Beast Gacha System: All Mine-Chapter 243: Threatened

Sienna believed Cecilia wouldn’t spread the recording.

If she did, she would also taint her own reputation. The scandal would cling to her too, and every crazy thing she said.

Not to mention, after thinking it over and over, replaying every word in her mind until they were worn smooth as river stones, Sienna was sure she hadn’t outwardly confessed. She had been emotional, yes. Angry. Desperate. But the words had never crossed her lips.

She never said I did it.

I drugged him.

I locked him in.

None of that. Just implications. Just the ugly, undeniable truth that anyone with eyes could see, but not hear. Not prove.

And even if Cecilia tried to use it, even if she showed it to someone, anyone, Sienna believed, deep in her bones, that her father and mother wouldn’t side with a lowly commoner orphan. Not against her, their own daughter.

They wouldn’t ever believe what Cecilia said. No matter what proof there was.

It would stain the Dawnoro name. That was the real truth. If the story got out, if people knew what Sienna had tried to do, the scandal would ripple through the north for generations. Her father wouldn’t allow it. Her brother wouldn’t allow it. They would bury it, destroy it, erase it before letting it see the light.

So even without Sienna ever telling anyone why she hated Cecilia so much, people would attack her. People would destroy her. That was how love worked, wasn’t it? You sided with the people you loved first. Before strangers and truth and anything.

Sienna had seen it her whole life.

Her father would find out someone was hurting her, or even just inconveniencing her, and without her saying another word, that person would simply disappear the next day. Not literally or always, but from her life. From her path and her awareness.

Even at school. The moment someone displeased her, they would be staying as far away as possible the next day, not daring to meet her eyes, not daring to breathe in her direction.

Cecilia would be the same. Cecilia was nothing, after all. A commoner. An orphan. A girl with no family, no connections, no power.

But then—

She heard that her father had called Cecilia to his office.

Sienna froze.

Why?

Why hadn’t her father just crushed her, like usual?

This... this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. This wasn’t how things worked. Her father didn’t summon people for conversation. He didn’t invite problems into his home. He made them go away.

Why would he call that woman here instead of just making her disappear?

"Mother..." Her voice was small, teary, the voice of a child who didn’t understand why the world was suddenly wrong. "Why would Father call that woman here...?"

Ines looked down at her, confusion flickering behind her gentle expression. "I don’t know yet, Sienna. But your father knows best." She stroked her daughter’s hair, soothing and reassuring. "Let’s let him handle this, alright?"

Sienna nodded, but the unease didn’t leave.

She watched from the window when the carriage arrived.

And her heart dropped. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Her brother was with her.

Arkai stepped out of the carriage first, then turned to offer his hand to Cecilia as she descended. They walked toward the manor together. Side by side. Together.

No. No, of course there was a reason.

He was just worried she would tell their father everything. He was just here to make sure that bitch didn’t ruin things. Not to protect her. Never.

That bitch was nothing to her brother.

Yes. Of course.

Sienna forced herself to breathe. Forced the panic down, down, down into the place where she kept all the things she couldn’t show.

Right. If that bitch told her father about everything, Arkai would hate her too. Arkai would hate her so much he’d realize... he’d finally see... that there was no one in this world better than Sienna. No one who loved him more. No one who understood him like she did.

Sienna would always be on his side.

Sienna would always love him.

She just needed to sit here. Act upset. Let them see her pain, her hurt, her victimhood. That was enough. That was always enough.

She settled into her chair, arranged her face into the perfect expression of wounded innocence, and waited.

***

"Leave the room."

August’s voice was flat and absolute, a command issued with the expectation of immediate obedience.

Arkai didn’t budge.

He stood there, planted like a tree with roots too deep to move, his eyes fixed on him. It was clear that his son wanted to be in this room and to be part of whatever conversation was about to happen.

He wanted to protect her.

This warmly smiling young woman might already have his heart. Or his weakness. August didn’t know which yet, and that uncertainty was its own kind of danger.

"Young Lord Dawnoro."

Cecilia turned to Arkai with a different smile.

It was—it was the kind of smile that would make any boy’s heart skip a beat. Warm. Intimate. The smile of someone who understood exactly what she was doing and was doing it anyway.

"Please step out of the room for a minute." Her voice was soft, coaxing. "I also want to have this conversation with Lord Dawnoro completely in private."

Arkai’s eyes faltered.

The intensity in them tipped over into something else, something August had never seen in his son’s expression before.

No.

Arkai looked a lot like himself.

And August had seen those eyes before. In the reflection of Belinda’s eyes, when they were young and foolish. His own eyes, mirrored back at him by the woman who had captured his heart.

The eyes of a man falling helplessly in—

"Father." Arkai’s voice was steady, but he didn’t turn to him. His gaze remained fixed on Cecilia, reluctant to let go. "Miss Araceli saved many people’s lives today. If you harm her..." A pause. "You’ll upset more people than you think."

Then, finally, the boy turned to face him.

His eyes had changed. Stern now. Cold. The eyes of a politician, calculating and controlled. The eyes of the boy August had raised to be his heir.

August couldn’t help but dislike everything about this.

His son, protecting the girl Sienna hated. The girl his own sister couldn’t even speak about without breaking down. The potential bully who had somehow wormed her way into his family’s dysfunction.

But for now, he needed information.

He needed to understand what this woman actually was. What threat she posed to the harmony of the family he had finally successfully rebuilt.

Arkai left, leaving the girl and the patriarch alone.

And when the door clicked shut behind him—

"Lord Dawnoro, why did you call me here instead of sending your people to just remove me?"