Amyra was at loss, she really didn't know what to do or what to say. She stared at the lord with disbelief.
'Did he just say that she would accompany, lady florence to the horlicks street tomorrow?'
Lord Theodore, saw her staring at him and looked back at her with a blank expression.
"Myra, do you have something to say?" asked the lord with raised brows. As if challenging her to defy him.
"I- uh..." she started looking around, not knowing what to say. Everybody at the table was looking at her, waiting for her to say something. Her ears turned red with discomfort, and she simply shook her head.
A while later, both the Lord and Mr. Swanson got up and went somewhere, stating that they have work. Lady Florence too went home in a different carriage, after informing Amyra that she would pick her up tomorrow morning.
Having nothing else to do, she thought of exploring the mansion.
.
.
Meanwhile, Theodore and his cousin Leonard, who was a ministry official were heading to the Bootleg Market. It was where most of the illegal goods were sold without the notice of the ministry.
"So?" started Leonard, "who is this girl really?"
Theodore, leaned on his seat comfortably and outstretched his legs, crossing one foot over the other. "Which girl?"
"The girl you have at your house? as a guest?" asked leonard with a raised brows.
"hmm..didn't I introduce her to you earlier?".
"But why is she at your home?" questioned Leo.
As far as he knew, his cousin never did anything without a reason. Theodore, doesn't usually go around rescuing some random stranger who is in trouble, by pretending to be their knight in shining armour and even if he did save anybody by chance, he had never once brought them to his mansion and let them stay with him. 'This lady must be someone special', thought Leonard.
"She has no where to go", Theodore shrugged, as if it was no big deal, "and I have many unused rooms in the mansion, letting her stay in one wouldn't hurt me now, would it?".
Leonard exhaled dropping the topic. Picking up a daily newspaper, he started grazing through the pages. While he was reading the third page he found an article that interested him.
*~*~*~*
*ANCIENT DIARY UNCOVERED : Prophecy and Stellar Gems Mentioned*
The Ministry's archaeological department has unearthed a handwritten diary believed to contain a prophecy and references to the elusive stellar gems. While the full content remains undeciphered due to protective spells on the script, the discovery has already sparked significant interest.
Chief archaeologist Drago Muller suspects the diary may have belonged to Drusilla Morgana Pafford, the renowned first-generation Lunar witch. Notably, sources indicate that the final entry in the diary is dated just one month before the infamous dark ritual.
*~*~*~*
"Theo, aren't you curious about the stellar gems?" asked leonard, folding the newspaper and placing it on the empty space beside him.
Lord Theodore, who was seated on the opposite side of the carriage, was looking out of the window. He turned his head to face his cousin, when he heard the question. "What is there to be curious about it?"
"I have heard rumours that the prophecy predicts a destructive war between the five lands in the upcoming future. It is said that there are four stellar gems and they are the only ones who can prevent the disaster" said leonard
"hmm... so??" came a bored reply from Theodore.
"Aren't you worried, about the prediction? what if it is true?"
Theodore shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "Then the war will take place".
Silence filled in the carriage for a while, before the Lord broke it by saying, "Leo, what is bound to happen will happen. If the so called stellar gems really exist, then they will make their presence known and stop the destruction as it is predicted. There is no point in any of us, worrying about the future only to spoil our present".
"hmm.. True" mumbled Leonard
"Besides won't it be fun, if there is really a war?" said Theodore, with an exciting glint in his eyes, which had Leonard roll his eyes.
As the carriage was nearing to the destination, Leonard informed the coach man to stop the carriage a few streets away from the bootleg market so as to not draw much attention towards themselves.
.
.
.
Back in the mansion, Myra who had been roaming around, came across lots of maids busy doing their assigned tasks such as cleaning, mopping, cooking all around the mansion. Some of them exchanged curious glances among themselves as she passed by. A few of them preferred to ignore her while some politely smiled at her, giving her a slight bow.
The warburton mansion was really huge and splendid. As she went about exploring, she started to fear that she might lose her way.
While she was surveying the first floor in east wing of the house, she heard a strange noise coming from one of the rooms in the far end of the corridor.
It sounded like someone was scratching on a wooden surface with their finger nails. It produced an irritating creeky noise. Looking around Amyra found that there were no maids in that particular floor. Intrigued she walked in the direction of the noise.
"Hello, anybody in there?" she called out, feeling scared all of a sudden.
More scratching noise could be heard. 'I think somebody is locked in there!' she thought.
Standing in front of the large wooden double door, that had a lion head carved on it beautifully with intricate designs all over.
Tapping the door lightly, she asked "Is anybody inside?"
**Scratch**
Grabbing the door knob, she turned it and much to her surprise she found that the door wasn't locked. Pushing it slowly she peeped inside and saw two green eyes that was glowing in a dark room, looking at her.
Her heart momentarily stopped beating. She let out a shrilled scream, dropping herself on the floor. The door opened on its own, producing a creaky sound and the creature with green eyes walked out.
Amyra paled at the sight, her body crawled away from the door until her back hit the opposite wall of the corridor. The creature that walked out was a black panther. Much to her horror, the animal took slow predatory steps towards her before it stood right in front of her.
Shutting her eyes tightly, she embraced herself to be attacked and killed. Silently cursing herself for opening the door.
Tears started trickling down her cheeks and suddenly she felt a warm slippery something on her face.
'Ugh! ...did that animal just licked my face?'
Opening her eyes she saw it was looking at her with one of its paws placed on her lap. She stared at it and it stared back at her, but much to her relief it didn't make any move to harm her.
"My lady" she heard Alvin's worried voice. "Are you alright?"
The butler was instructing one of the maids to pull out the weeds in the backyard, when he heard the Lady scream, hearing that he had hurried up the floor to check if the Lady was hurt.
She looked at the panther and then at Alvin before she nodded slowly.
Walking over to her, the butler helped her up. "I see, that you have let Oreo out?" he asked, patting the animal.
"Oreo?" Myra asked confused. 'who keeps a wild animals like this at home? that too inside a room?' she thought.
"Oreo is his Lord's pet panther" said the butler.
"A pet??"
"Aye, my lady. He must have done something naughty, for the lord had him locked up in this room as a punishment".
The panther, lovingly brushed its body on her legs. "And he seems to have taken a liking towards you" said Alvin with amused expression. "Oreo never gets along with strangers that easily".
"Does he bite?" she asked, looking at the panther that was standing beside her.
"He does, My lady" said the butler calmly, and Myra's eyes widened with fear, looking at the butler, 'Is he being serious right now?'
"Oreo hurts only those people, whom he feels is a threat", continued Alvin "But don't worry, Milady. He won't hurt you"
"Are you sure?" she asked with distrust, and saw the butler give her an encouraging nod.
Nervously she patted it's head and the animal nuzzled it's nose.
'How cute'. It was just like a big cat, totally harmless, asking for her attention.
"Oreo, go back inside the room" ordered Alvin sternly after a minute. The animal groaned in response looking at her, before shaking its head.
Myra's stared at it with raised eyebrows, 'Did it just shake it's head?'
"Can't he stay out?" Myra asked the butler, pitying the animal.
"No, My lady. The lord has strictly ordered not to let Oreo out of this room for a day and he wouldn't appreciate it, to see him roaming around the mansion freely when he gets back".
Myra pressed her lips firmly in a thin line before letting out a sigh. "Hey, Oreo boy" she said kneeling down slowly scratching the panther's back, "be a good kid and go back inside. Your Master will come back soon and let you out".
Oreo titled his head and looked at her for a moment before turning around and obediently walking back inside the room, he was previously locked in.