Surprise, 6 chapters~~

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Monica was alarmed and so was Elijah. They both couldn't understand what Ian meant. The siblings knew who was on the garden a moment ago and it was Elijah with Elise. The Lord had dropped a remark about Rose, but Monica who sat on the view right across the window wondered if there was Roses bush on the garden as she couldn't see anything.

The sister turn to look at his brother once, "I-I don't know what you might be saying, milord."

Ian smiled turning his face to see the siblings staring at each other and Elijah, who was still standing near the door with a stiff expression as if ghost had appeared and scared the living out of him. "So you don't see what I saw. That is a waste of your good eyesight, Monica. If you couldn't use it well, you should give your eyes to people who need them more than you."

Monica gulped, she didn't know what she did wrong. She had only asked the Lord question but it instead only made his mood turn for the worse. She wondered if there was anything she could do to fix what was happening but then the Lady didn't know what she should do.

Monica decided to laugh a little, hoping to lighten the mood, "It is a gift from God, I will use it well, milord."

"But I don't think you do," Ian tapped his hand on the arm rest, letting some silence prevailing in the room that tensed the air even more. "If you do you would have put your eyes to a better use."

The siblings didn't speak, not because they didn't want to but they couldn't. They were afraid of Ian and despite Monica wanting to marry Ian for the look that he had and the wealth that come after which could benefit not only her but her family's name, she was afraid to die. More than good rumors, there was only pitch-black gruesome rumors about Ian, and how that he was bloodthirsty. But even without the rumors, people who had seen Ian once knows how the man was— he was bloodthirsty.

"Well enough of the chitchat, I want to hear what you two have to say by walking to my castle. We should see whether your eyes do hold a reason for being in your socket, after this, Monica." The threats was blatant and if it's not Ian who had spoken the words, the siblings would have laughed it as a joke, but now they could only gulp and wiped away the sweats on their forehead despite the cold room as the fireplace wasn't lit by fire.

Elise, who came back to her room settled the bird who was asleep on the cupboard near the fireplace so it would not freeze. She was afraid to keep a living being on her hand, knowing well of how her emotions were still unbalanced and she didn't want to hurt the bird by mistake.

She then went to check how Hallow was not there in his bed. She had been waiting for the grim reaper, wanting to have a proper talk and ask him as she was sure yesterday the yellow chick she saw while trying to wake her up was Hallow.

While taking in consideration how Beelzebub was also there, she wondered if Hallow had come and visited Saltige with the Demon. But her question was why were they were there.

Staring at the window which she opened, Elise's thoughts drifted about Relics and corrupted angels when she heard the door was knocked. Walking to the door she opened to see Cynthia. The woman smiled at her, "I hope I'm not disturbing, could we talk together?"

Elise wondered why Cynthia was here but then, she was happy to talk with her, "No. Come in, Cy." Elise showed Cynthia the way inside as she went to pour a warm tea, Cynthia looked around and she stopped at the painting of Elise's family which she hang above the fireplace. "You must be busy, I haven't seen you for a long time," said Elise when they both sat down on the cushioned chairs.

"I think you've heard that I've been staying around Saltige," Cynthia smiled taking the tea and she murmured how delicious it smelled. "Austin is around the edge of Warine. He is there to see whether a fight had broke out as there had been a news of how there was friction between humans and the mythical beings in the North of Warine."

"That must be hard," whispered Elise, "Did you see my aunt visiting anywhere when you were in the village?"

"She rarely went out of the village instead. I thought it was weird, some times it was normal for a person to rarely leave their village but you aunt almost never leave the village. But one time she left the village," Cynthia said, repeating what she had told to Ian the previous day.

"Where did she go?" Elise questioned. It was weird that her aunt would leave if she didn't want to stay too far away from the village.

"Somewhere in the middle of the village. I followed her without stopping but she had gone out to pick herbs. I went to take the herbs but it appeared to be herbs that used for coughing. Until then she looked like a human," but Cynthia had heard what her aunt was and she knew that Angelica wasn't as human as she appeared to be.

"Is that your bird?" asked Cynthia.

Elise looked at the bird before shaking her head, "I picked it up. It broke its wings and fell. Fortunately nothing happened. Have you heard anything about Ian, Cy?"

Cynthia raised her brows, noticing Elise had called the Lord by his name, "Do you mean his past?"

Elise nodded, she wished to know more and find out what others think about him. "I heard a few things about the past and what he actually is."

"It must have surprised you. I mean, when I know it also surprised me. I met the Lord when my town was killed, by mistake did I saw his wings. I have never seen wings like that before. It was like an Angel's but the black color told you that it was not," said Cynthia which she agreed to. Elise would have believed Ian to be an Angel than a Demon because of his feathered wings but she never heard of an Angel whose wings were black. "I even told myself he was Lucifer— the angel who fell from Heaven to Hell. Seeing his wings it was more believable."

Elise agreed with Cynthia. She also guessed somewhere that Ian was an Angel before, but he told her he was a human.

Cynthia continued, "At first, I thought he would kill me but to my surprise, he offered me a job. Other than that I only saw his mother once."

Ian's mother? "Where did you see her?" she asked, wanting to see his mother.

"The gallery, but I suppose the painting is not there anymore. The last time I visited the place there was nothing. I think the Lord would show you if you ask."

Elise thought that it wouldn't be soon for her to hear the rest of Ian's past, but with the time that didn't allow them to be together for too long, she became more curious. She knew it was Ian's habit of making her curious for long, but now she really want to know what happened in his past so she would feel more closure to him and the him she didn't know when he was still a human.

"Do you remember how she looked like?" she asked and Cynthia seemed to take time to remember what she saw.

"She was a beautiful woman. With a long black hair, and her face bear similarity with the Lord, however she looked like a very gentle lady with a kind smile that I don't think the Lord will ever show," Cynthia described. But Elise who had seen Ian's smile, somewhere could imagine how his mother would look like. Cynthia then took a sip on the tea, her finger tapped on the handle of the tea. "Elise, have you ever think of finding out about your parent?"

Elise, who found the question surprising took time before she nod, "I always want to know about them. There is a part of my memory that I think disappear in my early childhood. I've always wondered about my father who left." She wants to believe at least her father to be a good man and that he left for a reason. It was because that Elise had family who didn't love her that she wished she had only a single person in her family that would love her. She hoped that person to be her father.

"I see...." drawled Cynthia who pursed her lips. There were hesitation on Cynthia's face that had Elise to wonder in herself what made the woman to hesitate. "What if you have a sister?"