The Cursed King

Marc quickly called Alex to find out the status of the hostel. She had never failed to do whatever he asked her to do.

However, it's been more than half-hour now and she had not sent any reports that she succeeded. Did she fail to do it? How was that possible?

Alex The Reliable was no longer reliable?

"Alex, what happened to the hostel I told you to buy?" he asked with a rather annoyed tone. He was enjoying a cup of coffee in the cafe next door while waiting for Alex to handle Loriel's request.

"Sir, the owner is abroad and he turns off his phone since it's the weekend," said Alex in a frustrated voice. She had never failed in every task assigned to her, but this time she had to admit defeat. "I have been calling left and right and nobody can tell me how to reach him."

"Gosh.." Marc massaged his temple. It looked like he had to give this bad news to his uncle. Ugh.

No.. he couldn't tell Loriel that he failed.

There must be someone in the hostel that he could talk to. If the owner was not around and unreachable, there must be a manager of some sort.

He was Marc Sanderman from the great Sanderman Group. Taking this small building was nothing for him.

So, he decided to send a message to Loriel, and asked him what the man wanted to do if the building was already his. Marc might be able to do it, despite not having ownership of the place, yet.

"Alex, I am disappointed that this time you failed your task," Marc said nonchalantly. "I will give you a chance to redeem yourself. I will send you a new place to buy. This time, I don't want you to fail me."

"All right, Sir," said Alex firmly. She was curious to know what new place was her boss looking to buy.

[Haruka Ramen Shop in Midtown.]

When she read the message from Marc after the man hung up, Alex's mouth agape. How random? She thought in confusion.

She was told to buy a resort, a mansion, and countless stuff in the past, but she always considered them as rich people's toys. However, today, her boss had asked her to buy two small businesses. This didn't seem right.

What would he do with them anyway?

"Don't ask, Alexandra... Don't ask," she muttered to herself. "Rich people are weird. Deal with it."

***

Marc sent a message to Loriel who was enjoying his dinner with his lovely wife.

[I have got the hostel. What do you want me to do with it?]

Loriel glanced at his phone and quickly read Marc's message. An evil smile curved up on his face. He secretly typed in his reply under the table, all the while his eyes were on Elise's beaming face as she dug in her ramen.

[Tell them to turn off the electricity and close the business.]

[Just for the night.]

[All the guests will be compensated with a lot of cash so they can stay in a luxury hotel if they chose to.]

Marc read the messages with furrowed brows. Now this made more sense. He could easily do it even if he didn't buy the hostel or the building. He could just pay the hostel manager to do what he wanted. Money was not an issue.

[I am on it, Great Uncle.]

After he sent the message, Marc called his driver to pick him up and take him to the said hostel. He would do this now and then went home to enjoy his weekend.

***

Loriel was so happy to see Elise eat a lot. Inwardly, he felt sad to see her body looking thin and frail and thought how she must have had a tough life.

Before she could say no, he already ordered some dessert for them. A big bowl of ice cream and some other sweet stuff.

"Ah.. this is too much," said Elise. "I have eaten a lot."

"It's okay. You can try just a little bit, and then leave it there if you don't like it."

Elise looked conflicting. Ha. Loriel knew she wouldn't waste food. She always felt sorry for their cooks and the farmers who had worked so hard to make the food come from the farm to their table.

And he was right. Elise finally took the ice cream and started eating it.

"I love ice cream," she said with a low voice. "They didn't allow me to eat a lot of ice cream."

"They? Who's they?" Loriel asked. He was wondering who was she talking about. Was it her 'new family'?

"My nanny," said Elise. "She said ice cream is bad for my health."

Nanny?

This word got Loriel confused. Surely she meant something else, right? Elise was a grown woman. Why would she need a nanny?

Unless she talked about the nanny who had cared for her when she was a kid and until now she still called the woman as her 'nanny'.

But..

But, Elise didn't spend her childhood in this modern world, so she couldn't possibly have such a nanny.

Unless...

Unless this woman was not actually Elise and Loriel had got the wrong woman.