Chapter 16: After New Year (Olivia POV)
Three months after the new year had passed, everything went back as normal. Only several things changed such as I started to work for Rowan as his advisor and secretary. He hadn't trusted me so much yet, but he still asked me for my advice and let me manage all of his documents.
He also spent more time at the main mansion, so I didn't have to go to his place every day. That was a good thing for me because I still had a lot of things at the main mansion to do, such as my work at the poison laboratory.
Another thing that changed was I had to attend some classes to increase my quality as the future duchess. I was so happy that I could learn more, because I only learned some basic things at Whitley's mansion. But still, these classes made me feel tired.
That day I played chess with Rowan, my fiance in his office while having a small discussion. This thing has become my new activity since I engaged with Rowan. We used to play chess or other strategy games.
Truthfully, I never enjoyed my time playing with him. Rowan was a smart and sharp person. He was the type that could fastly notice something unusual. I was afraid that I was too focused on the game and gave him a hint about something.
"I think it will be better if we focus more on this point. It will catch people's attention better." I was giving Rowan advice for the business that he was taking care of.
Rowan moved a chess piece as he said, "I think that is a good idea. I will consider your advice Olivia."
We continued playing in silence and by time, I drowned into my thoughts without noticing, thinking about my life. Honestly I was quite tired of everything. Tired of being careful and alert every single time, because once I made a mistake, everything I had planned would be ruined.
Until that day, Rowan hadn't mentioned steel stone anymore. It was a good thing that he wasn't openly asking me about that, but for some reason, I felt like he kept watching me.I had to be careful and act faster before he really got rid of me.
It was also fortunate that my plan related to Francis also went well. He entered the successor class as planned. Even though I couldn't attend his class as I used to do, at least I could still visit him as his friend.
He also started to trust me as Olivia and since he showed his true ability, he gained more power. At this rate, I could move to the next step of my plan, the one that would determine my whole life and plan.
The only thing that made me worry was the poison research. The research went so fast that we had managed to make such a deadly poison that didn't have an antidote. Not only because the research went so fast. Lately, the laboratory started to use drugs from the Helsa kingdom.
"Olivia, what happened to you?" Rowan's voice pulled me back to reality. He moved a chess piece, and defeated me. "It's a rare thing that you lose in chess. You're good at it."
I guess I dozed off too much and didn't focus on the game. I should be careful next time. "No, everything is fine. Maybe I'm just thinking a lot."
'Tok… tok…' Someone was knocking on the door.
"Come in!"
A servant entered the room and bowed. "I'm sorry to disturb your time. Sir Clark asked me to call Lady Whitley for help."
What a good timing! I couldn't stay with Rowan for a longer time, or else, he may be asked more questions about what I was thinking. It would be dangerous if he kept asking and I couldn't avoid it.
"Rowan, I will go to help at the laboratory for now, can I?"
Rowan nodded as giving me his permission. I bowed to him slightly then left the room. After dealing with Rowan, I had to deal with Sir Clark, helping him with the poison research. It felt like running from a problem to face some unknown trouble.
Once I arrived at the laboratory, everyone gathered and welcomed me. "Welcome Lady Whitley."
"Go back to your work everyone." I bowed back to them and started walking to my office to pick my report.
With a report in my hand, I went to Sir Clark's office and knocked on the door. "Sir, this is me."
"Come in Olivia."
I entered the room. "Sir, this is the report of the experiment I did." I offer my report paper to him. "Cherub has more effect but slower. It needs two to three hours to show its effect. I had checked it on several objects but there is no big difference. While Dailic works faster but has low effect. It needs four times as much as Cherub to have the same effect." I explained.
"Hmmm, I see. They are hard to use together, so we cannot mix them carelessly. We will do it together later to minimize the mistake. For now, try to add Datin and Flanic's petals." He evaluated the report I made, then gave it back to me.
I received the report paper. "Alright, I will give you the report once the research is finished. I will go back to my office for now, sir." I bowed to him slightly.
I went inside my office and sat on my chair, staring at my apparatus. I was worried about Francis. Could he take this kind of poison? I was sure his body was immune to some kind of poisons, but poison made from Helsa's drugs and herbs were different. I hadn't fed him any of it.
There were only some options I had. Before the research finished, I had to do at least one of two things. First, make Francis' body immune to Helsa's herbs and drugs. Or second, execute my plan completely fine without any mistakes.
There was no best option out of the two. It would take a long time to make a body immune to a poison, yet the research went so fast. Also, since the day I got engaged to Rowan, I felt like I was being watched closely. I couldn't do anything without any detailed calculation. I hoped I could find another way that was better than those options.
I just wanted to be free from this family and environment. I'm tired of life like this to the point I just want to end it. Why is it so hard just to live normally? I just want to live the way I wanted where no powers could stop me.
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Hi, this is me again with a new chapter update, yeayyy.
What do you thing about this chapter? Do you have any guess for the next one?
Also thank you for all of you who always waiting for this story's update. I love you all.
See you tomorrow with the next chapter
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone