***
Lucy spent her days listening to reports. Many things came to her ears; Lady Steinhouse's predicament, Walter's location and many more; yet, she responded to none. Night came on a normal day, only then did she call Shilla, Mrs Muburg and two other maids, to go on a walk. Spring-crest pond was vast, so she took time strolling and enjoying the fresh air. The maids did not ask why she was going out on a walk in the middle of the night; they did as told and followed her silently. She strolled for a while before she came to a bench and sat.
After a quiet few minutes, she sighed.
"How long do you intend to watch me before you come out?" she asked into the darkness and a soft chuckle answered her. The maids were startled, but said nothing, as their lady seemed to know who it was.
"You came all this way to see me, love?" a person said. From his voice, they could tell he was male, but when he stepped into the moonlight, they saw a boy no older than eighteen. He was garbed in black. Though they could not make out his eyes, they knew he was smiling from the tone of his voice.
"You have been watching for seasons, it would have been odd if I never met you," she said.
"You did not send guards to protect your father, did you know I would come?" he asked walking closed.
"I assumed if you watched this long, you would at least know what was happening. You going was completely up to you,"
"You didn't have to go so far to test me, love," his eyes trained on her.
"Have you considered my proposal?" Lucy asked.
"I never met a girl who would but meet a man once and ask him to marry her," he said.
"You consider yourself a man? Besides, I will only consider marriage when I'm sixteen. It's not like we would be marrying so soon," she said and he broke out laughing.
"Do you even know what marriage is? Why would I marry a girl so young?" he asked and she raised a brow.
"Yet here you are watching my every move," she said and the man nodded.
"Did you take that as my agreeing to marry you?" he asked.
"Then why are you here?" she asked.
"I keep tabs on you. I want to know what you plan to cook up next," he said.
"Is that why you sent Jodanham?" she asked. Lucy remembered that when Walter went to visit the man, he reported that he seems afraid of someone else. She had always suspected it would be him.
"You should go in and have a good rest," he said and vanished into the night. Lucy said nothing as she got up and left without saying another word.
When she left, the shadow reappeared and stared at where she had been sitting. Not long after, a hunched old man with a walking stick appeared next to him.
"Master, you indulge this girl too much," the old man said but was answered with a cold stare.
"You were just curious about her that is why you came, why stay?" the old man asked with a sigh.
"Curious? Yes. I've never met a girl that would propose to me on first meeting and she was just ten at the time," he said with a laugh.
"Yes, very interesting,"
"You should think deeper, she knew who I was the moment she met me. She looked shocked that I would be there. How did she even know this? That girl knew her words that day would never leave my mind. She was just ten, yet she already knows how to woo a man. I have never been wooed before Locksham, I have to stay and gain experience," he said softly. The old man named Locksham could not see his master's face, still, he had black lines on his forehead. The girl just said a few words and you are being wooed? Isn't the man supposed to do the wooing? He wondered as he looked at his master's back. But he would not dare to say such words out loud. With a sigh, he bowed his head.
"Yes master," he said.