The Duke's Daughter's Third Life

Chapter 8

"What are you doing?"

"Wah!!"

Aeliana screamed in shock when she heard a voice behind her. She whipped her head behind to see her first brother standing there with one eyebrow up.

"Brother Leon—"

"Don't call me that," he cut her off, "What are you doing?"

"I'm playing hide and seek with the servants." she politely answered.

He stared at her and then sighed before walking away. Aeliana looked at him in confusion. She couldn't understand what was going through his head every time he spoke to her.

"Whatever I need to find them fast." she shook her head and began the search.

The only rule was not to leave the mansion since she wasn't allowed to leave. Aeliana carefully searched every area she thought of.

"Found you, Mary!"

"Rufus! Jane! Found you!!"

"Mark, I found you!"

Not long later, she found everyone except one. She had looked everywhere but she still couldn't find them.

She asked for hints but none of them knew either, shaking their heads. She tapped her chin, holding a thinking pose before hitting her tiny fist against her palm.

"I haven't checked one more place!"

Aeliana hurriedly went over to that section where she haven't been yet and began searching everywhere. She searched high and low, even pushing things away just to be sure but she still couldn't find the last person.

Her shoulders were slumped down and she was about to head back to where everyone was waiting at when from the corner of her right eye, she noticed a door was slightly opened. She faced towards the door and inched closer to the opening gap.

Aeliana pushed the door a bit more, and creaking sounds echoed inside the dark room. She walked inside and glanced around. It was hard to see as there was no light source but she carefully made her way through until her foot lightly bumped into something.

Her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, allowing her to see what she had bumped into. It was a large square object with a cover draped over it. She pulled the cover off and dust particles flew around her.

Accidentally inhaling it, she began to cough. She waved her hand, hoping it would move the dust away from her. Fluttering her eyes open, she stared at the painting that was covered previously.

Her father stood beside a young beautiful woman that was sitting gracefully on the chair. She had long wavy white-silver hair and pink eyes. In the painting, she had a sweet yet gentle smile on her face. Her father looked extremely happy inside the painting as well.

Aeliana reached out, touching the painting softly. Her fingers stroked the woman's face. The woman inside the painting was her mother. She knew as she resembled extremely close to the woman.

"...Mother.." she muttered before a loud bang startled her greatly.

Goosebumps crawled up her skin as she flinched. She turned towards the door, seeing Leon standing there with a furious look. He strutted his way over to her.

"Brother—"

Aeliana couldn't finish her sentence as Leon grabbed her arm roughly and dragged her out of the room. She winced in pain but kept her mouth shut, trying her best not to stumble on her feet as he pulled her out of the room.

Leon slammed the door to the room shut and glared at her. His eyes were filled with anger as he looked down at her. Aeliana gulped down her nervousness and carefully looked at him.