A favor

[Ella's Cabin]

"She seemed a little off this time. Perhaps the incident has left her traumatized, I suppose," Ella remarked thoughtfully as she disclosed her visit to Lilith's house before Stefan.

Though Ella was not sure why he asked her to see the woman, she was happy that she did. Although Ms. Volkov was fortunate that the intruder did not hurt her, she could not shake the feeling that both of the women were concealing something.

Stefan remained silent and continued to look straight ahead. He seemed to be thinking very deeply about something, which piqued Ella's interest.

"What is going on, Stefan?" she inquired, examining his composed demeanor closely.

Ella was more dubious about Stefan's interest than Ms. Volkov. She sensed that he was searching for something, even though he made an effort to seem sincere about it.

The instant she said those words, Stefan gave her a sidelong glance and sighed.