12. A life without him (part 3)

"finally, we are back home"

I sighed in relief looking standing in the front of the mansion with Uncle Withward. We both were holding materials or equipment that we used for fishing.

'ding-dong'

Uncle Withward rang the doorbell, but there wasn't a reply

'ding-dong'

he rang it again but this time with much force but still no one came to answer

"sigh, what could they be doing now, that they couldn't stop to answer the doorbell"

he shook his head to show disappointment in the servant's behavior

"Don't get angry , Uncle Withward,maybe they didn't hear or are busy with something very important but either way they should have a good reason for why they are not replying to the doorbell"

I said looking at the doorbell.

I too was surprised because the attendants or maid always answered the doorbell promptly no matter what they were doing and the number of maids are many so if one can't answer it or is busy, another person can.

Uncle Withward then brought out a old key from his pocket and said

" It's really been a long time since I used this"

he took me to a corner of the mansion's wall.

The mansion was a really big house with fenced walls around it and a really big gate in the middle of the fenced wall,in a way you could say it was as big as an estate and by the fenced walls were well trimmed flowers 🌺🌹. I don't really know who planted it, but I do know that the Uncle Withward and the attendants have never failed to keep it in a good condition, he took me to a part of the little garden were bushes and flowers were dropped the equipment he was carrying and knelt down(the type of kneeling one do when about to propose).

"what are we doing here?"

I asked looking at Uncle Withward looking confused

"you'll see"

he said

the next thing he did was to push a part of the bushes covering the wall

and what was there was a keyhole

"oh,so that's why..."

I was stopped short of completing my sentence

"shhhh,the walls have ears"

he said and he immediately put the key inside the keyhole which fit perfectly and as soon as he did the mansion gate immediately opened

"good thing I always carried it along Incase of emergency,okay Ascimos let's go"

he closed the bush back and stood up carrying his equipment beckoning on me to follow him

"oh,yes"

I said and followed him

"how many people know about this?"

I asked looking at uncle Withward with curiosity while we were passing through the courtyard

"hmmm,I would say only me, master Emilia and Rachel ,you should be happy you knew about this before Subaru"

he said opening the door to the mansion

"what about the servants do they know"

I continued with my question

"well actually,NO, but they do know that I have a way of going out of the house yet they don't know how,so for that'll leave them with their own theories and speculations"

As soon as the door opened we saw most of the servants lying down on the floor or on the chair,some of them seemed to have eaten too much food while others seemed drunk.

I turned to look at Uncle Withward expecting to be furious, but instead he shook his head and smiled

"what will they do without me?"

He got in and started putting the parlour in order, removing the decorations for the party,

"aren't you mad?"

I said looking surprised

"no,of course not,they actually deserve a break then and there , they really put their all into this party"

he said while smiling and continued

arranging the room

"oh.. ugh 😩 is it morning already, wait Sir Withward is back?"

a young woman with green hair with a maid uniform said

"come on,Lia you are making it hard to sleep, wait Sir Withward?"

another young woman who had the same appearance with the other woman said,they both were lying on the floor next to each other with their legs and arms tangled together but it seemed that we may have woken them up.

"Sir Withward welcome back!!!"

they shouted and jumped on him with each of them both taking a part of his arm.

This two were also attendants in the mansion,in terms of familiarity and roles they are a little bit below Withward,they are beautiful twins with the older one named Lia who had a short green hair and eyes and the younger one named Layla whose hair and eyes were also green but she had a longer hair than her sister's,they were of the same height but with different body proportions, Lia had a very pronounced chest, while Layla's were way more humble than her sister's, sometimes i even secretly feel sorry for her, apart from the chest and hair,they were the same in other physical aspect.

"shhhh,keep your voices down,they are sleeping"

Uncle Withward said with a low tone while trying to remove his arms from the the sister's hold,but the more he tried the tighter their grip became, which may have made Uncle Withward uncomfortable because the older twin's breast was rubbing off his arm,which may have made the younger one jealous.

"ummm, Please can you two take your hands off me?"

uncle Withward asked politely

"why?, is something the matter?"

Lia asked with innocent puppy eyes while pushing herself closer to him,which just made him even more uncomfortable but then

"it's enough Lia, let's allow Sir Withward do his work"

Aunt Layla said pouting her face, letting go of uncle Withward

|...I secretly saw in a twinkling of an eye Layla quickly taking a look at her chest...|

"okay alright"

she said and let go

"don't worry you two can join me to work if you want to?"

Uncle Withward offered while seeming to be more composed after the twins let go of him

"really?"

they yelled with enthusiasm

"shhhh,as far as you can keep your voices down"

he said

"okay, we're sorry"

they both said lowering the sound of their voices

"it's alright"

Uncle Withward said waving his hand dismissively

"wait Master Ascimos...i mean Ascimos is here too?"

they said looking behind Withward and seeing me carrying all the equipment they immediately rushed to me

"yeah ,I am here, thanks for just noticing me"

I said feeling annoyed that they didn't even know I was there

"we are so sorry"

they said in unison

"yeah,yeah it's alright...not like you're gonna change"

I said leaving the last part for myself

"uhh?"

somehow they heard, looking at me maliciously

"oh! I just said the equipments are slowing down my pace"

I said quickly turning my eyes from their gaze😅

"oh, can we help you with that?"

they stopped speaking in unison and Aunt Layla asked

"yeah sure,thanks"

I passed the equipments over to them

"your welcome"

Lia said

And they both took the materials from my hands

"phew 😌, those two may have yandere personalities,how does uncle Withward put up with them,

I should be careful"

I whispered to myself in a very low tone for fear that they might hear me again.

"hmmm,it seemed you guys went fishing,Sir Withward you really got a big catch"

Lia said looking inside the bowl we kept the fish

" yeah we did,but the praise for catching it goes to Ascimos"

he said pointing at me

"you're welcome"

I said puffing my chest out looking at Lia maliciously

"don't get too cocky....

brat"

"what was that?"

I asked because I think she said something else but only for her to reply with

"oh nothing"

she smiled and left the room while carrying all of the equipments including the one her sister was holding to the kitchen.

"Ascimos,you can go"

uncle Withward turned back to tell me but he wasn't surprise when he didn't see me there instead he was more surprised when he saw me helping out with taking down the decorations

"my,my look who's grown up"

he said raising he's glasses up a little

"no ,this?, it's actually nothing. Besides I can't leave you all alone to do the work, it's my birthday after all"

I said smiling at him

" that's the reason why I should be the one to take it down"

Uncle Withward said to himself while also smiling.

Aunt Layla looked at me and turned to look back at Uncle Withward

in consecutive times,

pouting her face not knowing I could hear her,she said to herself

" don't think I am going to let you get all the praise Master Ascimos"

and then she joined me in removing the decorations and like that Uncle Withward,aunt Layla and I were working together to remove the decorations.

Layla's POV(Point Of View):

while removing the decorations for the birthday party,I kept on moving closer and closer to the side sir Withward was working on, until we were so close that our shoulders almost touch

"what is it Layla?"

sir Withward asked looking down at me. Not looking down like I am better than you or something but actually looking down because sir Withward was actually taller than me, he was about 6 foot tall while I and my sister we're almost 5 feet tall.

"oh, it's nothing, just thinking how nice it is for Ascimos to offer a hand"

I said looking at Ascimos and smiling

"so what are you gonna do after this?"

I swiftly changed the topic , clearly wanting to know about sir Withward schedule

"oh me?, well I'm just gonna take everyone here asleep back to bed,with my light magic"

he said while carefully trying not to step on anyone lying on the floor

"you can go ahead and take me to your bed while you're at it"

"what was that?"

sir Withward turned to look at me

"hmmm..."

I said with my face flushed with red

"I mean what did you say just now?, also your face is red"

he proceeded with the question

"no ,I just said I think I have a fever so my face may look red,you don't have to look at it"

I said skillfully dodging the truth.

"oh, I must have misheard you"

he said continuing with the task at hand

|....phew that was a close one,but sometimes it amazes me just how dense Sir Withward can be,I mean almost everyone in the mansion knows that my sister and I love him...|

"you seem to be better now,your face is no longer red"

he said with a smile that made my heart skip a bit

"alright all done with my side"

I turned back to see Ascimos side of decorations all cleaned and arranged

"ugh? aunt Layla isn't done yet?

I wonder why?"

Ascimos said while barely holding back his laughter.

Remember when I said almost everyone in the mansion knew,well Ascimos is no exception.

"yawn, I am tired 😩"

he said while stretching his hands

"bye you guys, I am going to give you guys some alone time"

Ascimos said then winked at me

"thanks"

I said to Ascimos in a hushed sound

"bye"

he said and left the room.

As soon as he left the room,Sir Withward turned to me and said

me

"good,now that he's gone,I can finish this quickly"

he stretched out one of his hand towards me. it was very close to my face that my face got red from excitement. I stood perfectly still waiting for him to make the first move

|....is this it? is he going to proclaim he's undying love for me?...|

I could barely contain my excitement but,

alas I was wrong.

"ummm,pls can you excuse me?"

sir Withward said looking at me while smiling

"ugh? oh"

I quickly shifted to make way for him to do his spell

"thank you"

he said to me then turned and said in a low voice

"Light magic: Supreme teleportation"

after saying the name of his spell

everyone in the room that were sleeping including the decorations on the floor vanished in the twinkling of an eye

"now that that's taken care of I better go and start the night watch it's already late"

he said looking at his pocket watch

"I can join you"

I said looking at him hoping he will allow and to my surprise

"excellent"

he did,but not in the way I wanted

"you can take the second shift,tell Lia to take the third and then I'll take the fourth"

he then walked out to the door,but before leaving he said

"oh and Layla?"

I called out my name

"yes?"

I said gulping down my saliva

"thank you"

after saying that he walked out and closed the door behind him

"oh my, he thanked me,I feel so happy"

I said while savouring the scene in my head,

"alright time to get to work"

I said while heading to the kitchen.