The old madam was staring at him but he wasn’t paying any attention to her but to the picture which was hung in the room. This young man couldn’t be more familiar to him. He was the first person he met on coming to this world, although dead and also the first person from whom he got money, although corpses couldn’t drag wealth with the living. This was the same young master whom he had found dead in the forest. The reason why the first owner of his body has been killed is due to collateral damage.
He didn’t expect to see his picture in the house of the old madam, he wasn’t that close to the family, after all, to know them as he hasn’t met with Olivia or Sophia during the period of which he was at the capital before being driven away. The way the old madam was crying in this room, seems like he was very close to her. Perhaps, he was even her son but there was no way for him to know though.
“What are you doing here?”, the old madam shouted at Andrew. This broke Andrew away from his thoughts. This was the first time he has seen the old madam this angry at anything. She has always seemed easygoing after all and although she seem upset at times, it was always in a playful way and hence she could be easily pacified. He turns to stare at her and said while nervously scratching his head, “I heard some crying sounds and came to check if everything is alright”.
The madam immediately notices that she had lost her cool and immediately regained her noble composure and stands up while saying, “Everything is fine. You can now leave”.
Andrew was about to leave but on second thought, decides to ask what’s bothering him, “Who is he to you?”. “Huh?”, the old madam doesn’t quite get the question Andrew just asked. And she doesn’t want the fact that she had been in this room and even went as far as breaking down in tears to be known to either Olivia or Sophia.
“He must be close to you. But I seem to have seen someone that looks just like him and hence curious about what kind of relationship you might have shared with him. But it seems like I am bothering you. Sorry about that”, he says while this time around he turns and is about to walk out of the room.
On hearing those words which Andrew has just spoken out, the old madam shivers and as if grasping unto a slim thread runs to stop Andrew while asking, “Where did you see him? Do you have any idea of where he is now? When did you see him?”. Andrew was being shaken furiously by the anxious woman, like an innocent boy about to be forcefully violated by an older woman.
“Can you please stop shaking me in that manner?”, Andrew finally speaks. Although he could forcefully stand his ground, he doesn’t want the old madam to be hurt in any way, hence he just allowed her and tries to get her to stop with words. And it seems she finally realizes her act as she once again regains her composure, although not as quickly as before and there were even signs in her eyes showing that she wouldn’t mind using any means to get the information she needs from him.
This reaction of the old madam causes Andrew to shiver and he quickly says, “I met that boy up to four years ago. So such a huge time has passed already huh? Well, I met him in a forest close to the village where I stayed in. He has just been killed, together with a few strong men. Maybe the person I saw in the painting was him or not”.
Although she had expected such a turn of events since she hasn’t heard even a word from him for a long time, the old madam breaks down. The hope that she would one day see him has always kept her happy. She believed that the person Andrew was talking about was exactly the boy in the painting since that was also the period that she lost contact with and hasn’t met with him.
She cries while trembling like someone who was convulsing. Andrew just stares at her not knowing what to do, but he closes the door behind him to prevent anyone else from coming in and meeting her in such a state.
After a long while of tears and snorts, she was finally able to recover herself while Andrew stood close by as if he was a bodyguard. Guess due to the fact that he had trained, he doesn’t feel any pains or cramps from standing in one position for a long while. There was another break but this time around, silence ensued in the room such that a pin drop could be perhaps heard.
This lasted until finally, the old madam broke the silence by saying, “He was my son. A brilliant boy, just like his father and the whole family had great expectations for him. His talent was even greater than that of his elder sister and he was very knowledgeable and skilled in military affairs”. She pauses after saying those words as if waiting for Andrew to say something but he keeps quiet while fully listening to what she has to say to him.
As if finally noticing that Andrew does not intend on commenting, she continues her story, “After his father died, he brought joy and hope to the house. Although he was a bit troublesome, he was a shining star who was illuminating the house. But his father made a lot of enemies both in the capital and outside. Against nobles and dukes alike. His father was unreserved about what he does. If he doesn’t like something, then that is it. He doesn’t pretend to want something when he doesn’t. Maybe that’s what made me fall in love with him at first”, she pauses once again as if to grasp her breath.
“My son was in the military school, his second year to be precise, just a little more than a year and he would graduate to be assigned an important role. He just took a little break from school to go visit his sister on the war front. I warned him against going a countless number of times. I warned him severely about going out of the kingdom”, she starts crying at this point once again which doesn’t take a long while unlike before.
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After she calmed down from her tears, she continues her story, “He just had to ignore my words and sneak out of the house. He was just as stubborn as his father I guess. He went along with the best guards though. But I guess it wasn’t enough in the end as he was still killed. I always had hope that he was holed up somewhere and would be back eventually. But seems like I was placing my hopes on nothing but pipe dreams. He has already been dead for so long”, at this point, she starts laughing and crying as if she was a lunatic.
This time though, Andrew comes close to her and hugs her while saying, “Perhaps he wasn’t the one I saw and was just a look-alike”. As if by coincidence though, the hug which Andrew gave to her was exactly the manner in which her son had hugged her and the memories just flashed through her head. She smiles while a streak of tears ran down her eye. ‘Son seems like you did remember your mother and came to meet with her one last time’, she thought inwardly while staring upwards as if she could see the spirit of her son waving goodbye at her. But sorry ma’am, this isn’t one of those stories.
“I know you are trying to comfort me, but it’s alright. I just lost my cool for a while, I expected such a thing already but it just still hurts hearing it, that’s all”, she finally replies after being in Andrew’s hug for a while. Although she had wanted to hug Andrew back so badly, she used all her willpower to fight back against it and finally softly pulls herself from his hug.
“At least now you know why Olivia has always been so condensing towards all your attitude and even brought you forward to stay with us. She seems to take you as her little brother, and you also do behave just like he did”, she says once again with a smile on her face.
“You should probably go freshen up. It’s late already, your sister must be looking all over for you”, she says once again. “Yeah”, Andrew finally remembers that he has a sister around and finally walks towards the door.
About opening it, the old madam asks, “Do you have any idea of whom might have killed him?”. Andrew’s eyes dim on being asked such a question, those were the exact people who had killed him before he reincarnated. But he finally remembers that he was no longer the same guy of that year, and thus replies, “They were just two of them and all wore grey hoods. They didn’t bother to cover their face like they weren’t afraid of the repercussions, so I can....”.
It was at this time that he notices that blood has drained from the face of the old madam like she was experiencing a nightmare while standing there. She realizes that Andrew was still with her and thus changed back to her previous expression and said, “Thanks for the information. But I would advise that you shouldn’t ever mention anything about them to anyone”.
Andrew grabs the gist of the whole matter and nods his head. He understood that the people who were involved in the assassination were those who were even more powerful than her family even with the impulsive character of Olivia in the mix. Only one family came to his mind though but he still couldn’t fathom how they could perform such an act. But an answer quickly comes to his head as he approaches his room.
Meanwhile, back in the room, the old madam had an ugly expression on her face. It seems that she might cry the next moment or maybe laugh. Her expression was confusion, “You saw this coming didn’t you, Dylan? And that’s what you have always warned me about”.
After a while, she shakes her head and leaves the room.
Their dinner was quickly taken and actually, the old madam now seems pretty closer to Andrew. Formerly, she seems like a nice host who was taking care of her visitors. But presently, she seems like a mother taking care of her child. The warmth in her eyes while looking at Andrew was all too obvious to a fault. Even Marian notices this and wonders what could have happened between them that she didn’t know of.
She guessed it to have happened while Andrew went to look for her though, and she made a mental note to ask Andrew about it after they were through.
Around this same period, in a place not too far from the school. The etiquette teacher could be found writing something down on a piece of paper. When the writings on the paper are zoomed in, some words could now be seen. It was all made of codes which couldn’t be interpreted at all. Seems like it was a way to send messages to someone and since it was made of codes, it was something that he didn’t want anybody to know about.
After being through with the letter, he takes a messenger bird from its cage and fixes the letter properly so that it doesn’t fall off from it. He walks towards an alleyway and finally sets the bird free. After sending the bird free, he quickly runs away from that place to avoid being tracked.
After putting some distance away, he breaths in relief while saying, “I can’t wait for the new dawn to be set on this kingdom, but I do understand that it would take a long time for it all to be prepared and for now I need to do things on a low key”. All of a sudden though, the face of Andrew flashes through his head, “Just wait for me kid. I would make sure you are dead before the time approaches”, he says with a vicious expression on his face.
