Abyssal Chronicles

Chapter 489 - 490: Sebastian’s Exhaustion [1/2]

"Alright, Sebastian, the house is in your hands now."

"Understood, leave it to me, My Lady"

As Yumo and Mengxi were gearing up to head to school, Sebastian, who’d been out all night on some errand, finally rushed back home. Yumo, back in her usual teacher mode, looked at him puzzled.

"Sebastian, you look... drained. What’s up?"

Yumo couldn’t help but approach the visibly tired Sebastian, whose dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced than usual, and asked with concern. Her blue eyes were filled with worry.

In response to Yumo’s concern, Sebastian forced a smile, but quickly waved his hand to signal that he was fine.

"Don’t worry, Milady. I’m just a bit tired, that’s all. I didn’t get much sleep last night."

"I can tell…" Yumo said, her face showing a trace of annoyance. "You guys really need to take better care of yourselves."

Yumo’s tone had a scolding edge to it.

"You already had a hard time gathering those special materials in Anvika. If it was getting late, you could’ve just stayed overnight and let me know. Why rush back and risk wearing yourself out?"

"I apologize, Milady, we’ll be more careful next time."

"Sigh, as long as you understand. Don’t let this happen again."

"As you wish my lady"

Sebastian humbly lowered his head, accepting Yumo’s scolding.

Seeing Sebastian so cooperative, Yumo didn’t want to harp on it.

"Alright, let’s leave it at that. Mengxi and I are heading to the teaching district. You guys rest up. I’ve set up some bedding in the living room; take a nap there, got it?"

"Thank you for your concern, Milady. I understand."

"Good, we’re off then."

"Take care…"

Sebastian stood there, flashing his usual gentlemanly smile, as he watched Yumo and Mengxi leave the apartment. But the moment the door closed behind them, his smile vanished, replaced by a look of utter annoyance.

"What the heck!"

Frustrated, he threw the piece of bread he was holding onto the floor. However, remembering that Yumo had specially prepared it for them, he quickly picked it up, feeling a bit guilty.

He stood by the window, gnawing on the bread, watching the two women walk away. Or to be more precise, he was watching Mengxi, the Girl of Destiny from the church.

Even Sebastian had to admit, Mengxi was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen, almost rivaling Yumo. But the sight of her radiant face made him grind his teeth in anger. He clenched his fists, feeling an urge to confront her then and there. Just recalling the sight of Yumo and Mengxi leaving the bedroom together sent his blood pressure skyrocketing.

"What is she doing here? Coming out of Lady Yumo’s room, even wearing Milady’s pajamas? What happened while I was gone?!"

Sebastian was internally screaming. Thankfully, after a quick room check, his subordinate reported that nothing unusual was found in Yumo’s room. That helped Sebastian calm down a bit.

"Ah, thank goodness..."

After all, if anything had happened between Mengxi and Lady Yumo while he wasn’t there, he’d never forgive himself. And he’d have no idea how to face his ’higher-ups’.

But even if nothing had happened, he felt like he had failed his mission. His main job was to stay by Yumo’s side to make sure Mengxi couldn’t get close to her. And now? Mengxi had moved into Yumo’s room! Even if nothing had happened yet, who knows about the future?

Feeling this, Sebastian rubbed his forehead, his face showing both physical and emotional exhaustion.

His subordinates, seeing their boss looking so down, were at a loss. Finally, one brave young servant stepped up and said:

"Sir. Sebastian, you’ve done your best. Don’t be so hard on yourself."

"Done my best, huh..."

Talking to himself, Sebastian shifted his attention back to the room, feeling a mix of emotions.

"Yeah, I did my best. Everything should’ve gone smoothly... So why does it feel like something’s off?"

As his anger subsided, Sebastian’s rational mind started to regain control. Thinking about recent events, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. He had been working hard to keep Mengxi, the Girl of Destiny, away from Yumo. But it seemed like none of his attempts had succeeded.

When Mengxi first came to the apartment, he tried to drug her, but somehow ended up drugging himself, leaving him sick for days. He tried to poison her so she couldn’t attend class, but the person who was supposed to administer the poison messed up. He even tried to have the vice principal transfer her to another class, but that backfired too.

And there were many other failed attempts.

Just yesterday, their apartment was mysteriously ’attacked’. Every room except Yumo’s was trashed. To repair the damage, Sebastian had to go to Anvika for supplies. He could’ve asked the school’s maintenance team for help, but he chose to do it himself, fearing they might install something fishy.

After going all the way to Anvika, he was shocked to find out that all the servants he had left to watch the house had also somehow ended up in Anvika. His communication and teleportation stones were mysteriously missing. The guy responsible for driving the carriage had gotten sick for no apparent reason.

Due to all these issues, they couldn’t make it back to the Royal Academy on time. And what a coincidence, Mengxi had stayed at a friend’s house that night. In just one night, she had made her way into Yumo’s room.

"This woman must’ve planned all this"

Sebastian thought, grinding his teeth in frustration. A suspicion popped into his head.

"All my plans were so ’perfect,’ how could they fail? Failing once could be bad luck, but multiple times? Makes me wonder if there’s a mole in the team"

’Yes, there must be a traitor. Someone on the inside. But who could it be?’

Rubbing his chin, Sebastian sank into deep thought.

First off, it couldn’t be Miss Yuan’er. She loved Yumo and was raised by their superiors to despise the Girl of Destiny. Plus, she’s too naive and innocent to sabotage his plans.

As for Sebastian himself, he couldn’t be the mole, since he was the one making all the plans.

So that leaves...

"Could there be a mole among the servants?"

Sebastian’s eyes narrowed, scanning the faces of the servants in the room, making them visibly uneasy.

"Sir. Sebastian, is something wrong?"

Sebastian didn’t answer, lost in his thoughts, reviewing recent events.

’Having a mole among these people I work with regularly, helping Mengxi? Seems unlikely. But if there’s no mole, why do my plans keep failing? Wait... there’s another possibility!’

’What if the reason I’m failing isn’t a mole, but incompetence within the team? Like My Lady said,

’It’s not the strong enemies I fear, but the weak teammates.’

With this new thought, a cold glint flashed in Sebastian’s eyes. He turned to look at the young, dark-haired servant, recalling some of his unreliable actions in the past.

"Wando."

"Yes Sir!?"

Wando, the young servant, looked puzzled as his boss suddenly called his name.

"Wando, those laxatives you prepared before... they’re all gone, right?"

"Uh, yes, they are. Why?"

"You think it’s possible you mixed that black powder with food seasoning? Like the brown sugar I put in my tea?"

"Uh, well, it’s not impossible," Wando scratched his head uncertainly,

"but I shouldn’t have made that kind of mistake."

"Is that so... Also, you prepared the poison for the Nightingale operation to drug Mengxi, right?"

"Yes, that’s correct."

"And you had access to my storage ring yesterday? You said you threw away some ’useless’ items while storing repair materials?"

"Yes, I did. They were all some expired magical items. I thought you hadn’t cleaned it for a while, so I helped you out."

"Do you think you might have thrown away the wrong things? Like, say, the bag containing magical stones?"

"What? No way, besides, I didn’t even see any magical stones."

Wando looked completely bewildered.

Soon after, the young servant seemed to sense something ominous and looked at Sebastian with growing suspicion.

"So, Sir. Sebastian, why are you asking all these questions?"

"Ah, well..."

Instead of answering Wando’s question, Sebastian just smirked. With Wando feeling uneasy, Sebastian pulled out a menacing object from his storage ring, resembling a spiked club.

After some contemplation, Sebastian was convinced that Wando was the ’weak link’ in his team.

At the sight of the object, Wando’s face turned pale, and he took several steps back, a cold sweat forming on his forehead.

"Sir. Sebastian, what are you doing?"

Sebastian chuckled coldly.

"Do? You still have the nerve to ask? If you hadn’t mixed the laxative with the sugar, would I have gotten sick? Your poison must’ve been messed up too, why else would Mengxi be fine? In short, all these recent failures must be your doing!"

"What?! Sir. Sebastian, what are you talking about? I don’t understand!"

"Enough talk, you’re the root of all problems! Take this!"

"No, no, no! This is a misunderstanding!"

No matter how much Wando tried to explain, Sebastian saw it as nothing but excuses. In his mind, this unreliable servant was the cause of all his recent troubles. To vent his frustration and teach him a lesson, Sebastian didn’t hold back, and Wando’s screams echoed through the room.

"What did I even do wrong?"

And so, under the stunned gaze of the other servants, the usually dignified and elegant Sebastian started to swing his club, beating up Wando.

Just as Sebastian was really getting into it, a communication stone on the table nearby emitted a sudden burst of bright blue light.

"Hmm? Someone’s contacting me?"

In that instant, Sebastian paused his ’disciplinary action,’ put down his club, and walked over to the table.

"This is Sebastian."

"It’s me."

"My Lord?!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Sebastian immediately responded with respect.

"What can I do for you, Your Grace?"

"The Prince of the Red Leaf has started investigating Lady Yumo. They’ve already sent people to look into the two demon incidents you encountered after entering the territory. How are the preparations you and Xizhi made?"

As he heard these words, the anger on Sebastian’s face gradually faded, replaced by a very serious one.

After showing a graceful smile, Sebastian confidently said:

"Don’t worry, Your Grace. Xizhi and I have left enough evidence and witnesses to definitely make those people doubt Milady"