Her Graceful War Song by Summer's Blaze

Aurora's head snapped to the side from the slap. She clenched her teeth but didn't strike back, focusing instead on tending to her wound.

Viola turned to Michael, wiping her tears with one hand as she shouted, "Mr. Brown, it was her! The assassins came for her. She locked herself in the room, and pushed me and my maids out. She's responsible for my maids' death! And the assassins-Carissa had already taken them down and tied them up, but Aurora went crazy and killed them all. Mr. Brown, please get justice for me!" Michael glanced at Aurora. Before he could ask any questions, Aurora said coldly, "They broke into Valor Estate and killed guards and maids. Why would I leave them alive? Keeping them around would only bring more trouble."

Michael examined the assassins' bodies, and was dissatisfied with Aurora's response. "Their tendons were severed, their cores were damaged, and they were bound. What further danger could they pose? Leaving them alive and questioning them to find out who was behind this would have been the real way to prevent future threats."

Aurora remained unnervingly calm. "I apologize. They killed so many people in Valor Estate. In my anger and grief, I didn't think to leave any alive for interrogation."

Michael chose not to respond to this. There was no need to waste words.

Viola's anger was far from abated, even though she had slapped Aurora. She recalled that Aurora had locked the door in the face of danger, leading to Julia and Yvonne's deaths. Hearing her reply to Michael, Viola was convinced that Aurora was at fault.

Viola coldly demanded, "The assassins came for you! Who exactly did you cross, and what kind of shameful things have you done? Julia and Yvonne died because of you. You owe me an explanation!"

Aurora scoffed derisively. "If you want an explanation, ask the assassins. I didn't kill your maids."

"It's because you locked the door that the assassins were able to kill them!" Viola retorted.

door, and they were standing in front of you? You're the reason they're

"You're talking nonsense!"

looked up at Viola, her face half covered and shrouded in

I locked the door and kept you out, so the assassins wouldn't have killed you. But instead of running, you stood there pounding on the door. Are you still going to say it's

the

Aurora had said. She had been

while Julia

trembling with

assassins had killed Julia and

intended to kill Viola. It was only her husband's timely arrival that had

collapsed to the ground, her body

exchange between Aurora and Viola, he couldn't help but think back to the things Aurora had said

laughable-he had

her now blame Viola for everything made him realize how

thinking of their future. But when disaster struck, she had thrown him in harm's way to save herself. He had seen the depths of her