Chapter Forty — Getting More Byzantine!

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At The Conference Hall

In Skye Evander High School

She looked like a blondish-redhead because she had fair skin but she was redheaded. She looked very serious-minded and gave off that scholarly vibes as she was meticulously garbed in Hamill Dayle High School uniform.

"Who are you?" Mr. Disraeli Wilkins asked. His intimidating stare made Dawn size up herself.

"I am Dawn…" Dawn was introducing herself when the almighty Madam Stacie interrupted.

"Yes…we all know that you're Dawn so just go straight to the point, don't make us play twenty questions about it…" She began to rant and rave but just a simple shot of glare from Sir Renwick was enough to shut her up.

Dawn gawked at the overbearing lady in front of her. Madam Stacie Eyre always brought out that air of pomposity anytime she was faced with someone below her.

"Duh…" Dawn drawled drolly and Madam Stacie was enraged. "I am the one who knows the person that kidnapped the missing girls. As a matter of fact, I even made up the plan to kidnap the girls and…I know the person I plotted the kidnap with. The person is a student of this damn high school and don't be surprised that this person also knows about the trending news and the whereabouts of the missing girls."

The school management team gasped with shock. They all thought that it was planned by other competing high school, lo and behold, it was a student of Skye Evander High School. How artful!

Dawn turned to Jayden, "I'm done so can you take me back?" Jayden nodded and was about to leave with Dawn when the overbearing lady interrupted.

"But you're not done telling us about the person that kidnapped the girls…" Madam Stacie yelled but Dawn kept walking away as if she didn't hear what the lady said.

"No! Wait…" Sir Renwick screamed with a pleading tone and Dawn turned around to see the agitated man. That man looked so familiar to her but she has never met that man.

"What's your name?"

"Oh…I am Dawn Grant…" She lied. Her late mother warned her not to use her original surname which was 'Legnani' anyhow as it could attract tons of trouble for her and she didn't know why.

The Legnanis' were actually the leading plutocrat family in Betyria back then and Dawn's mother (Annie Grant) worked as a miserable maidservant in the family.

"Which state are you from?"

"I am a Betyrian." Dawn said as she gazed piercingly at the man. That man held such taciturnity and it terrified her. Such a coldblooded tyrant!

To Sir Renwick, those affectionate honey-hued eyes were quite familiar as if he had seen them somewhere. And the way Dawn gazed at her was quite alarming. It was as if she wanted to rip off his taciturnity from his life. Such a bold girl!

"Of course, same blood. I'm also a Betyrian too! Your voice has a slight Betyrian twang so that was why I asked…" He said coldly and Dawn nodded instinctively.

Dawn wanted to leave this hall 'cause she could feel a pair of blazing eyes trying to roast her to death. And this man's aura is so choking that she could pass out at any moment. Jayden who sensed the silent chaos quickly dragged Dawn to his side and excused himself.

The hall was silent again, more silent than a graveyard.

"That girl didn't give us enough info, aargh!" Madam Stacie bit her lower lips and slammed the table with her fist.

"She told us that the wrongdoer is a student of this prestigious high school, isn't that more than a shedload of info the investigation team told us? We all thought that the malefactors were the other competing high schools but we didn't know that these malefactors were right under our nose." One of the silent management team spoke up, it wasn't Mr. Disraeli. It was Miss. Enid Simmons. She was a woman of prestige that was in her early fifties.

"Whatever!" Madam Stacie said and walked away. The other management team members stood up and walked away. Now, the number of people in the conference hall were just two – Mr. Disraeli Wilkins and Sir Renwick Legnani.

"Why didn't you go with the other team members?" Sir Renwick asked Mr. Disraeli.

"I don't feel like. It's just that the girl, Dawn looks so much like you that I thought she was your missing daughter."

With that, Sir Renwick craned his neck to Mr. Disraeli. His coldness was turned up to its maximum.

"I thought so too…" Sir Renwick breathed feebly. Mr. Disraeli was shocked. He thought that this icy man would yell at him for saying such a thing but he actually admitted to that. He even said that with helplessness.

"Her amber eyes reminded me of someone I love so much." Sir Renwick confessed further.

"You mean Annie Grant?" Mr. Disreali asked with such curious tone.

"Yes."

"And the girl's name is Dawn Grant? Can't you see it?" Mr. Disraeli laughed.

"See what?" The icy man deadpanned. His gaze was fixed at the table and it didn't move away from it. "Please Disraeli, don't raise my hope so high."

"Are you that blind? Dawn is your missing daughter!" Mr. Disraeli screamed with happiness.

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At The Water Fountain

In Skye Evander High School

"Do you actually know who kidnapped Jemima and the other girls?" Jayden asked once again and Dawn remained dumb.

"C'mon, talk to me." He pestered but Dawn could only look at him with her mouth shut.

After so much pressure from Jayden, Dawn finally said something.

"Did Desha ally with any force?"

When Dawn asked, Jayden remembered the lady that was with Desha when he came back from Jemima's change room.

"Yeah…um…no…I don't even know." He stammered. He still remembered the lady's features but he did not know her name.

"Just talk to me if you know about any suspicious thing that happened." Dawn said to Jayden with her eyes downcast.

"Okay. I kinda ruined Jemima's dress so I went to her change room to say sorry to her. When I came back, I met Desha and one other mysterious lady with her. She looked mystical and her dressing too. She wore a black veil and her eyes were weird."

"How do you mean?" Dawn asked with curiosity in her tone.

"Her eyes were a rough combination of brown and red."

Dawn marveled at what Jayden told her. "Wow!"

But she suddenly remembered that there was only one person with such feature. It was one of those underlings that fought in the Great War. Her name was Ashe. Her mother, Annie, told her about the Great War when she was reading a bedtime story for her in the past.

"Ashe!" Dawn muttered.

"What did you say?" Jayden asked.

"OMG!" Dawn screamed angrily. "Desha had the impetus to seek help from Ashe. Who doesn't know that Ashe worked for Lady Kismet, the oldest and most powerful sorceress in the world?"

"Oh boy!" Jayden muttered. "That doesn't sound good."

'Things are getting more byzantine. Girls missing and now it's all linked up with Desha some old powerful sorceress.' Jayden thought as he rubbed his forehead wearily. He now had dark circles under his eyes. He just wanted all this to stop but it wasn't.

As he kept thinking, his phone rang.