Never Fated To Be |✅|

Chapter 25 : Enter, Past -III

Three males and a female.

Marcus, Orcus, Ciel and Vivian.
The significance of the unexpected dreams I had received was undoubtedly seen now.

The four of them parted near Ciel's threshold and I followed the merchant, his brother and the would-be wife all the way up to a medium sized brick house with neatly trimmed rose bushes decorating the entrance. Marcus plucked a fresh rose and presented it to Vivian to which she giggled and blushed profusely and to which I rolled my eyes.

Orcus really did disappear as soon as the three of them had taken a step inside the largely maintained place. I had taken my eyes off him for a fleeting second and the next moment, he was gone. I was determined to find him though as I couldn't quite tolerate the other two people in the house, beside a whole crowd of servants and maids. I seriously doubted if any of the people living in St. Hills resided with their parents or maybe it was just this tiny lot. There were old people in the village but not one in the two houses that I had been in so far.

Nevertheless, I didn't stop hiding or taking up positions that wouldn't conceal me, just in case, and at the same time provide me with perfect angles of the surrounding.

I strolled around the place surreptitiously to get closer to Orcus and tried to follow the servants to find him. Fortunately, it actually worked and after following a maid down a long hallway, I stopped in front of a large door at the end of the corridor. It had no doorknob, or a handle or a keyhole. It was completely flat. The maid slid something from a noticeable slit near the hinges and sashayed away.

I waited for the door to open or for any other movement to occur but nothing happened and I stood frozen and confused. In the end, something got over me and I tried to stick my fingers through the slit. I couldn't feel anything and withdrew my hand. Just when I thought that I wasting my time and would probably be able to find better information from the other two sitting in the front room, the door suddenly creaked and slid open. It was like a dungeon inside. Foul and dim.

But it was still a room when I tried my luck and peered inside to gaze around. It was completely empty besides a bed being in the center and a lonely table on one side. A lamp was placed on it which gave out a feeble light. Due to the semi darkness I couldn't immediately notice a dark figure sprawled on the bed.

I closed in and realised it was Orcus who was apparently fast asleep, his legs and hands spread apart. He looked like he had drifted off right after he had let his body fall on the mattress and his head touch the pillow.

Now that I observed closely, he looked different from before and his brows weren't creased in a scowl anymore. He too resembled someone. But it wasn't his brother, Marcus, I was thinking about. Something about his attitude reminded me of someone. He had sounded vaguely possessive about his brother when he was with Ciel at his field. But now that I thought about it, maybe it wasn't so vague after all.

I wanted to know more about him so I started to search the place silently in case I found something useful and informative. But the only other pieces of furniture in the room was the table which had no drawers, but just a tiny lamp perched on its surface.

I furiously eyed every inch of the table to see if anything was stuck or taped to any corner but unfortunately nothing met my gaze. The lamp too was just a glass box with a metal hinged opening through which a single candle could be pushed in. The candle inside it burned silently and without a flicker in its flame.

My frustration increased and I let my foot trod aimlessly on the wooden floor before I could realise that I wasn't a complete ghost. Yet a hollow sound echoed around as soon as I had stamped my foot on a particular floorboard. Orcus stirred and I ducked reflexively.