Chapter 83 - The Watts Estate - I

"So both of you are going to the tea party thing?" Quinn asked in the voice chat.

"Yeah, are you not going?" Acai replied, asking a question of his own.

"It doesn't really sound like something I'd be interested in. I don't even like tea." Quinn replied, "Well, go have fun, I'll be here to play when you get back."

As the day progressed it started getting really close to the event's start time, and at this point Arthur had received a notification that Donovan was on his way to pick him up. So after saying goodbye to his friends, he logged off and started picking out an outfit that would be considered acceptable for the event..

Maria had told him that casual was perfectly fine, based on this information alongside the weather and temperature forecast, Arthur decided that he didn't need a jacket or cardigan. He settled on a nice white button-up long sleeved shirt with a comfortable pair of dark-blue dress slacks, and a pair of black sneakers to finish the look.

Arthur wasn't one to accessorise, picking out an outfit was annoying enough, more variables was just a pain and he didn't really care about jewellery in the first place. He considered wearing a watch at least, but he quickly decided against it.

Eventually Donovan had arrived, and Arthur made his way to the car after making sure he grabbed everything he needed.

Arthur hopped into the car and Donovan drove him to the address that he was given. Arthur noticed that Donovan's expression changed when he glanced at the address, although he didn't bother mentioning anything.

The address he was given was fairly deep within an expensive residential area of the city. Arthur's house was located in the same expensive residential area, albeit just on the border of it. This was due to the house being built right behind his family's laboratory which had to be placed in the commercial district.

But even if the two houses were in the same general area, the drive still took several minutes to complete. During this drive, Arthur noticed that the buildings started getting spaced further and further away from each other, and plots of land became so big that the obscenely large mansions with too much wasted space only took up a small percentage of the total land.

Driving a little further he had finally entered the area where the plots of land had become so excessively large that one had to spend another minute driving from the front gate to the main building, and people began considering forests as part of their gardens.

"Here we are." Donovan spoke up as he approached a large iron wrought gate with an elaborate design and a stylised crest featuring the letter "W" in the centre. This gate in particular had a small building beside it, housing what seemed to be a security guard.

Donovan drove up to the gate, and he pulled up beside a window near the gatehouse where he could now speak with the guard.

"Could I get a form of identification please?" The guard requested while trying to get a good look at the passenger.

Donovan pulled out his identification, as well as a company identification card indicating his position in the Holmes family's company, the guard's eyes widened when he noticed the Holmes family crest.

"I'm currently escorting master Arthur Holmes, is that enough identification?" Donovan asked while putting on an air of importance. The guard confirmed his identity and gave him his identification back before opening the gate.

"Wow, look at you mister big shot." Arthur said in an obviously sarcastic manner shortly after Donovan began driving into the estate. Donovan jokingly puffed out his chest in response, knowing that Arthur didn't mean anything by it.

As they drove further into the estate, a large building, which was more fair to call a castle than a mansion, appeared from behind the treeline.

Upon seeing the building, a strange feeling started bubbling up within Arthur. Something about the building felt familiar, but he couldn't understand why. He knew for a fact that he had never met Maria outside of the game in the previous timeline, he had spoken to her a few times in-game, but that was the extent of their interaction.

"Donovan, why does this place feel familiar?" An uncomfortable feeling started building up in his throat, causing it to croak slightly when he asked his chauffeur a question. "I've never been here before, have I?"

"Oh?" Donovan seemed surprised when he was asked the question, which wasn't the response Arthur expected, but Donovan continued. "I didn't expect that you would remember this place, you were just a baby after all."

Arthur's mind started exploding with questions, but he hadn't yet voiced them out loud, he was just trying to work it all out in his head.

Just why was this place familiar? Based on what Donovan just said he had been here before.

Why would Arthur have been here as a baby? This was a strange point, when it came to social events hosted within the upper echelon, children under a certain age were just left with family or caregivers in order to not embarrass the family or ruin the event.

It wasn't uncommon that the two families would have had some interaction. Maria was in the first wave of the beta test, so it was likely that her family was a major shareholder of his family's company. But there was also just the chance she won a spot in the auction, and considering the castle it was obvious that her family didn't lack any money.

But in the case of the families being close, then why has he never been here since he was a baby? Perhaps they just didn't host events that often... But then again, Maria had mentioned that her mother had hosted several tea parties before. And her main concern was that she just didn't have friends to invite the previous times, which meant the family did host events.

What was the reason for Donovan's reaction when he saw the address? What about the guard's reaction, why did he seem shocked when learning of Arthur's family?

In his mind, clearly something had happened between the two families, but even if that were the case he would have at least heard something in regards to the drama.

Arthur began wracking his brain further, trying to think of any events that would happen in the future between the two families, but he couldn't think of a single moment when they interacted. So maybe it wasn't that big of a thing after all?

"You have been here before. Several times in fact." Donovan noticed that Arthur seemed to be struggling, so he decided to end his suffering. "Although the last time you were here was when you had just turned four."

"But why was I here, and why only as a baby?" Arthur couldn't help but blurt out the questions that were floating around in his head. "Why haven't I been here since?"

"This is where your mother used to bring you during the day." Donovan slowed down the car as he began explaining Arthur's past. "Back when Anna was in school, instead of leaving you with the caregivers, she used to bring you with her when she visited."

Arthur noticed that the tone in his voice became darker as he continued, it seemed the topic was rather dark, as even the always-cheerful Donovan seemed depressed just by telling the story.

"You used to play around on the table, licking the frosting off of all the cupcakes you could get your hands on." Donovan laughed a little as he retold this part of the story, "You used to scare me every time you came close to rolling off the table, but your mother always told me that you were fine. That you would never fall, and she was right."

"What relationship does our family have with them?" Arthur asked, he was always happy hearing about his mother, but right now he was more concerned with who this family was, why they had connections with them, and why they he hasn't visited them or heard anyone talk about the family since.

"Besides the obvious case of investment. The only other connection we have, or had, to the Watts family was your mother." Donovan explained as simply as he could. "The current head of the household and the mother of your friend, Olivia-Rose Watts, is your mother's cousin."

"So, they're family. Why have I not heard of them before?" Arthur threw out another question, he was shocked. How in the forty-eight years that he had been alive for, could he not have at least heard that he was somewhat related to another prominent family that he lived only a few minutes away from?

"The two families had a falling out more than a decade ago and refused to speak with each other." Donovan explained, "Your father publicly declared that he would no longer consider them to be family and refused to invite them to any of the Holmes family's social events, they began doing the same in return."

"Why?" Is all Arthur could muster, he was beyond confused. He knew his father's track record for being over the top and stubborn, but he was incredibly reasonable to those he considered family, why would he suddenly purge his actual family?

"You were just four at the time, so you've probably repressed the memory." Donovan finally dropped the bomb that answered all of Arthur's questions, especially the reason why Donovan made the expression he did earlier. "This is where your mother died..."

"No..." He corrected himself, his voice was now cracking but he forced himself to finish, "This is where your mother was murdered. Right in front of you."