From Ashes to Queen: Now I call the shots
Secrets 54
Chapter 54 Secrets Taste Better
b“/bHuh? Eugene, what happened to you?”
Reba came running up, breathless and flushed. The exertion added some color bto /bher busually /bpale face
The moment she saw Eugene unable to speak or move, her eyes welled with tears and her voice chokeis
“Eugene…”
Suddenly, Eugene lifted his hand and yanked the silver needle from his chin.
Scarlett hadn’t lied–fifteen minutester, it wore off on its own.
Reba stared,pletely stunned.
“Eugene? You, just now…”
Eugene didn’t want to exin his humiliation; he immediately tapped her forehead.
“I was just messing with you.”
Reba let out a huge sigh of relief, quickly wiping away her tears.
“You’re the worst! I was biso /i/bscared!”
Eugene hurried to apologize and soothe her, promising to buy her Juliet roses. Only then did Reba stop crying.
“Eugene, you didn’t give my sister a hard time, did you?”
Reba still felt uneasy.
If she couldn’t figure out how much Eugene actually knew, she was going to stay anxious.
Eugene shook his head. “Why would I go see her? If anything, she’d be the one crying and begging to see me.”
Only then did Reba rx.
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“Eugene, don’t be mad at her. These past two years, she’s already sacrificed her academics just to make you all happy. She really cares about your family. If you do run into her… will you promise me not to scold her?”
Eugene blinked, caught off guard.
“You’re saying, the reason she hasn’t achieved anything these past two years is because she was trying to suck up to us? Hoping we’d give her more attention? My sister just doesn’t feel secure. It’s pretty understandable, Eugène, don’t be mad.”
Eugene didn’t respond. iIf /iiwhat /iiReba /iisaid /iiwere /iitrue/ii, /iithen /iiwhere did /iiScarlett’s /iimeridian /iiskills /iie /iifrom/i?
For the first time, he started to question Reba’s version of events.
“Eugene?”
Reba was getting nervous, Eugene had been acting weird all day.
????? ?? ??
bChapter /bb54 /bSecrets Taste Better
bSomething /bbfelt /boff.
bWe’ll /bdo it your way. Eugene answered tly, brushing her off.
Reba panicked even more.
In the past, whenever she said things like that, Eugene would always take it as bproof /bthat Scarlett was ungrateful and irresponsible, that she was spiraling.
But itoday/ii? /iiHe /iwas igoing /iisofi/ii? /iShe had a lot of questions, but didn’t dare voice a single bone/b.
It was driving her insane.
Scarlett, fuming, stormed back into theb. iFrom /iinow /ion, iI’m /iinot /isetting foot outside without bibracing /i/bbfor /bbchaos/bbi. /i/bi1 /ikeep running into imaniacs/i.
Suddenly, there was a cup of milk tea on her desk.
She froze for a second and looked up.
Jasper’s tall frame was blocking the window, the light filtering around him in a soft halo
It actually made him look more approachable than usual.
“For me?” she asked, still unsure.
After all, Jasper was notoriously moody; hard to read.
“You probably need it.”
She didn’t hold back.
She stabbed in the straw and took a big, satisfying gulp, three parts sugar, it seemed.
Perfect for her awful mood.
One sip, pure happiness.
“Mr. Fletcher, thanks.”
As she drank, her cheeks puffed out slightly; she looked more like a pouty little pufferfish than someone who’d just been furious.
Jasper gestured.
The robot cat leapt onto him.
“Bad guy bullied me. I stabbed bad guy with a needle. I’m awesome!”
Out in public, Scarlett had forbidden it from speaking to avoid drawing attention, but now that it was back,
it could finally let loose, and since/it had memory storage, it could convert everything it saw into story form.
The thing turned into a full–on chatterbox.
Scarlett felt a bit embarrassed
2V/24 bIVI /b
Chapter 54 Secrets Taste Better
48 Pearls
ording to the cat’s narration, she came off like a fearless, decisive hero from some martial arts epic. basically a wandering knight in shining armor.
Jasper, however, looked thoroughly entertained.
He even nodded now and then, encouraging the cat to keep going.
Finally, hemented, “Looks like yournguage system’se along pretty well. Not bad.”
The robot cat’s amber eyes went wide.
It practically sparked with outrage, then it jumped onto Scarlett. iYou /iheartless human. So the whole reason you let me talk ithis /imuchi, /iwas ito /iitest /imy inguage /iimodule/ii? /iiI /iihate /iiyou/ii! /i
“Jasper, Jasper! I’ve got a lead on the corpse-
Jack burst through the door in a rush.
When he spotted Scarlett, he mmed on the brakes, swallowing the rest of his sentence. His face turned beet red.
“Pixel? You’re back?”
Earlier, Scarlett had said she was heading to the library to study and wouldn’t be back until around 7 to feed theb mice.
That’s why he’d barged in like this.
“Ran into a creep. Came back early to cool off.”
Scarlett looked calm and unreadable, as if the whole “corpse” matter didn’t interest her at all.
But inside, her mind was racing.
She’d always suspected Jasper of secretly using corpses for experiments.
But from what Jack just said… iThey /iiwere /iiinvestigating /iiit /iitoo/ii? /i
This felt like someone was trying to steal her thunder and she did not like it.
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