Sarah turned her head towards Renald who entered. Her gaze turned dispassionate and she gave him a flat stare. She obviously was not pleased that he had come to his own office with this timing.
Renald appeared to have not noticed as he quickly swept the room with his eyes as if he was looking for someone. His eyes then settled on Sarah when he apparently didn't find what he was looking for and he asked, "Where are Aria's personal maids? I had the guards summon them to her so why aren't they here but you are?"
Sarah's eyes narrowed at him as she stood up and spoke in a condescending tone, "I assigned them to do other things." She crossed her arms over her stomach before continuing, "Why would they be needed here when my servants can handle it?"
Renald's brow twitched slightly and he let out a long sigh. He was about to reply when Sarah coldly asked, "Heeey… why is your security so worthless? You let an android get that close to her without even noticing it. How can you be so incompetent?"
Renald's mouth that was half open immediately shut and his lips curled inwards. He shot her an agitated look as replied in a harsh voice, "We agreed that I would handle all matters of security when we married. You do not have the right to question the protocols I put in place."
Sarah smugly smirked at him, "I'm starting to think that was a mistake."
Renald's face turned unsightly as he immediately replied with a voice that was on the verge of a shout, "It was one time in over ten years of marriage and you actually have the gall to say that? I'm only Human and not some perfect being!"
Sarah waved her hand dismissively at him as her expression abruptly turned neutral. "Yes, yes, whatever you say." She then turned back to Altair and knelt back down while asking, "We haven't even formally announced that we have adopted her so the other families shouldn't even know that we have a new daughter. So, why would someone send an android to try and kidnap her?"
The eyes that were focused on Altair were filled with warmth and satisfaction that made Altair's mind spin. She didn't remember doing anything to please this woman and, when she had first seen her, she didn't seem to be interested in Altair at all. 'Why is this woman being so friendly?'
Renald took a deep breath to calm himself down before he replied, "That I don't know. I'm having Mihael look over the relevant footage to try and find when the android arrived." He sighed heavily as he continued, "I'm going to have to find another Thradii to take care of Aria. Since we don't even know if Liam is alive or not-"
Sarah glared over her shoulder at Renald which prompted him to shut his trap. She then stormily said, "You hiring one of those is what caused this in the first place. Do you not learn from your mistakes?"
Renald frowned at her, "We don't have a choice. Because of her Inborn Ability she can't be treated with any modern technology."
Renald had prepared that excuse for his father. He didn't expect that he would be able to use it so soon against his wife's investigations. He could tell that she was here to pry information from him. She had even brought her creepy emotionless maids that she had trained with her. Even now they did were still cleaning the room that was already clean without showing any emotion or interest in what was being said. They were very inhuman to him.
Still, if she wanted to keep playing this game with him without getting interrupted she had another thing coming. "I will need to speak with her about the incident alone. You should leave for the time being."
Sarah frowned at him before asking, "You want her to relive what just happened to her? And you want her to do it with just you in the room? Have you grown fond of child abuse?"
Renald shook his head, "We went over this. You left all matters of security to me. This is a matter of security so stay out of it."
The frown on her face instantly changed to a gloating smile after she turned away from Altair to look at Renald. She then mockingly said, "Well, I guess there's nothing I can do then. Not that she'll be talking anytime soon."
Renald's brow twitched momentarily when she left the obvious information out of what she said. He was forced to ask, "What do you mean?"
Sarah shrugged lightly, "You should tell me. You're the one in charge of security here. Don't you know that she's been paralyzed with some drug? Didn't you get a sample of it from the androids body after it was disabled?"
The image of the cubed android appeared in his mind. He examined it mentally and noticed that it was probably buried in the pile as he did not see any injection devices from what he remembered.
Altair's brow would have furrowed at her words. 'You didn't inject me with an antidote to it? Then what did you inject me with?' She tried to move any part of her body and found that she could really only move her fingers and toes. Everything was still completely unresponsive. However, with just that information, she knew that whatever Sarah put in here was apparently working. She was just lying to Renald's face.
She found her opinion of Sarah to rise slightly at that thought.
Renald frowned. He was too shocked by Altair's ability to turn an android in scrap in an instant. He didn't notice that she was paralyzed at all. Dave and Ben also didn't say anything to him about it either.
Renald spoke with obvious reluctance on his face when he admitted, "I didn't know that but I'm sure you gave her some kind of cure for it since you did notice it."
Sarah shrugged again while crossing her arms over her stomach, "Who's to say I did and who's to say I didn't?"
Renald stood out of the way of the door and pointed towards it before saying, "It doesn't matter. It will wear off in time so you can take your leave. I also ask that you don't interrupt her studies in the future as she is very far behind in them." Even if he knew that she stood little to no chance of getting the information she wanted from Altair he would also actively attempt to block her from doing so. It was his decision to make concerning adding her to the family and he had every intention of revealing more information to her later.
But now wasn't the time. He had other things he needed to deal with.
Sarah narrowed her eyes at him before she turned to Altair with a glowing expression. She knelt down beside her and brought her head close to Altair's ear. She then softly whispered, "You are free to come see me any time you feel that he is being inappropriate or unfair to you. You are also free to come by anytime you wish, really." She then softly kissed Altair on her forehead and drew away.
Altair was stunned and confused by this. She really had no idea what that woman was thinking at all. If she could move she wouldn't know how to deal with it.
Sarah stood up and made a brief movement with her hands that seemed to have been noticed by all the maids, despite some of them not actually looking at her. They all stopped cleaning immediately and moved to the leave the room with Sarah in the middle of all of them.
Once they had left, Renald moved over to his chair and started doing paperwork without saying anything.
Altair was left lying on the sofa with a bladder that was becoming more and more dangerous as time passed. With the threat looming over her head she decided to focus all of her efforts in getting her mouth under her control first. She constantly attempted to speak despite knowing that it was futile. She only hoped that what she was doing was actually helping.
After another half an hour she was finally about to barely mutter, "Bath…room."
The words caught Renald's attention as he looked up briefly before he activated his communicator and sent a shortmail to Dave outside. He then returned his attention to his paperwork and Dave entered the room.
Dave bowed respectfully to Renald, which seemed far slower than normal for Altair who was close to dangerously close to leaking.
'Why are you going so slow?'
He then walked over to the sofa, seeming to do so a lot slower than she thought people walked, before he knelt down and lifted Altair into the air.
'Did he tell you to go so slow?!' Altair was beyond frustration as her body begged her for release. She couldn't help but subconsciously blame Renald for Dave's slow movements. There was just no excuse for it. It should have been obvious to everyone that she urgently needed to use the bathroom. She was still wearing her pajamas!
Once he carried Altair up into his arms he, once more, bowed to Renald before he left the room.
He seemed to maintain his obnoxiously slow walk even though Renald wasn't in sight anymore. Altair was using all of her focus to prevent the ultimate humiliation for her from happening.
Sarah turned her head towards Renald who entered. Her gaze turned dispassionate and she gave him a flat stare. She obviously was not pleased that he had come to his own office with this timing.
Renald appeared to have not noticed as he quickly swept the room with his eyes as if he was looking for someone. His eyes then settled on Sarah when he apparently didn't find what he was looking for and he asked, "Where are Aria's personal maids? I had the guards summon them to her so why aren't they here but you are?"
Sarah's eyes narrowed at him as she stood up and spoke in a condescending tone, "I assigned them to do other things." She crossed her arms over her stomach before continuing, "Why would they be needed here when my servants can handle it?"
Renald's brow twitched slightly and he let out a long sigh. He was about to reply when Sarah coldly asked, "Heeey… why is your security so worthless? You let an android get that close to her without even noticing it. How can you be so incompetent?"
Renald's mouth that was half open immediately shut and his lips curled inwards. He shot her an agitated look as replied in a harsh voice, "We agreed that I would handle all matters of security when we married. You do not have the right to question the protocols I put in place."
Sarah smugly smirked at him, "I'm starting to think that was a mistake."
Renald's face turned unsightly as he immediately replied with a voice that was on the verge of a shout, "It was one time in over ten years of marriage and you actually have the gall to say that? I'm only Human and not some perfect being!"
Sarah waved her hand dismissively at him as her expression abruptly turned neutral. "Yes, yes, whatever you say." She then turned back to Altair and knelt back down while asking, "We haven't even formally announced that we have adopted her so the other families shouldn't even know that we have a new daughter. So, why would someone send an android to try and kidnap her?"
The eyes that were focused on Altair were filled with warmth and satisfaction that made Altair's mind spin. She didn't remember doing anything to please this woman and, when she had first seen her, she didn't seem to be interested in Altair at all. 'Why is this woman being so friendly?'
Renald took a deep breath to calm himself down before he replied, "That I don't know. I'm having Mihael look over the relevant footage to try and find when the android arrived." He sighed heavily as he continued, "I'm going to have to find another Thradii to take care of Aria. Since we don't even know if Liam is alive or not-"
Sarah glared over her shoulder at Renald which prompted him to shut his trap. She then stormily said, "You hiring one of those is what caused this in the first place. Do you not learn from your mistakes?"
Renald frowned at her, "We don't have a choice. Because of her Inborn Ability she can't be treated with any modern technology."
Renald had prepared that excuse for his father. He didn't expect that he would be able to use it so soon against his wife's investigations. He could tell that she was here to pry information from him. She had even brought her creepy emotionless maids that she had trained with her. Even now they did were still cleaning the room that was already clean without showing any emotion or interest in what was being said. They were very inhuman to him.
Still, if she wanted to keep playing this game with him without getting interrupted she had another thing coming. "I will need to speak with her about the incident alone. You should leave for the time being."
Sarah frowned at him before asking, "You want her to relive what just happened to her? And you want her to do it with just you in the room? Have you grown fond of child abuse?"
Renald shook his head, "We went over this. You left all matters of security to me. This is a matter of security so stay out of it."
The frown on her face instantly changed to a gloating smile after she turned away from Altair to look at Renald. She then mockingly said, "Well, I guess there's nothing I can do then. Not that she'll be talking anytime soon."
Renald's brow twitched momentarily when she left the obvious information out of what she said. He was forced to ask, "What do you mean?"
Sarah shrugged lightly, "You should tell me. You're the one in charge of security here. Don't you know that she's been paralyzed with some drug? Didn't you get a sample of it from the androids body after it was disabled?"
The image of the cubed android appeared in his mind. He examined it mentally and noticed that it was probably buried in the pile as he did not see any injection devices from what he remembered.
Altair's brow would have furrowed at her words. 'You didn't inject me with an antidote to it? Then what did you inject me with?' She tried to move any part of her body and found that she could really only move her fingers and toes. Everything was still completely unresponsive. However, with just that information, she knew that whatever Sarah put in here was apparently working. She was just lying to Renald's face.
She found her opinion of Sarah to rise slightly at that thought.
Renald frowned. He was too shocked by Altair's ability to turn an android in scrap in an instant. He didn't notice that she was paralyzed at all. Dave and Ben also didn't say anything to him about it either.
Renald spoke with obvious reluctance on his face when he admitted, "I didn't know that but I'm sure you gave her some kind of cure for it since you did notice it."
Sarah shrugged again while crossing her arms over her stomach, "Who's to say I did and who's to say I didn't?"
Renald stood out of the way of the door and pointed towards it before saying, "It doesn't matter. It will wear off in time so you can take your leave. I also ask that you don't interrupt her studies in the future as she is very far behind in them." Even if he knew that she stood little to no chance of getting the information she wanted from Altair he would also actively attempt to block her from doing so. It was his decision to make concerning adding her to the family and he had every intention of revealing more information to her later.
But now wasn't the time. He had other things he needed to deal with.
Sarah narrowed her eyes at him before she turned to Altair with a glowing expression. She knelt down beside her and brought her head close to Altair's ear. She then softly whispered, "You are free to come see me any time you feel that he is being inappropriate or unfair to you. You are also free to come by anytime you wish, really." She then softly kissed Altair on her forehead and drew away.
Altair was stunned and confused by this. She really had no idea what that woman was thinking at all. If she could move she wouldn't know how to deal with it.
Sarah stood up and made a brief movement with her hands that seemed to have been noticed by all the maids, despite some of them not actually looking at her. They all stopped cleaning immediately and moved to the leave the room with Sarah in the middle of all of them.
Once they had left, Renald moved over to his chair and started doing paperwork without saying anything.
Altair was left lying on the sofa with a bladder that was becoming more and more dangerous as time passed. With the threat looming over her head she decided to focus all of her efforts in getting her mouth under her control first. She constantly attempted to speak despite knowing that it was futile. She only hoped that what she was doing was actually helping.
After another half an hour she was finally about to barely mutter, "Bath…room."
The words caught Renald's attention as he looked up briefly before he activated his communicator and sent a shortmail to Dave outside. He then returned his attention to his paperwork and Dave entered the room.
Dave bowed respectfully to Renald, which seemed far slower than normal for Altair who was close to dangerously close to leaking.
'Why are you going so slow?'
He then walked over to the sofa, seeming to do so a lot slower than she thought people walked, before he knelt down and lifted Altair into the air.
'Did he tell you to go so slow?!' Altair was beyond frustration as her body begged her for release. She couldn't help but subconsciously blame Renald for Dave's slow movements. There was just no excuse for it. It should have been obvious to everyone that she urgently needed to use the bathroom. She was still wearing her pajamas!
Once he carried Altair up into his arms he, once more, bowed to Renald before he left the room.
He seemed to maintain his obnoxiously slow walk even though Renald wasn't in sight anymore. Altair was using all of her focus to prevent the ultimate humiliation for her from happening.
