Chapter Twenty

In the south wing of the Lerdins' castle-like mansion, Cain was writing a letter.

With a lamp that glowed an orange hue along with the sunset that illuminated the room, a silver fountain pen on hand, and a white yellowish paper in front of him, he stared blankly as if his motivation to write vanished.

"....."

Cain turned his head back and looked through the window and saw the setting sun.

As the windows were open, a warm but cooling wind, a symbol of N'hara's climate during the end of the summer season, blew into the room.

After looking at the setting sun that was slowly disappearing into the horizon, he turned his attention back to the paper and begun to wrote:

"I have settled the knot in my heart and am now in the process of thinking what to do. When you come here, I hope that you will allow me to return the favor. As long as it is within my ability, I will ensure to do it"

"As for the marriage talk, I have no intention of doing it. I am sure you feel the same way, however, allow me to be your shield during your stay here. This way, madam Sasha will not not look for any other 'suitable' marriage candidate"

"Also, if it is not too much for me to ask, can you bring another jar of those mint candies and some oat cookies? I assure you that I will pay back my debt with interest"

"Once again, thank you for everything. Though our conversation was short it helped me greatly"

Slowly, he retracted his hand and placed the fountain pen down.

"Darren"

As Cain called out a name, a figure of a man sitting on the couch appeared.

The man who had a handkerchief on his face as he faced the ceiling asked, "Yes, sir?"

"Bring this letter to lady Lalaine's house. Just putting it in her mailbox will suffice" Cain replied as he sealed the letter with a silver wax with the mark of a shield with wings, a symbol reserved for royalty.

"You seem to have taken a liking to her. Do you fancy the lady?" Darren asked back without removing the handkerchief on his face.

"Yes, I have. But not in the way uncle and madam Sasha is thinking about"

"Is it because of her words of encouragement along with sincere honesty? or because of how hard she is trying to hide that no one is living in that house?"

Cain leaned back on his chair and said in a calm tone, "Both. However, I have no intention on finding out her reason. Everyone have their own secrets. I also advice you not to find out too much"

"For you to say such things, I guess her words are more convincing than mine when I told you to move on from 'it'" Darren removed the handkerchief, stood up and walked towards Cain to take the letter.

"As it is about to be six, I hope that my dear elder brother will add some overtime money to this poor one"

"Just get going already"

...

Going through the small narrow alleys, Lalaine in her Lucifer get up went back to the Ming-ming apothecary a quarter past six in the evening.

As it was past the apothecary's opening time Lucifer went through the back door, took his set of keys from his pocket inside his thin coat, and opened the door after knocking three times.

After hearing the familiar three knocks, Baal and Paimon ignored the opening of the door as they knew it was Lucifer coming in.

Although they were slaves, they were permitted to do as they wish during their free time. Additionally, they knew their 'master' was someone who do not want to be bothered by such formalities, as such, they went back to what they were doing.

After coming in, Lucifer went straight upstairs to his room, took a cauldron that had some barbeque pork that he made earlier and went to the kitchen in the second floor.

After re-heating the barbeque pork, he placed the pork on a bowl with some rice and went back to his room.

As the aroma of the pork went down, the two got up and went out of their room.

"....."

"I'll prepare the ingredients"

After getting a whiff of the scrumptious scent from above, the two agreed on having an early dinner without the need of voicing out their thoughts.

...

In the Reosra estate, inside Cecilia's room, Louis Vualen was sitting on the floor massaging Cecilia's legs as she wrote a letter for her sister.

"Cecil, what are you writing for you to frown like that?"

Louis asked with concern upon looking up, seeing that Cecilia had a conflicted expression.

"Since we have decided to have our wedding on last month of the year, I was thinking about sending a letter now to inform sister so she would be able to make preparations and schedule her time to come to our wedding"

Cecilia let out an exhausted sigh as if she was at her wits end.

"And? I don't see why you would have such a hard time writing a letter about that?"

Louis asked in genuine confusion, thinking about the possible reason as he continued to massage Cecilia's legs.

"It is complicated since I know sister will hate the idea of being bothered with many courtship letters that will come from the other guests. If you add that with my mother's opportunity-seeking sense, I am sure she will try to act as a matchmaker"

"While that is a problem, can't we just inform madam matchmaker that her daughter doesn't want to be paired with others?" Louis placed his head in between Cecilia's knees as he used them to squish his cheeks.

"Besides, I doubt any man will approach lady Lalaine with the intent of courting her... unless they are unaware of what happened four years ago that is"

The scene of Lalaine flogging a drunk man who grabbed her shoulder, that goes against both in social etiquette and N'harian culture, flashed in their mind.

While the man was at fault, mostly because he was drunk, the scene of Lalaine who used her power to grow vines out of seeds and used those very vines to whip the man left an impact to Cecilia and everyone present back then.

Up till now, the drunk man who got whipped became traumatized at any vine he see. The parents on the other had no choice but to be silent as everyone present, when the incident took place, knew the man was at fault for doing something as rude as to grab a lady's shoulder.

From then on, no one bothered or had the courage to either drink too much while Lalaine was present or get too close to her, fearing that their hands might touch things that should not be touched.

"I also fear that the guests might run away"

"Let them run. Why should you care about them?"

Cecilia's eyes widened as she looked at Louis who was resting his head on her thigh.

"Your family and my family won't have any problem, the same goes for those who are close to us, but does it bother you so at the thought of others, who you hardly even know, running away from our wedding?"

"Well... not really. I guess"

"As long as you want it, then have it"

Louis straightened his back and lightly kissed Cecilia's knee as he looked up.

"Personally, I want a small wedding with just our families present. But since you will be the next Baroness, it is important for you to socialize to garner everyone's trust. That is why I agreed with having you handle all~ the matters of our wedding"

"As long as you are happy with it, then do it"

"If they will run away at the sight of lady Lalaine, then don't waste your attention on people who is not worth your time"

Cecilia who was about to say something was cut off as Louis added, "Instead, give your attention to me"

Cecilia laughed, her frustrations seemed to have disappeared, as she leaned down to kiss Louis' forehead.

"You already have my attention"

"Will it be bad of me to be greedy for more?"

Cain hugged Cecilia's waist as he leaned his head on her stomach.

"Not at all"