"I'm sorry if I overstepped my boundaries."

Emily turned her attention towards her bodyguard as he suddenly apologized out of the blue.

The two of them were heading back to the Alessandro mansion after bidding goodbye to Erica and Marine.

"I have known Erica for quite a long time by now. I stumbled across her two months ago before I moved to City A. That day someone fooled her by promising her to tell the identity of the author behind the Dark Happiness. I can't believe that the stupid woman fell for something like that."

"When I came here and found you, I realized that you were the one she had been looking for. So I sent her a mail, telling her that she can find you here. What I did not realize was that I should have asked you before telling her about your whereabouts. That's why I'm sorry. I should not have acted on my own."

He seriously sounded apologetic which only made Emily stare at him with surprised eyes.

"Why it feels like you are not used to apologizing?" She could not help but ask.

A small twitch appeared on his lips as he answered her question, "Because I'm indeed not used to apologizing."

Emily could not help but smile softly at his words. The more time she was spending with this man, the more amazed she got by his personality.

He was definitely as cold-hearted as Domenic and Kaiden, or maybe even more than both of them.

But unlike those two, he barely acted seriously. Most of the time he acted like he did not care about anything as long as it was not related to him.

"I'm not angry at you. It's just.....I'm surprised by everything that happened. I never paid much attention to my future and what are my dreams about my book. So far, my only mission was to make sure that I don't end up creating problems for everyone."

"I can't accept this proposal immediately even though it sounds so alluring. I need time to think about it, to think about my future. I'll also need to talk with Nick. After all, he only allowed me to continue writing this story because I promised him that it will not affect my studies."

Shadow nodded his head in understanding and for the rest of the ride, the two of them stayed silent.

By the time they returned to the mansion, it was already past one o'clock in the afternoon.

Mark greeted them at the door and Emily immediately gave him a tight hug. She knew that even though he enjoyed her sudden hugs, he always pretended otherwise.

"I missed you," Emily told him as she kept her arms tightly wrapped around his waist. She could hear Shadow coughing behind her as he tried to not laugh.

She turned to face him before she glared at the man who immediately excused himself and disappeared from the hallway.

"Stop lying," Mark told her as he dragged her towards the living room.

"But I really missed you," Emily said with a small pout as she looked at Crist who was busy building a house of cards.

"Is he that bored?" Emily asked Mark in a whispered tone as she signaled towards Crist whose entire focus was on the tower that he was trying to create.

"Of course, he is! By the way, where did you go?" Mark asked as he took a seat on one of the sofas and pulled her to sit beside him.

"To have lunch in a famous restaurant," Emily replied as she took out a candy from the jar sitting on top of the coffee table and popped it in her mouth.

"Daniel has really changed your mindset about sweets," Mark muttered as he followed her lead and chose a candy for himself.

Emily did not comment. She just took out her phone and started working on her story as Mark returned his attention to his laptop.

-

"Wow!"

Emily could not help but be amazed at the marvelous castle that was standing in front of her eyes.

And as they were ushered inside by the butler and the team of servants that were waiting to welcome them, she got to see the elegance and mesmerizing sight of the inside of the castle.

The architecture was completely different from the one that was used in building modern houses. Every single area of the castle screamed a story of history and culture.

There was so much for her to take in that she felt like she would need days to see and absorb all the fine details.

"Do you like it?" Jackson asked as he appeared beside her. The man was wearing a white suit for a change.

"It's so beautiful. You never told me that you are living in a freaking palace." Emily complained as she followed everyone towards the living room which was just as grand and elegantly decorated as the rest of the castle.

Jackson chuckled softly before he replied, "I wanna apologize for keeping this fact hidden. I hope Young Miss will show some mercy to....."

"Alright, alright! I'm not that cold-hearted. By the way, where's Bee?" Emily asked as she looked around the room but did not find the woman.

Her relationship with Bee was getting stronger with every passing day, probably because she was the only other woman present in her family circle.

"There she is!" Jackson replied as he nodded towards the entrance of the living room.

Emily turned to look at the door and found Bianca entering the room with servants who were bringing drinks.

"My dear Emmy! Mommy missed you a lot!" Bianca squealed happily as she pulled Emily in a tight hug.

"You are at the age where you can be considered her great great great grandmother. Don't fool yourself and others." Leo commented immediately as he sipped his juice to ignore the glare that he received from the not-so-happy-looking woman.

"Don't listen to him. He knows nothing. He's just jealous that I look so young and beautiful." Bianca told her as she dragged Emily to sit on the sofa beside her.

"Of course!"

"Sure!"

Both Leo and Emily replied at the same time but their words carried different tones and meanings.

The room filled with chuckles while Domenic gave a sharp look towards Leo who finally decided to shut up.