A MAZE OF GREED

"Well... well... well... looks like someone is about to cry rivers here."

Ruth heard the taunting voice that she loathed the most from her side. The temptation of ignoring it had Ruth almost there, but when Theodora came to block her way, she was left with no choice but to stay back to hear her nonsense.

"What happened Ruth? Prince charming has started ignoring you?" Theodora smirked.

Ruth tried keeping her mouth shut. She had many things to deal with other than wasting her time in bickering with this good for nothing woman.

Theodora's expressions changed, and Ruth realised that her smile... it somehow felt very unnatural now that she observed it up close. The face she had now was her real face.

Jealousy, anger, ego, arrogance, lies, selfishness how much more depravity this woman had hidden inside her?

"I warned you before this Ruth. Edwin is not a man a woman dreams of even though he has everything that can make a woman feel like the happiest human in the world.

If he can take you the peaks of bliss, then it will not take him a moment to push you down from above. He has always been like that. He thinks only about himself. There is no one he cares about more than himself."

Ruth kept staring at the woman in front of her. She was Edwin's family. She was living with him for years now. And yet she knew very little about that man.

Was this what Lester, Rees and Ida talk about? Was this what they meant by people having a wrong image of him?

Was not Ruth also believed the same only some time ago?

"I am telling you again Ruth. You are here." Theodora pointed at the ground and near her feet. "At the lowest point of the hierarchy."

Ruth's body went stiff in anger.

"And the O'Dells are there!" Theodora pointed at the now dark sky. "The topmost point of hierarchy."

"There is no meeting of these two. Never! The sooner you get it, the better!"

This was another warning from Theodora and yet, Ruth was not intimidated by her. Little did Theodora realise that her warnings were not breaking Ruth's resolve. Rather, they were pushing her to break her limits to get what she wanted.

Her warnings were making her wish for more, work harder. They were making her resolve grow stronger and stronger.

Theodora might have failed to raise Ruth as her daughter. However, unknowingly she was shaping a woman that was determined, brave and ambitious. She was giving birth to a woman who would have ambitions far greater than the sky.

Theodora took a warning step ahead. Meeting Ruth's gaze, she said, "And if you do not get it, then I have many ways to put people like you in their place." She pointed again at the ground while saying the last part.

Ruth did not say a single word. She only listened. She could have retorted back, but she did not. Ruth wanted to see how much poison this woman, who was her mother, had in her mind and soul.

Ruth wanted to see to which extent she could carry her evilness.

"I will definitely keep that in mind, Lady Theodora O'Dell!" And Ruth walked away from there.

*

*

*

Edwin was sprawled on the couch in his office chamber. His eyes were closed. He was drained out because of his hectic schedule these days. And today was just another thing that had him in this condition.

He tried talking sense into his uncle, yet the old man was not ready to cooperate. After Edwin put his man in the dungeons, Lord Augustus brutally insulted two of Edwin's trusted men. He even threatened to declare them as traitors in front of the world.

What kind of rat race this was?! If you slap me once, I will slap you twice!

Why was uncle Augustus acting strangely? Edwin never had a healthy relationship with Lord Augustus. Since his childhood, Augustus always maintained his distance from Edwin.

Edwin still remembered the look of disapproval in Augustus's eyes every time their eyes met.

"Grandpa, why uncle Augustus does not like me?"

Little Edwin had once asked his grandfather.

"Edwin, there are some questions that do not have answers. They are that way only. Do not waste your time pondering over them. You have better things to do with your life. Let him be the way he wants."

His grandfather's answer did not satisfy little Edwin. He even thought of asking about it to his uncle directly. But Augustus was always busy at work, and he was always in a bad mood. Little Edwin did not know how to approach him.

And when he came back after his years of training in the Academy, he realised that there was no point remaining in asking that question now. They both had rifted far afar from each other to get that answer.

He was broken from his thoughts by a knock on his office door. Who would be that at this time? Edwin was not in the mood of handling another drama.

He ignored the knock but then he heard the sound of the opening of the door.

"Brother Edwin"

His eyes snapped open hearing Elsie's gentle voice. He looked at her with his tired eyes.

"Elsie? What are you doing here?"

"I... I brought you food." She said, lifting up the plate in her hand to show him. "You did not come for the dinner, so I thought..."

"But I am not hungry." He said.

"Please eat something! For me at least?!" Elsie gave him a hopeful look that he could never say no to.

"Okay. Put it here." Edwin removed his feet from the coffee table in front of him. Elsie put the plate on the table.

Edwin expected her to leave, but she lingered behind with something on her mind.

"Do you need anything else?" He asked.

Elsie did not like this cold side of her brother. He always acted that way whenever he was tensed or hurt. That facade of coldness was his defence mechanism, and very few people knew about it.

"Erm... can I... sit with you while you eat?" Elsie finally asked.

Edwin furrowed his brow. "You have not eat the dinner?"

She smiled at his concern. Even in such a worse mood, he cared. That was her dearest cousin- loving and caring- but showing it in very untraditional ways.

"I have. I just want to make sure that you finish everything in the plate."

Edwin sighed in defeat. Elsie might be the most gentle and sensitive woman he knew. But when she set her mind on something, she was the most stubborn woman Edwin had ever seen.

"Fine! Let me go wash my hands." Edwin said while standing up, but Elsie stopped him.

"Brother Edwin... would you... would you mind if I... feed you?"

Edwin was taken aback by her request. He narrowed his eyes at her trying to figure out something.

"You are not planning to elope with Lester to see the wonders of the world, are you?"

Elsie blinked once, then twice and then multiple times till she comprehend what he just said.

"Wonders of the world?" She asked in confusion.

"Elsie I swear to Moon Goddess that I will fucking chain you to your bed for an eternity before allowing you to accompany him in his stupid fantasies. That idiot does not even know how to tie his shoelaces. How am I suppose to trust such a man with my sister, where I can not keep watch on her and-"

"Brother Edwin... brother Edwin listen to me... BROTHER!"

Edwin stopped rambling and blinked at her.

"No, I am not hear to ask you for your permission for any such thing. And do not worry I will teach Lester how to tie his shoelaces so he can be a completely responsible man." Elsie said stiffling her smile.

She saw Edwin's body visibly relaxed after hearing her. "Damn! I thought I needed to tackle one more problem." He muttered under his breath.

Elsie felt bad that he had to go through such a level of stress where his mind only thought about problems. He had no positive things to look at. His only sunshine was also not with him then.

Elsie sat beside him and started feeding him. Like an obedient child fed by his mother, Edwin opened his mouth chewed the food, gulped it down and repeated that wordlessly.

However, Elsie knew that behind his silence, his overthinking brain was running in different directions.

"I am sorry!" She finally said, after Edwin ate everything on the plate and that too without complaining.

"For what?"

"For... what happened today. Lester told me how father is ignoring his responsibilities." Elsie could not look at Edwin.

She was feeling guilty on behalf of her father.

"Do not think about it Elsie. I am here to handle it." Edwin replied, trying to sound assuring.

Her face morphed into worry. "I... I am scared brother." He saw her chin quivering as she fight back her tears.

"Elsie, why are you scared? Do not you trust me, your leader, your brother?" She heard a slight layer of vulnerability in his voice.

"It is not like that brother Edwin." Elsie shook her head. "Of course I trust you. But I am scared for you, for Lester, for our people. The war is not near yet and Lester and Rees were attacked by a rogue."

Betraying her will, a lone tear dropped from her eyes.

"Elsie, that rogue was not there to kill them. Do you think he was stupid enough to attack an alpha alone? It will take more than tens of such rogues to tire a powerful Alpha like Lester. That rogue was there only to warn us."

Edwin's eyes darkened as anger bubbled inside him.

"I wish father understand the gravity of the situation. He is acting very weird these days. I tried talking with mother but she is also siding with him. I do not understand what is happening in our family. It looks like we all are drifting away from each other." Elsie was very upset with the recent happenings in her family.

Even at the dinner table, the uncomfortable silence choked her to the point she barely ate a few morsels before running back to her chamber.

Edwin put his hand around Elsie and pulled her to his chest. She willingly leaned onto him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I miss those days brother Edwin. I miss us all caring for each other, laughing with each other, loving each other." Elsie said sadly.

Edwin ran his hand on her head. He did not want to shake her sweet believes when he knew that the reality was far different from them.

"Everything will be fine Elsie.. I am here! I am here!" That was all Edwin could tell her at that moment before he kissed her forehead.