Chapitre 27: How Are You Doing?

"Are you hurt?" Noah asked with a frown on his forehead.

Shirley chuckled nervously and subtly released Noah's grip on her hand, then rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.

"You could say that," Shirley replied as she nodded.

"It looks like your sister is making trouble for you." Noah cleared his throat softly, then decided to move away from Shirley.

Noah just realised that their position was closer than usual, fortunately there were only two of them here.

If there were other people then it was certain that Noah would feel even more embarrassed than he did now.

After that, the atmosphere between them became awkward, Shirley rubbed her neck to indicate that she was nervous at the moment.

"I think I should go home after this," Shirley said after thinking for a long time what she should say to break the silence between them.

"I won't keep you then." Noah knew that he had to let Shirley go home and the help she had given him was enough.

Shirley then decided to head back to her family's mansion after compressing her cheek to make it less noticeable that there was a slap mark there.

. . .

Honestly, if Shirley had somewhere else to go, she would not have returned to her family mansion today. Just thinking about it made Shirley scared, who knew what Rosemary would do to her after she got home today.

Luckily when Shirley arrived home, she saw no sign of Rosemary, so she quickly escaped into her room.

Shirley called Ivy quickly, asking her maid to help her clean up, she wanted to go to bed early tonight.

That way Rosemary would have to wait until tomorrow morning to punish her and she hoped her father would come home tomorrow and save her from Rosemary's beating.

So that night Shirley went to bed early without eating her dinner. She felt hungry and anxious, luckily she was able to sleep that night.

Only unbeknownst to Shirley, that night when she was already fast asleep Rosemary entered her room with someone.

"Take her." Rosemary said coldly.

If Shirley thought that she would not punish her just because she was sleeping, then Shirley was very wrong. Rosemary smirked as she saw that the person she sent was already carrying Shirley who was still sleeping.

With that, Rosemary walked out of the room to a secluded spot in the area of their mansion.

. . .

In her sleep Shirley felt uncomfortable as the cold air pierced her skin. In a semi-conscious state, Shirley felt around to find a blanket.

But what made Shirley surprised was the fact that her hands felt the rough floor, she even felt small rocks hitting her hands.

Shirley immediately opened her eyes wide as she realised that something bad must have happened this time.

The first thing Shirley realised when she opened her eyes was that she was not in her own room.

"Where am I?!" Shirley was so shocked that she even pinched her own hand to make sure that she was not dreaming at the moment.

"This is not a dream ...."

Still not fully focused Shirley got up from her position, she staggered slightly but did not fall.

Shirley quickly took a look around her and she found many items there, her first guess was that she had been locked up in the warehouse.

To confirm her guess, Shirley looked around the room and found a small window on top of the wall.

Shirley personally hated dark and gloomy rooms like this, she wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

"That damn witch is crazier than she looks," said Shirley irritably, she would make sure to teach Rosemary a valuable lesson next time.

Shirley piled up some of the old furniture so she could climb up and look out of the window up there.

With great difficulty, Shirley stacked the items, fortunately she was able to climb up and look out for help.

However, Shirley realised that Rosemary really didn't want anyone else to know where she was at the moment because the warehouse Rosemary was using to lock her up was a remote warehouse that was no longer in use.

"At this rate it'll be two or three days before she decides to release me," Shirley muttered softly.

Rather than spend her energy shouting when no one would hear her, Shirley decided to climb down from the pile of furniture.

As she looked around her dusty furniture, Shirley shuddered, not to mention imagining how she would have to spend the night in this place.

Just imagining it scared Shirley, who knew how she would get through the night.

. . .

After the banquet that night Noah was severely scolded by his family, Thalia swearing at him for hours that night. Even his father whipped him again that night, the hatred inside him building up even more because of it.

But, one thing that Noah was also thinking about that day, he was also worried about Shirley who didn't seem to be doing well too.

His family didn't care about him after they beat him up that night, Noah was forgotten again.

Because Noah was worried about Shirley, finally today after his wounds had healed enough, he decided to pay a visit to Marquess Estelle's mansion.

"Why isn't she replying to my letter?" Noah was getting more and more worried after the previous letters he sent to Shirley never received a reply for three days.

Noah's carriage finally arrived at Marquess Estelle's mansion. When Noah got off the carriage, he was unexpectedly greeted by Shirley's younger sister whom he had seen before.

Noah didn't really remember Shirley's sister's name because they had never interacted before and even if they had he didn't remember it.

"Lord Noah! It's good to see you in our residence," Charlotte greeted excitedly.

Charlotte certainly knew about what had happened to Shirley, so she took this opportunity to approach Noah while Shirley was away.

"Good afternoon, Lady Estelle. You're not usually here, where's Shirley?" Still with a smile hanging on his face, Noah immediately asked for Shirley's whereabouts.

Although Noah's handsome face looked kind and warm, the truth was that Noah was also known to be very blunt if he didn't like the girls who approached him.

Charlotte's face turned sour when she heard Noah looking for Shirley's whereabouts, "I don't know where my sister went. It seems like she was wandering around the mansion earlier," Charlotte replied, not really caring about Shirley.

Boldly Charlotte stepped closer and pulled Noah's arm to bring him into her house.

Hearing Charlotte's answer to his question Noah became a little suspicious, his anxiety about Shirley had not subsided at this time.

Noah stopped Charlotte and when she turned to look at him, he said.

"The weather is so nice today, would you like to accompany me on a tour of the mansion?" With a sweet smile Noah influenced Charlotte to do what she wanted at the moment.

This way Noah could look for Shirley's whereabouts, if she really was touring the mansion at the moment.