"What? Are you mad?" Lewis shouted at the end of the room. "Have you suddenly forgotten how you were just lecturing me about being more human to people?!" He too seemed shocked that now she was down with killing people.
"I never told you to be more human. Questions are not speeches of motivation." Aefia rustled through multiple files and found an empty one. Then, took out pieces of paper that was scrambled and of almost no professional use. On it, she scribbled nonsense, describing the look, writing about what needs to be done and finally, the price at which this needs to be done. Slamming the folder shut at the end, she grabbed her cloak that was hanging at the end of her chair and tied it around her shoulders.
"I will be back in a few minutes if the most is necessary. Since they didn't seem to believe you, there is a high chance they will reject the work saying you had feigned it with the fear that you would have your throat slit by me if you told me so. And, I also want to hear what they have to say...whether I am who they want to kill...or the duchess." She spoke to Cedric, but her brother near the door seemed more concerned.
"And where was their location again? I am not so good at remembering such details, so mind me." Then, recalling about her system and the skills, she smacked her forehead and covered her eyes while finishing the rest of her speech. "Actually, nevermind, I can find them myself." Her footsteps lifted towards the windows, but she didn't jump yet.
"Hold on, so you are just going to jump like that? Out of there? Like a psycho?" Lewis felt his mind going insane as he watched her open the frame and harsh wind rushed in, making her front hair poke her eyes as she turned around. "I did it before, so it shouldn't be a problem. And I have combat skills, so why would I be a psycho trying to jump off the third floor?" She raised her eyebrow as if questioning.
Cedric, who was silent until now, finally spoke up. "I know I had broken your watch earlier, but I managed to fix it with glue on my free time." He walked over to her while handing the handkerchief with the heavy material inside. With a step backwards, he added finally with a bow. "Young master needs to keep the time in mind if they want to return early. The duchess might be looking for you in the short while."
Suspicious, she pulled open the covers and glanced at the cracked glass that stood still with the time still actively running. Although it was the only repair, it was a thoughtful thing that he had done at the least. She smiled and threw it in the air with only one glance at the time, nine fourteen, and the remaining dissappeared into her inventory as her hand was placed at the edge with one final glance back.
"Hold on! You are not going alone with injuries!" Lewis rushed over as he dragged her by the hood of her cloak to pull her away from the window, making her seem like a dead body about to be thrown off the cliff, and made her stand at the end of the sofa while running out the door with one sentence. "Let me go grab my disguise and I will follow you there!"
Finally being able to breathe, she held the pinned area of the cloak and stuck her tongue out. Within the next minute, he came back and wore the same duplicate piece of fabric as hers. She looked curiously at him while sitting at the sofa and Cedric had already left by then. "There wasn't a necessity, especially if you got hurt and identified."
"I don't care! You are still not recovered and who knows what will happen there! I can stay hidden with my skills." He looked around while pulling the hood over his head. He watched her stand up while pushing the window open, when seeing the difference he asked her one more question before following behind. "Where is that butler guy?"
"I sent him to tell George I was on a personal mission and that I will be back shortly." She responded by taking off the hat and placing it on the table while leaping onto the edge of the window. Before pouncing the remaining way, she ensured he had nothing more to say and jumped off the barrier towards the tree.
For some reasons, Lewis grabbed onto her sleeve for a split second while quickly speaking through an entire sentence. "Wait! Let's take the safe way!" Not realizing a little too late that she had accidentally changed her trajectory and her feet missed the thicker branch by full. Expecting her to plummet towards the ground, he blinked. But surprisingly, she used a method to make it down with no injuries.
Just in time, steps made of lava resurrected from the grass and the rough surfaces stopped her from slipping, as she hopped down the flocks of stairs and landed on the grass-laid ground. She did twist her ankle by a bit, and it hurt insanely when walking. Her eyes immediately stared at her own horrified brother who seemed afraid of getting down. "I will take the other way around! Wait for me!" He rushed towards the otherside, but Aefia had other plans as she slapped her palm onto her eyes.
With a snap of her fingers, he appeared downstairs where she was standing and slammed onto the thick tree bark while holding his face and stumbling backwards. "Don't blame me...you made me almost break my ankle. This is the most I can do for now." She walked through the edge of the garden and came to the end of the bushes.
Lewis mostly stumbled and fell on rocks while running behind her with short breathe. How is she effortlessly doing this! Don't expect me to be that silent and still be able to move that fast. You look like you have gotten years worth of training, and I haven't gotten that. Honestly, I should have listened to her advice and not followed behind. Who knows what is to happen next.
"You are supposed to jump up, not take the other row of bushes." Aefia spoke from behind the tall fences which she had leapt across with her feet. During the process, she almost lost her balance thinking about her injury and finally made it across with quite the great difficulty. A hand was held out as he grabbed onto her wrist while pulling himself up and across the last obstacle of the castle. From this distance, the palace could be seen brightly glowing with golden lights.
"The banquet looks lively..." He spoke unconsciously while staring at it. Realizing the word, she opened her mouth as if to ask. "Banquet?" Her face held many questions, but unnoticeable to her ownself, her headache didn't emerge. Then, she did realize that many well-known rulers had come and shut her mouth before asking the rest.
Leaving him behind, her footsteps picked up to move forward as she muttered three more words and fell silent again. "Track the Identified". A glorious and bright red screen appeared in front of her, bringing in a new script of line that wrote 'tracking...' and her entire mind was set on it. Jumpscared by the words, he turned his head to see his sister taping air and held a hand out at her shoulder.
"Who are you talking to?" Surprised, he looked at her eyes fixated at the ground and waved his fingers in front of them. "Stop disrupting the navigator!" She removed his hand while turning her screen into visible. "Now don't ask me another question because I am busy." Her steps continued as he stared at the way she was clicking through different options, her fingers interacted the floating screen which sent more chill up his arms.
"How do you do that?" He spoke in a loud voice. Aefia, now her eyes widened at the end of the pedestrian, looked at him one more time with her index finger held up in a gesture for him to quiet down. "They are up there, so you will have to get into hiding too." Her soft voice echoed at the nearly empty street.
"Are you sure you are going to be able to deal with this? What if they attack you? Aren't you injured?" Lewis asked with a little concern since this was his first time sneaking out of the palace. "Don't worry about it, I have my element that I can use, so I don't see a problem in it." A reply came back even when her eyes didn't look around.
"Then finish it quickly, without causing a delay." With the words left hanging, he vanished, as he blended with the colours of the surroundings. With her face put into a stern one, she opened her mouth with a voice loud and clear. "You know that I know you are here, so might as well come out and take two chances to kill me like you said before." A huge bait, and a huge risk.
***
George returned to the duchess's side, wondering where the young girl had really been to and what's taking long enough to concern him. If anything, their brother was at least supposed to come and inform him, but that was an expectation more than reality now. He glanced around and looked at a butler approaching, around one year older than their brothers age and slightly taller then him. Knowing his hair was the colour bluish-black, he moved his gaze away from the approaching figure.
"Your majesty, I have a news for you from the young master if you don't mind." Cedric bowed from the far distance and spoke with a midly low voice to show respect. "If you are open to hearing it, I would go on with the message, but it might upset you to listen, so I would respect your opinion." He didn't have a hat, so he didn't mind not needing to straighten up.
"No...speak." George hesitantly turned around. With a deep breathe, the butler moved upright and moved his mouth in almost silent words. "She has an intention to run away, but your younger brother followed her along believing her lie, that she was going to deliver an item herself. Young master told you, it was best to not let the duchess know and you should go pick him up if you can at most. If she can be successful at escaping, she isn't going to return to retrieve her items."
A smile moved up his face, but he looked to be a little worried. For him, there was no signs in his expression. "Did she say the best time when to pick him up? And the location, I can't go there with no information about that." He adjusted his glasses around his earlobes while the silver strings dangled from the edge. When the moment of silence stretched along, with almost no words and absolute hesitation lingering in his face. "What is it? Aren't you going to speak? Where can I go and pick him up?"
"I am not sure, some alley near the end of the boundaries of the palace...Young master will be trying to live between dungeons while trying to find the mystery behind the Torture Cell." His face darkened. "Aren't you worried she might end up dieing at the hands of the beasts? That isn't the matter because...the hooded person is someone I actually know." His hair covered more than half his face while bowing. "That's everything I can say."
"Then who is the hooded man?" George asked with his expression changing to a strange and angry stare. "So you know who it was, and you are only telling me?"
"The hooded man is a very close person to the Silence. She wants the young master dead, because there was a huge contract broken in between them. I know all this because I had managed to catch him along the way." His eyes turned serious.
"The false prophet had deceived the duchess into thinking there was a way to save her empire in the future, and as a solution, he told you about the young master. But honestly, Silence was jealous that she was accomplishing much more than the Guardian was, and the rage increased only when she breached the contract."
"Then where can I find them both?" Even if they had the least bond as a family, he still felt the responsibility of an elder brother, to not only protect his own biological brother. The girl had almost the same mentality as Lewis, and Henry had also told him, that she too had an abusive past. But putting that aside, even with the three days she had been around, the empire was actually striving a little by little. "The false prophet wasn't totally wrong when he said she could be the one who would save the empire from a heavy fall."
He placed a hand at the weak butler's shoulder with crashing pressure, as his face hardened and one last question fell out of his mouth. "Where is the location she planned on running away from? She didn't leave you clueless where she went."
***
"I have come up with the decision that I will offer you a last well-paid job, and if you succeed, I will think whether to hand you a part-time at the palace." Aefia spoke while holding up a folder as the five prisoners peaked their head out from the tents with curiousity at their faces. "Don't worry, I came alone." She spoke when they hesitated for a short time.
With the last word, she flung the folder onto the ground and stepped back while holding her hands out. "Thats all the details of the work, so I don't think I will need to explain anymore of what will be needed. But even if I do, maybe ask Cedric when he comes to check in on how much work has been completed." Her shoes clunked against the concrete ground, and her head spun to the other direction as if retreating.
"Hold on kid!" One prisoner shouted behind her. "Are you aware you are being chased after? You are being chased by a false prophet who is seeking to kill you, and you should have noticed by now!" He got out of the tent and stood up while walking forward.
Lewis's pupils pulled on themselves as he noticed her calm face with only a little concern clouding her perfectly still face. "...I may have already known. But thanks for seeing over my life matters." The words echoed as Aefia's complexion became unexplainable.