The Silver-Haired Man

The young mistress returned to Country B. as soon as she heard about Sae's encounter with Mr. Amari. With the essence of a raven, she stormed through the doors of the Blackford Mansion where she saw the anxious couple in the library where they sat on the red couch while holding each others' hands.

The young mistress had said nothing but Mr. and Mrs. Blackford could tell, simply from her dark aura, how much their letter angered her. Amei Lia informed her that Sae was resting in her room and the young mistress didn't even nod before turning on her heels and walking up the stairs. As she walked through the double doors that led to her floor, she hesitated.

The thought of Sae being trapped in one of Mr. Amari's illusions deeply disturbed her. His experience and punishments as a slave were nothing compared to that man's ability. No amount of flogging would ever take away the immense amount of pain that one would receive when going through such torture from the silver-haired man.

She stepped closer and closer to her white door. With her hand on the handle and a shaky breath, she turned the handle to find a beautiful young man sleeping on the large bed. Sae's long hair was scattered all around him, but he looked just as ethereal as he always did. The young mistress took off her black glove and gently planted her hand on Sae's forehead. He was burning up.

"Why would he send you..." she whispered to herself. Even with the knowledge and understanding that the Blackfords were close with the Amaris, there was no reason for this to have happened. No results or answers were worth it. None.

"Mistress..." Sae spoke weakly. The young mistress couldn't take her eyes off of him. She took hold of Sae's hand and squeezed it gently. Sae's body felt numb and his mind and vision were all hazy. But he focused so much on the warm hand that held his that he couldn't help but smile internally. Smiling on the outside was far too challenging to him right now. Even he, who had never experienced something like that despite everything, knew that time would be an absolute necessity in order for him to heal.

The young mistress, no longer able to stand it, asked Sae a most cruel question.

"What did you see?" she asked, boldly. Sae's eyes immediately opened and what he revealed to her were his bloodshot, dull eyes. She wanted to cry, but she was so lost that she couldn't. The inhuman eyes that one would feel unworthy to lay eyes upon, had become like a foggy mirror which could not become clear. As if she were looking at the ashes that littered Coveford village, Sae's eyes had burned out and showed the results of what he had gone through.

Sae finally lifted his gaze from the ceiling and looked at his mistress who was in a dark state. Her aura shows of the blazing fires of hell. He slowly sat up and wrapped his arms around her. Patting her back gently, he tried to comfort her. Unfortunately, she was the one wearing the mask.

"Why would you show me that...?" her voice was hoarse. Sae had no idea as to what she was talking about and so he avoided her question. Instead, he spoke of her previous question.

"I saw my parents."

She froze. Her skin became ice-cold which Sae could feel even with her clothes. Sae had answered so quickly with such a calm voice that she almost wanted to slap him across the face.

"But that's all I'll tell you. I'm sparing the both of us...unless you force me, mistress." Sae added. He let go of her. For the first time, he raised up his hands to the sides of her mask. He carefully removed it and set it on the night stand beside him. When he met her gaze, he was lost in a whole new world. Those eyes which he had only seen once, were the same as they were four years ago.

"You haven't changed a bit, mistress." he spoke softly. But now that he saw the heart-twisting pain that covered her eyes, he realized how wrong he was to utter those words.

He immediately got up from the bed. Luckily, he was still wearing his clothes and not sleepwear. He quickly put his shoes on before hastily walking towards the door when it flung open and Mr. Amari came in with Levi draped over his shoulder.

"Ah! Mr. Sayrid, Young Mistress of the Blackford family!!! I come to you, humbly, with a gift!" he spoke with a sing-songy voice and his face awfully cheery. Sae instantly froze and his hands began to shake wildly which seemed to be the best kind of entertainment for the silver-haired man. He tossed Levi into Sae, knocking him down and causing him to groan when he hit his head loudly on the floor.

"Score!" Mr. Amari cheered. He skipped over to the young mistress who hadn't moved this entire time except to put on her mask. She was in a state of disbelief, perhaps a tad bit of fear. Was Sae's condition so surprising to her that she couldn't even move a single finger?

"What's this? Is the young mistress in a daze? My, what a horrible way to treat your guest! (T-T) My precious friends downstairs weren't very kind either... Hmph!" Mr. Amari pouted with his arms crossed.

Sae struggles to sit up straight but he immediately started to ask Levi if she was alright. Judging by her inanely wide eyes, violent shaking, and sweat from her forehead, she must have gone through her own hell just moments before arriving.

Sae wrapped his arms around her tightly. His eyes began to burn with the flame of a thousand suns while his blood boiled to an impressive degree.

But they were all put on a weird situation, to say the least. No one wanted to move as their own minds and emotions were occupying them. Mr. Amari was only the source of all that. Would all of them attacking him, for something as simple as revenge, really do them any good?