XXI

» Stuck in the Abyss «

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・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

They stepped inside the reception hall, Anastacius' eyes immediately dart over the crowd to see if a familiar green head is there. And sadly he did see two men with long green hair.

'Fuck'

He can tolerate one dark green head at the time without feeling the slightest urge to throw the person into a pit of non-venomous and fangless snakes. While the person's arms and legs are changed to the ground, in a dim setting. Enough to psychologically traumatized them for a couple of years, he thought.

'I have to get out of here'

He quickly walk passed a table of delicacies, sneaking a few pieces on his coat while staying as far away as possible. His father watched him avoid the Verita father and son duo, looking worried.

The Marquis is quite aware of his son's dissatisfaction with the two, but he is not aware of the reason why. They only met a few times, and none of them were planned.

Currently, the Verita's head and eldest son are busy exchanging greetings with the recently arrived guests.

Inside his head, the Head of the Verita's household is cursing the red headed Duke for setting the banquet in their place... And only being informed about it, a few days before!

The only person that he can enjoy his time with, is the young heir of the La Monique household. He likes exchanging ideas, information and small talk with the young man. There are even times, he wants to adopt him into the family but he doesn't have any daughters.

On the other hand, the heir of the Veritas is looking around the crowd for a familiar white haired man. He wanted to clear up the misunderstanding between them, which caused their blossoming friendship to disappear into thin air.

So the two present green heads are going to look for the young man while greeting the guests, hitting two birds with one stone.

Anastacius was not aware that the two people he wanted to avoid, was actively looking for him. He is currently hiding underneath one of the covered tables while munching on some goodies. He was just waiting for this whole banquet to end before leaving his spot.

But that plan was surely not enough to keep the two away from his sight. He decided to use some of his mana to summon some butterflies, as his eyes to look around the banquet.

It's been a long time since he last used his mana for summoning butterflies, he never needed to use his cheat skills in his last life. But this is a very dire situation he is in! The two green heads were two faced! Their whole family of green heads are insane!

He takes a deep breath and closed his eyes, holding out his palm to envision a butterfly made from his mana. Purple mana strings came from his fingertips and started to sew through each other as the shape of a purple butterfly start to form.

When Anastacius opened his eyes, an average sized butterfly lays on his hand. It's crystal like purple wings flutter slowly, obediently starting on its master's hand, waiting for his command.

“Perfect”

__________________

The Marquis was talking with his friend, the Duke, when the Chancellor approached them.

“Good afternoon, Marquis Kierean and Duke Arkint, does this banquet find you well?”

“Chancellor, this is a great banquet you've planned”

The Duke wore a mischievous smile that irked the green head, the Marquis felt some sweat drop while watching his friend tease the chancellor.

“Why thank you, our house has done our best to prepare for this banquet... Even if we're only informed about it, a few days ago”

“This Banquet has been pleasant so far. What brings you here, Chancellor?”

Marquis Kierean answered honestly, while asking for the real reason, they were approached. His son looked so done when he saw the Chancellor and his eldest son. He doesn't even know where he's standing- or hiding.

“Hm? I just wanted to greet all the guests, and have a chat with a few of you”

The chancellor's eyes, examine the vicinity, discreetly. Looking for a sign of where Anastacius may be.

“Did young sir Kaysian and Anastacius, not come with you?”

The Marquis was just about to open his mouth and misdirect the chancellor, so that his son can stay safe. But sadly, the Duke beat him to it.

“My son will be coming a bit later, he still has tasks to do at the manor, and Anastacius?” He pretended to think, “Oh him, I saw him around... over there, earlier”

The red head piped in, pointing to the opposite direction of where Anastacius is actually hiding.

The Chancellor was aware of the Duke's personality with the young man and he could actually understand why. Both of them are fond of Anastacius, wanting him to join their families. They wanted to win him over, so there was some rivalry between them.

“Thank you for your assistance, I'll be going to greet the other guests”

The chancellor gave them a polite smile while walking... The opposite direction of where the Duke pointed.

(A/n: LMAO even your love interests' dads are fighting over you)

Unbeknownst to everyone present in the banquet, a purple butterfly is watching them with a bird eye's view- or more like a butterfly eyes' view. It fluttered through the chandeliers, hiding from the crowd's view. The whole scenario between its master's father and friends, was caught by it.

Anastacius, who was still hiding under the table, internally cursing the Duke, the Chancellor, and everything that annoyed him until now. He had to act fast before he gets found in such a place and get blackmailed into spending time with them!

“Are Ari and Len's scene done already? Wait he's not even worthy of her!”

He muttered to himself angrily, fuck the plot. He lifted the table cover and sprinted to the balcony, hiding behind the passing attendants, guests, and even Alexis himself. He successfully arrived at a blind spot, but he knows that he can't be there for long. The man is a really determined seeker whenever it's about finding him, for some reason.

The reception hall is at the ground floor but since the ground it was built on, is uneven, they used early cement. So looking down from the balcony, it's an eighteen feet drop which shouldn't hurt that much even if just throws himself.

Anastacius decided to weight his endings: the first one is he gets caught and will be sick between two green heads for the whole day, mentally and emotive straining him at the same time. The second ending is he throws himself out, might get a bit dirty but he's free.

Obviously, he chose the second option. He jumped off the railing, holding to its metals bars as he calculates a clean way to get down. As he was holding onto a railing with one hand, for his dear bones, a green head caught sight of him.

“An!”

Anastacius was surprised and he almost lost his strength for a moment, he looked aside and saw Allendis or Len, which he looked to call him. He checked if anyone at the banquet heard him, thankfully no one heard it.

“Are you alright!? Do you need some help to get down?”

He quickly shook his head and held his free hand to his mouth, in a shushing pose. Wearing a slightly panicked expression, which Allendis mistook as fear.

“Shh, lower your voice! I'm fine and even if you did help me, I don't think your strong enough to catch me”

He slightly laughs at the end of sentence. Watching his friend, quickly calculate for a way to get him down as soon as possible.

“I'll call some butlers for a ladder -”

“No, you don't have to do that!”

Allendis was confused and in a bit of a mess, didn't Anastacius want to get down?

“Why not?”

“Well genius, the only reason I did this was to escape your family”

Then it all clicked, Allendis was aware of how fond his father is, towards Anastacius. He was praised the most next to Aristia because he found out, after spending some time with him, that Anastacius likes to lay low and he doesn't like that much attention to himself. So, him doing something this dangerous, is to escape the interest of his father.

“I'll catch you”

“I already said that is not a really good plan for you, genius”

“Stop calling me genius, just trust me, An”

The only green head, Anastacius was tolerant of, spread his arms out and looked at him with a determined gaze.

“You can't just hold on forever, you know?”

Anastacius was silent for a moment, his hand is getting a bit tired but he can't hold on for the whole banquet. He trusts Allendis, not fully but enough to catch him, though not his body.

“Fine, but I'm not being blamed if your break anything”

“I'm not that weak”

“Whatever you say, Len”

He slowly unclenched his fist and descended. His white coat flew against the wind's direction, as he curls the edge of his lips.

Allendis' eyes widened, his heart suddenly felt like it was running and he almost forgot to breath. He saw an angel- no he suddenly saw Anastacius in a way he's never thought of. The bright sun shines against his white hair, his coat took the shape of wings.

The beauty had a small smile on his face, looking amused as he descended gracefully. Those golden eyes, that he usually sees with his silver lady seemed dim against the sparkle and wit of the young man. Those eyes seemed to look at him and only him...

He felt confused, as he suddenly a weight push him down the lush green grass. A hand was immediately placed behind his head, before the impact was felt. Allendis grunted feeling his back ache before looking at Anastacius who was on top of him.

“Are you alright?”

His back was against the sun, shading Allendis from the harsh rays. Their faces were close to each other's, making Allendis notice things he didn't see before. Anastacius eyes had flecks of silver and purple, along with a small scar near the left side of his head.

“Did you have a concussion, should I take you to the physician?”

The green head felt his senses come back to him when his friend, got off of him.

“No, I'm fine, I'll just need some ointment for the bruise”

“That's great, and thanks for this”

Anastacius was relieved, he helped Allendis up and both of them acted like nothing happened. But they weren't really pretending, they just had a mutual understanding that this will not be spoken of ever again.

___________________

The two are currently at the place, where Allendis was supposed to kiss Aristia's forehead and make a promise. But for some reason, Aristia had to do something first before agreeing to stroll in the garden with him.

Anastacius placed himself on one of the tree branches, with his eyes closed. Seemingly to take a nap, but he's actually watching the banquet with his butterfly.

The two still haven't given up on finding him, those psychopaths...

On the other hand Allendis, stared at his palm where Anastacius held him, to pull him up. Still feeling the warmth, his gloved hand, left him. This is something that had never happened before.

“Want to play?”

He was brought out of his thoughts, when the boy who caused his inner dilemma, asked him a question.

“What?”

“Do you want to play chess?”

There's no harm with agreeing to play, but he doesn't want to lose in front of Aristia, his silver lady.

“I'll call an attendant for the chess board”

But the thrill of playing a mind game with someone, as smart as him, is an undeniable pleasure to Allendis. It's the only time, he can relax around a person who doesn't care about his double personality.

“There's no need to call for someone, I already have one prepared”

He watched as Anastacius took a small blue chessboard from his coat, he unfolded it to reveal that all the pieces are neatly arranged...

“Well that's An, for you”

He muttered, he's shocked but at the same time, he knows that this creation is nothing to An.

“What?”

“Nothing, let's make a bet”

“The usual bet?”

“Loser gets to do, what the winner request”

Anastacius wins most of the time, and his requests are always simple like buying him a few treats or nothing embarrassing. Same goes to Allendis, he doesn't make bizarre requests just asking for some compliments here and there.

“Alright then”

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

[2150]

Characters' age chart

Anastacius: 17

Kaysian: 17

Allendis: 14

Ruveliss: 16

Carsein: 14

Aristia: 11

Kind of short but I'm running out of ideas to speed up the plot for the good stuff