บท 20: CH 20: A HUNCH
What Adam didn't notice was that the moment Bridget approached him, while the women mingling around did not pay attention to their meeting, all those sitting around Yui immediately began watching their interactions with undisguised interest in their eyes.
"This is the first time I see that old witch being interested in someone else. I wonder who that boy might be."
The women talking around Yui quieted down after that little question and Yui, hid the frown that tried to emerge on her face and replied with a smile instead,
"He is my sworn little brother. Well, not yet, but I plan to make that a reality one day. I want to train him a little before that."
"Oh? Does that mean you will give everything to him after you retire?"
"Surely you jest. I am only a few years older than him. I don't plan to retire anytime soon."
"Fufufu~! Forgive me. It's just that you are so mature and competent for someone your age. I sometimes forget that you are still a youngster, unlike us old monsters here."
Yui kept her smile despite the threat and mockery that was laced in their veiled words full of double meanings. It didn't matter to her how old and experienced they were.
She feared none of them. Wisdom and power were not necessarily related to age, in the end. It was just about how much one experienced and what they were able to learn from them.
The conversation went to its usual merry route before one of them put forward a question that put a freezing silence to their entertaining chat, "I do not want to be presumptuous Ms. Feng. But the recent cases of murder in LA is quite concerning."
"What can I do? They didn't happen in my territory, after all."
Yui was quite clear about her position in this matter. This wasn't her problem, not in the least.
"Oh? I thought that since they attacked your 'sworn' brother here, you would intervene now. After all, powerful 'Hunters' are quite rare here in LA. But forgive me if I was mistaken for that assumption of mine."
'Bitch!'
Yui scowled inwardly. She had been so happy to brag about her cute little Adam that she had been rather careless. Something that should have never happened in a gathering of such significance.
Now her reputation might be put in jeopardy and in this world, reputation was everything.
'Cursed bitches!'
Yui could see through that fake laugh of the accursed woman, 'They already investigated all about Adam.'
She wasn't surprised by this fact. With her position, all the people who had contact with her would be thoroughly investigated by many people. Adam wouldn't be an exception, of course.
But she hated having this fact thrown at her face so blatantly like that.
She looked at the disrespectful woman. Ashley Osborn. A descendant of Sarah Osborn.
The Osborn family was now a declining family. The only reason they were even standing at the position they had was thanks to Bridget Bishop. Since Sarah had been her long time acquaintance.
'Why is that bitch trying to rile me up?'
She wondered if it was something cooked up by Bridget herself. But it was very hard to believe. That old witch disliked dealing with politics more than anything. In fact, Yui had never even expected her to show up in this party of hers despite her invitation.
The Feng and Hanekawa families were nothing in front of a colossal like Bishop. Much less a young woman like her who was cast aside by both of her families to fend for herself.
It had been quite a surprise when that woman suddenly decided to come to this opening ceremony.
'Now that I think about it…'
She narrowed her eyes into thin slits. She had just the right answer to that blatant remark she threw at her.
"No one can attack one of my own and go unpunished, much less after attacking my little brother. But you see, I believe the killer this time might need the direct intervention of a Director."
Silence and wonder filled all of their expressions and the group turned eerily quiet at that bomb that was thrown by Yui. They knew very well that there was only one reason that might need the meddling of a Director level executive.
"Oh my~!"
Even Ashley seemed quite surprised by that news.
"You believe it's a rogue or a newborn?"
"I do not know. But with the information we have, it's most likely a newborn that wasn't raised properly."
"Then does that mean…?"
They all looked in Adam's direction. They did not finish the sentence but the question in their words was evident.
"No. He was not…"
"Oh…"
"Such a shame!"
"I always wanted to capture a newborn. It could have been interesting."
Their interest swiftly diminished. They thought that Bridget might have simply been curious the same way they had just been and would lose interest in the boy pretty soon.
Of course, they still made sure to keep the name of the boy in mind.
———
To say that Bridget was beautiful would be an understatement in itself. She was an extremely charming woman and had an equally glamorous body to further enhance and complement that beauty of hers.
She was currently wearing a simple white dress that lacked the artifice the other women had but she was all the more beautiful for that reason. Her long black hair that reached her back had a hint of purple at the tips and her jewel-like purple eyes shone like a star in the sky. She was the very definition of an exotic woman with near unparallel charm.
For an instant, Adam's mind grew sluggish after looking at her eyes and his eye seemed to lose focus but he gathered his mind back before the effects could reach his facials and reactions.
'Oh?'
Bridget showed a smile full of surprise at his reaction before an even brighter smile replaced the one before and graced her beautiful lips,
"Your name is very beautiful, Ms. Bishop. In fact, I believe that I have already heard it somewhere…"
"Oh? Care to have a drink with me, then? Mayhaps your memory will come back to you."
Adam chuckled. He wasn't feeling very confident right now as this woman seemed to beway way out of his league. But he couldn't exactly back down now, could he?
Fake it until you make it. He decided to go with that approach.
Adam held her hands in a gentlemanly manner and brought her to a somewhat private zone. Yui had told him that this was the place they could bring clients who did not want to move in groups. The zone was not closed off, but it was a certain distance away from others and gave a certain intimacy between the ones inhabiting it.
Once seated, someone swiftly came and took their orders.
Bridget raised an eyebrow as Adam asked for a simple cocktail without alcohol.
"Religious reasons?"
He hid an embarrassed smile from forming on his lips and simply shook his head, "I made a promise to have my first drink with someone else."
'Ah…'
He immediately recognized the mistake he made and from the dumbfounded look the waiter gave him he wasn't the only one who thought that he had gone mental.
"Pfft! Hahaha~! I must say, this is the first time a man said something like this to my face."
Even though she said so, the mirth in her eyes was evident that she hadn't minded his words and even welcomed them, "Bring us two cocktails, please. It would be rude to be the only one drinking alcohol."
"Very well."
Once the waiter left, Bridget chuckled lightly again, remembering that small slip up by Adam, as she sat opposite him.
"You aren't really good at this, are you?"
Her position as she bent down and asked this made a great opening to her womanly charms, but while Adam lacked experience, he wasn't a thirsty lad that he would lack all decorum and openly stare at the breasts of a woman. No matter how charming, beautiful, and a great view that would be.
Keeping his eyes up, gazing straight at her beautiful eyes, he gave a shy smile and scratched his neck in embarrassment. It seemed that this woman liked the fact that he did not have any experience. So he decided to capitalize on it.
"This is honestly my first time in such a place and occasion."
"Ohoh? Really?"
Their discussion was interrupted as the drinks were served but the waiter immediately vanished after having done his job.
Adam seriously wondered if the man was a ninja with how silent his steps had been.
"So, tell me Adam…or should I call you Mr. Gospel?"
"Adam is fine, Ms. Bishop."
"Then you can call me Bridget too. Well then Adam, I wonder what brings a handsome young man such as yourself to this place."
"Money."
"My… You are quite the direct young lad, aren't you?"
"What choice do I have? You do not seem like a dazzled young woman who would believe in sweet honeyed words, after all. I believe in such a case, honesty is very preferable. Correct me if I am wrong though."
"Fufufu~! Honesty is indeed a quality I enjoy quite a bit. Lies can be very hurtful at times, after all."
"It seems like someone hurt you in the past there."
"Weren't we all?"
The mirth in her eyes was gone as she seemed to look in the distance, reminiscing about a past that she might have wanted to forget, "The word betrayal can only be used when it's done by someone you believed in, after all."
She chuckled, a bit depressed by her nostalgic bout, "Lying was the first sin for a reason."
Adam immediately understood that this was a woman with a history behind her. But he did not mind that in the slightest, "I believe the first sin was the thirst for knowledge and wisdom."
"Is that so?"
The discussion between the two of them slowly became smoother as they went from topics such as religion to history and the like.
It was then that Adam finally remembered where he had heard that beautiful name of hers. It was in an old book that his mother forced him to read so that he could research the horror of the Witch Trial in the city of Salem.
In the list of names of the poor women who had been burned, hanged, or simply decapitated after being accused of sorcery and witchcraft, four names stood out from the mass as they were the first to be accused of such deeds.
Sarah Good.
Sarah Osborn.
Tituba.
Finally, Bridget Bishop who, after being sold out by Tituba, became the first accused witch to be put to death during the Salem Witch Trials.
She was hanged at the Salem gallows in a public display.
Adam's hand trembled slightly as he suddenly had a scary thought. He silently gulped down the drink in his glass as cold sweat began trickling down his back,
'Surely… This is just a coincidence, right?'
(AN: I decided for now that every 300 PS will mean a bonus chapt. basically
300 PS= 1 CH
600 PS= 2 CH
900PS= 3 CH
and so on.
To kickstart thing. Tomorrow there will be two chapters rather than one.)
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