Tangled By Fate

"Sebastian, you don't know how much a person's small action could hurt another person immensely. Maybe Cathy isn't mad at you. She is simply depressed thinking she wanted to do something good but you misunderstood her and mistreated her. She must have thought she was wronged so much."

Veronica's voice was soft but her tone was firm.

"But what if she misunderstands me?" Sebastian asked restlessly. "What If she doesn't want to hear what I have to say?"

Veronica replied, "She can or she cannot, you don't know that. You had to ask her how she was feeling after you bullied her. According to her answer, you had to reply. Remember, you went to apologize to her. Not to point out who was right, who was wrong, what you believed in, what she believed in.

"I don't even think she was in a position to be lectured at that time. Moreover, you are both adults. No one should lecture each other to begin with. So, it's about an apology. You want to make up with her and so you apologize. Case closed."

"But what about my reason behind the action?" Sebastian inquired. "Shouldn't I tell her?"

Veronica responded with a smile, "After the incident calms down, you could find an opportunity for her if she was interested to listen. But not before that. You hurt her. So, she wouldn't want to listen to what you believe and what was your action behind it."

Sebastian stayed quiet for a while. He pondered hard. Finally, he decided, "I'll talk to her once again. But I'll take my time for her to calm down first. I already hurt her. There is no justice in it. I was in the wrong."

'He finally started to catch up. I guess I do not need to worry about it anymore.' Veronica stood up. "See you later, Sebastian."

"Yes, Mistress. Thank you for your guidance." Sebastian stood up and bowed.

"Anytime!"

Veronica met Arthur in the restaurant along with Ovior, Ironin and Darius. She went ahead and sat beside him.

"What took you so long?"? Arthur asked her.

"Just giving Sebastian some advices." Veronica didn't want to go to the details.

"Did he do anything wrong?" Arthur already started thinking of a way to punish his subordinate if he had disturbed Veronica at some point.

Veronica vaguely replied, "That's his private life., Nothing to do with me. Did you already order dinner?"

"Yes, we did. We also ordered yours according to your liking," Darius answered.

"Thank you! But why are you all so gloomy? Did something happen?" Veronica scanned their expressions.

Darius lowered his voice to reply, "We are thinking about Zinnia. It has been a while since she had left to search for that Max dude. She hasn't come back yet. Her mission was the easiest one but she is taking way too much time. There is no contact from her. We can't say for sure if we did the right thing to send her there."

Veronica took this seriously. "Is she missing?"

Darius shook his head. "No, in a mission like that, it's normal for us to leave without a trace. But don't you think she is taking way too much time to find a bar dude?"

"Maybe Max moved out and Zinnia can't find him," Veronica thoughtfully pointed out.

Ovior remarked, "Even if he left, with Zinnia's ability, she wouldn't take much time to trace him and pull him here by his collar."

"Are you worried that something has happened?" Veronica furrowed her eyebrows. "If I only knew that Max was a bad guy. Why did I trust him so much?" she lamented regretfully.

Arthur patted her back. "It's okay. You didn't know him well.

"That doesn't justify my action. If I didn't go out that night, Zinnia wouldn't have accompanied me." Veronica bit her lower lip. "Should we go to Utahill and check for ourselves?"

Arthur calmly placed his left hand on her right hand.

"Nica, I know what you are thinking. I can let you go anywhere in the world. I might tag along with you too. But we are never setting a foot in Utahill. Please understand my worries. It's really hard for my heart every time you mention something dangerous."

Veronica giggled. She could understand his worries. 'I always make trouble for him, don't I?'

"I will wait another two days before going to Utahill. I will check things on my own," Darius declared.

"But what about my competition?" Veronica mentioned. "You promised that you would be there to guide me."

Darius said, "Oh, that will take time. We still have a month left. Ironin is already training you. You just need some advice about your opponents, nothing more. I'll teach you how to read their strengths and weaknesses. I will be there before your competition, I promise."

However, Darius didn't have to leave. They went back to the tower the next day and found Zinnia in the tower.

"Folks, I heard you went to enjoy your vacation while I was working my butt off," Zinnia greeted them.

Veronica gasped. "Zinnia, we were so worried about you. I was even planning to go to Utahill!"

"Oh, great that you didn't. That would be quite a hassle. There was nothing to find anyway," Zinnia stated with a somber.

"What happened there?" Arthur asked for the full report.

Zinnia started, "Sure, I will tell you everything."

A few months before –

Zinnia went to Utahill to get Max, the bartender of the famous bar.

Having a disguise, she went to the bar. Max was working there as usual. He talked to customers, got them beer, talked to them about things, and got information from his drunken customers.

'Interesting. I guess he becomes rich by selling this information,' Zinnia thought. 'I wonder if that's how Arthur's enemy found out about him.'

The bar was closed at dawn. Afterward, Max went to a house. Zinnia followed him.

Looking at the small two-storied building in the residential area of the commoner, she wondered, 'Is this where he lives? That's an expensive house for a rich guy.'

That morning, Max took a bath and went to sleep. No one came to his house to bother him. He lived there alone.

Zinnia waited the whole day before Max went to the bar in the evening once again.

After that, she searched the whole house. She looked for documents that would lead to the downfall of this Max.

The small wooden house was well furnished. Everything was spotless. He had a few amounts of furniture. The amount of furniture and the plates, glasses, bowls made her conclude that he lived alone.

He had a desk in the corner, right beside the fireplace. There was a pile of books.

'For what reason does a bartender need to have so many books? He doesn't have the time to read books. He doesn't look like he sells books.'

She checked the contents of the books. Those worn-out books looked fragile. She gingerly touched them.

The books contained information about aristocrats, their money embezzlement, torturing innocent pure people and so on. Every book had information about one family's secret documents. Nothing was hidden.

She also noticed that those books were handwritten.

Zinnia smirked. 'Looks like he is from the information guild. He gathers information and sells it to the clients. That's how he was able to buy this house. Or else, how could a bartender have that much money.'

'If he is an information broker, there is nothing wrong for him to find out about Arthur being in the red-light district. Moreover, it's natural for him to know when the entire place knew. Maybe he didn't know that guy was the fake Arthur, not the real one. I mean, no one knew that.'

'As for him taking Veronica to that place to show her fake Arthur playing with women could be a coincidence. She is such an open book. Anyone would realize that she fell for him. That's why he might have taken her there.'

'Or, maybe he knows everything and pretends not to know. He is an information broker. There is no way he wouldn't know that the blessed child has silver hair. He seemed intelligent.'

'In the entire world, the first woman he had ever seen having long silver hair and a pair of green eyes was Veronica. He can join the broken pieces together and then find out who is the real blessed child.'

'I don't know if he knew about Arthur marrying Veronica. These books only include people from Utahill. But what about his office and the fellow members of the guild? They might know something.'

'If only I could get my hands on the office… that would be perfect.'

'Maybe I should change my plan. I don't want to capture him and warn his fellows. Let's observe to see his daily actions. I hope he will lead me to something interesting.'

Just as she planned, she waited patiently. She observed all the people he met with and where he went. Afterward, she kept an eye on those buildings and people, observing their every move.

Then, she found out something interesting.