Chapter 54: Not What You Think

Ian remembered how the principal of Ellie's school shrank into his chair and turned pale. The man had not expected Ellie to be so blunt, and he had been paid well to sweep the matter under the carpet. All he had to do was leak information that Ellie had broken several bones of another student and wait for the calls requesting her expulsion to flood in. When he felt he had sufficient backing from the parent body, he attempted to have Ellie reach out to her parents, but she had the school call the Young Mr. Lee instead.

Back then, Ian looked at the principal and asked him if what his sister described was mere bullying. The man tried to appease him by saying that the people involved were only children. When Ian looked over at the girl he regarded as his little sister since her birth, he could not picture her sending a boy younger than herself to the hospital, so he asked the other child's age. The principal tried to dodge the question by stating that the boy was a junior, but Ellie quickly inserted that he was a junior because he was dumb. Ian's face had become demonic when he pressed the principal for a straight answer. It turned out that the 'boy' was eighteen! He was the same age as Ian at the time.

In Ian's memory, he recalled grabbing his sister's hand as he told the principal that 'since groping a young girl was considered bullying, he did not think he wanted his little sister to attend the school. He left the office, pulling Ellie behind him, but before they fully walked out, Ian had stopped at the door and without turning back, he assured the principal that there would be no other instances like this in the future. The man was confused, he did not understand Ian's words. Within two days, the school had been shut down. Aside from turning a blind eye to 'bullying,' there were several other issues. Teachers within the school accepted bribes, and students and their parents could openly buy their grades with donations.

Later in the week, the principal of the school was apprehended by the police for embezzling donations intended for school projects. Ian and Ellie stood at his front door and watched in amusement. As the man passed Ian, he heard the boys mocking voice say 'having you arrested is the least I could do...' Ian did not finish his sentence, but his meaning was clear. The Lee family was notorious for being ruthless, the principal just did not think that the ruthlessness would also apply to a servant's kid. Suddenly, five years in prison for embezzlement did not seem so bad if it was already the least.

It was all those years ago that Ellie begged Ian to hide the incident from her parents. They had already warned her that if she caused any trouble in her new school that they would have her home schooled as an alternative. Ian doted on his little sister and he did not want to see her suffer the way he did. So, he made the arrangement to have her sent to a military academy sponsored by the Lee family. This of course was painstakingly hidden from her parents. Unbeknownst to Ian, Ellie had started training as a special forces officer and was sent to another country to begin intensive training. By the time Ian caught wind of this, Ellie was already unreachable.

When she completed training at seventeen, Ian attempted to pull her out of the special forces, but the little imp threatened him. She pretended to be heartbroken by her deceit and planned to tell her parents the truth about her career path. She planned to tell her mother that it was her brother who helped her find a school and take this dangerous path. It was then that Ian knew he was at his sister's mercy. He knew his nan would be livid if she found out that he facilitated her daughters desire to emulate her father. As an adult he had never disappointed his nan and he did not want her to lose trust in him. Thus, Ian was forced to keep the secret, but he would not be taken advantage of forever. He and Ellie decided on a fixed amount of years for her to indulge in her savagery before she had to return home to her parents. She still had another two years left.

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Presently, Ellie could tell that Ian was thinking hard about something, so she took the liberty of telling him how she got rid of Mina's night guards. The men in question just so happened to be aware of her identity and her military status, so she just told them that she was under President Lee's direct orders. They did not care to question her further. She also informed Ian that she promptly sent the men back to her father for additional training since they were obviously idiots and she suggested he get rid of them altogether.

Remembering something, Ellie asked Ian if Mina knew there were cameras in the room. He shook his head, no. She informed Ian that she had reason to believe that Mina had a close relationship with one of his maids. She had not investigated it yet because he caught her before she could get to it. She told Ian that Mina did not know who she was, and he could pretend to have killed her to see Mina's reaction. It was late and Ellie still had a few things to handle. She bid goodnight to her brother and prepared to leave.

Ian noticed that Ellie was hesitating to walk out of the door. He told her to speak her mind, and she did.

"Ian, you're my brother and I love you. I have never questioned you, but that girl…" Ellie paused for a long time before she spoke again. "That girl… I am not sure she is what you think she is. I left the door open for her several times and she did not attempt to escape once. The bag I gave her was of my own accord. Before tonight, she hardly said a word to me." Ellie walked back toward her brother and placed a loving hand on his shoulder before continuing. "If she were in the same line of work as me, she would have already forced your hand into killing her. That girl is allowing herself to die slowly in that room. Do you think there is any person who wants to starve to death?" Ian looked at his sister pensively. Taking his silence as acceptance, Ellie left the study.

With his sister's words in mind, Ian opened the security footage from Mina's room. She lay in the bed fully clothed. She was crying so bitterly that it caused her to have dry heaves. Clearly this woman valued the life of others above her own.