"How can this be possible?" Knox's surprised exhausted voice boomed in the calm night. He was getting aggravated with ending up with nothing but a black fog swirling around him.

Knox was currently sitting down in the middle of the woods alongside Madonna in front of bluish green fire that was dancing in the dark. There were several small pots filled with poisonous herbs like Nightshade, Hemlock and Thyme and also potions that are to be added to the riling fire.

Madonna crushed golden rosemary and added bitter bark to it and threw it in the fire. The fire turned an unusual color of dark shade of blue quite close to black. Madonna pushed a small bottle of yellow colored liquid potion into Knox's hand and asked him to add the potion to the fire while reciting the spell she asked him to.

"Knox repeated after her pouring out the liquid into the blazing dark fire. It oozed out a dark fog which surrounded the two of them in wrap creating a portal around them.

But like the previous time, the fog which was supposed to create a large halo, failed. Knox couldn't understand why they were failing even after trying for tens of times. This was the third night they were in woods trying to perform the spell and magic in desire to look at the Lord's past.

"Knox, I had already insisted that looking in to Lord Knight's life is a difficult feat. You think he is an ordinary person that a witch like me can unfurl him?" Madonna replied in annoyance.

She was performing the same thing from past three nights and the met with failure every time. She knew already that this would be nothing but a catastrophe. Lord Knight was not a normal human to get traced easily. He was powerful, more powerful than her and she wouldn't risk her life and her magic for the sake of a fool like Knox Garrick.

She had better things to do now and one of those is sacrificing yet eight more men that year so she could finally complete the ritual and get out of any possible relationship in her life.

She didn't trust people, least a man. A future interference of a man in her life was the least she wanted and she must had a soul mate out in the world and the chances of meeting him was high. So she did what she ought to, which is sacrificing eight men every year for eight years so she could finally stop any kind of bond in the future.

That year being the eight year, she was busy looking for the men.

"But how come we could not penetrate him? It feels mystifying." Knox gasped in absolute surprise.

Who exactly was the Lord that even the great witch couldn't infiltrate?

He was getting aggravated by every passing moment also because his daughter was not sane right at the time. She was too much succumbed by the Lord and now that he couldn't succeed in gaining knowledge about the mysterious Lord, he needs to meet his daughter as soon as possible.

Blythe should know a thing or two about the Lord, after all she was staying there from several weeks.

"Like I said, Lord Knight is not someone so easy to catch. From here forth you need help yourself, Knox. I cannot help you further as I have done enough. A little more of help and I would be making an enemy out of the Lord which I don't wish to." Madonna answered in a stern voice.

Knox was shocked for the second time that night hearing the cold tone. He thought the witch can only purr and seduce but the stern voice sent threatening shivers down his spine and that very moment Knox got the hint that the Lord is someone even the powerful witch is avoiding.

But why?

If Madonna wanted to, then it would not be a tough task to get the human Lord into her trap and bewitch him.

Unless...

Unless - he was not a human.

Knox's eyes widened when the realization dawned on to him. He was quite taken aback that it took him a lot of time to realize the fact that indeed the Lord may not really be a human.

There was a fair possibility.

"He is not what he seems like, isn't he, Madonna?" He questioned in whisper still connecting the dots. Of course he isn't. He certainly nothing close to normal.

That explains how the Lord has the dangerous dark aura around him and his eyes, red eyes that look devilish. Everything makes sense now.

But if he was really that powerful, then why choose nobody and a wench like Ella to wed? How did Ella come into the tale of the powerful and the mysterious Lord Knight?

"Yes he isn't. I cannot answer anymore questions regarding the Lord now. You need to dig them out by your own and act all by yourself." Madonna clarified and stood up stuffing all the ingredients in the cloth and tied the ends of the cloth in knots.

Knox watched Madonna disappear in the dark shadows of night, leaving him alone for thinking.

How was he going to meet Blythe secretly? He needed to find a way to pull her out of the castle alone.

On the other side of the region, in the Knights castle, Blythe was finally released from the dungeons the next day after every inch of her body was pierced by the specially crafted needles and later she was given a hot water bath torturing her skin. Blythe roared in pain the whole night and it took two days for the redness on the skin to disappear away but the stinging pain is still there.

Lord Knight made clear the three nights in dungeons why she was being punished. The Lord was cruel to her. He would've made it easy for her and killed her at once but she knew the Lord's intention was to torment her for a very long period of time.

Oh Christ, how did she end up in such a situation?

Blythe limped slowly towards Lady Ella's and the Lord's bed chamber to serve the Lady with an afternoon tea. She knocked the door once and went inside the chamber holding a large tray of refreshments for the tired lady.

Ella was busy the entire day with her painting and flower arrangement lesson along with book keeping lessons she started taking from the butler, Lyndon.

Just the previous day, Lord Knight has ordered Lyndon to help Ella learn the tricks and laws of book keeping so she can get knowledge of the receivables and payables inside the castle.

Managing a palace as huge as Knights castle was very tough task including the staff and their betterment. So the Lord wants Ella to learn about the affairs of the castle to manage it in the future days.

The Lord knew that it was a sudden and a huge responsibility on Ella but one of the rule he always loved and followed was 'You eat what you earn, you live like you deserve.'

Though he would put the whole world at the feet of the Lady he loves so much, he was also strict enough to follow the rule. Ella need to perform the duties of a Lady of Castle to get what she always deserved.

Though the Lord had many underhand strategies in working with different kind of people, he liked to work. He didn't want his wife, the Lady of Honor, to be a decorative doll. He would make his wife one of the strong and powerful personalities in the four regions.

Blythe slowly opened the door and noticed it was empty. She turned towards the corner of the room to find the Lady and get inside the chamber with her permission. After her recent punishment, Blythe was being careful not to rile up the Lord and behave like a servant with the Lady.

She learnt to respect the hard way and she couldn't forget the hard learnt lesson all through her life.

Blythe noticed a figure lurching in the corner near the balcony so she just voiced out her presence before entering the room. She set the tray on the table beside the bed.

"My Lady, the refreshments are here." She said in a meek voice keeping her eyes towards the ground. It was made clear to her that she was not to look into the Lord's and Lady's eyes.

"Ah, Blythe, my sweet. I see you are making a good maid out of yourself." She heard a familiar stern voice which planted a small hope inside her which was immediately destroyed at the thought of the Monstrous Lord.

"Mr. Garrick?" The way his daughter addressed him puzzled him greatly.