Chapter 8
Marguerite could find Aaron.
Just like when she used to tell them, “As long as I’m here, no one can bully you p>
That was just who Marguerite was unbreakably strong, like the sun in the sky.
The gloom in Theobald’s eyes began to lift.
He nodded obediently. “Okay p>
Marguerite took the pajamas and the underwear Anna had bought for her and headed to the bathroom for a shower. It felt like she hadn’t bathed in eleven years, and she was drenched in sweat.
Anna, who had been monitoring the situation, re-entered the house.
Before knowing the CEO’s sister’s name, nothing had clicked. But the name “Marguerite” stirred a memory.
Back in 2014, she was only a fourteen-year-old middle schooler. Her goal was to get into Northpine’s Pinecrest High, so she followed news about the school closely. That year, Northpine’s top scorer on the university entrance exams was a Pinecrest student named Marguerite, who had been accepted into Crestview Academy.
Marguerite was already famous-a campus queen and academic prodigy. She had been offered early admission to Crestview Academy but had turned it down, giving the spot to someone else. That story had spread far and wide.
Even more famous was her rivalry with Pinecrest’s Campus King for the top rank in every exam. While other schools shipped their campus royalty, at Pinecrest, the entire student body silently placed bets on who would come out on top each time. When the two of them met in the hallways, there was no hint of romance in their eyes-only the burning desire to crush the other.
For their final high school exam, the betting pool was enormous, even attracting bets from outside the school. The school officially banned it, but it was rumored that even the teachers couldn’t resist placing a small wager.
In the end, the Campus Queen won by a single point.
The Campus King, unsurprisingly, placed second in the city and was also accepted into Crestview Academy.
Everyone assumed their rivalry would continue in college.
But that summer, shocking news swept through Northpine.
The top scholar, Marguerite, had crashed her car through an overpass guardrail and into the river. The Northpine police searched for a month, recovering only the car. No body was ever found. But with the river’s strong currents at the time, death was the only logical conclusion.
A month later, the Northpine police officially declared her deceased.
Crestview Academy even issued a statement of condolence, mourning the loss of a brilliant mind.
Anna had been devastated at the time, believing it a case of tragic genius. On the day her death was announced, the overpass was covered in flowers as people came to pay their respects. Get full chapters from
She never would have imagined that Marguerite wasn’t dead.
Anna was incredibly curious about what had happened. Marguerite’s appearance and mentality seemed frozen in time. She had appeared out of nowhere, with nothing to her name. But Anna knew she wasn’t close enough to Marguerite to ask such personal questions, and asking the CEO would be overstepping.
Regardless, it was good that she was back.
“Mr. Scott, I’ll go make up a bed for Maggie,” Anna said.
The villa had a cleaning service that came regularly, but no live-in staff, as Theobald was rarely home.
Theobald looked up, twisting the rosary beads on his wrist. “No need. You should head home. I’ll do it p>
Anna was surprised. “Mr. Scott, you know how to make a bed p>
He shot her a look. “Of course I do. I’m an expert. I used to make my sister’s bed all the time p>
For a fleeting moment, Anna saw a flicker of pride in her boss’s eyes.
She smiled. “Well, that’s impressive p>
The villa had plenty of guest rooms, but Theobald gave the master bedroom to Marguerite, changing the sheets to a brand-new set, and took a guest room for himself.
Marguerite didn’t object. After her shower, she lay in bed, scrolling through her new phone, researching what had changed in the past eleven year’s Not much, really, aside from society becoming more digitized and the rise of short-form video and live streaming.
When she grew tired of reading, she browsed Twitter and saw the trending topic about her and Theobald. CEOs rarely paid attention to entertainment news; assistants usually handled that.
Marguerite’s eyes narrowed. She sent a message to Anna on WhatsApp. Her account was logged in with Theobald’s secondary number, as she couldn’t register her own without an ID.
Eleven o’clock came and went, but Marguerite felt wide awake. She continued playing on her phone until one in the morning, when a wave of drowsmess finally hit her. She closed her eyes.
Thirty minutes later, she opened them again and rolled over.
An hour later, she switched to sleeping at the other end of the bed.
Two hours later, she climbed out of bed and tried sleeping on the floor.
Three hours later, her eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling.
It was no use. Her sleep disorder was acting up. It wasn’t her old house, and she couldn’t sleep.
This had been a problem for a long time. It was why she had to commute to high school every day instead of living in the dorms.
Defeated, at four in the morning,
Marguerite started scrolling through
short-form videos again. For some reason, the algorithma kept feeding her clips from gossip accounts calling Theobald the “Northpine Wraith p>
Feeling thirsty, she went to get a glass of water and heard Theobald’s phone ringing from the adjacent guest room.
Marguerite was surprised. Don’t tell me the Northpine Wraith wakes up at four a.m p>
But it didn’t sound like an alarm. She heard a groggy “Hello?” from inside the room. Curiosity piqued, Marguerite wondered who would be calling the Northpine Wraith at this ungodly hour.