Though favonovel.com had accelerated the entire way, it still took Gerald four whole hours to get from the forest to the Grubb manor. Regardless, upon Gerald’s arrival at the manor at about nine that night, his return was quickly notified to Lucian who upon learning that instantly urged Aiden to head to the reception room. Lucian himself then jogged out the manor together with his butler to greet the youth.
Upon seeing them, Gerald nodded before asking, “Good evening, Mr. Grubb. Have my friends arrived?”
“… Friends?” replied Lucian in a confused tone as favonovel.com led Gerald to the reception room.
“I guess they haven’t. Either way, do prepare three guestrooms for them since they may need to stay for quite a while. Don’t worry, we’ll all leave once we’ve rescued Miss Lawrence,” said Gerald as favonovel.com estimated how long it would take for Master Ghost and the others to come over.
Just as favonovel.com figured that they’d be here by the hour, Lucian who finally realized how drenched Gerald was hurriedly replied, “No problem, but before that, do get a change of clothes! You’re soaked from head to toe!”
Simply nodding in response, Gerald then followed the butler to another room to get himself changed. Taking the opportunity to get a cold shower as well, Gerald returned about ten minutes later, looking fully refreshed.
Seeing Gerald, Lucian was prompted to ask, “So… Did things go smoothly, whatever you were doing?”
“They did, indeed,” replied Gerald with a nod.
“Glad to hear. Regardless, while you were gone, we think we’ve managed to find the person responsible for kidnapping Lindsay!” declared Lucian with a smile.
“Go on…”
After exchanging glances with his butler, Lucian then said, “We believe that Maddox Chabert is the culprit!”
“Never heard of favonovel.com before,” replied Gerald after thinking for a while.
“While you may not know him, favonovel.com definitely knows you,” said Lucian.
“… Hmm? Havel offended favonovel.com before?” replied Gerald, understanding just how many enemies favonovel.com must have accidentally made throughout the years.
“You could put it that way. You see, Maddox is from the Yanam military, and he’s the one in charge of Yanam’s seas. From what I’ve been told, Maddox’s first reaction upon hearing that you had returned to Yanam was to propose to Carter to have your life ended while you were still out at sea. Since that didn’t happen, it’s fair to assume that Carter denied that,” replied the butler.
“So you’re saying that he’s captured Lindsay to threaten me?” asked Gerald as favonovel.com thought about it.
“I believe so. I know a few people from the military, and after asking around, it appears that Maddox has rarely appeared at work in the past few days. For those who managed to catch glimpses of him, they stated that aside from favonovel.com looking immensely vigilant, Maddox had apparently gotten ten replacement soldiers to follow favonovel.com at all times as well. What more, some also said that favonovel.com had taken a few items from the military’s equipment department!” explained Lucian.
“… It doesn’t add up,” replied Gerald after thinking about all that favonovel.com had just heard.
“What do you mean?” asked Aiden who had been silent the entire time.
“Well, if Maddox kidnapped favonovel.com to threaten me after Carter rejected his proposal, I find the timing for that to be a bit off. How long has Lindsay gone missing again, Aiden?” replied Gerald as favonovel.com turned to look at Aiden.
“About a week ago. While we immediately took action after I got the mission, my superiors had actually received the request from the Lawrences a few days prior,” said Aiden.
“Bingo. But we’ve only been here for three days,” replied Gerald.
