Do you Trust me?

The burnt and hideous face of Adui was still making Clair a little uneasy, she could only imagine the horrors that he had seen, the worst part was that he was not willing to share his story with her, WITH HER, his best friend and the only family that he has in this world, and this was very excruciatingly painful.

No one was telling her anything, even her husband didnt told him about his condition. If Adui had not invited her today, she may have never found out about his condition. She knows how dangerous the world of awakened ones really is, but what harm could be done if an innocent woman like she knows some facts, was this too much for ask for?

She was tired of their antics, these men were acting as if some deadly calamity would fall on her if she learned too much.

"CLAIR!" she got out of her stupor and blinked around, she was sitting with Ben and Adui in the living room of the mansion.

"We lost you for a moment there," Adui said.

"Oh, yeah… I am sorry, I was thinking about something"

It is then Ben shifted in his seat. "Anyway how has your life been treating you? You got a big mansion now, some servants to take of your needs… What more a person needs?"

Adui chuckled "It has been good. Never been better." He may hide his pain behind his smile but she realized that he was being sarcastic. She knew that even though from the outside, Adui's life may look very lavish and beautiful, she knew that the man was hurting inside, she could see it in his eyes.

"By the way, where is Jarad? I remember inviting him as well, where is he today?" hearing Adui's question, she spoke. "He had to go Baron Geon's territory. They didnt answer the call of the Royal Family, so his boss sent him to bring tax from them."

Ben then looked at her weirdly. "What? Why? What will your husband do to them?"

Adui then chimed in. "It is a tactic. The Royal family is using the tax money to manipulate and make the Geon family's awakened ones come to the capital. If I am not wrong then the Royal family would ask for an exuberant amount of money from them, as they would not be able to pay up, Jarad would then ask to send awakened ones. It is a plain old blackmail situation."

Her eyes widened with shock, she never thought that this was the real purpose that her husband visiting that noble's territory, she thought that he just went there just to get tax.

I didnt know Royal Family could blackmail nobles like that.

As their conversation continued they talked about a variety of things, for most of the conversation she just sat by the side, she didnt have anything to share or add, after an hour passed by. The girls came back enthusiastically, they both had toured the mansion and checked out every hidden trick and pennies in each room in the mansion.

It is then Adui proposed an idea of an outing, he wanted to get some fresh air and thus they all agreed to head to the garden of the mansion. The girls were ecstatic about their visit to the garden, and thus Adui ordered his maid to make some snacks from them, and then all headed off towards the garden.

The cooks made them some macaroons, and the girls quickly jumped onto those, while the adults had some tea and basked in the gentle sunlight. After a while, Adui invited Clair to the garden, she was surprised by the sudden question but she was happy to oblige…

She and Adui walked in complete silence, when they were little, Adui was her best friend and was kind of like a brother to her, and there was never this awkward silence between them, but as they were walking in the garden, the awkwardness started taking a toll on her, she didnt know what it was, but she realized that maybe her relation with Adui was not the same since her marriage.

"Clair, do you trust me?" hearing the question she looked at him weirdly. "What do you mean?"

"I meant what I said Clair, do you trust me or not?"

She bloomed with a smile on her face. "Well of course I trust you."

He shook his head. "Not like that. I want to know whether you really trust me. Do you think that you trust me with you and your daughters' lives?"

She stopped and frowned at him. "Where are you going with this Adui?"

He sighed. "Clair, I called you here because of one motive in my mind. And before going on with the plan, I want to know whether you trust me or not."

"I thought you called me here because you wanted to meet me and my family."

"Yes, I wanted to meet with you all. But I have a motive in my mind."

"And what might that be?"

"I wanted to give you guys something. You cannot ask me what is it or what it does. Just know this, it is a pitch-black liquid that stinks like hell, but despite its flaws, drink it, and make your family drink it as well."

She was getting confused, if this was some sort of medicine, then what was up with this secrecy? "What is it? Some sort of medicine?"

"The less you know, the less you would be in danger."

A vein popped on her head, she was tired of hearing this, if he was not injured then she would have straight away punched him. "So you are telling me that you wanted to give us some miracle liquid that we are not supposed to ask questions about. Do you think I am stupid, Adui?"

"I know that you are frustrated with all the secrets, but believe me Clair, this is important. If this was not important I wouldn't have called you here."

She was getting frustrated with all of this.

These guys are treating me as if I am some damsel in distress or something. ARGH, I want to punch the shit out of the man.

She then turned around and started walking back to the mansion, she was pissed at Adui, and she couldnt face him right. "WAIT CLAIR!"

She heard him following her back, he was telling her to wait but she didnt listen, it was then she heard a light thudding sound from the back, she turned around to see him fallen on the ground. She instantly went to him and helped him stand up once again.

"Are you okay?" she asked with concern, and he nodded. "I am okay Clair."

"Are you sure?"

"I am sure, this is nothing compared to the things that I have experienced."

He then turned towards her. "Clair, I know that I am asking too much of you and your family. But please trust me, that liquid will help you. This miraculous liquid will save you in the future, so please."

"How can you say that Adui? I dont even know what will you be giving us?"

"Alright… let me then tell you what this liquid does. But you cannot tell this secret to anyone, not even Jarad. You would administer the liquid to him secretly and make sure that he drinks it and all."

"Alright, tell me what it does?"

"Have you heard about the Magical Beasts that have been wreaking havoc in the kingdom recently?"

"Yeah."

"Well, this liquid would give you immunity. These beasts would not be able to sense you or your family after you have ingested it. This way you can rest assured about your safety."

"Wait, what do you mean they would not be able to sense us?"

"This liquid will change your blood in such a way that the monster would think of us as one of their own. And they won't attack you on sight. I cannot tell you more, but according to my calculation, there will come a time when even the capital will be not safe. These monsters would become so strong in the future that they might even breach the capital, so think of this liquid as insurance."

"Will this liquid have any adverse effect on my daughters?"

"No."

"Adui, do you really think that this is necessary? I mean I believe that those beasts are dangerous, I believe you. But..." She looked at him seriously. "Do you think that it is absolutely necessary?"

"I can bet my life on it."

***

It was a very cloudy night, no matter how much the moon shined that day, its rays could not make it past the dense cloud formation of clouds that has made a barrier in the sky, with no moonlight to light the path, roads had become more difficult to navigate at night.

There was a big bonfire in front of Jarad, he was sitting close to the fire as the temperature was drastically dropping as they were getting near Baron's Geon's territory, which was very strange considering the winter season was over and the summer was upon them.

The bone-chilling cold was indeed a very peculiar phenomenon, but it was not as peculiar as the entourage that was escorting him. He looked around and saw all these soldiers chattering amongst themselves, from what he had counted, there were around 24-25 able-bodied men accompanying him, and there were 5 awakened ones among them as well.

He understands that his motive is to intimidate Baron Geon, so having this many men on his side would be beneficial for him, but all these men were making him very uneasy. He was not used to this much attention and security. Although he should he was supposed to feel at ease with these guys present, but all these battle-ready soldiers were making him very nervous. And how could he not be, if he manages to offend anyone of them, then his head would be rolling around in the dirt.

He sighed, only to see a big steam cloud exiting his mouth. What the hell is with today's weather, why the hell is it so cold here?

Even though he was sitting by the fire, he couldnt help but feel that with every passing movement, the temperature was decreasing, it was like it would soon start snowing, and as he had packed light for the journey, he had no silk that could warm him, thus he had decided to buy some woolen clothes the first thing in the morning.

It is then he felt water droplets on his forehead, immediately he looked up to see a white flake of ask slowly falling in the sky, soon a white color thing landed on his face, it was very cold, and soon many similar flakes like the previous one started falling from the sky, he then realized that it was snowing.