ARRIVING AT HIS designated room, Hades immediately felt a presence inside. He opened the door and closed it carefully, he then turned to the corner of the room. There, he saw a long haired man sitting leisurely at a wooden chair, reading one of his pocket books.
The room was dimmed with moonlight from the window of the room. The man looked up to him and smiled. "Long time no see, young lord. How have you been faring?"
A gentle and low voice with a polite tone. He was the same as ever, only his hair grew longer. Last time he saw the man, his hair was flowing above his chest, now it's dangling down to his thighs. Seeing his unchanging gentleman demeanor, Hades smiles back.
"Brother Clory… I never thought you'd be coming personally. Father told me the equipments would be delivered after I settled inside the academy." Hades sat down by his bed, and near the man, who goes by the name, Cloris Steele.
Cloris closes the pocket book, and placed it on the table. "Well, we're getting busy lately. Father decided to have me drop off your stuff earlier than planned. So, here it is." He takes the leather bag he placed on the table, and threw it on Hades. Hades successfully caught it, and decided to take a look.
The clothes, the velvet cloak, the boots, the mask, and the wig. Everything was black.
"I call that set, 'Lad in jet black'. Do you like it?" Cloris asks the young man, who was observing the products he made himself. Just looking at it will make one think that it was made by a master craftsman, it also felt light and durable. It was a perfect clothing for stealth and the night. Cloris' hands were always gifted, and Hades' has heard his siblings' praise for him countless times before.
'As expected of the SAG—no, the Steele Armed Guild, they are always so reliable.' Hades was visibly satisfied with the products.
The Steele Armed Guild is a rising information and adventurer's guild. They were founded eighteen years ago, just before he was brought out to the world. Originally, it was a small information guild, but his second brother, Hunter, who was sixteen at that time, used them to test his abilities as a merchant. And of course, he ended up making the guild successful after just six years.
The guild felt indebted to what Hunter has contributed, and they decided to make him their Lord, the only man that's above the Guild Master. And of course, being the cautious man that he is, Hunter asked that this fact is to be hidden from others aside from the high-ranked members of the guild.
Being the remaining blood sibling and the most treasured sibling of that Lord, the Steele Armed Guild vowed to support Hades. In fact, all the information he needed and memorized were from the guild, and Hades can confidently say that those are indeed concrete information, as Cloris was the one who handles information.
Hades hummed a happy tune as he placed the clothes and boots inside the bag. Cloris arched a brow at his jolly mood. "You seem to be happy, young lord." He mentioned, and Hades chuckles.
"It's because 'Hades' story' seem to have taken affect already."
'Ah, of course', Cloris thought and smiled as well. It was Hades' idea to make the tampered truth of his story a low class information of the guild. After all, it's just a tragic story. One would hear these in the streets or among social circles, and think of it as a simple rumor. Hades' story however, came from a prominent information guild. Basically debunking the rumor allegations.
One needs a solid background to pretend, right?
"We've been getting busy because of that. Many nobles have had their eyes on your name for the past hours. It's too much even for the first day, and school hasn't even started yet, young lord. Why don't you tone down your excitement a bit?" Cloris says, but Hades could only smile.
"I wanted to beat my brothers and sisters' record for showing off at their entrance exams, and all the buzz about Hades isn't even enough to do that." Hades shrugged his shoulders, and placed the bag beside him. Cloris rolled his eyes in irony. 'I almost forgot about the most important fact about Hades… that he's got the blood of Winchester in his veins.'
Hades begun humming again, and Cloris could only sigh in surrender. 'Well, I heard from Rissa that he's already friends with the Lefort heir and the second lady of Nocturne, and rivals with the Second Imperial Prince, even took the spot for class representative from him. Shouldn't he call that a victory?' Cloris thought again.
Just then, Cloris recalled something his younger sister had told him. "Speaking of which, I heard from Rissa that you were smitten by the imperial princess' beauty. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Falling in love is not good for your plans, young lord." He said and even shaking his head. Hades gave him a confused look.
"She's pretty and interesting, and that's about it. I have no intention of getting involved with her any futher. She's an enemy, Brother Clory, and I'm not a fool enough to fall for an enemy." Hades stated clearly, which made Cloris click tongue. He simply wanted to tease him, but Hades is too serious for his own good.
"Then, I'll take my leave now, young lord," Cloris rose from his seat, and reached for Hades' head just to ruffle his white hair, which is almost growing past his chin. "You should get your hair trimmed, even a tad bit would do. Just don't grow it out. Having a long hair is tiring, trust me." He says and turns to leave by the window.
Cloris opens the window, letting the evening breeze flow inside. His long hair fluttered because of that. Hades stared at him for a moment, and before Cloris could leave, he speaks;
"Then, why don't you cut yours, Brother Clory?" Hades asked a question he already had an answer to, but he asked anyway. Cloris turned to him and beamed a gentle smile.
"He had long hair," Cloris replies as he sat by the window. "I've been used to not cutting it these past eight years, but this year, I'll probably have enough energy to cut it short. After all, she always liked it shorter." He continues and waved his hand.
"Until next time, my lord." He says and falls from the window. Hades didn't move for a moment, until he decided to let his back fall on the bed. He stared at the ceiling, thinking of Cloris' words for a moment.
"... Love made him crazy."Hades couldn't think of a better conclusion than that. 'Should I say the same thing with me? Isn't it different?' He read about love in books before, and he doesn't have the right words to describe how it feels to be in a romantic love… although, he does have one word for love.
Addicting.
No better word for love than this. It's painful, but you keep wanting more of it. Hades thinks it's a stupid emotion, but he knows that everyone things the same. However, some unfortunately fall victim to it.
'I wonder if a time would come that I feel the same way as him for someone else?—' Hades sits up, bewildered at his own thoughts. 'Curiosity kills the cat, stop thinking about trivial things such as those', he thought and rose from his bed to put away the clothes.
As he placed the bag at the desk, he couldn't contain his smile. Excitement was clearly shown in his eyes, there was no denying what he felt.
'Ah… I can't wait.'
To Hades, there was something more addicting than love.