Do add the new book 'The Crown's Obsession' to your library for reading if you haven't done it yet.

. . . .

The beginning of the winter was mostly hard for the servants in the mansion as they lived in the lower quarters and once the cold would sink through the walls, especially for the humans it would be hard. Woods in the fireplaces was left to burn with logs of woods being added to keep the mansion as warm as possible.

The servants today were quieter than the other days that had come to pass by them. After the revelation of the rabbit that could walk and talk, they appeared to be working by themselves while keeping a watch to make sure there was nothing more in the mansion that would pop out of the blue.

Belle was seated in the drawing-room, discarding the chair, she sat on the ground with her feet crossed and the palms of her hands feeling the warmth coming from the fireplace.

Lucas was sorting the books in the shelf when Belle turned around to ask him,

"How were the maids able to hear him speak? He is a Grim reaper and hasn't taken a form like you."

"It is not necessary for a Grim to take the form to let the mortals know of their presence and existence," answered Lucas who continued to sort the books that had been moved by Belle, "Barron has been living here for weeks now. It is only right that his soul has started to take form in the living world. There's a reason why Grims or the other reapers spend most of their time in and around the graveyards. You can take it to be neutral land where it doesn't affect the dead, nor the living."

She glanced towards the door to make sure Barron was not there before her eyes shifted back to look at Lucas, "Does this mean he's a mortal?" she asked with a whisper.

"He's turning like you now. But most of us Grim's are like that who have overstayed. First comes the Grims, then comes the transition of turning back in the time of being part of the mortal world, third is perishing from this and the previous world. Barron will be fine," assured Lucas but she didn't know why she felt it was a bad idea to keep him here.

"You said Barron was the youngest out of all the Grims, what if his soul or whatever he is right now, cannot handle the continuous change around him? What if he's not adaptable?"

"Then the possibility of him perishing is much viable," shrugged Lucas as if it was nothing and went back to fixing the books, "You have a bad habit of pulling out the books and not placing them back in order."

"I placed them in the rack," murmured Belle to see him turn and give her a look, "But seriously, Barron is going to perish?"

"Barron what?!" came the rabbit inside the room. Now that the maids and the other servants were aware of him, he was walking as if he owned this mansion, "Who is going to perish me!" asked Barron hearing the last four words Belle had spoken.

Belle opened her mouth but didn't know what to say right away and therefore she said, "I meant to flourish. You have flourished as Mr. Fluffs very well."

Barron gave a suspicious look, staring at Lucas who didn't bother to look at him and Belle who looked back at him. Suddenly Barron's demeanour changed, "Of course, who do you think I am? I am Barron the fourth Grim of the cards, the bringer of plague and illness. You should expect nothing less from me," said the rabbit who had caused a ruckus in the mansion during their absence.

"How does it feel being free?" asked Lucas once he was done putting the books in their assigned places.

"I have never had a problem before but I must say, they aren't very welcoming with the thought of having a ghost in the mansion. Wonder how they will react if they were to found out that it's not a ghost but a reaper who takes souls," Barron came forward towards Belle and sat next to her.

"It is not every day we have ghosts in the mansion," reasoned Belle.

"Yes, that is why I need to be careful when they are carrying a broomstick or shovel in their hands," nodded Barron. He then brought his hand forward to check his hand which had been torn, "My hand," complained Barron looking at Belle.

"I will get it stitched if you want?" Belle offered and Barron patted her hand.

"You are a good person, Belle. By the way, what happened to the information about the girl who is going to die?"

"It's still in motion."

"Why not keep her here? We can make sure nothing will ever happen to her," came the words from Barron.

Belle wished it was that easy, "No, she's not getting attacked. Her heart is corrupting or it has already been corrupted since she was a young girl. A woman is going to trigger it further," if her body was getting corrupted now, maybe Belle could do something similar to what she had done for the Lord but the girl's corruption was already in motion.

She was staring at the fireplace, her eyes looking the flames and the wood that had turned red into charcoals when she heard the crackling sound and she turned to her left to find the ghoul that had appeared in front of them.

"You have a visitor, Belle," said Lucas, facing the ghoul who stood not too far away from her.

Belle stood up to look up at the ghoul, "Did you find the information about the woman?"

The ghoul nodded its head, "Killed it," Belle's eyes widened hearing this.

"What? Why?"

"It kill her. I kill it," was the response that came from the ghoul. Belle's intention was to know where the death would be taking place but the ghoul had killed the woman who was going to add the spitgrass into Vivian's food.

When she had asked the ghoul to find out about the woman, she hadn't expected the ghoul to kill her.

"Lucas," Belle turned to look at him and said, "You need to reconfirm her time of death."