The Million-Dollar Heart (Percival and Vivienne)

If Connor wasn't Abigail's last resort, it meant there was someone they had overlooked.

Vivienne's expression was grave. Connor, lying on the ground, had started to cough up blood. Despite this, Vivienne still administered an antidote to him. "What's this for?" Percival was surprised to see Vivienne giving Connor an antidote.

After feeding Connor the medicine, Vivienne dropped him on the ground like trash, "He might still be of use."

They hadn't fully identified 'him' yet, so they couldn't just kill him off.

Vivienne handed Connor over to the belatedly arriving Draven, "Lock him up in the lab, and no one sees him without my say-so."

"Right away, boss." Draven dragged the man away, disappearing into the building's upper levels.

Vivienne and Percival searched the abandoned building for a while but found nothing relevant. Vivienne paused at the door of the room that had trapped her.

Before she left, the sculptures were intact, but now, all she saw were shattered stones.

Just as Vivienne was about to turn away, something in the darkness caught her eye, gleaming momentarily. She caught sight of it and bent down among the rubble to find a chip precisely.

The emblem on the chip unconsciously reminded Vivienne of the lab she saw in Luck Village. Could there be a connection?

"Vivienne, I didn't find any clues on my end. Shall we leave?" Percival approached, noticing the item in Vivienne's hand, "What's that?"

Vivienne handed the chip to Percival, "Let's go. There's nothing left here. This is all we need."

Percival raised an eyebrow, and they both headed back to the Perez family home.

Juliette and her brother were the first to wake up in the morning. The first thing Juliette did upon opening her eyes was to look for their mom. She hesitated at Vivienne's bedroom door, her little hand raised then dropped in indecision.

"Where's your sister?" Leopold stood at the doorway, only to find Isaiah sitting on the bed, with no sign of Juliette in the bed next to him. Isaiah shook his head emotionlessly, "She went out early. But..." he paused, "you might find answers with Mom."

Leopold soon caught on and rushed to Vivienne's room, finding Juliette struggling with herself at the door.

"Juliette, what are you doing here?"

Juliette, startled by Leopold's sudden appearance, turned around and frowned at him, "Godfather, keep it down, don't wake Mom!"

Leopold apologized with a helpless shrug, "Alright, alright, I'll keep it down. But now, you need to get your backpack and head to school with Isaiah."

At the mention of 'school' and 'class,' Juliette's guard went up, "I don't want to go today."

Leopold, "?!"

Since when could you just decide not to go?

"In your dreams? It's Monday, and you're thinking of skipping school? You've already taken a few days off; it's time to go back."

"My head's spinning!" Juliette clutched her head, pretending to faint. Leopold wasn't fooled this time, his skeptical look saying it all, "Juliette, a trick works only once. Haven't you heard that people don't fall in the same place twice?" Hearing Leopold's words, Juliette dropped the act and looked at him seriously, "But godfather, you do, right?"

Leopold, "..."

So he was the easy mark!

"Anyway, you're going to school today, no escaping it."

As Leopold and Juliette went back

and forth, Isaiah had already dressed and was downstairs eating breakfast, shaking his head at the commotion upstairs.

Today was destined to be eventful.

"Isaiah having breakfast?" Maddox entered the living room to find the boy quietly eating, brightening his day. Willa approached, patting his head, "Heading to school today? How are you feeling, any discomfort?"

Isaiah shook his head, "Good morning, Uncle Maddox and Aunt Willa. I'm fine, no worries."Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

Isaiah's maturity was beyond his years, endearing him even more to the Maddox couple.

"Where's your sister?" Maddox looked around but didn't see Juliette, "Not up yet?"

Isaiah calmly pointed upstairs, following his direction, Maddox saw Leopold chasing Juliette around. "What's going on?"

"So energetic this early in the morning?"

Maddox and Willa were both amused.

Vivienne, half-asleep in her room, sensed something was off. It felt like someone was running around her room.

Initially thinking it was her imagination, the sensation became clearer, and her sleepiness quickly faded.

Noticing Vivienne's unrest, Percival tightened his grip around her, his head nuzzling her neck, "Why wake up now?"

"Do you feel someone moving around outside our room?" Vivienne pushed his head away.

Percival paused at Vivienne's question, then nodded in agreement after a moment, "Seems like it. Stay here, I'll check it out." Grabbing his jacket, Percival headed out, only for a small figure to dash past him the moment he opened the door.

"You little rascal, stop running! Wait

till your mom wakes up; she'll dea

with you!" Leopold had been trying to catch Juliette for a good teno minutes without success.

Juliette knew she had the upper hand with her sneakiness, and she used it to run circles around Leopold.

Gasping for breath and gearing up

for another chase, Leopold's eyes flickered to the doorway where Percival stood. Seeing him felt like spotting a lifeline, and he nearly broke down in tears of relief "Percival, you're finally up!"

"What's going on? Why are you chasing Juliette?" Percival asked, frowning at Leopold.

Leopold was on the verge of tears, "It's Monday, she's supposed to be at school!"

The level of distress was palpable. "If she's going to school, why are you running after her? If she gets hurt, it's on you," Percival said.

Leopold thought, How is this my fault?

He felt like he was caught in a bind with no way to explain his side.

Just as Leopold was about to spill the beans on Juliette's mischievous escape, the little troublemaker herself appeared from behind a potted plant.

She pouted at Leopold, her eyes brimming with a sense of loss.

Leopold's words took an unexpected turn as they reached his lips. "Hahaha, you're right, this is way too risky! My bad."