Chapter 47: Anxious Flowers

The night was dark, the umbra cloak of the night only being cast away by the illumination of the mansion. The gentle night breeze brought with it the scent of the small forest surrounding the mansion. The luxurious walls were silent, the sounds of absent life, with the exception of the fourth floor, where three beautiful women awaited the return of Alicarde.

Carrisa sat on the luxurious chairs of the fourth-floor balcony, worry etched across her exquisite face. It was past midnight, and Alicarde had not yet returned.

She knew he was a college student; frankly speaking, for someone his age, this should be the norm.

Except Alicarde didn't like crowds or the noisy places more popular with his peers. He had told her as much, and he had never been out late. Sure, he didn't go to sleep early, but he mostly spent that time on the games he played or those animations he watched.

He always came back home early, the only exception being the convocation; that was a special occasion, so she had expected him to be out late into the night. He had returned that day with a dead expression, trying his best to force a smile on his despondent face.

She had not asked him at first, knowing he would tell her what became of him that night. Amena had gone to find him, based on his phone's location that night. She had found his phone in the hand of a homeless vagrant, who apparently picked it up in an alley. They had begun searching for him when he had returned.

Carrisa sighed. 'Should I be more concerned now?' she thought, though the worry had already taken hold.

While Carrisa hadn't ordered it, Amena had taken the liberty of tracking his GPS location. Apparently, he had moved from place to place, all frequented by college students.

'Has he made a new acquaintance of whom I am unaware? He did express dissatisfaction with knowing only women here—something about desiring a male companion,' she mused silently, though the development left her feeling somewhat uneasy.

Carrisa did not wish to invade his privacy at every turn. While he tolerated the tracker, she didn't want to push him too far. There was a limit to how much of his life he would permit her to oversee. If she crossed that line, he would surely be displeased.

The taciturn maid, Amena, stood silently by her side, her usual stoic expression tinged with concern. She picked up a device the maid had handed her—round with a touch screen. Carrisa glanced at it, noticing the location on the tracker had shifted—Alicarde was now at a bar.

'According to this, he is presently at a bar. Yet, therein lies the issue Alicarde, in a bar? What could possibly be his intention—drinking water? I am quite certain he abstains from alcohol, regardless of the occasion," Carrisa pondered, recalling the time she had attempted to tempt him with a bottle of finely aged wine. She had even procured two glasses, hoping they could drink together, but he had firmly declined.

Then there was Amena. She had taken the liberty of keeping tabs on Alicarde, not because she was ordered to, nor because she had any doubts about his behavior—no, not in the slightest. The reason was more personal, an unfounded affection for the snarky young man. Carrisa had realized this over time, her maid had become rather taken with Alicarde.

Carrisa could more or less guess what Amena was thinking. Her thoughts would be along the lines of He's fine. He'll come back with one of his ridiculous tales. He'll try to make me laugh with his nonsense. We'll play video games, and he'll lose. He's alright.

Carrisa sighed and turned to the other woman present, the half-werewolf sister of Aiden Beowulf.

Argint paced back and forth across the room, as she had been doing for the past three hours. Though Carrisa and Amena remained quiet, not showing much outward emotion, Argint must have noticed Carrisa gently tapping her finger on the table in an incoherent rhythm.

The taciturn, porcelain-doll-like maid occasionally squeezed the sides of her dress. Carrisa knew she wasn't the only one worried about him.

Argint had tried calling Alicarde earlier. He didn't pick up at first, but when he finally did, his voice had sounded off.

He only said, "Busy, call you later," in what seemed to be a crowded room. It was undoubtedly his voice, yet something about it felt strange, unsettling.

Argint muttered under her breath, "Where is he?"

Her expression betrayed her worries.

Amena finally broke the silence, her voice soft but insistent. "Mistress, should we not go and check on him? Surely, you must agree that something is amiss, especially judging from the tone of his voice?"

Carrisa hesitated, chewing her lower lip. "We should, but his current location is at a restaurant frequented by college students. If we appear there, we risk intruding on his personal life. I am certain you are aware that Alicarde values his semblance of normalcy and prefers that we remain distant from it."

She knew all too well how much Alicarde wanted to keep her and the others away from his mundane life, and she also knew that if she intruded too much, he would grow frustrated with her.

As the tension in the room thickened, a figure appeared on the balcony—a drifting mist slipping effortlessly through the shadows. Elizalina materialized, her presence as ethereal and seductive as ever. She leaned casually against the balcony rail, a faint smile playing on her lips.

"Good evening, everyone. It seems I've arrived just in time. Huh... Alicarde isn't here? Did he retire early for the night?" Elizalina greeted them in her sweet, saccharine tone.

Argint scowled, her eyes brimming with evident hostility toward the silver-haired vampire. Elizalina ignored her, still facing Carrisa.

"Why the long faces?" she asked, her tone light but curious.

Without missing a beat, Argint lunged at her, anger flashing in her eyes. But Elizalina, expecting the hot-blooded lycanthrope's attack, simply turned to mist, letting Argint pass through her harmlessly. Carrisa quickly intervened, placing a calming hand on Argint's shoulder.

Carrisa had anticipated Argint losing her patience, which was why she had risen from her seat beforehand.

"Have you seen Alicarde?" Carrisa asked, her voice betraying her rising anxiety.

Elizalina reformed, her expression now more serious.

"I came to find him myself... I wanted to offer an apology for my previous indiscretion. Hold on... he hasn't returned yet? Did I come all this way in vain?"

"No, he hasn't. His current location, according to the tracker, is a restaurant often visited by students for affordable meals. I am reluctant to disturb him and intrude upon his normal life. However, if you could, would you—"

Before Carrisa could finish her request, Elizalina pulled a phone from her cleavage, smiling seductively.

"Shall I make a few calls and find out who he's with? I know far too many people at the university. I could uncover who's there in a matter of seconds," Elizalina said smugly.

Argint glared at her. "Could you not place something we're going to use in there, you parasite?"

She turned to Carrisa. "Can we really trust this parasite?"

Carrisa nodded thoughtfully. "We do not need to place our trust in her. We merely need to ensure that she does not act against us."

Amena relaxed slightly. Soon, they would have their answers. Elizalina wasted no time and made several calls, her tone shifting to that of a concerned girlfriend, much to Argint's increasing fury.

The phone rang a few times before someone picked up.

"Hey there," Elizalina purred sweetly into the phone. "I heard you were out at burbank tonight? Oh, really? That's wonderful. Say, could you do me a favor? I'm looking for someone... Tall, handsome, with dark hair... a bit of an attitude. Have you seen him around?.... my boyfriend Alicarde"

She waited, her eyes narrowing slightly as the voice on the other end responded. Her smile faltered. "No? You're sure? He was supposed to be there tonight."

Elizalina's expression grew more concerned as the conversation continued. "Are you certain?"

When she finally hung up, her face had lost its smugness entirely. She turned to the others, her voice grave.

"He's not there. No one's seen him at the bar, nor at the restaurant. It seems... he never arrived."

Argint's expression darkened, her fists clenched tightly. "Then where is he?"

Carrisa felt a cold chill run down her spine. "We'll need to act immediately," she said, her voice now laced with urgency. "Something is wrong."

Elizalina nodded, her earlier smugness replaced with genuine concern. "I can reach out to a few more people—students who might know where he's been recently—but we shouldn't wait too long."

After a few more rounds of questioning with various student cliques, it became clear—Alicarde hadn't visited any of the locations where he was supposed to be.

Amena's frown deepened, her eyes narrowing with cold fury. It wasn't often that someone managed to deceive her, and the fact that it had happened now stoked an almost palpable rage within her. Without a word, she marched toward Argint, snatching her phone from her hand. Argint, surprised but too stunned to react, watched as Amena swiftly checked the last call made to Alicarde.

Amena's resolve hardened as she activated her innate ability, [Calculus]. Her eyes took on a green glow, filled with rapidly flickering, indecipherable numbers and code. In moments, she had her answer.

"Tampering..." she whispered, her normally stoic demeanor now betraying an icy fury. "Someone tampered with my tech."

She clenched the phone tightly, her expression darkening further. Whoever this "mad genius" was, they had dared to infiltrate her systems, a feat few could even dream of. Amena's lips curled in disdain. They would need to find Alicarde's phone or car; with either one, she was confident she could trace his exact location.

She clicked her tongue in irritation, a rare show of emotion that caught everyone off guard. "Tsk, I don't know who did this, but they will pay dearly."

Carrisa's eyes widened in surprise—Amena never clicked her tongue. The display of rage from her usually composed maid unsettled her. Argint, too, raised an eyebrow. The silent and expressionless Amena they had known seemed to have vanished, replaced by someone with a cold, burning vengeance. No wonder Alicarde enjoyed teasing her so much.

She actually had such vibrant expressions.

The room fell into a tense silence, the gravity of the situation pressing heavily on everyone. Carrisa met Elizalina's gaze, and a silent understanding passed between them. They all knew that something had gone terribly wrong. Elizalina nodded, sensing the weight of Carrisa's unspoken command.

Carrisa met Argint's gaze. "Prepare yourself. We may need to search for him ourselves."

Amena, already anticipating Carrisa's decision, quietly stood, ready to act.

"Well then, ladies, shall we go and retrieve Alicarde?" Carrisa said, her voice formal but steely, eyes sharp.

"Hmph, I can't stand vampires," Argint muttered under her breath, her gaze cutting toward Elizalina with obvious disdain. "But I'll tolerate this one until we find Ali."

Her tone was cold, and she made no attempt to hide the threat in her words. "Try anything, and you die," she added flatly, her eyes locking onto Elizalina's.

Elizalina smirked, unbothered by the warning. "Fine by me."

No more words were wasted. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut, but they moved with purpose, entering the mansion's depths to make their preparations. It wasn't long before they found themselves in the luxurious garage, their weapons and equipment in tow, stepping into a sleek black SUV.

The hunt for Alicarde had begun.