CHAPTER 21
Lord of Darkness Part II
Breakfast caused Dara a lot of embarrassment because of the mark Jaejoong gave her early this morning. Yoochun's eyes widened upon seeing the mark, but he remained quiet. Bom smiled. Junsu chuckled and gave Jaejoong a friendly whack on the shoulder. Thankfully, Cloud was nowhere to be seen. The Historian of Mussur had arrived here yesterday for the funeral and upon discovering that Cloud was also here decided to have a meeting with the latter to know the latest information around Haldor.
Historians and scholars once they had accepted the existence of Cloud were always interested to talk to the latter. They viewed Cloud as the best source of information from the past as well as the present. It seemed that people who devoted their life to learning and collecting information had a natural affinity with Cloud.
Dara was seated on one of the long tables being served in the dining hall of Duke Seung-won's villa. There were a lot of long tables in the hall, but only two of them were currently occupied today because the other guests had already left yesterday. Those who stayed were here to witness the reading of the will. It was already known that Jaejoong had inherited most of the properties and belongings of Lord Seung-won, but he had also left some things to his friends and loyal servants and staffs.
Because Dara was sitting with the members of the League, the mark on her neck was not noticed by the others in the hall. But the glances and whisperings of some of the maids serving them didn't escape her attention. They would soon be spreading gossips about Jaejoong staying in her room the whole night. Which was exactly what Jaejoong wanted and she had to bear.
After breakfast, everyone mentioned on the will were called by Lord Won Bin to the parlor. Dara was surprised to hear her name called. Jaejoong walked beside her as she started to enter the parlor. She felt the eyes of everyone on her.
She noticed the surprised look that turned to instant jealousy in Lady Krystal's face. Yet, she kept herself composed as she was being accompanied by King Donghae. Dara was momentarily puzzled why Queen Jessica was not among the names called. Come to think of it, Donghae's wife didn't even join them for breakfast.
After they were all seated in the parlor, Lord Won Bin began reading the will of Duke Seung-won, former Regent of Mussur.
As expected, Jaejoong was pronounced the heir of the former regent and was now the master of the villa, the plantation and the mansion Duke Seung-won owned in the City of Solaris. Others named in the will were either given items, objects and bags of gold. Each of these objects were brought to the parlor by the servants and given to their new owners. Dara's name was the last mentioned in the will.
"And lastly," read Lord Won Bin, "I leave my bronze chest to Sandara Park although I am not sure if she would be present at this time. If she is not, then the bronze chest would remain in this villa and kept inside my vault, only to be taken out when she presents herself here. If she is present during the reading of this will, she may open the chest and everything inside would become hers."
A large bronze chest was quickly brought in by four male servants. It was three feet in width and five feet in length. The symbol of the wind which was two twirling lines were etched all around the chest. There was a big padlock keeping the chest tightly closed.
Dara approached the chest. She turned to Lord Won Bin.
"But where is the key?"
"There is no key."
She was not expecting that. Did that mean that she had to find a way how to open the chest? What was Duke Seung-won up to? Maybe this was a puzzle she had to solve. According to the will, she owned the chest and she could open it anytime. And using a key was not the only way to open a chest.
She thought of Yoochun. Yoochun would know a lot of ways how to open a locked chest.
"Please take it back to the vault. I will open it once I find something I could use to open it without destroying it," she ordered the menservants.
After the reading of the will, Dara saw Lady Krystal walking toward Jaejoong. She didn't want to witness the confrontation between the two, so she quickly walked out of the parlor and began searching for Yoochun. She needed to stay away from Jaejoong. She was not yet ready to talk to him. She needed time to sort out the effects of the mark he had given her. Truth be told, she didn't know what to say to the man.
She found the blacksmith sitting in front of a large fountain on the left side of the villa. He seemed to be admiring the craftsmanship of the fountain.
He soon noticed her presence and turned. A smile broke in his face upon seeing her. Dara realized that whatever
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