--Agares--

Agares arrived at the academy and saw a constant stream of students and teachers leaving the building. As it was in the early evening, the last classes had just ended and everybody tried to get back home as quickly as possible.

However, there was no sign of his employer, Eyna Van Proles. She had said, just like the day before, that she would get back to the mansion earlier but there was still no sign of her leaving the complex.

Agares neared the entrance. The guards, who were decorating the entrance, immediately recognized his visage and let him in.

It was uncommon for his employer to miss the promised time, yet throughout the span of five years a few miscalculations accumulated when he had personally gone to pick her up at the academy. Therefore, he was already known by many of the staff.

Agares quickly entered the outdated foyer and headed for the office located on the second floor.

Standing in front of the door leading to the desired room, he suddenly retracted his hand which had been in the action of turning the doorknob. After the events of yesterday, he now knew better and chose to lightly knock on the door, as any regular butler normally would do.

However, without waiting for a reply from inside, he still swiftly opened the door and entered the office.

Agares' gaze quickly scanned through the room until it got caught on the blind woman sitting behind her desk. Eyna looked at him with a questioning expression, seemingly just ripped out of her thoughts.

Agares cleared his throat and said with a patient smile.

“It is already evening and the young Miss hadn’t returned, so I decided to pay a visit at the academy.”

Eyna seemed enlightened but then creased her brows.

“Are we alone?” She asked carefully.

Agares was shortly taken aback until he understood her intentions and swiftly let his gaze sweep across the room again.

“There are no unwanted intruders here right now,” he revealed his evaluation and turned his attention back to his employer.

“Your ‘probably’ wasn’t very conclusive,” Eyna said accusingly with a stiff smile referencing the conversation from noon.

Agares could quickly comprehend the situation from this single sentence and did not ask any further questions about the exact happenings. He just remained silent with his unwavering smiling facade.

“Can one trust demons?” She suddenly asked.

“No,” Agares answered.

“Then how can you know if they speak the truth?” Eyna queried further.

“They always speak the truth,” Agares disclosed without a change in expression.

Eyna lifted one of her brows and glanced at him with a questioning look, unfitting a blind person’s gaze.

Agares then elaborated.

“Divine creatures cannot speak lies as they have the required wisdom and might to renounce falling back to such primitive means. The construct of falsehood only came into existence when the Creator brought humans and other mortal beings to this world. The divine race doesn’t have to and can’t fall back to such methods.”

Eyna frowned and fell momentary back into thoughts.

“Then why can’t I trust demons?” She followed up.

“While the divine races are not able to lie, they still can deceive you with distorted truths and interpretable vague statements,” her butler answered. He then continued.

“You probably know the stories of someone striking a deal with the devil. However, in these stories, the devil would never lie, but just fulfill his side of the deal in another way the other party had intended.”

Agares then followed with an example.

“Let’s say a demon promises you that he won’t hurt you. That said, he can still lead you into a river of starving crocodiles without having lied to you because he didn’t hurt you directly through his own physical manifestation,” he explained further.

Agares could see Eyna processing the new information given, her expression had turned serious and the green lifeless eyes now staring into an unknown distance.

Her train of thought was seemingly interrupted when a knock at the door announced another visitor. She quickly raised her voice to let the person in.

Agares watched a blonde youth entering the office holding a stack of paper. The youth hesitated shortly when he saw Eyna’s butler. Agares concluded him to be a subordinate of Eyna’s academy division, however originating from his reserved attitude probably a newcomer.

Eyna’s visage received a sudden improvement after she recognized the person and her eyes lit up as if she just got an ingenious idea.

“Neals, you said that your father works in a foundry making luxury products, right?” She asked to make sure.

Neal affirmed with an insecure lag.

“Would your father be able to replicate this beautifully carved box?” Eyna queried further and pulled a sheet of parchment out of a desk’s drawer. The illustration showed the design of a box so well drawn as if it would turn real at any moment.

“You know, when I was looking for some accessories on the market, I had noticed this intricately designed metal casket. At that time, I didn’t find much value in it and didn’t buy it. However, thinking back, it was such a beautiful box and since then I have always regretted that decision of not taking it. I searched for the casket everywhere, but have not found any trace of it anymore. I even asked my butler to draw the appearance so that we could find it more easily,” Eyna elaborated, her face showing a grave and desperate expression.

Agares was surprised to suddenly get involved in that matter and could only give a short nod. This emotional speech was completely unfitting to his employer's usual indifferent attitude.

Furthermore, he didn’t know that she was suddenly interested in accessories and carved boxes as she normally didn’t give much value to outer appearances. Additionally, she had last gone strolling around at the market more than two months ago, because she didn’t like staying outside when the temperatures were getting colder. And at that time, the only thing she had bought was a plain faceless white mask, which would not count as your typical item as a young tycoon in possession of this large amount of money.

Agares was amazed once again at how Eyna could without hesitation splurt out so many blunt lies without a change in expression.

“You know, in four days’ time, I will take part in a ball and I absolutely wanted to show such a nice casket to the others.”

Eyna’s visage was depressed. Her butler lifted an eyebrow when he saw her gloomy appearance. He had no knowledge of this sudden ball and had never heard of Eyna being so desperate to display her belongings to others. This personality change was for him inconceivable even if all of it was a lie.

“I could try to ask father if he is able to recreate the box,” Neal offered helpfully.

“Really? You would do that?” Eyna showed a shocked and at the same time hopeful expression. Her mood had seemingly brightened in a matter of seconds.

She swiftly stood up and handed the parchment over to her Neal. It was the first time when the two subordinates could clearly recognize what ornaments were depicted on the different surfaces on the box.

“...You have a rather… unique taste,” Neal stammered after a few moments of silence.

A subtle questioning look appeared on Eyna’s expression. Agares had already concluded that Eyna didn’t really know what was pictured on the parchment.

“Yeah… Young Miss always had an eye… for mystery. Like the skulls and ghostly creatures on there,” Agares quickly interjected and discreetly transmitted a few key details about the drawing to Eyna.

The box displayed on the parchment was adorned with carvings of skulls and other bones. Faces with hollowed-out eyes and widely opened mouths were shambled together with the skeletons. Their surreal but lifelike look let one subconsciously hear the desperate cries coming out of their empty mouths.

The whole appearance of the casket seemed to have come straight from the depths of hell. The expression on Eyna’s face crumbled for one nearly unnoticeable moment but she quickly retrieved her calm.

“Yes. I thought these carvings are really moving one’s emotions…” Eyna vaguely explained without being aware of what exactly was shown on the drawing.

She wasn’t wrong at least. The mere illustration let one shudder and bring unrestrained emotions of fear to the onlooker.

As Neal didn’t seem to be extremely smart he quickly accepted her desperate way of explaining her preferences and the rest of the discussion only involved the using materials and sizes of the metal box.

・・・

After Neal left the office silence descended in the room again. It took a few minutes until Eyna raised her voice.

“What exactly was depicted on the parchment?” She asked in a voice that seemingly had aged on about ten years.

Agares didn’t answer her question and only stated.

“Your subordinates don’t seem to be very bright…”

“You are a subordinate of mine too,” she retorted.

“There are always exceptions,” the butler justified.

He then watched Eyna walking to the window, who then let her hollow gaze wander onto the darkening streets. She then said.

“I think the days to come will be very exhausting.”