Leopold wanted to run, but Jerry had him by the collar, leaving him no chance to escape.
Jerry squinted his eyes, radiating a dangerous aura. "You had the guts to help that womanizer steal away our Mystic Mistress, huh?"
"I swear, I didn't know!" Leopold pleaded. He was basically on the verge of tears. "I swear, I had no idea that Vivienne was the Mystic Mistress!"
When the Mystic Mistress was on the mountain, she never revealed her real name. He only knew her as the Mystic Mistress.
Moreover, when he first met the Mystic Mistress, she was only nine years old.
Unlike his disciples, he only stayed on the mountain for two years before leaving, so he had no idea what the Mystic Mistress looked like when she grew up.
"Stand straight!" Jerry commanded coldly, and Leopold promptly stood upright.
"Tell me, how far have things gone between the Mystic Mistress and that womanizer?" Jerry asked, his face stern.
Leopold, hearing Jerry refer to Mr. Ellington as a womanizer, felt like crying.
Hey!
Mr. Ellington was his dear friend.
He had apparently forgotten his recent vow to castrate Mr. Ellington.
"Just...just..." Leopold hesitated for a long moment. Under the intimidating gazes of his disciples, he reluctantly confessed. "They're...living together.”
“What?! They're living together?!" Eight men roared in unison, causing Leopold to shrink back.
"I don't believe it!" Donald shook his head in disbelief. "Our aloof and unapproachable Mystic Mistress would never agree to live with a womanizer!"
"Beast!" Larry glared at Leopold. "That Percival is simply a beast. The Mystic Mistress is only nineteen! How could a man almost in his thirties take advantage of her?!”
“What?! The womanizer is that old?!" Gary exclaimed, "Shameless!"
Dawson disagreed inwardly. Was twenty-eight old? He was thirty and didn't think he was old.
Just as he was about to defend older bachelors, Jerry turned and gave him a smack on the head. "Useless! The Mystic Mistress was in Havenwood, and you had no idea she was living with that womanizer?!"
"I never thought that our usually haughty Mystic Mistress would suddenly become blind and be deceived by that scoundrel Percival." Dawson felt wronged, wishing he could tear Percival to pieces.
"That womanizer must have sweet-talked the Mystic Mistress!" Eric gritted his teeth.
"Right!" Brian agreed, also gritting his teeth. "The Mystic Mistress is soft-hearted. That scoundrel must have used some unspeakable means. Otherwise, how could she possibly live with him?!"
"Tell us!" Jerry demanded, glaring at Leopold. "How did that womanizer deceive the Mystic Mistress into living with him?!"
"If you destroy one place, he'll just sweet talk Mystic Mistress into moving with him to some other mansion." Eric added, his grin mischievous.
"You guys aren't really planning to make every single one of his homes uninhabitable, are you?" Leopold looked at his eight older disciples, his face a mask of horror. "Isn't that a bit too ruthless?"
"That's why, little Leo." Donald slung an arm around Leopold's neck as Gary mirrored his action on Leopold’s other side, threateningly saying, "You better come clean. Spill every detail about that scumbag's real estate holdings."
"Not a single one can be left out.” Larry wagged a finger in front of Leopold, his voice a warning hiss.
Under the intense scrutiny of his eight disciples, Leopold could only feel a cold sweat trickling down his back.
‘Mr. Ellington, please don't blame me. It's every man for himself, and I have to save my own skin.’ He thought to himself.
...
Back at the mansion.
Isolde, who had just been saved, had already taken a hot bath under the care of Cecilia and the housemaid. She was now sitting obediently on her pink bed, dressed in a clean nightgown, letting Vivienne give her a medical check-up.
Vivienne first examined Isolde’s minor injuries, finding them to be mere scrapes. She then checked Isolde’s pulse, while Cecilia anxiously asked, “How is she? Is Isolde okay? Those bastards... they’ve poisoned her once before; could they have...”
“It’s okay.” Vivienne shook her head and interrupted Cecilia in a soothing tone. “They probably thought Isolde was a goner this time around, so they didn’t resort to other means.”
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Million-Dollar Heart (Percival and Vivienne)