Interstellar Beastworld: Raising A Cub With My Mummy System!-Chapter 57: A TAKEDOWN?!

She did not sleep that night.

Auriel had woken twice, fed, and settled again, but Lin Yue lay in the dark, her eyes fixed on the ceiling, her phone on the pillow beside her.

She had checked it a dozen times.

No messages.

No calls.

Uriel had said he would be back by evening, but evening had come and gone, and the house was quiet, and he was not here.

She told herself he was busy.

The Zephorian situation.

The military council.

A hundred things that needed his attention more than she did. But the silence from his phone was louder than any explanation he could have given.

[You should sleep. Tomorrow will be long.]

"I know."

But she did not close her eyes. She listened to the house settling around her, the creak of old wood.

She thought about the locked storeroom, the key that was not in the system, the things that had been taken and never returned.

She thought about Lilia’s face when she talked about her pay, about Elara’s voice when she spoke of the flour that had stopped coming.

She thought about Selas’s smile, warm and cold at the same time, the way he had stepped aside in the corridor but not before letting her know that he knew.

She would find the truth tomorrow.

She would open that door.

But tonight, she lay in the dark and waited for a man who had not come home.

Morning came grey and cold.

Lin Yue woke to Auriel’s coos, his tiny hand waving in the air, his face bright with the energy she had not felt in days. She had slept, somehow, though she did not remember closing her eyes. Her phone was still on the pillow beside her, the screen dark, no messages waiting.

She lifted Auriel from the bassinet and held him close, breathing in his warmth, his milk smell, his smallness.

"Today," she whispered. "Today mummy finds the truth."

She changed him quickly, dressed him in a soft blue onesie, and fed him while she ate her own breakfast.

It was more of meat and vegetables this time.

She took careful bites.

But her stomach turned, but she forced herself to eat.

She would need her strength.

When Auriel was full and content, she settled him in the bassinet and went to the closet.

She needed to look like she was not doing anything unusual.

A casual walk through the house.

A mother taking her son to see the garden.

Nothing that would alert anyone watching.

She dressed in soft pants and a loose shirt, comfortable, forgettable.

She pulled her hair back in a simple ponytail, the white streaks bright against the dark mass.

She looked at herself in the mirror and saw a woman she barely recognized, her eyes lighter than yesterday, her face sharper, her skin clearer.

[You are changing faster now.]

"I know."

She picked up Auriel and walked out.

The corridor was busy this morning. Staff moved between rooms, carrying linens, trays, armloads of fresh flowers.

They nodded to her as she passed, their faces neutral, their eyes careful.

She smiled back, her steps easy, her pace unhurried.

She walked toward the east wing.

The corridor here was quieter, the rooms fewer, the doors heavier.

She passed the kitchen, the laundry, the supply room where Joren worked.

She passed the small office where the administrative staff kept their records.

She passed the door to Selas’s office.

It was closed.

She kept walking.

The east wing ended in a short corridor, three doors, a dead end.

The first door was open, revealing a storage room filled with old furniture, draped in white cloth.

The second was locked.

Lin Yue stopped in front of it.

She reached out and touched the door.

The wood was cold. The lock was solid, old-fashioned, the kind that required a physical key.

[Someone is coming.]

She dropped her hand and turned, adjusting Auriel in her arms, her face relaxed, her steps slow.

A maid appeared at the end of the corridor, carrying a stack of folded linens.

She nodded as she passed, her eyes flicking to the locked door, then away.

Lin Yue smiled. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Madam."

The maid disappeared around the corner.

Lin Yue stood for a moment, her heart pounding, then walked back the way she had come.

[She will tell him you were here.]

"I know."

[He will move whatever is in that room.]

"I am counting on it." She kept walking, her face calm, her steps measured. "He will move it tonight. And I will be watching."

She reached the nursery, closed the door behind her, and let out a breath.

[That is dangerous. He will expect you to come back.]

"He will expect me to come back tonight. He will move the evidence, and I will see where he takes it." She looked down at Auriel, who was watching her with his gold eyes, his face serious. "Then I will have my proof."

[And if he sees you?]

She did not answer.

She walked to the window and looked out at the garden, at the pond, at the stone marker for Auriel’s tree.

Her phone was still in her pocket.

Still no messages from Uriel.

She pulled it out and looked at the screen.

Nothing.

[He will come when he can. You know that.]

She nodded slowly. "I know."

She tucked the phone away and turned back to the room.

There was work to do.

The rat was still in the walls.

The locked storeroom was still waiting.

She could not afford to wait for Uriel to come home.

But she checked her phone again before she set it down, and when the screen stayed dark, her chest tightened.

The afternoon passed in a haze of waiting.

Lin Yue stayed in the nursery, Auriel in her arms, her phone in her pocket.

She rocked and fed and changed him, her mind churning through the hours until dark.

Every time a door opened in the corridor, she tensed.

Every set of footsteps made her heart skip.

But the day wore on, and no one came for her.

By the time the light outside the windows turned gold and then grey, she had made her decision.

She could not take Auriel with her.

The east wing was too far, the night too cold, the risk too great.

She would leave him with Mira.

She found the housekeeper in the kitchen, directing the evening meal preparations.

Mira looked up as she entered, her deer features soft in the lamplight.

"Madam. Is something wrong?"

"No. I need to ask a favor." Lin Yue shifted Auriel in her arms, his face peaceful in sleep. "I have some things to attend to tonight. Could you watch him for an hour or two?"

Mira’s eyes moved to the baby, then back to Lin Yue. Her expression did not change, but something in her posture shifted. "Of course, Madam. I will sit with him in the nursery. He will be safe."