24 The Weird Shadow and The Mysterious Fights

"Margaret, have you served Lord Steven's supper?" the head butler of the Kauffman family asked with urgency at his faithful assistant, Margaret.

"Yes, sir." She nodded her head submissively, "I've already served his supper along with all the materials he needed for his study. I've also asked Milan and Rodrigues to serve him when he requires." She said emotionlessly and almost like a robot to her boss.

The head butler had been the servant of the Kauffman family for almost three generations with his son, daughters and grandchildren all being manservant and maids of the family. Margaret, on the other hand, was a far newer recruit, employed for not more three years.

Her skill and excellence in managing things made her the work assistant of the head butler. Her earnings were quite decent but the constant sexual harassment in the last year, ever since she became her personal assistant too, made her life a living hell. But given the power of the head butler and the connection he had in the family, she had quietly submitted her fate to her boss.

The head butler nodded his head as he went to the daily logs of the household and its various expenditures before pocketing a large pouch of coins in his jacket. "All of you have been great at keeping the cost down, I'm satisfied." He smiled lightly as he lightly strikes the cheek of Margaret, quite to her discomfort but she doesn't show it on her face. Only a smile was plastered on her face.

"Now, moving on…" he kept on babbling on about the different things and even though Margaret listened to his words carefully but couldn't help but curse inside her head, 'This fucktard doesn't even care to hide anymore…'

They walked through the corridors of the Kauffman Mansion, quite near the children's area when a sudden smashing noise broke their conversation.

Smash!

"Who's there?!" said the head butler in a strict tone but all that came was a light 'hihihi'.

"That's… creepy…" muttered the head butler as he walked to where the sound came from, followed by Margaret.

The corridor became darker and darker as they went nearer to the source of sound and a strange chilling sensation crept up their back.

"Why aren't the goddamn lamps lit in this area?!" the head butler cursed in a hushed tone to which Margaret replied in a slightly shaky voice, "H-her Highness w-wanted the kids to sleep soundly and not be distracted by the lights outside." She muttered behind head butler.

"That goddamn bi—"

Smash!

"!!" they were suddenly alarmed by another sound of something breaking followed by chink-chink noises. It almost seemed like the person, or a kid perhaps, was intentionally making these noises.

At the end of their corridor and at a right angle, they slightly peeked at whatever was making this noise and were a little surprised. It was a kid, as they had presumed, but he was weird.

He was dressed completely in black, something quite… strange for a kid and had short hair but a very weird and … creepily large head. The kid had a head larger than most adult's but the kid bobbed his head with it's rhythmic footsteps. Not only that, it also seemed like he or she had intentionally lit the lamp near him to let others, especially the head butler and Margaret, get a good view at his weird dance on glass shards.

They saw the kid dancing around the two broken glass vases making those distinct chink-chink noises, always moving in a semi-circular fashion but never quite showing his face.

"Hey!" after thinking for a short while, the head butler got out of his hiding and confronted the black-dressed kid.

The kid stopped for a while before another 'hihihi' escaped his mouth.

"What are you laughing at?" barked the head butler, a sudden palpitation rising in his heart.

"Hmmm…" The kid murmured in a quite ethereal tone before slightly turning towards where the head butler and Margaret were, showing them his true face. And what they saw, froze them to their spots.

An oddly large mask for the kid's oddly large head glanced at them with it's slit like eye-holes glowing creepily red. The sight froze them on spot and even though it was only a glance, both the head butler and Margaret could almost see it's face.

Slit-like eye holes, extremely wide and upward curved mouth, large dimples and upturned eye brows. It was a typical comedy mask but to the head butler, it was very similar.

'That kid…' something said in his mind that kid wasn't the one who came as a Lord earlier this day but he wasn't sure and a feeling of curiosity arose in him.

"Hey! Hold there, kid!" the head butler shouted and dashed towards the kid in the lamplight and the moment he did so, the kid turned tail and ran fast. Really fast. Within moments, the kid had vanished from the butler's sight leaving only a giggling sound behind.

"Margaret, call the guards. Immediately!!" he shouted as he dashed behind the kid, following the kid's giggling sound wherever it went.

Margaret was petrified from shock for a good minute, not understand anything that happened. It was only when the head butler was out of her sight, did she feel a sudden sense of gloom creeping into her and dashed towards the nearest person he could find.

…

The next day started out cold, very cold with a dense fog covering almost entirety of Vanessa. The temperatures were in the negatives and a single rainfall would be enough to convert the entirety of Vanessa into a snowscape. To most people, this was a small holiday. The winters had come and that meant that it was time for warmth and rest. Well, it was mostly for the rich and middleclass men and not so much for the bottom-feeding poor.

But just like the poor, there were a few others who had no work even in this biting cold. One of them was the queen of Xerith, Her Imperial Majesty Isabella. Her daily routing starts with a small amount of exercise followed by a barbaric battle with the books and various reports and statistics of running a Monarchial State.

But today, she had a visitor.

…

"Your Imperial Majesty, we have a big prob—"

"You're late, Tom." Snarled the Queen at the sudden intruder.

"Ah-uh… s-sorry, I guess grandmother…" said Thomas, one of the youngest grandchildren of the Queen, aged only ten-years-old. He was nearly 140cms tall with a skinny body with nothing to praiseworthy to brag about to girls but his enormous pair of spectacles coupled with the tremendous number of books wrapped in leather made others give him the weird looks now and then.

Other than those things, he is also famous in the Imperial family as 'quite an assistant'. Yea, its weird for sure but his high energy, enthusiasm and subservience nature made him a perfect assistant. So perfect, that even his grandmother, the Queen didn't let go of him and enlisted him into her personal team of assistants.

Unfortunately, it seemed like god has played a little joke on her for this prodigal grandson of her wasn't only a 'perfect' assistant but he was also a perfect pervert. He's the type who's into mature ladies.

"Wah!" He was momentarily stunned by the person he saw right infront of him, Miss Mariam, his no.1 perfect goddess.

A bright shameless smile surfaced on his face and he said in a flirty tone, which was quite odd for his age, "Miss Mariam, how have you been? I'm quite surprised at your sudden visit. I hope my old grandmother didn't bother you for her tasteless rabbles!" he said shamelessly, quite literally forgetting the fact that his grandmother was present there right at that moment.

Queen Isabella's face darkened and Mariam could only laugh bitterly at being complemented like this. Thomas looked like he was about to go for a good speech on the fabulousness of Miss Mariam when the Queen stopped him with wave of her hand.

"Stop it before I blast you into oblivion! Tell me what you came here for and get the heck outta here!"

"Oh! My mistake, my mistake, hehe!" he giggled lightly before reporting his finding, "As per the reports I received from my insiders in the black market and the underworld, it seemed like there had been a brawl of some sort. Don't know exactly who the participants were of this brawl, except a heck lot of masked men and a few armed masked girls. The casualties had been in the hundreds but before I could get a hand one of those deceased, Lord Madoc's men took care of them. I don't know what to make of it, so I came here." He replied with an adult-like calmness.

A vein popped in the Queen's temple and she asked in a tone which could hardly hide her anger, "And that's why you barged into my study like the world's gonna crash the next minute! Are you friggin' nuts!?!"

Thomas puffed up his cheeks like he was pouting and replied, "Hey granny, its not my fault that I'm serving you. I was happy doing the simple calculations for my father before you dragged me here and gave me all these nonsensical chores and not to forget that this is the city where I acquired such a fine taste for women of maturity. Speaking of which, are you free this Sunday, Miss Mariam? I would like to treat you to a special meal in honor of our 8th month-anniversary as a couple. Would you like to join me for the fun? Hmmm?!!" Thomas flashed his eyes crazily at the mature Miss Mariam to which an overwhelming fatigue overcame here.

"You've been pestering me like the ever since you got here, Thomas… don't you get tired of it? My son might just kill you if he finds out, you know…" she said, thinking that it might go through his nerd-brain but he smiled savagely and replied, "Ooh! Is he my love-rival?!"

"Oh! Gosh!" Mariam rolled her eyes in disgust and fatigue but to her good luck, the Queen came in for her rescue.

Bang!

"Get the hell outta here, you insolent moron! I don't want to see you here any longer. Go back to your hiddy-holes and don't let me see you again or else I will spank you until you shit all over the place!" the Queen said with so much force that the whole room felt like it was shaking under her sheer pressure.

The shout shook Mariam and many others outside from their lax expression as an adrenaline rush coursed through their body. All except Thomas.

"Geez! This is why gramps is so much better than you! He may not be a skilled fighter or ruler like you but he doesn't friggin' make us deaf for lord's sake!" Thomas rolled his eyes and left the room. He had a casual attitude until the very end and didn't even close the door behind him. His fearlessness of the Queen of Xerith was even greater than Aiden in some respect.

The Queen rested her face in her hands and said in a dismayed tone, "Mariam, is there any way to disown all of these shitheads and just throw 'em in a grinder. I would like to have a pork broth made with their meats."

"Your Imperial Majesty, they aren't pig…so you can't make pork broth out of them…" Mariam said lifelessly, her brain failing on her.

The Queen shook her head on her hand and replied, "They are all pigs. And sows. Each and every single creature except Evane and Myra had turned into big fat slugs with zero intelligence and wisdom. Why the hell did I ever marry to him and inherit this godforsaken nation who has heads with no head. Wish, I could be like Aiden, a shining Angel from Heaven who could get a position whenever and wherever he wants as long as the seal he has from Heaven…"

"Are you worried about something, Your Imperial Majesty?" a voice suddenly shakes the duo from their self-pity session.

Shocked, the Queen and Mariam pick their heads up and were surprised, to say the least, at the sudden appearance of the devil himself. Aiden.

'That damn idiot didn't even close the door!' thought the Queen angrily but then she smiled wryly at Aiden and asked a little politely, "Aiden?! What brings you here so suddenly?"

"Suddenly? I thought I sent a message half-an-hour ago by one of your assistants, Thomas his name was, I think. Did he not give you the message?" Aiden asked calmly as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"You did?" Mariam was a little doubtful whether or not Aiden really upheld the noble etiquettes given his past way of conduct. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that Aiden was only a little short of being another Thomas regarding his way of conduct and shamelessness.

But Aiden didn't answer her curiosity, instead he sat down on the other chair near the Queen's desk and turned towards Mariam and said in a slightly amused tone, "Tell me, Miss Mariam, how did you like my present?"

"Present…ah! Don't tell me you killed Darion?" she said in shock and with a little hostility, to which the Queen seemed quite unaware and confused.

"What happened? Who's Darion?" she asked Mariam, trusting her far more than Aiden.

"Your Imperial Majesty, last night there had been a commotion in my mansion and I was reported by the guard's that there had been intrusion. The intrusion resulted in the death of our head butler, Darion. Their description of the intruder, especially one maid who was right beside Darion said that the kid was wearing all black with a large head and had a creepily smiling and laughing mask, a mask just like yours."

The Queen's eye's narrowed and she asked in an inquiring tone, "Is that true, Aiden?"

"Haha!" Aiden gave a small laugh as his hand went towards his face and quite contrary to their belief, Aiden removed his mask from his face and placed on the table.

The Queen's and Mariam's eyes bulged for a moment before they immediately removed their gazes from his eyes but it only garnered a small laugh from Aiden.

"Don't worry," he said as he smiled widely and continued, "It seems like I forgot to mention you that I'm not a full-fledged Angel yet. I'm still more of a human than an Angel and that makes it easier for me to interact with humans easily without even using intermediate disguising. Isn't it cool?!" he said in his childish tone, which was seemed more childish without the mask faking or distorting a part of it.

…