House Of Argent

A few days later, the carriage entered into a city and moved through the bustling streets packed with people and strange magical creatures towards the south of the city. Alex could heard the loud and hectic noise coming from outside the carriage and it made him so curious of the outside world.

He really wanted to see what's going on outside but it was blocked from his sight. He could heard the driver saying that they're at a place called 'Black Mountain City'. He wondered where that was. He could also heard some weird languages and various melodious singing from the bard storytelling of some heroic figure he thinks.

"Ah... Ah... Ah..." He made some noise to attract his mother attention to him, so that she could lifted him up.

"Oh baby, you wake up! Is the noise bothering you? I'm so sorry, it is a busy morning after all but we're almost there to our new house. Be patient with me okay, hmm." Lady Elizabeth cooed at her son lying on her lap. Looking at her cute son face would just brighten her day after those sad memory.

"Ah... Ah... Ah... Ahhh..." That's not what Alex want though. So he tried to move his body himself and it won't budge even an inch! He could only flay his arms and legs from side to side helplessly.

His face was also getting red from it and his action made him more cuter in the vision of his mother, who squealed after seeing it. Lady Elizabeth encourage her son to move or just flipping his body to the other side with some advice.

"Ahhhh... So cute...! You're so cute, my baby Alexander. Now, come on you can do it! Yeah, move your waist some more. Come on! You can do it."

"Ummmgghh... Ahh.. Ummgghh..." Alex groaned, his face is all wrinkle up showing how hard he was trying to do it. It was just so hard being a baby. He felt like crying. He couldn't move, talk or do anything. All he could do was just eating and sleeping all day long. It really bore him to death.

After failing to move his body even when he tried so many times, Alex just gave up this time. Maybe he could tried it later. It seems like he still need a lot of time to just practice moving his body. Right now he just felt tired after those hard work and after drinking some milk, he fall asleep.

After long times, the carriage that was carrying Alex and his mother moved along a lonely broken red bricks lane filled with overgrown bushes along side it and stopped in front of an dilapidated mansion. There was a man wearing a neat swallow tailed suit waiting in front of the mansion to greet the on comers. The man goes toward the carriage and opened the door and greeted their lady and the young master.

"Welcome back to the House of Argent, my Lady and young master Alexander."

Lady Elizabeth walked out of the carriage along with her son tucked in her hand. She looked at the mansion mournfully and observed its condition. Alex was stupefied when he saw the house's condition or what was supposed to be a gorgeous looking mansion.

The appearance of the mansion looks like it had been abandon for quite long time now. The mansion looked dirty with mud stained all over the front walls and the door frame, the white paint had already chipped off the wall, the ivy plants crawled on left side of the mansion from the bottom up to the rooftop, and most of the windows' glasses were broken and covered with some old thick clothes. There were also some overgrown juniper trees covering the huge hole on the right side of the mansion. All in all, it looked like some ghostly house in a scary park or something.

"Is the mansion ruined this bad after the battles? Why hadn't anyone fixed it, Albert? Where has everyone gone?" Lady Elizabeth gloomily asked the man in front of the mansion. Albert's face turned into anger and grief from sadness after hearing the question from Lady Elizabeth.

"I'm very sorry to say this to you, my Lady. After the battles, most of the family members ran away with the moneys in the house. I don't know where they are right now. After we controlled the situation at that time and cleared the problems that had been inflicted to us, it was already too late to tracked them down anymore. My father also dead because of the heavy injuries from the battles as he was trying to retain the honor of the house."

"I'm sorry for you father's death, Albert."

"It's alright, my Lady. I replaced my father's position as the butler of the house but I'm just not experienced enough to to handle the situation at the time. I also had to fired almost all the unnecessary servants and maids in the house because of the tight expenses. We currently had a cook and his apprentice, three maids, and one servant only in the house, my Lady." Albert explained the current situation of the house to his lady, feeling light after lifting the guilty loads and problems off his shoulders.

Alex was stunned after seeing the mansion in front of him and once again felt like crying. What kind of enemy had his mother's family had provoke to destroyed the mansion this bad? Ah... Alex awkwardly glanced at his mother to see her reaction and saw that she was also showing an unpleasant face. Maybe remembering any unpleasant memory.

"Okay, it's gonna be alright now. It wouldn't be that bad, right? Lily, what are you dazzling about?! Hurry up and asked the driver to help carry all the luggage and boxes into house. It's getting darker now." Lady Elizabeth said positively and goes into the mansion. Liliana quickly turned towards the driver looking sorry.

"Yes, my Lady! I'm so sorry for the rudeness, delaying and wasting your time, John. However will you please help us carry the luggage and boxes into the house. We would be grateful for you help."

"No...no... of course I would pleasantly do anything for our nice and beautiful lady. There is no need to be so grateful. This is my duty to served the lady and young master of the noble House of Argent." John then hastily carried all the luggage and boxes into the mansion, putting it in what is supposed to be a living room?. He then get out and drove away his carriage out of the yard after getting a hefty payment from the maid.

When Alex and his mother got into the mansion, they were still quite satisfied that it was a lot more clean and organised than the outside. Albert brought them around the house to see the kitchen, the study room, the library, the garden at the backyards and lastly into their room.

The room was pretty decent. It didn't have much furniture in it though, just a king sized bed, a big closet and a mirror table. There was a cot beside the bed for baby Alex. Their luggage and boxes full of personal belonging had been neatly put in the closet.

"Well, this your bedroom that we prepared earlier, my Lady. It's simple but it's cozy enough, I think. Have a good rest first, my Lady and the hot water is already filled in the bathtub if you wanted to take a bath. Dinners will be served in a few minutes. I will called you when it is ready to be served." Albert explained and walked out of the room into the hallway towards the staircase to go to the kitchen.

"Okay, thanks Albert. Alright, baby let's take a nice shower with your mom."

Alex face redden in shame and panicked as his mother stripped her own gown and then Alex's baby wear before getting into the warm water. Lady Elizabeth laughed when she notice her son's face turning red. She didn't though that even a baby knew how to be ashamed taking a bath with a woman. If only she'd knew...

"Hahaha... Are you getting shy baby boy? You're face looks like a cooked shrimp. Owh... you're so cute... Mommy's gonna bathed you clean and shining." Lady Elizabeth cooed at her baby son and tickled him on his belly.

"Hahaha... Ahhh... Umgghh...Ahhh..."

Laughter and giggling could be heard from the room through the entire hallway, dissipating the coldness with some warmth. The servants smiled, it's been a long time since laughter could be heard in this house. It's kinda nice to hear it. It also strengthen their beliefs to served the lady and the young master more better.