Chapter 263: Lita on a high horse.

Never in her life had Lita ever held her head so high.

After she had confirmed to the entire universe that her marriage had finally been consummated, the whispers and sneers behind her back stopped almost overnight. There were doubts, especially among those who knew about Elliot’s short comings in that department, but nobody dared to vocalize it.

Most people in the Kaelion household had stopped looking down on Lita, but not Loveline. She seemed to hate Lita even more and her glares could cut through steel if it were possible. Lita didn’t care. She had systematically bought the servants’ affection and respect with generous energy stones and other small gifts, and she was slowly working toward earning their absolute loyalty.

Her relationship with Elliot, however, remained a delicate game. To avoid any awkwardness or embarrassment, she simply avoided him altogether whenever they were in public. Thankfully, Elliot remembered almost nothing from that fateful night. A thing that Lita was most grateful for.

He still harbored deep doubts about whether he had actually touched her_ after all, he knew better than anyone that his manhood couldn’t rise to the occasion, but with the public proof out there, he had eventually let the embarrassing subject go. In the end, the assumption was also good for him.

Here he was now, sitting in his mother’s office, staring suspiciously at the wife he didn’t want or need. She was squirming in turn, but pretending to be bold, which made him sneer on the inside.

Sabrina leaned back in her high-backed chair, her sharp eyes scanning Lita. "Do you have any new information from the Sanctum?"

"I do, Mother," Lita reported smoothly, keeping her posture straight. "Trinity is not in the best mood lately. Even though she hunted king beasts and worked herself to exhaustion to make the protective veil stronger, the public is still completely obsessed with you. The younger Soul maidens are singing your praises. She is planning to buy back their love and attention by making some new changes to her leadership style. They did not allow me into that meeting so I don’t know the details as of yet."

Hearing that, Sabrina threw her head back and laughed_ a harsh, hysterical sound that rang through the room like she was possessed.

Lita waited for the laughter to die down before adding in a lower, more serious tone, "There is one more thing. The continuous disappearance of the soul maidens is disturbing Trinity deeply. She’s launching a full investigation into it."

Sabrina was responsible for this, of course.

Elliot frowned, turning his head toward his mother. "Mother, what do you even plan to use those soul maidens for anyway? You keep collecting them like energy stones?"

Sabrina stopped laughing, her gaze turning cold as ice. "I want the Sanctum itself far more than I want the title of Divine Maiden. And those maidens are the keys to getting it."

"Why do you want that mess?" Elliot pressed, leaning forward.

Sabrina folded her lips tightly shut, giving him a flat look that clearly signaled the conversation was over. She turned her attention away from him and looked toward Andrea, who was standing quietly near the window.

"Any progress on finding Zyra?" Sabrina asked sharply.

"Zyra?" Lita blurted out before she could stop herself, her voice pitching up slightly. "My foster sister Zyra? Are you still looking for her?"

The Kaelions all turned to stare at her at once. Andrea’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits as she stepped closer. "Right, Zyra is your sister? Do you know where she is? Maybe where she would go to hide?"

Lita lifted her chin, putting absolute certainty into her voice. "Zyra is dead!"

Andrea’s eyes narrowed even further, dark suspicion wavering in her cold gaze. "How can you be so sure?"

Lita bit her bottom lip, pausing just for a second as her mind raced to craft the best lie possible. She forced a sad, delicate expression onto her face and sighed softly. "Because Zyra and I were the best of friends," Lita said, wiping at an imaginary tear. "We shared everything. If she were alive anywhere out there, she would have definitely reached out to me by now. The fact that she hasn’t means that something terrible happened to her."

Elliot pointed an agreeing finger at Lita, nodding along. "She actually has a point, Mother. Lita knows her own sister more than anyone. The girl’s twin brother is marrying Isabelle. If the sister were alive, she would have followed her twin brother by now."

Andrea scoffed, clearly unimpressed by the emotional display Lita had put on. "We aren’t taking chances with probabilities. My search team is heading into the wild lands after the tournament to start a search from her last known location."

Good luck with that, Lita thought silently, maintaining a solemn face while sneering on the inside. You can search every inch of those lands, but you won’t find a corpse because the bitch has been shredded to minced meat by beasts.

Smoothing down her silk dress, Lita looked over at Sabrina and offered a polite, graceful bow. "Anyway, mother, I actually came here to inform you that dinner is about to be served."

Sabrina flicked her fingers in a dismissive manner. "We will be right there. You are dismissed." There were other things she needed to discuss with her children--things Lita could not hear.

This time, Lita could not even eavesdrop because Sabrina had a guard at the door. She walked away with her lips in a thin angry line.

Moments later, everyone in the household sat around the long table with their covered meals, waiting for the grand elder. This was his last meal in the house before he headed to the Capital early tomorrow morning.

Alessa and Sabrina kept throwing dirty looks at each other, their eyes practically shooting invisible sparks across the soup bowls. Then Alessa smirked, let out a long sigh, and cleared her throat.

"Since everyone is here, I have an announcement to make," Alessa declared, leaning back in her chair. "I’m returning to Apex Industries officially."

Dead silence fell over the dining hall. The only sound was the steady, heavy ticktock of the wall clock.

Over the years, Sabrina had made sure to relieve most of the relatives who were not on her side of their positions at the company. Most of the family had simply given up, choosing to sit at home and wait for their yearly dividend payouts rather than go back and forth with a viper like her. It was already rumored that either Andrea or Elliot would be the next CEO after their mother.

Sabrina let out a loud, dramatic scoff. "You? Return to Apex? In what capacity? Cleaning the lobby? Because heavens know your brains are not made for business, dear sister."

"The grand elder, as the biggest shareholder, asked me to step in and watch over things for him while he’s busy with personal stuff," Alessa said, tilting her chin up.

"Father is doing this to spite me." Sabrina said through pursed lips.

Andrea, sipping her tea, narrowed her eyes. "I just hope, Aunt Alessa, you are not playing dirty tricks to make Grandfather hand over all his shares. We all know how good you are at sweet-talking old men. Your husband is what_ fifteen years older than you?"