This Time, I'll Be the Villain's Favorite Daughter novel Chapter 412

14:02 Mon, Aug 24

This Time, I’ll Be the Villain’s Favorite Daughter

Chapter 412 A Gift From Toby

35

Finished

As Toby spoke, he turned his head and shot her a glance, one that, for no clear reason, carried a faint note of accusation.

A moment later something else seemed to occur to him, and he got up to fetch a deep-blue velvet box.

Every time Toby came back from somewhere, he brought himself a gift.

This time was no exception.

The lid came open and a rich, old-world Aradune style washed over her.

It was a necklace set with a pigeon-blood ruby, the chain done in a vintage rope-twist design, every joint crafted to an almost punishing degree of precision.

Frankly, even someone with no interest in jewelry could see at a glance what a piece like this was worth.

Maya looked at the necklace, then remembered how he’d been slumped listlessly against the couch just now, his face pale, like a man who hadn’t slept properly in days.

Even in that state, he’d still found the energy to pick out a gift.

Maya met his eyes, the corners of her mouth curving up on their own, and decided to give him some praise. “It’s really beautiful.”

She lifted her gaze, the velvet box cradled in both hands.

“You have such good taste, Toby.”

The girl’s expression was earnest and sincere, her gaze fixed squarely on him. It made him feel as if she were worshipping him with her whole heart.

Toby was stunned for two seconds, then broke into an unmistakable smile, that uncontainable delight welling up from the depths of his eyes.

“I’ll have plenty more to give you down the road.”

“Really?” Maya’s voice was sweet.

So sweet it set her own teeth on edge. “Thank you, I love it. You really are a good big brother.”

He was pretty easy to win over.

14:02 Mon, Aug 24

Chapter 412 A Gift From Toby

A few words, and Toby couldn’t keep the smile off his face no matter how hard he tried.

The slight tension in his posture disappeared as he leaned back, completely relaxed.

35

Finished

“When I get back from the banquet this time,” he told her, all but fishing for credit, “I’ll bring you even more gifts.”

Alfred watched this third brother of his as if the man had lost his mind.

They say a man in love has an IQ that basically dips into the negatives.

So it followed that a man with a sister-complex ran on the same logic, didn’t it?

For a whole night, George went over every last detail, from the very beginning to the very end.

He told Edric every single word he and Maya had ever exchanged back then.

“Don’t

you

dare die, George. I’ll cry. I won’t shed a tear, but I’ll still hurt.”

When George repeated that line, Edric caught a first thread of the truth about how Maya had crossed over.

Don’t die.

That final word-

That one word alone carried a strange weight, as if she’d once watched him die.

The next day, Edric decided to make a trip home.

George, meanwhile, threw himself into tracking down the whereabouts of Asterio’s other members.

At first, before their uncle’s warning, he hadn’t taken it seriously.

After all, Asterio had no shortage of members, and lethal weapons like Snowfinch-one in 10,000-were exceedingly rare.

How rotten would your luck have to be to run into one?

Who could have guessed his sister would not only run into one, but put him in the ground.

George felt no relief at all, only a sense of danger sharper than any he’d known. He decided the sooner that organization was wiped out, the better.

2/4

14:02 Mon, Aug 24

Chapter 412 A Gift From Toby

:

He wouldn’t allow a single threat anywhere near her.

Finished

“You know what, Nelson?” George was curled up in his chair, knees hugged to his chest, chin resting on them, eyes glued unblinking to the screen.

“I stayed up the whole night digging into Asterio.

“Today I called my sister to comfort her a little, to tell her I’d track down Asterio’s members as fast as I could-and she went and complained that I was too slow on my own, told me to team up with that snake Ernest.”

Nelson s

“Wh

e asked.

est were, you could say, in the same line of work.

1 sorts of unsavory types under him, a wide reach and a sharp ear, and he liked to ble on the sly-he never came to the table to make a deal.

vas an information broker, pure and simple. Pay him, and he’d sell you anyone’s

similar at the core; by rights, the two of them should have had at least some

ent types, mon ground.

t from first to last, George bore a particular hostility toward this Ernest, who’d come out of ne Imperial Order.

“An old bastard,” George said, his tone soured with resentment. “I even suspect he’s got a thing for my sister.”

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