Chapter 68 Volume II - 34: Laute Manor
Chapter 68 Volume II - Chapter 34: Laute Manor
I looked at the wide entrance door in front of me, and then my eyes traveled to the huge mansion behind it.
It was breathtaking. The enormous garden, the buildings with different purposes scattered around the garden, and the main building in the center...
Despite its simple appearance, even the smallest details of the mansion were finely crafted. Once one looked at it, one could not look anywhere else.
Of course, I was used to it as someone who had seen it many times before.
"Come along Alysia, the checks are over."
A few meters in front of me, the woman, code name A-18, who was having the security guards check my identity, called out to me. Immediately afterward, the doors of the mansion opened for us and we slowly entered inside.
When we entered the garden, the first people I met were naturally the gardeners, each of whom was careful not to make eye contact with me. This was not because they were afraid of me, but because they knew they would be penalized if they did so.
We continued along the road, passing by some very nicely trimmed plants and large-scale flower gardens, and after a maximum of two minutes, we finally arrived in front of the main building.
A-18 took one last look at me before telling the guards in front of the mansion to open the gate.
"Don't forget your position."
I didn't say anything, didn't react in any way, and A-18 nodded to the guard with a look of disgust on her face.
The doors of the main building opened for us, at the same time a dim light and a warm breeze hit our faces.
While it was almost minus Celsius degrees outside, the inside of the mansion was warm, even comforting. It was much more peaceful, especially for me.
When A-18 took her first step inside, I shook off my thoughts and went inside with her.
At the huge entrance of the mansion, we were simply greeted by two servants.
"Master Laute is waiting for her in his room."
She didn't call me by my name, she completely ignored me without even looking at my face and spoke to A-18.
"Understood."
Without another word, the servants turned and headed for the stairs leading to the upper floors. A-18, on the other hand, did not move from where she was, folded her arms across her chest, and sighed deeply.
She was not allowed to go upstairs as the servants said he was only waiting for 'me' in his room. That's why we were separated here.
Normally, no one who was not a member of the family could step directly into the main building. Except for the directly assigned servants and security, no one was allowed to roam freely here. In any case, they were people who were not likely to betray the family and who were especially attached to this place with their lives.
As I went up the stairs with the servants, the family paintings on the wall came into my field of vision.
I grimaced, squinted, and frowned.
Everyone had silver hair and either green or blue eyes. Silver hair and colorful eyes were in the family genetics. Every child with the blood of this family, without exception, had silver hair and blue or green eyes.
Except me.
As I continued to go upstairs, I looked at all the paintings starting from my great-grandfather to my generation.
The last painting on the walls belonged to my grandfather. There was not a single painting with my father or my mother. Even I, as a 'grandchild', was not in my grandfather's family portrait.
We did not belong to this family.
I looked at the paintings for a while longer before they disappeared from my view, and then I focused again on what was in front of me.
The servants and I went through a few more corridors and up another flight of stairs before we stopped in front of a room.
The door to the room was the most ornate of all the doors in the entire main building. There were four guards just in front of the door and an extra six in the corridor behind it. After passing through all this security, I had to go through one last door and only then would I reach the family leader's room.
"Master Laute is waiting inside."
I approached the door without reacting to the servant's information. The guards checked me for any magic on me, took all my dimensional items, and opened the door after making sure of my identity.
I made sure that my expression did not change even a little as I passed through the six guards standing in the corridor behind the door. The last door I would pass through in this way opened slowly, silently.
This room was colder than the rest of the mansion. It was dimly lit and full of paintings and luxury items.
Apart from these, there was also a large, simple desk just opposite the door that welcomed everyone who entered. At the head of this desk stood an old man with silver-colored hair, just like me.
"Come closer."
His strong, full, and heavy voice echoed in the room. It was as if he was giving orders to my soul. If I even thought about not doing what he said, he would crush me under his feet.
I calmly approached the table, though I didn't get too close to him, making sure to keep a proper distance between us.
"I have a mission for you, Alysia."
I didn't look at his face, I kept my head down.
"Yes, sir."
"There is a boy named Adrian Caleo at the academy you go to."
As I guessed, a surveillance mission.
"You are going to kill him."
A deep silence fell over the room. At first, I didn't understand what he was saying, then my eyes widened and I stiffened.
Kill him? Not surveillance... 'kill'?
"Observe him first, find his weaknesses. Seduce him if it is easy, but kill him before he reaches the age of twenty-one. You will have no further duties until you have fulfilled your purpose."
I reflexively raised my head and then locked eyes with the man.
His green, stern eyes, almost emerald-like, were on me. His pointed ears and the fact that he didn't look too old despite his age of one hundred and thirty-two gave him the impression of being immortal.
"I did not give you permission to look at me, Alysia."
When I realized my mistake, my whole body trembled and I quickly lowered my head.
"You have been rebellious since I have seen you, A-18 seems to be right."
The man got up from his chair and approached me step by step, but I couldn't move a muscle.
"Never forget who you are, Alysia."
He stopped when he was in front of me.
"You were born as a result of my son's stupidity. You were never a direct member of this family. You're just someone to do the dirty work, don't you ever forget that."
"S- sorr-"
Before I could finish the word, I suddenly found the floor in front of my eyes. I fell to the ground before I realized what had happened.
My left arm hit the ground at a very bad angle due to the impact. I wanted to at least correct its position, but the enormous pressure on me did not allow even that.
"I did not give you the right to speak, how quickly have you forgotten who you are?"
Without saying anything, I clenched my fist, my teeth, and tried to ignore the pain in my arm.
"Now..."
The pressure suddenly stopped. A great burden was lifted from me and I quickly brought my left arm to a proper position.
Meanwhile, the man, my grandfather, turned round and went back to his chair.
"You have three years. You will kill that boy before you graduate from that academy. It doesn't matter when you do it, just do it before he starts threatening us. Do you understand?"
I slowly got up from the ground, but then I felt a great pain spreading from my left arm, which was slightly aching, to my whole body.
My arm... is it broken?
"Un- understood..."
"Good, now go back to the academy. Stay out of my sight unless you are called back here or complete your mission."
I stood up with difficulty, gritted my teeth, and headed toward the door of the room.
I continued to hold my arm as I passed through the guards in the corridor, but I didn't ask them for help.
The only thing they would have done anyway would have been to stare at me.
No, they probably wouldn't even look at me.
As I continued to walk, I made a great effort not to grimace and keep my eyes from twitching.
I thought about what I had been through so far in this stupid mansion and I felt an anger rising inside me.
I swear...
One day I will make the people in this house look at me with fear.
I swear...
One day I will make you pay for everything you have done to me.
As the anger continued to rise inside me, I took care to keep a straight face, but at the same time, I continued to swear.
I will crush Adrian or whoever it is... The whole world will see that I am not a useless half-blood, but someone to be feared.
I swear I will do whatever it takes to make that happen.
*******
I let myself fall into my armchair. I leaned my back against it and stared at the ceiling.
At the same time, the sounds of water coming from the bathroom entered my ears, but I ignored them as much as possible.
I didn't pay much attention to what I was doing when I was talking to Olivia. I didn't take her away from me directly because she was crying a lot, but when it finally got too much, I told her she could use the bathroom.
It's questionable how appropriate it is for a girl to take a shower in a guy's home, but I didn't want her to be in that state. She was covered in blood, her skin didn't look right from the dust, and I didn't say it directly to her face, but she smelled pretty bad after what had happened in the woods. So she couldn't refuse even if she wanted to.
Of course, there was also a clothing problem.
Since there was nothing much to do, I told her that I could give her my own clothes. Since my wardrobe was already quite poor, I had recently bought a lot of clothes for myself and there were some I had never worn.
I paused for a moment and then sighed deeply.
Okay... I guess I should be honest with myself.
It's the first time there's a girl in my house and I'm excited. I mean, the Absolute Mind reduces my excitement a lot, almost eliminates it, but it doesn't change the fact that there's a girl in my house and I'm aware of it.
What should I do when she comes out of the bathroom? What would be the right thing to do?
I was lost in thought, I hadn't had proper contact with people, let alone girls, for twenty-one years and I was thinking about the best thing to do.
Just then I heard a door open and a few seconds later Olivia walked into the living room.
She was wearing a loose-fitting dark green sweater and a plain grey tracksuit. Her black hair was slightly damp.