They're very energetic," Tommy was stunned to see the usually annoying and proud Jason running like a child in front of a young woman.

Alice giggled. "It seems they're very excited with the decorating."

"More like, he's troubled with Laura's mischievousness," Tommy smiled wryly. He knew that Laura was quite mischievous, but he didn't know that it would be this bad. Little did he know that the little lass only held back if it were in front of other people.

"You have finished cooking?" Kanae came down with Kevin following behind her.

"Yes, I made cookies and poured some cold milk," Alice pointed to the table. "Have you finished moving everything?"

"All that's left is arranging the first floor with the items that Mike and Neo brought into the hall," Kanae pointed to the two busy boys to the side. "I'll ask the servants to place them accordingly."

"It'll be faster with my help," Kevin remarked.

"You're busy, Kevin," Kanae rolled her eyes. "You know how much of a workaholic you are, so please take care of yourself more."

Kevin nodded. "I know."

Kanae looked towards Kevin suspiciously. In the past, he was still up when it was late at night because of the work he had to do. She didn't really trust him when it came to working because he would surely push himself to do more work as long as it was possible for him.

Placing his hand on top of her head, Kevin messed up her hair. "Do you not trust me?"

"Hey! Stop it!" Kanae grunted. She slapped Kevin's hand, pushing it away from her head. Unfortunately, he already caused her hair to be very messy. She released the hair tie that held up her hair, letting her hair fall loosely to the side, which almost transformed her appearance.

Seeing Kanae's different image, the others there were stunned. Tommy had already seen it before, but he still couldn't help but admire it. After all, she looked far more beautiful this way. However, this was Alice's first time seeing Kanae look so different.

Kevin raised his hand and touched Kanae's cheek as Kanae tied her hair up again. She frowned back at him. "Is there anything wrong?"

"Have we met in the past, before we met at Nolen School C?" Kevin asked. That appearance of hers with her hair flowing freely made him feel that they had met each other in the past. It felt rather familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it before.

Kanae tilted her head. "I don't think we met each other before. I can't remember meeting you."

Considering Kevin's status as the young master of the Ryukalin Clan, there was no chance for the two of them to meet each other in the past. Even if they did meet coincidentally as passerbys, there was no way they would remember each other.

"I guess so," Kevin nodded. It was near impossible for the two of them to meet before. If he had met her personally, he should have known her name from a long time ago.

"Oh, the food is ready!" Laura exclaimed when she saw the plates of cookies on the table. Sweat beaded her forehead as she has just been chasing after Jason.

"Yup, let's eat together," Kanae grinned. "Have you caught him successfully?"

"No," Laura's face darkened. "He's too fast."

Jason walked in while laughing heartily. "Of course I have to be fast. I don't want to stain my clothes with paint."

"I'll try it again after eating."

Jason: "…" you haven't given up yet?

The other two boys quickly joined in on their simple snack time together. It has been a long time since the last time they spent time together like this.

As it was already afternoon, Kevin brought the others home. Jason also swiftly ran away from the mansion because he didn't want to be chased by Laura around the whole place again. It was very tiring to run around so much.

"How many rooms are in this mansion, Sis?" Laura asked Kanae as she entered the kitchen to prepare their dinner. The servants were now busy moving things around. Because Kanae had hired more people, there were more than enough people to get things ready here.

"The second and third floors each have 20 large rooms," Kanae answered. "The fourth floor has 16 rooms with an open garden in the middle, while the first floor has eight rooms."

"It'll surely give us a lot of profit if we open up the mansion as a hotel," Laura's eyes sparkled in excitement.

Kanae nodded. "It surely will since each room can be priced at dozens of millions per night considering their size and the facilities here. But I doubt the elders are going to be happy if they know about your plan."

Laura crossed her arms as she smiled deviously. "If they want to confront me, they're free to do so, but I won't back down so easily. I don't want to live here and leaving this place unattended will only be a hassle as just the general maintenance is quite expensive."

Kanae chuckled. "Just do what you think is good. I'll support you."

"I know, Sis," Laura nodded happily. She turned to the servants. "Inform the elders that I'm going to open this place as a hotel to earn more profit. If they want to complain, they're free to do so."

"Yes, Miss."

Right now, the servants were all very obedient and carried out Laura's order immediately. After the first incident when she fired most of the servants, not a single one of them dared to fight back against this woman.

Kanae watched as Laura gave her instruction to the servants. She shook her head lightly.. Tomorrow was going to be very lively.