TRAPPED BY THE SECOND MALE LEAD
CHAPTRE 23

Arden stood up from his desk suddenly until the chair he was sitting in was pushed behind him. His eyes were round "No way.." it was the letter in his grasp that brought the shocking news that he had never imagined would be as important as it was.

It had been almost two whole days that Arden had silenced the letter that came from the Emerald residence. Not uncaring, but Arden is still trying to figure out how to solve the case of sudden death of residents in the city. Now that either guilt or sadness filled his chest cavity, the young man was only thinking about where and how Meridia's fate was now.

Suddenly he felt lost. What made me lose while Meridia had already refused to be my friend from the beginning? thought Arden.

That sad feeling then became number two. Arden realized something was strange, he again muttered alone "For what did the Marquess Emerald directly ask me to help him look for Meridia?"

The expression in Ziel's letter did invite a big question mark. Just for a servant, what made Ziel so eager to look for Meridia? It made him think that the rumors he heard were true. "I still have time until a big meeting is held. I can go there tomorrow."

Arden could not ignore Ziel's request for help because it had something to do with Meridia.

To be honest on the night of the maturity party, precisely when Arden circled the corridor to be able to find Meridia, he heard the shrill rampage of Ziel and the voice of the girl who accompanied him. He was not sure, but the voice he heard was exactly like Meridia's. Too bad he couldn't meet.

Tonight Arden packed some of the things he needed into the bag and asked Helena and William for permission. Arden did not elaborate on Ziel's request for help.

Before going to bed Arden looked at the gift bracelet he wanted to give Meridia. Worrying? of course, let alone that he had deliberately delayed reading Emerald's letter thinking it was a letter from Marigold. Too much he thought until he could not remember to read one by one the letters he received.

"Meridia, I'll find you. This bracelet hasn't reached you yet, so when we meet later I'll give it to you."

Arden leaves his job halfway to Norfolk and helps Ziel find Meridia.

On the way, Arden had already laid out a plan. Arden had no intention of coming to the Marquess Emerald's residence as soon as he arrived. The blue bemanik youth first searched around the market and small alleys that were quiet or sparsely populated. It does not rule out the possibility of Meridia still hiding around the city undercover.

"Meridia, where are you now?" Arden had already shown Meridia the face painting she remembered to show to the people she was questioning. None of them had ever seen the girl in the painting, some even highlighted Meridia's resemblance to Marigold.

Arden had intended for a full day to find Meridia himself before coming to Marquess Ziel's house. Actually the way it was reversed, Arden realized that, but he felt the Emerald family could not be trusted completely.

Until finally, Arden tried to ask Ella. Of course Arden just happened to come to his stand and asked about Meridia who incidentally is one of Ella's regular customers.

When Arden showed the painting in his hand, the young man was shocked to hear Ella immediately mention Meridia's name which he had not even mentioned before. "So you know Meridia?" a glimmer of hope appeared toward the young man who was disguised as an ordinary person.

Ella nodded. Looking at the worry on his face, he looked at Arden anxiously, "W-is Meridia really missing?"

"Yes, Marquess Ziel hired me to help find one of her missing servants."

Ella glazed over the beautiful face painting of Meridia. In the eyes of Ella, Meridia was a cheerful good girl. And somehow every time the navy girl came to shop at his place, there would be a lot of people coming to shop afterwards.

"When did you last see him around here?"

"He hasn't been here long enough, it's been almost a month. I think he just hasn't got a turn to shop." Ella shed a sad tear, "Poor girl."

Arden's hopes were lost just as Ella said she'd never see Meridia again. It was hard to find someone who rarely interacted with the outside world like Meridia.

The young man continued to roam the city only to find Meridia until nightfall. His legs began to feel tired, his stomach had tried to fast for hours so as not to waste a lot of time. Arden could have searched for 24 hours nonstop, but it seemed that the young man was starting to hesitate with his own plans.

As a result, the blonde youth chose to go home to his hotel to rest. "Is there a shop next to this hotel?" his murmur was confused when he saw a small shop nudging beside his hotel exactly.

The shop was like an antique shop, its light yellow lights made the small shop stand out more than the surrounding buildings. But no one customer was seen.

Unfortunately Arden did not have time to satisfy his curiosity towards the small shop so he ignored it and entered the inn room.

After dinner Arden immediately returned to his room and marked every corner of the city in the floor plan he drew. "Maybe tomorrow I can go straight to the Emerald mansion, I need some pointers."

Instantly an evil idea came to his mind. Arden wants to go to the illegal information bureau to see if Meridia is Ziel's daughter. But he expressed this intention because he felt bad, "I cannot violate the privacy of others. I'll find out next time."

The next day Arden came to the Emerald's house. The atmosphere of the house remains the same as usual— at least that is what Arden felt when not far into the Emerald house.

However, the haw was immediately different once Arden faced off against Ziel, Zoya, and Marigold. Ziel looked thinner than he had last seen. "Marquess, are you okay?" ask Arden.

"Yes, Your Majesty. I just lack sleep. A big meeting is imminent, I haven't finished some reports." No need to be told either Arden understands Ziel is not in this state just because of the report. After all he was already used to his job as a city representative. He must have thought of something else.

Marigold who used to look cheerful and excited when meeting Arden, today also looks different. The beautiful girl looked tired and lethargic even though she kept smiling.

The reason for the depression of one of the twin daughters Ziel and Zoya is his sleep is not good. Not just not soundly, there is something like blocking in his brain. Marigold also experienced sleep paralysis several times.

Plus, Marigold was unable to unleash the power of purification as powerful as he normally did. The blonde-crowned girl was thinking a lot about how to restore her strength again before the scheduled duties at the temple arrived.

Not willing to waste more time, Arden immediately discussed when and how Meridia escaped from the mansion. "Did he bring all his stuff?"

Ziel immediately replied, "No. All his clothes were still there, he seemed to only carry a few things that he thought were important."

Zoya is attending the opening of her friend's boutique, so she doesn't know what's really going on at home. "I wasn't home at the time. Even if he ran away, he would definitely not let anyone see him. It's not strange that we all don't know." Zoya said.

Ziel's eyes hinted at something else that only Arden noticed. Ziel's gaze was like losing one member of his family and until now he tried hard to find it.

Ziel personally felt loss, guilt, sadness, fear, anxiety, all the feelings raging within him. Ziel himself did not know what reason he could feel that towards the princess he did not love.

From there Arden has started to feel a bit strange even though his assumption is getting stronger. Then Arden idly asked, "Then why are you looking for him? I mean, he's just a regular waiter here."

Ziel's anxious and guilty face instantly disappeared into a look of shock. Ziel is so distraught with his own feelings that he does not realize that his actions provoke Arden's suspicion.

"That's..." Ziel could not answer his question directly.

"Did he take away something of yours that was precious?"

"Yes. He brought one of my very important documents so I wanted to find him and ask him to return it." Arden accidentally gives Ziel the idea to lie even though Arden is not fooled.

"Can I check his room?"

"I'll take you there, Arden." said Marigold as he got up from the chair.

"Thank you."

Marigold leads Arden to the room where his twin brother has been. To be honest, Marigold was reluctant because anything related to Meridia now only made her head feel ready to explode at any time.

In order to maintain her self-image in front of the man she liked, Marigold had to endure the dizziness.

Arden did not stop being surprised to see the appearance of Meridia's room. How could the girl occupy a barn while there was a servant dormitory there?

As soon as Marigold opened the door to Meridia's room, a stuffy moist air greeted her nostrils. Dust piled up inside, not a single servant was asked to clean the empty room.

"Has Meridia occupied this room all this time?"

Yeah actually Arden can't call that room a room. How not, the space was still fairly narrow due to unused items still filled the corner of the wall that caused the circulation in Meridia's room to be disrupted.

It is not unusual for mosquitoes and other insects to occupy the room. A few Arden cockroaches looked out of the pile of stuff from the corner of the room.

"Marigold, how many servants work here?" arden's question was a bit of a surprise to him. During this time Ziel's favorite daughter never noticed how many of them, all she cared about was acting as well as possible so that they would bend their knees in front of her.

"A little over fifteen? I'm not so sure because I rarely see them gathering." reply Marigold as best I can.

"Then, the dorm room will not be full. Why would he prefer to sleep in this old warehouse room?"

Arden's attention to Meridia who was tucked into his question managed to infuriate Marigold's heart.

"Look, Meridia's a kid who loves calmness. The servant dormitory was too crowded for her, so she asked to occupy this room. I can't force him so he's just following his wishes."

The strange lies he told. Arden frowned in a flash. How can an employer even submit to the wishes of a servant? Ziel could have been looking for other servants who would be invited to cooperate and not complain about the policy. Arden's suspicions get worse, but it's not time for him to explore the Emerald family's secrets.

The more Arden stood there for a long time, the more his nostrils smelled a strange, familiar smell. "This smell, it's like I've kissed her somewhere."

The smell is not pungent, just like the smell of dust in general, but when it bursts in, the nose will feel like it is punctured by a strong aroma that cannot be explained.

Within seconds, Arden recalled what smell was in Meridia's room. Yes, the same smell that Arden smelled while examining the body in case of sudden death that he is still investigating.

Marigold remained standing in front of the bedroom door, occasionally the charming girl fluttered her hands in front of her pointed nose so that the dust would not make her sneeze. He looked at Arden's back "Arden, can you come with me after a short walk? I want to spend time with you and tell you something that's stuck in my mind."

"Oh, yes. Wait till I'm done." Arden did not mean it with his words. He just wanted to keep Marigold quiet and not interfere with his investigation time.

Meridia, why don't you leave a single trace?

Arden then opened the drawer of Meridia's study desk, hoping to get something even though the possibility is very small. Her eyes widen, "Oh?"

There is a crown made of small yellow potpourri that are left to dry and each petal is fragile. Arden put it to the edge of the drawer to read a piece of writing scratched on the bottom of the drawer.

"I want someone I can go to. I don't want to die lonely, but no one wants to think of me as part of the human race either." Arden voiced the moans of Meridia's heart that was imprinted in the empty drawer. Her fingers moved around stroking Meridia's words, "You suffered a lot huh. Had we met earlier, I might have been a friend you could have relied on."

"Arden? what's up?"

Marigold looked at the handsome young man daydreaming as he kept his head down staring into the drawer, "You found something?" ask again.

Arden turned his back to look at Marigold, "Marigold, sorry. Looks like I haven't been able to accompany you for a walk, I should immediately help the Marquess find Meridia first. I feel sorry to see it so burdened. Perhaps what Meridia brought was crucial for tomorrow's big meeting."

Arden doesn't believe all of Ziel's lies, he only pretends to believe to deceive Marigold. For him right now finding Meridia is more important.

Marigold feels disgruntled by Arden's decision, but she must remain a good woman who is never selfish.

The blonde haired girl nodded while smiling, "I understand. It's okay, we can do that next time. Thank you for helping my family."

Arden nodded briefly. He lengthened his steps but immediately stopped right in front of Marigold, "The necklace is very good, it suits you very well." his praise was sincere. But that's not what's in the spotlight, Arden briefly saw the necklace's jewel lit but he chose to remain silent.

Marigold meets, "Really? this is a gift given by my congregation friend."

"Oh really? I'm sure he's watching you a lot." he said, gently patting Marigold on the top of his head, then he extended a step out of there to start looking for Meridia.

Meanwhile, at the palace of Navarro...

Meridia was still sitting on the balcony, watching the beautiful process of small flowers blooming in the morning. The air is still quite cold outside considering the dew is still rushing down to wet every object outside the building.

Lucien left early in the morning from the palace to take care of his wedding plans with the Bommenhaum palace. Meridia did not attempt to persuade the young Duke. No, Meridia did not know the reason behind her reluctance.

"Why do I feel like I've known Lucien for a long time" the girl muttered while daydreaming face down.

Ten minutes later, Ximena came to the room to tell Meridia that the bath water was ready. "Your Majesty, the water is ready. Let's go now."

"Oh, yes."

Slowly but surely, despite the quieter and quieter atmosphere, Meridia was getting used to her new surroundings. Not because he was held in high esteem like a noble but because of the absence of insults heard every day, no one blamed him for small things. That makes him calm.

From there Meridia thought it was fine to marry Lucien if it was to her advantage. Besides Lucien instead of marrying Meridia for reasons that hurt him, Lucien just needs friends. Meridia needs a safe and free place. Perfect.

He heard from Ximena that since Lucien was born, his parents had passed away. Lucien was not great at seeing his mother's father, he was raised by the Butler court of Navarro and taught the code of conduct of a nobleman to become the leader of the Navarro clan at a young age.

Loneliness has not been just a year or two the young man felt. Neither his servants nor his Knights were able to lessen the loneliness he felt.

Meridia understood very well what Lucien felt because they both experienced the same soul loneliness.

"I'll try to pay his kindness with this" he thought. From there Meridia did not feel the marriage would be detrimental, she simply changed her mindset to return the favor.

After taking a bath Meridia had already conveyed that she would wait for Ximena to finish helping the other servants in the library. Reading makes Meridia can take off all the burden of the mind.

Not long after he descended to the first floor, there was the sound of a woman constantly calling Lucien by name.

"Lucien? Lucien I'm coming."

Meridia did not see any servants ahead so she took the initiative to welcome. "Who is that?"

Meridia looked up at the figure of a woman dressed as an entertainer standing by the sofa. After they looked at each other, Meridia immediately knew who Lucien's guest was. "Isn't that Lady Veronica? how did he know Lucien's residence was here?"

Yes, the woman who spread rumors about Ziel's twin daughters while at his maturity party was there. He smiled knotingly and his eyes again moved sweeping across the room "Where did Lucien go?" he's getting pissed.

Meridia walked closer to say hello and told him that the owner of the house was leaving.

But suddenly three young men first dragged Veronica out of the house. "Hey, let me go! you are getting more and more disrespectful!"

One young man in full Knight attire smiled as he bowed respectfully before Meridia "What is going on?" muttered Meridia astonishment.

"Good morning, Duchess."

Meridia blinked a few times, "Eh? Duchess, you mean me?"