Under the Veil of Night

(Special mention for web novel [without space between the two words] reader aistitch)

…

"Open the gate."

"But Miss…!"

Ashley looked at her bodyguard coldly. "You do not have the right to reprimand me. I want to eat with him, so let him come inside. Besides, Angel, Piku and Shie will be there to accompany me."

"But they're cats…."

"Doesn't matter."

The bodyguard's lips twitched when he heard the stubborn Ashley. They knew that the young miss always loved to act on her own. When they were back in their home country, it was fine. But in this city, they were worried that there might be dangerous people.

"Come in."

As the gate opened, Neo followed behind Ashley while looking around curiously. He had visited some officials' mansions in the past before, but this place had a completely different architecture. It felt more refreshing and novel.

Meow!

Meow!

Meow!

Seeing the cats coming to his direction, Neo's lips twitched a bit. He could see three different cats coming to Ashley. The first cat was grey in color yet it had some kind of silver lining around its body. The second one was in white pink shade while the last one was white with blue perch. It seemed that Ashley truly loved cats.

Ashley giggled when she saw Neo stopped in his tracks. "Don't worry, they're all very friendly."

"I see," Neo replied with difficulties. He never liked cats too much. Thinking of his encounter with Maylin just now, he sighed to himself.

Ashley let Maylin down and picked the grey colored cat. "This is Piku. The white one is Angel and the pink one is Shie."

"Are cats normally pink in color?" Neo asked curiously as he looked at the pink cat. He had never seen any cat with pink color before.

"She's originally more white, but she played with a can of pink paint yesterday, so she's now pink in color."

"…I see."

Ashley didn't walk inside and stopped at the table in the garden. She waved her hand to call the servant. "Bring the food here. We're going to eat outside."

"Yes, Miss."

"You may take a seat."

"Yes."

Neo watched Ashley carefully as he sat down. Looking at her demeanor, he could definitely say that she must have learnt about manners ever since her young age. Compared to his rowdy attitude, he must have looked like a country bumpkin to her.

However, Kate didn't seem to care in the slightest. She offered him food, and he ate well. The bodyguards still looked like they were pissed off at him, but Neo also didn't care for them at all. In any case, he was invited by their young miss, so they should forget about doing anything to him.

If not…

Hehehe, he wouldn't be polite at all.

"Do you like pudding?" Kate asked after they had finished the meal. She was giving the biscuit on her hand to her cats as she asked. Piku's eyes lit up when she saw the biscuit and pounced on it without any hesitation.

Neo nodded. "I wouldn't reject your kindness if you offer it to me."

"Heh, what a sweet talker."

Neo merely smiled. The pudding was served afterwards and Neo watched the servant looking at him with disgust. He couldn't care less. Probably, for these rich people, someone like him didn't even worth much. Neo himself didn't really bother with it so much because he didn't really dress up and only wore a shirt and jeans.

"Miss Kate, it's time for your lesson," a butler walked out of the house and greeted Katherine directly.

Ashley frowned. She looked at the butler. "Can't you see that I'm still with my guest?"

The butler still looked at Ashley with a deadpan expression. "Master wouldn't like it if you delay the lesson."

Ashley groaned, but restrained herself in the next moment. She put on a polite smile and turned to look at Neo. Even though this was the first time they met with each other, she didn't really put on a front with him and let him see her real self.

"Let's meet again sometime in the future. I'll still stay in this country for a few more weeks."

"Miss Kate," the butler warned her in a stern tone. It was not good to tell her schedule to an outsider just like that. However, Ashley didn't seem to care in the slightest about what the butler said.

Neo nodded. "Sure. Thank you for today."

"En."

Ashley walked with Neo to the front door and bid farewell there. After Neo turned around, he could hear Ashley scolded her butler for interrupting her time. For her, she didn't care about her study in the slightest bit. What she wanted was nothing more than some free time for herself. It had been a long time since she met someone who didn't fear her bodyguards and didn't act differently just because she came from a rich and powerful family.

'Hmm?'

Neo could sense that there were several people trying to follow him. He snorted in displeasure as he turned around in the next intersection. Once he was unable to be seen, he picked up his pace and rushed to the front and turned once more. Afterwards, he climbed the window and entered the empty house.

He had already hacked the area around this place a few times, so he knew some houses were still empty. This was one of those and would still be empty for a long period of time because of the ghost story that had been circulating in recent years.

Neo took out his phone and sighed. He missed his laptop.

'Katherine Ashley Rin.'

As he began to browse for information, Neo found out a lot about Rin Family. It was one of the richest families in the entire world with Ashley being one of the future heirs. There were a total of three daughters and the family relationship seemed complicated. However, the true heir was still Ashley because she's the oldest and also the one from the first legal wife.

After Ashley's mother died, her father remarried not even a month later and gave birth to twins. Those two were also eyeing the position to inherit Rin Family businesses, but because they all were still in High School, the competition was not that fierce.

'In a few more years, it'll be a brutal battle.'

Neo was not interested in such family affairs and decided to collect more information about Ashely instead. She was 16 years old this year, which made her around four years younger than him.

'Interesting.'

Ring! Ring!

"Boss?"

"What time do you think it is?" Kevin's cold voice could be heard from the other end of the call.

Neo's face changed as he looked at the time on his phone. Sh*t! He was staying outside for so long to the point that he forgot about his work.

Aaaaa!

He could only hope that Kevin would be merciful and didn't make him work overtime again.