Chapter 9: A Not So Peaceful Morning With You (Part 3)

Discreetly gripping onto the creased duvets, Kieran's lips thinned as he gulped, and it felt like a massive lump was punctured deep down his throat the very second those whispering words fled his lips.

The little man darted his prying gaze at his mother's reaction from the corner of his eyes and couldn't help but be entranced by her delicate magnificence with her unkempt hair dangling softly on the sides of her waist, which he knew fair well how smooth they were to skim and touch through his bare hands.

Lovely . . .

Mother is truly lovely.

With hitching breath, a sanguine redness stains across his pale cheeks. He was exceptionally flushed as he shies his appreciative gaze away, almost breathless.

"Really now?" Ivie wavers for a moment in disbelief, offering his statement some adequate time to ponder about correctly.

Kieran bends in, extends his arms through the cold sheets, and gently lays the side of his head against the bed.

He looks up at her with his glimmering big green round eyes before politely nodding his head and giving her his sweetest smile.

"Yes," he softly whispers.

He has no alternative choices left in mind but to note that unsightly existence in hopes to boost the interest of his mother to get off the bed and head towards the dining area with him.

His once calm brows furrow in determination.

He sincerely understood the responsibility behind the words he pledged and any proper man shouldn't take back his words.

He saw his mother turns to him with her eyes slightly bulging while his lit up in affection.

Now that he caught her attention, never had he felt an ounce of regret for what he said. He was grateful and proud upon seeing the way her deep set of eyes squint to a warm smile, showing she was pleased and amused.

Ivie pushed the comforter away with a huge smile plastered on her face that completely mirrors her child's and finally got off the bed.

Catching that he was patiently waiting and carefully watching her every move from the edge of the bed, she bent down to take him in her arms, causing her child to instantly shroud his arms around her warmth and rest his head on her shoulder.

"Shall we?" She whispers to him, slipping on her cushy slippers while patting his back twice before striding towards the door.

Kieran didn't provide her any response but a lazy nod.

As they both reached the locked double doors, her child willingly bent down with his other arm clinging around her neck for support. He unlocks and presses one of the doors open, causing the maids from the other side to flinch and jump in surprise, but it only brought them a second to recover their composure and bow their heads to their waists in respect to their presence.

"We greet our masters a pleasant morning." The servants conveyed their hearts to them in unison.

Ivie breathes in the fresh faces she sees with the smile still intact on her lips.

She felt that today is going to be remarkable for them, too good for any subtle disturbances to bother her.

She greets them back with a simple 'good morning' while her snoot child did not bother to react to their formalities, not even sparing them a glance.

"Young miss, should we go prepare your bath?"

Butler Yang lends her Kieran's wool coat to keep him warm in the morning, and she need not spare an effort getting him dressed when he puts it on himself before desperately clinging to her again.

Kieran quietly nuzzles to her closer, counting every second that's left before their grief separation.

He did not want her to have a hard time because of him, but he never wished so earnestly that time would stop, just like what he had hoped for yesterday and the day before that.

When the maids saw his subdued and serene face, they knew this was one of those days where they could sleep a night without trouble.

"Yes please, just warm the jacuzzi for me. Then we'll be heading downstairs to eat breakfast."

Ivie looks at her loyal butler straight in the eyes who has been good to her all these years, "Oh, and Kieran's in the mood to eat broccoli. Do inform the head chef beforehand."

She sweetly said, stroking her hand through the back of her quiet child before placing him down for the other maids to assist him in his morning routine.

As odd as it can be, Kieran abhors warm baths, he prefers cold showers more.

The laidback grin on the servants' faces instantly drops and fades to thin air like it was never there from the very start.

Everyone gave each other an uneasy look as the heiress walked down the hallway, hand in hand with their young master.

The tense servants who followed their masters in tow couldn't stay still at what they heard.

They were all anxious and worried.

Their frightened hearts almost stopped when the young boy turned his head to look at them by his shoulder, and his cold gaze carried threat and warning, portraying his complete displeasure to them.

They gulped and bowed their heads in silence.

The torturous and seemingly unending trails of silence only ceased when they arrived in front of the staircase that leads to its bottom floor, and it was time for them to clarify the heiress's command when their souls refused to accept such incredulity.

It just . . . feels wrong.

But no one took the courage to speak.

How could they? When they're being peeled open by a murderous gaze from a short distance.

The young maidens pale even more.

"Pardon me, young miss. This grieved servant has to apologize, I seem to have misheard something from your command." Butler Yang utters, taking all the courage he has left for everyone—for the entire house's sake.

His voice was trembling so was his shaken heart inside his chest. He was indeed growing old, and perhaps he did mishear it.

"Broccoli." She pauses with a considerate smile to the butler's worried face, "Kieran wants to eat broccoli for breakfast." The kind heiress beams back at him.

But the butler's stunned heart fell into the pit of doom at what he heard. "A-Ah, I see. Very well."

He blinks, feeling his forehead had turned purplish red and his insides twisting gruesomely. Was it his sanity that he heard broke or the shattered hope that's now selfishly taken away from him?

Good Lord.

He felt that his death was nearer than he anticipated.

Their young master wanting broccoli for breakfast was neither a miracle nor a blessing.

No . . .

It's nothing more than a nightmare of unleashing an awakened curse on the peaceful house to ruin the lovely morning they had prepared beforehand.

'Oh, merciful heavens . . .' he prayed with a heavy heart.

The new maids held their breaths, on the verge of tears as they have just summarized the black notebook early this morning, and the word . . .

B-R-O-C-C-O-L-I,

Was printed in alarming bold letters on the majority list.

The heavens must have penalized them today as they can already foresee the end of this peaceful path is a bumpy road waiting for them ahead.

A death road to cross with no way around it.