Thanks to TheShyWriterwrites for such a beautiful cover and for supporting my book❤️

Now to the story~
 
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In the quiet atmosphere of the luxurious meeting room, Victoria sat at one end of the polished mahogany table. She maintained an air of professionalism.
 
The head of the Opulent Chateau, a man with a cocky smile, leaned back in his chair at the opposite end of the table.
 
"As I was saying," he said, "partnerships should be beneficial for both parties involved. And while your Blackwood Hotel certainly has its merits, one cannot overlook the occasional instances of... shall we say, uncouth behavior?"
 
Victoria raised an eyebrow as she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She didn't know where he was headed, but she was already tired of hearing him talk. She had known that this meeting would be a challenge.
 
"I assure you, we value professionalism and excellence at the Blackwood Hotel," Victoria responded evenly. Our reputation speaks for itself, and there have been no complaints about our services so far."
 
He chuckled softly, his fingers tapping rhythmically against the armrest of his chair. "Of course, of course. It's not about the hotel. You did a magnificent job in running the hotel." He paused, and Victoria already had a noticeable frown on her face.
 
"It's about you, Miss." He smiled smugly at her. Victoria was speechless. She didn't think that she would come here to face this; her blood boiled.
 
"Me?" She tried laughing it off, trying to be professional, and allowing her feelings to get in the way. "However do you mean?"
 
She gave a tense smile. The man leaned forward, his gaze fixed on her. "Ah, but I have heard complaints about you." He stood from his chair and walked over to Victoria. "And having such behavior is bad for our reputation."
 
Victoria's eye twitched. "What?"
 
He smiled at her. "We can't have you causing a ruckus while we are at work, but then, it's part of you; it would be impossible to change-"
 
Victoria slapped him hard on the face. "I will not accept such insults from you any more. If you thought I was so difficult to work with, you shouldn't have suggested a partnership between both businesses. But to sit around and endure such a display of outright stupidity YOU ARE WRONG!"
 
She walked out of the meeting room in anger and made her way to the reception. She muttered curses under her breath; she was very furious about the whole situation.
 
"People now have such audacity these days!" She clenched her fists. When she got to the reception, she saw her manager being friendly with the manager of the foreign hotel. That sight made her blood boil.
 
Jaxon stopped talking with Douglas as he felt a chilly feeling up his back. "Do you have some kind of heat control system here or something? It's kind of cold."
 
"No, we don't," Douglas said, moving backwards. "But I think I know where it's coming from." Jaxon looked back and saw Victoria glaring at him.
 
"What happened?" He muttered to himself, extremely frightened.
 
"Manager, we are leaving now!" She said nothing further and walked out of the building. Her manager follows her dejectedly as he waves goodbye to Douglas.
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Victoria stormed into her office, her anger from the encounter with the opulent chateau's owner still simmering within her.
 
"Of all the things I had planned for today, dealing with that fool was certainly not on the list," Victoria muttered, her words dripping with annoyance as she entered her office, followed by her manager.
 
She paced back and forth in the room, trying to cool off. "I had important financial accounts to review today; instead, I wasted precious time with that."
 
Her manager nodded sympathetically, understanding the reason for her anger.
 
Victoria huffed and collapsed into her office chair, still boiling. "And can you believe it? I don't even know his name!"
 
Her manager cleared his throat. "His name is Mr. Alexander Sinclair."
 
Victoria's eyes widened in surprise as she snapped her fingers in realization. "Ah, yes, Mr. Alexander Sinclair, that bast*rd."
 
She leaned back in her chair, her annoyance slowly dissolving into tiredness. "Well, Mr. Alexander Sinclair, you have crossed the line," she muttered deviously while rubbing her palms together.
 
"Miss, your evil side is showing!" Her manager said  nervously. Victoria gave him a look and sighed.
 
"You're right; I should stop bothering myself about him. I should focus on better  things." Victoria straightened in her chair and said, "Let's get back to business."
 
Her manager sighed in relief and nodded in agreement. "Absolutely, Miss. We'll get back to the tasks at hand."
 
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Meanwhile~
 
Douglas entered the office of his boss with the gift basket that was brought by Victoria and her manager. He noticed his boss had a swollen cheek with a hand imprint. He could only shake his head in disappointment. He couldn't help but comment.
 
"The Miss stormed out of the hotel angrily." He sets the item on his table. "She has an aura colder than the Arctic. You could have a frostbite because of that nasty glare."
 
Alexander, his boss, had a mischievous grin on his face. Douglas couldn't believe his lack of remorse.
 
"You are not even remorseful." Douglas snapped at Alexander. Alexander looked at him, and confusion played out on his face.
 
"She misunderstood me; I was trying to say that she has a very strong personality, but other people say otherwise. I even complimented her, but she still got angry." Alexander said disappointedly
 
"For her to storm off like that, you are really bad at giving compliments." Alexander glared at Douglas before smiling deviously.
 
"I think you are forgetting who is superior here." He said it with a cold grin. Douglas did not waver at the threat.
 
"I am only saying the truth. If you want to make friends, you shouldn't act like an idiot. It's good advice." Douglas shrugged as Alexander sunk into his seat.
 
"So what do you suggest?" He asked
 
"Apologize to her, and next time, be less idiotic." Alexander glared at Douglas. Douglas returned his glare with a smug smile.
 
"Follow my advice if you want to have a successful love life." Douglas added with a teasing smile, and Alexander sarcastically chuckled at Douglas's 'joke'.
 
"But seriously, you like her! Don't you?" Douglas teased him further. Alexander was not amused.
 
"Get out of my office." He ordered with a serious face. Douglas chuckled before leaving his office with a satisfied smile lingering on his lips.
 
"Who is he deceiving with that smile on his face? He was practically beaming when he told me about her!" Douglas mused with a scoff as he stood outside Alexander's office.

Meanwhile, in his office, Alexander was already thinking of many ways to deal with the situation.
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After the Lu'minara, the boutique where Eliza worked now opened, but only for a few hours, different from the normal working days. After work, Eliza decided to get a metal box trap in case Marcus had any bright ideas again.
 
The metal box had a key that deactivated the trap. For intruders, it's easy to open, but once they take what's inside without deactivating the box trap, The box automatically locks the person's hand inside it with no way of escape, and it is indestructible.
 
Eliza smiled contentedly at her box trap. Marcus will never steal from her again, that's if he dislikes having his hand attached to his body.
 
The sun had already set, and everywhere was dark, except for the street lights that provided illumination. The streets were empty and deserted. It was just Eliza walking home alone this cold winter night.
 
She walked past a dark alley where she heard a pained groan. Eliza stopped in her tracks and turned to the alley. She heard another grunt again.
 
Eliza stood there startled for a while, her mind conflicted, until her brain decided to tell her to walk away.
 
'It could be a trap after all' She muttered to herself until she heard a faint voice.
 
"Wait! Is someone there? Please help me!" Eliza stopped again, feeling curious and agitated.
 
"Is someone there?" She called, alarmed.
 
'Okay, that sounds like someone who's hurt!' She thought, but there was no answer to her question. She walked back to the dark alley cautiously, holding her metal box defensively, in case someone wanted to ambush her.
 
She saw a man lying on the floor. The snow around him was stained with his blood, and he looked like he had already passed out. Eliza dropped her box in fear, ran to the unconscious body, and touched his neck to check for a pulse.
 
He was still alive, but his pulse was weak and his body was freezing. Eliza tore the sleeve of her jacket and managed to make a makeshift bandage to salvage the bleeding on his exposed side.
 
Eliza managed to sling him over her shoulder while holding her metal box in the other hand, and she continued walking home.
 
The mysterious man that Eliza stirred noticed that he was dangling over someone's bare shoulder. He naturally assumed it was a man because he thought it was only a man who would do this without much effort.
 
He simply muttered a 'thank you' before passing out again. Eliza didn't hear him, unfortunately, due to her shoe scrunching the snow as she carried him to her house without much effort.
 
When she got home, she met the triplets huddled in a corner, whispering to themselves.
 
"What are you three doing?" She asked. The triplets turned to her with soulful eyes and ran to hug her. Then they started bombarding her with questions.
 
"Why were you late?"
 
"Where did you go?"
 
"Did you bring an animal for us to eat?" Giselle asked lastly after noticing the so-called 'animal' Eliza slung over her shoulders.
 
"No, Giselle, he is not for eating!" Eliza said, and she handed her metal box to Sierra before going upstairs to her room with the triplets behind her.
 
"Don't boil me some water. Giselle, get me a bandage and any other first aid item we have at home, and Sierra, drop that box and get me extra blankets." Eliza ordered the triplets. They left her room, scurrying to get those things she asked of them.
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20 minutes later~
 
Eliza effectively bandaged him and wrapped him in the blankets Sierra provided. Eliza took the bucket of hot water out of the room to dispose of it. When she came back, she met the triplets on her bed, staring at the unknown stranger she brought in, like he was a foreign object.
 
"What are you doing? Give him space!" Eliza scolded them as they got off her bed, sheepishly.
 
"Eliza, who is he?" Don asked her.
 
"I don't know; I saw him almost dead and decided to rescue him." Eliza said as she sat down on her bed.
 
"Oh, is it like those Cinderella stories I heard at school?" Giselle's eyes lit up in excitement.
 
"No, you idiot, Cinderella is the one with the glass slipper, not a half-dead man. I think that is Sleeping Beauty's story."Sierra corrected.
 
"Sleeping beauty?" Don gave Sierra a disapproving look. Eliza became confused with what they were saying and decided not to bother asking.
 
"Have you three had dinner already?" She asked
 
"No! We were waiting for you." They answered her. She sighed, smiling softly at their concern. She led them out of the room as they continued their fairytale argument.
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After Dinner~
 
After they had eaten, the triplets brought up another topic.
 
"Eliza, do you know when Big Brother is coming home?" Sierra asked her as they cleaned up. Eliza shook her head. She didn't want to bother herself with her idiotic brother.
 
"We were just concerned, you know. You punched him in the eye, and he is still hurting from it. What if he stopped seeing well and got lost on the way  home?" Sierra said, which made the other two triplets start laughing.
 
"What made you think that?" Giselle asked while laughing. Eliza let out a small chuckle. The room was filled with warmth and laughter as they continued joking. An hour later, Marcus came back home, and as usual, he acted like they did not exist.
 
Eliza decided to sleep in the triplets' room because of the man in her room. Even though he was conscious, Eliza was still apprehensive. It wasn't ideal to bring a complete stranger to your house.
 
Eliza curled up in Giselle's bed, the events of the day finally taking a toll on her. She was about to drift off to sleep when Giselle asked her a question.
 
"Eliza, who do you think that guy is?"
 
"I don't know," Eliza hummed with her eyes closed. That didn't stop Giselle's vivid imagination.
 
"What if he was a prince?" Giselle started, "Who was supposed to be assassinated and a beautiful maiden—that's you, Eliza—sees him and rescues him, then he makes her his princess!" Eliza chuckled 
 
"That's one wild imagination. You should try writing a book." Eliza said, and Giselle kept quiet for a while, as if in deep thought.
 
"You know what? I think I will become a writer." Giselle stated while stroking her chin, "I will become Veridian's youngest and richest writer."
 
Eliza smiled and kissed her sister's forehead. "You will do great as an author!" Giselle giggled before closing her eyes.
 
"Good night, Eliza!"
 
Like that, they both drifted off to sleep.
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