"Should I be returning home without Regina? Father will kill me but it’s not my fault she ran away. She had what was coming to her for disobeying Minnie for so long. Why am I feeling sad for someone who did this to themselves? I have nothing to feel bad for. This is not my fault," Samuel tried to convince himself as he returned home without Regina.

He did everything he could possibly do to search for Regina but it was all in vain. None of the men he sent out to find her had come back with any sighting of her.

"I’ve watched every single house from young women I’ve seen her with and I have even checked Timothy. There is nothing else to be done. If they wanted to keep her here, they should have had one of us watching her avoid anyone getting hurt. I blame Minnie," Samuel muttered.

"Samuel, I have been waiting for your return," Nathaniel said as soon as he spotted Samuel at home. "Where is Regina, son? You must be smart enough to know you should not return without her by your side. Where is she?" Nathaniel clenched his fists.

His daughter was missing for over a day now and there was no one who could offer a clue where she had gone. Regina was raised with everything around her taken care of. There is no way she would survive being on her own for so long.

"I-I have not been able to find her, father. I can’t go around asking anyone if they’ve seen her because then we’ll have to come up with a reason behind her running away-"

"Then do that!" Nathaniel’s voice thundered throughout the house. "I left you to take care of this because I had to deal with Minnie and this is what you show up with? Nothing! I’m truly lacking faith in you as my heir, Samuel. If only you and Regina could swap genders."

Samuel dug his nails into the palm of his hand, irritated with being compared to Regina once again when she was not even here. He was not the one to turn his back on his family and run away but yet, his father was angry with him.

He felt sorry for Regina after he learned Minnie wanted to throw her into the cell but now, Samuel wished she would never return. Their father did not have faith in him and although Minnie was against Regina now, Regina showed signs of being a witch. Minnie could either rip into Regina’s heart and use it as a sacrifice or wipe Regina’s memories as they did with Aurora and have her be the perfect little witch like what Minnie always wanted. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

’She’s more useful to them than I am,’ he frowned.

"Are you not listening to me, Samuel? Turn around and go back out to find your sister. I don’t care if you need to flip this kingdom upside down to find her. Bring my little girl home. If only I wasn’t dealing with so much here," Nathaniel sighed.

"Where are my mother and Minnie?" Samuel looked around for the two women. One of them would have come out by now to see how the search for Regina was going.

Though Regina and Rachel weren’t on the best terms, Samuel saw the fear in his mother’s eyes when she was informed of Regina’s disappearance. Contrary to what Regina thought their mother did love her. Samuel expected Minnie would be waiting at the front door to have someone so valuable returned to her.

"I have looked Minnie up in a room. The family doctor came not too long ago to tend to her wounds. There will be a new order in this house, son. I am the one in charge now. Not Minnie," said Nathaniel.

"What do you mean? Why would Minnie have wounds?" Samuel was fully aware just like everyone else that Minnie would never give up her position. Not when she had so much planned for the future of their family. "Did you do something to Minnie? To my mother?" Samuel’s eyes filled with panic.

It was oddly suspicious that neither woman had come out to speak with him.

"Your mother is in her bedroom cooling off and coming to her senses. I am hopeful that you will do the same, Samuel. I am giving you one last chance to prove that you should be my heir. Forget about the things Minnie has tasked you to do. We will no longer be searching for Aurora and completing that ritual," Nathaniel informed Samuel.

There were wasting too many resources searching for Aurora when it was like she fell off the face of this world. Now, he would have no use for the witches Minnie had employed. He’ll have to kill the children they had taken off the street and the men they had hired to find the secret.

Nathaniel wanted to bury everything Minnie was planning and go forward as a family who did not meddle in witchcraft. He wanted to forget about his witch side because he was more human than a witch.

"I need to get rid of Gilbert," Nathaniel suddenly realized. Gilbert was not a man to trust and just like Minnie, he was hell-bent on making witches take over the kingdom. Gilbert would not want the plans to be destroyed, therefore he had to die. "Double the men looking for Regina. I need you here to help me get rid of a few people. Do not go anywhere," Nathaniel left to take care of something.

"This family has turned on each other. Where have the people who ate breakfast together gone?" Samuel sadly said out loud. He could not judge anyone else because he had made Regina his enemy when she did not need to be. "Blood does not matter," he realized this now more than ever.

He knew this was from the many stories he heard about his relatives but now he truly believed it now that he was able to witness their family crumbling.