"Lady Avery? What in the?..."
"There was a burglar..."
"I should sound the alarm bell immediately." The man said, urging his feet and turning around.
"No! Father and mother should not be disturbed. Let's take care of this silently."
He stopped and stared at her, she stared back.
***
"I must admit... I never thought you are this fearless. You are going to the Duke's room."
"No, I'm going to my room"
My response shocked her, "I was sure, your thoughts said you were going to go!"
"Yea, I thought about going... until you spoke."
I swiftly ran through the winds, stealthily passing every guard and finally reaching the window of my room, I leapt onto the window and grabbed and landed on it, felt like a little assassins from assassins creed. I looked towards where I was coming from and entered my room.
"I don't understand, why?! Why would throw away this perfect chance?" She shouted into my ear, floating around me.
"Don't disturb me, Anastasia, I need to sleep," I said, as I changed into my nightwear and tucked myself into my bed afterwards.
I learnt something from what happened that night, that Anastasia couldn't hear the thoughts I didn't want her to hear if not she would know what I planned to do and also since when I decided I'm not going to infiltrate the Duke's room. It's a natural balance since I couldn't hear her thoughts at all.
***
***
***
As I opened my eyes to a ravishing morning, the rays that escaped through my transparent window blurred my vision for a bit, I rose out of the bed and gently placed my feet on the ground. A few meters away from mine, I saw another leg, the face at the upwards end of the leg startled me such that I was about to jump to the other side of my bed.
"Why did you do that?" She said, staring at me with flame in her eyes.
"I created, this perfect opportunity for you... Why did you throw it away?"
"Don't worry, I'll get it regardless," I said, stepping out of the bed completely.
"Do you think father will give it to you? It's impossible, even if he agrees mother will never agree, she won't risk losing her son the second time."
I looked at her for a moment...
"You are surprisingly mature, I didn't expect it at your age." It was only after I said those words did I realise I didn't speak like a thirteen-year-old, shit I lost myself for a moment.
"And you, are too smart for your age. Whatever you choose to do, the deal stands between us." She said, running her eyes through my room, that eyes of her finally settled somewhere.
"I can't believe this..." She said as she hurriedly walked towards my window and picked up the silver-coloured sword.
"Siegfried, our family heirloom, a grade S vassal weapon, you are supposed to have a sword stand for him. How dare you drop him on the floor."
I looked at her,
"Ah, I forgot..."
"You forgot? I can't believe this." She carried the sword with both her hands and placed it on my table. She bowed her head towards it.
"Take care master Siegfried." She said and turned away, walking towards the door.
"I'll be watching you." She slammed out.
I looked towards Siegfried and shook my head.
***
"A burglar?" I couldn't help with the immediate startles but I hurriedly brought composure to myself. "Ha ha, I wonder who would dare break into the smithy."
"I know, how ignorant..." The Duke said as we prepared to eat. His voice and words sent shivers down my spine.
"Come to my study after now." He said before we started the full course, meal: a Shallow-Fried Radiant Marmoset and Azirian Bombe, like hell I knew what it was but this marmoset was the fried meat of a monkey. I recognised a monkey meat when I see one, that is the extent to which I've adventured with food. The olive oil that was seeping out of it as I pierced it with the fork in my hands made it unbelievable that it was fried, a dish like rice but not rice, but should be a grain if I was to take into account the soft and easy to chew feel in my mouth when eaten together with the radiant marmoset provided heaven of delicacy.
My meals in this castle since arriving was always something I didn't have to worry about. I do not deny the fact that I love food as it is what makes me a man. Since I was going to answer to the Duke at his study and at the moment I can't even tell what will happen. What coukd I do than to enjoy my meal? That's the only thing I had power over after all.
***
It was immediately after the meal I followed him to his study, while Avery made a worried expression which irritated me, I preferred mother's. Hers were genuine.
The Duke sat down in the chair in front of his wide table that was filled with books. A familiar cloth was covering something on the table and was boxed shaped.
Knowing all what it was, different thoughts invaded my mind. I doubt the Duke wants to freely give me something that he is certain, at this point I couldn't predict his actions but I had my plan too.
He was kinda making things easy for me.
"Why are you obsessed about this?" He asked, removing the clothing. The golden liquid began to immediately react and bang on the glass in my direction.
"The blacksmith said this thing had the strongest defence in the world. And it was made from incredible materials." I replied to him, just as a smart kid should.
The Duke locked his fingers and observed me with his gaze before saying anything, his gaze averted towards the golden liquid, which continued to hit the glass.
'It has never reacted like this in thirty years of its creation, it has always been stagnant, floating at one point, even after it killed Giorgion, there was no such reaction. All of a sudden it begins to show desperation to want to get out of the box. Orel suspects that it might find Gilland as a perfect host and is desperate to merge with him but it is not something I can risk. Our greatest mistake was creating this thing.' He finally looked up at me.
"Gilland, Ardor is something..."
"Ardor?" I was quite confused as to who was Ardor here.
"That was named after the dragon it was made from."
"Ahh..." I nodded softly as I realized he was talking about the golden armour.
"It must not get into the world. A lot of sacrifices were made to make it, when lives are lost trying to create an item, you don't expect the item to be a source of good. It will eat you away till you cease to exist. Besides, there are people that will tear down an entire kingdom to get it. This is why it has been - -
~CLINNK~
~CRASSHKK~
Both of us weren't expecting it.