Days without her family felt heavy but she didn't want to burden anyone in the house and kept a smile. Aryl who has been beside her knew just how hard it was for her to cope with her loss and could only stay next to her as the girl cried to her sleep. That morning, Elise arrived at the cemetery where her family was buried.
Besides the cemetery, white snowy Jasmine flowers draped down being the fence to circle the wide cemetery. The view was beautiful and Elise felt happy for her family to rest in a place that wasn't as eerie as the other cemetery she had seen before. Although perhaps in the night the view of the cemetery wouldn't look that much different with horror, in the morning it could serve as a mesmerizing view for them who now is sleeping in a deep slumber.
Elise stood in front of the gravestones with her family's name carved in the stone. The Lord of Warine was a kind man, even though she wasn't his slave and a stranger to him now, he prepared the best gravestones for her family. She knelt down and brushed her hand on the gravestones, she had thought that after all the days she spent her days crying today she wouldn't be able to she tears. But now the translucent drop streamed down from the rim of her eyes.
Cynthia looked at the scene and kneaded her hand to fist to the point her knuckles whitened from the firm pressure. Her eyes held a deep malignity, seeing Elise's in her dolor state, she ground her teeth to calm down her heart but it was to no avail. She turned her head to Ian and spoke hesitantly, "Lord Ian, can I excuse myself?" She asked and received a permission nod from Ian. Without any other words, she quickly left the cemetery, walking with powerful steps that brought her out.
"Accompany her, Austin." Ian passed his order to Austin in his human form.
"Yes, milord." He stepped his feet faster, walking behind to follow his close coworker.
Ian didn't say much, his face held an indefinable expression. Leaning on the tree not too far from where Elise was, he gave a space where she could weep for her family again and remained silent. The breeze blew softly to his face, blowing his black hair to show his scarlet eyes. It wasn't a new thing to see mythical creatures to have a mesmerizing charm but even more than other mythical beings, he had a far distinctive beauty. With his composed complexion, no one could guess what kind of thought passing through his head. He stood there unmovingly with his black coat and watched the girl finally standing up a little staggering as she did that. He strolled to her, extending his hand in worry. He had seen humans for more than a hundred or perhaps almost a thousand years and yet she was too fragile than any of human he ever saw before. So fragile to the point he worried the wind could blow her to dust.
She whispered a thank for his help and felt a little dizzy from the lack of proper rest or liquid. Rubbing her swollen red eyes, she forced an unruffled smile. "I apologize for wasting your time, Lord Ian."
"That isn't something for you to apologize, have you finished saying your farewell to your family?" He spoke with his usual voice yet tenderness could fetch faintly if someone close to him such as he aide heard.
Elise exhaled a soft sigh, she could feel tears forming like a glass on her eyes and held it back. She had promised not to cry anymore for the sake of not worrying her family in heaven. "Yes, once again thank you very much for your hospitality at your house. I will be going to find work and a place to live in."
"A place to live?" The words slipped out of Ian's lips hurriedly and he pulled his words again. "Do you have any particular work in your mind now?" From her words, it didn't seem that she has a place to live or job in mind,
"That's-" Elise fiddled with her fingers, seeing her response, Ian quirked a very faint grin. She continued, "I have entered the test to become work in the Church. For now, I plan to search for a temporary job with a place to live."
From her explanation, she needed a place in the mid-time to wait for something. Being a nun wouldn't need that as they will directly live and study in the Church. That being said, he remembered Alex to have said something about the Church opening a test for the humans in Runalia. So Ian concluded this work she mentioned lays to one thing, "Work in the Church? Do you mean as a Churchwoman?"
"Yes," Elise confirmed. What she found it wasn't hard to look directly at Ian's beautiful scarlet eyes that were deeper than what she remembered when she was still a child, but seeing his face brought her a feeling of jittery. It was a kind of face that was too dazzling that one couldn't look directly especially to the young lady.
Ian hummed with a somewhat beguiled tone and came up with an idea. "In that case, I have a perfect work that would fall under your categories and with very fine payment. It could also give you some studies of your future work." Ian offered. "However, the distance to Runalia would be a little far."
A fine payment that Ian referred must be a very adequate one coming from his mouth. The job has a place for her to live in and knowledge for her future work, it was more than what she needed. With such a fine work description for her, she couldn't possibly reject the offer. She mulled a little over the long distance Ian mentioned as she wouldn't be able to visit her family's grave often and paused a long time to weigh her choices before coming up with a decision. "No, that's a very good work offer. Please inform me of that job."
"Come with me then." Ian turned his body and walk for Elise to follow. "Where are we going?" She inclined her head and asked but still followed his suit even before his answer. This wasn't because of her being a very naive person who would follow people. Elise's childhood behavior of not asking much and not going too deeply into the information. She still had the same trust that she placed in him as her childhood. Thus believing that he wouldn't harm her.
He turned his face, having the face of a vague grin painting his lips. "Your job would be in Warine, to be exact my White Mansion."
"Huh?" She continued her steps when suddenly she felt goosebumps popping from her forearm and sped up to Ian's side in fear. Noticing her running clumsily to come at a stop on his left side, he turned his head lifting his brows very slightly. At first, he thought she followed him closely due to not wanting to lose him in sight before arriving at the carriage but on close inspection at her paled expression, he rethought again. "What is it?" He followed what she had just seen and replied again, "Did you see a ghost again?"
Elise turned her eyes to shut it as tightly as she could and pursed her lips as she nodded. She had live in peace without seeing ghosts again but now without the protection of the bracelet, her eyes opened again. To see the ones that she wasn't able to see for nine years.
It would be fine if the ghost didn't bother her or have a humanly form with only a deadly face, but the one who she had just seen was too gruesome! Its face was deformed, making her unable to see which the gender the ghost belong to. Blood sipping out from the face, the eyeballs lost in one place, and the other one look utterly lost, teeth rotten and bluish-face. From the sight, the ghost perhaps died after being beaten by a very heavy blunt object or had something like a heavy brick or pillar fell to the face.
It was too much for her! She hadn't noticed the ghost before because she was crying but when she stood up, the ghost brushed its hand on her, making her to jolt out and ran toward Ian. Even as a child she hadn't seen such a miserable ghost with a fearsome face. Feeling cold running to her blood she ran away and before she knew it, she heard a trembling grunt from the ghost, seemingly trying to come to her.
"No! Don't come!" Elise exclaimed in her heart and unknowingly jumped toward Ian's hand. Giving his hand a tight grip, she muttered in a whisper, "Don't come! You look so pitiful but I'm scared! I promise I'll pray in your grave properly so don't come!" She was scared out of her wits seeing the disfigured ghosts coming to her with not a good intention.
Seeing how jumpy the girl was, Ian quirk up the corner of his right lips in a humor that wasn't dark like how he used to have. The smirk from his lips instead had a rather freshness to his pale face. When Elise took his arm and gripped it firmly, he heard her muttering under his shoulder. In such a time, even though she looked ghostly paled from fear of the ghost she didn't forget to promise the ghost who scared her that she would give it a prayer. Having mirth ramping over his red burning eyes, he spoke nonchalantly, "Have you never seen such a ghost?"
A few moments ago Ian had been watching the view of the cemetery from the tree where he leaned. Since he was doing nothing, he saw quite a lot of deformed ghost roaming in the particular cemetery in silence and found the cemetery to be a very intriguing one. Almost all the ghosts he saw since he stepped in all had a miserable looking body or faces. Some lost its limbs and some plainly looked like something very disgusting. If a human saw them with naked eyes there would only be two situations to this human. First passing out in fear and second hurling out everything inside their stomach in disgust before eventually faint. Elise was mourning at the moment so he placed a protective barrier that would make the ghost unable to be seen out of consideration. But when they were to go to the carriage, he put down the protective barrier thus now Elise could see the ghosts again.
Elise jumped, giving him a look and beckoned him to lower his head so she could whisper very faintly in hope so the ghost wouldn't hear them. "You can see ghosts too, Lord Ian?"
"Mhm, well something similar to that." His reply was ambiguous and wasn't much an outright reply but when it came from Ian's mouth one must be very blessed. Because usually, he would answer with an even more vague answer that could make a scholar go mad. Feeling this particular ghost must have a very amusing figure, he swept his eyes to give a sideways glance.
Elise felt the shadow upon her head turning and instantly warned, "Don't turn your face and don't look him!"
"Why?" Being told no, Ian felt the need to see this ghost who scared her even more.
Seeing him tilting his head, Elise raised her palm to close his eyes and warned in stammers, "The sisters in the Church told me to never look at the ghost in their eyes or else they would know that I could see them and would instead stick themself to me!"
"Oh-" Ian hummed his answer having mirth jumping from the corner of his lips, a little mischievous, he replied, "Actually what the woman told you is a little false."
Elise turned up her gaze, still shutting her eyes when she felt a breath brushing the back of her hair and now almost hug Ian's arm wholly. "F- False? What do you mean by false, Lord Ian?" She hurried herself to ask and grazed her lips to her teeth, almost biting her own tongue.
Ian didn't seem to be offended by what she was doing. Hugging his hand in fear, reminded him of a particular dog he picked up when he was a child. When he stumbled over another ferocious dog, he acted strong but eventually find himself running to his hand.
He kept his lowered gaze on the top of her head and parted his lips to talk. "First, open your eyes and look at the ghost in its eyes."
Elise gave a silence and replied, "But what if they don't have eyes?" The Ghost that she saw was in a very horrible state to the point that it was hard for people to guess where the nose, eyes, or mouth belongs to. Even if Ian told her to look at the ghost's eyes she wasn't sure where they were!
Ian spoke easily, "Just look straight at anything after their neck."
Elise had known Ian always had a mischievous tone to his words, making one wouldn't be able to guess whether he was joking or not. Although she still trusted whatever Ian said, the tone that he used now is a little discouraging for her. Nevertheless, Ian had saved her multiple times, so he wouldn't trick her. Perhaps this way she could live without having to be bothered by the ghost or having them sticking to her. "Alright," She whispered.
She turned her face first behind her to where she felt the ghost were, very slowly with her rigid movements and peeked between her eyelids to see a figure with a burial clothe standing first. As expected it was too scary for her! Yet she braved herself to open her eyes and looked at the ghost drenched with blood all over. However now that she turned, for some reason, the ghost had multiplied to a handful of them. Did the ghosts sense that she could see them and told the fellow ghosts? That seemed to be true when Elise heard a ghost talking behind.
"You told us she could see us?"
"I walked over her and she jumped in fear, we could be right! Just try one what's wrong with a try?!"
"You're right! Let's talk to her, she looks delicious!"
Oh my! Elise shouted to herself when she overheard the ghost's conversation and clutched even stronger to Ian's arm. She was about to turn her head when she heard the deep silvery voice speaking again. "Just look at them and don't show your fear. They don't know you could see them. If you act the way you did before it would only confirm their suspicions."
It was easy for Ian to say but hard to practice for Elise. The rush of adrenaline made her heart thumping loudly, skipping a few beats. She replied, "Alright."
The ghosts saw her staring at them and snickered at each other but when Elise sharply look at them, she spotted some ghosts that still had a humanely face looked aghast. The chattering stopped and their smiles froze. The ghosts gawked at her, some either had their expressions turn to a brick or mouth tightly shut. Some even almost dropped their jaws to the ground, seeming to see something profoundly terrifying. Before Elise could understand what could make these ghosts to be scared for their life, they had run away. Scattering the cemetery like a whirlwind hurtling to a sky of clouds.
"That's how you supposed to do it." Ian spoke took her attention. She turned her head, asking, "They looked afraid before-"
"That must have been because you were too gallant in staring at them. Next time, even if you see ghosts don't act scared and never show your fear. Ignorance would blend you into a normal person who couldn't see them." Ian spoke his words in ease.
Elise nodded her head vigorously, like a student receiving the teacher's lesson. "Okay."
Ian looked at his arm for a fragmented moment and spoke, "Well then, let's go."
Elise was about to agree his word when she saw her hand wrapping comfortably at his arm and gingerly pulled her hand. Not knowing what to say or whether lord Ian was offended by her touch she could only murmur, "My apologies."
Although she did it only due to fear and they weren't doing something inappropriate, the thought of her hugging his arm made her feel more conscious. Her face blushed to a hue of pink. Ian watched her expression and chuckled very faintly.
Ian led her the way and spoke, "The carriage isn't far from here, and do you still have something you want to pick up from your old house?"
Elise's eyes draped down she does have something to take inside the house, the portrait of her and her family. But walking to that house, she was sure the image of the horror would overlap and haunt her again.
"Austin would be the one who goes, there isn't a need for you to go there too."
Elise looked up, surprised that he could guess what she was thinking, and felt grateful for his consideration. She turned her head, returning his kindness, "Thank you, my lord."
"No problem," Ian replied and left to go to the carriage sitting nicely in front of the cemetery's entrance. Austin stood beside the place with Cynthia. Seeing Elise, Cynthia smiled gently and waved her hand to be returned with another wave of hand from Elise.
Ian stopped and turned his eyes to the girl behind him, "Go and tell Austin what you need."
Elise nodded and trotted over to Austin. It has been nine years since she last talked with them and felt a little nervous. One thing she knew, the people beside Ian wasn't a human. Even after almost a decade, their appearance didn't change, they didn't look older at all. It was the same face that Elise had in her memories.
"Mr. Austin, can I bother you to help me to bring the family portrait from my house?" She fiddled with her hand. When she was younger it was easy to talk with them but with the years growing apart she felt like a stranger to them.
Austin heard her overly formal language and chuckled. He placed his hand over her head and kindly replied, "Don't be too stiff, Elise. You can just skip and call me Austin like before. I've heard everything from the Lord beforehand, the portrait you mean, is it the portrait that's hanged in the family room?"
Elise smiled back softly. Austin was the same as before, kind and easy-going. Even now he knew how awkward it was for her and tried to ease her from it, "Yes, that's the one, thank you Austin."
"Aye, aye then." Austin smiled and turned over to wink at Cynthia. When Elise entered the carriage, he trotted to her side and whispered teasingly, "She spoke to me first."
With his childish tone usually, Cynthia would have ignored his provocation. But when it comes to Elise, she felt that she didn't want to lose and replied succinctly, "She spoke to me first, without formality even." With a victorious smile, she left the man to ride over the carriage.
"Huh?" Austin felt defeated. "That isn't fair!"
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