"No! I will not do anything to Aile, no matter how much you threaten me." Jana replied, her voice was laced with bitterness and a sense of dread, but she denied him resolutely.
"You are a lowly maid, you should be grateful to get this opportunity…" Said that husky voice.
Slap
Slap
Slap
Hearing this, and the sounds of slaps, Aile had become furious. Jana, the person who took care of him, was getting abused, but he could not do anything.
She did not betray him, but he could not protect her.
He tried to shout and scream for help, but as a little kid, he could do nothing.
His shouts were not heard in such a big house, even if it was, what could come of it. It is not like he could explain the situation.
"A lot of people would have hoped for such an opportunity, but you denied it… such a shame…"
"I was told not to come back until that bastard is killed since you are not willing to help. I will have to kill him now… and I will make sure you hear his screams. Do not worry, I will send you both to the afterlife."
Aile had an awful premonition.
Then he heard Jana's painful scream.
"Nah,"
Followed by "thud," it sounded like something falling down.
"Bitch, why are you shouting" came that husky voice followed by the sounds of kicking.
Cough
Cough
Cough
Then Aile heard her cough very weakly. At this moment, he had a strange feeling gripping his heart.
"Damn it, that sound must have alerted someone, I guess I have to kill that bastard now…" then, Aile heard the sounds of footsteps approaching his room.
Aile was too mad to notice that he was in a dangerous situation. His anger was raging.
He was too angry to notice, but in his soul, the dark half was pulsating in excitement. It was like the rage was feeding it.
The footsteps reached his door, and it was opened.
He saw a man wearing a concealing mask and robe.
He looked at Aile, "Sorry kid, you will leave the world before you experience it… hehe, do not worry, it is not a good place, so you are not missing out on much… hahaha."
Aile, seeing and hearing the man, noticed that he was in danger.
Then, the man took out a small dagger from his sleeve and threw it at Aile.
Swish
Clang
The flying dagger was blocked.
A person stood in front of Aile, It was Hazel.
"Who has the nerve to come to my house and kill people?"
The masked man saw that his knife was easily blocked. He jumped out of the window and ran away. He knew that he could not fight her, so he just escaped.
Aile noticed that someone came, he cried and with his hands, he animatedly pointed towards the door.
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Hazel had lived with Aile for so long and never seen him cry. She was surprised by his action now. She hesitated, but picked him up, and for some unknown reason followed his instruction, and followed him to the door.
Then Aile kept on pointing towards where he heard Jana's voice last.
Upon arriving, he saw the bloodied face and body of Jana, Aile's anger raised to the extreme as he shouted and screamed. Seeing the state of Jana, Hazel immediately closed Aile's eyes and screamed for help.
Aile was in shock and did not understand the situation. Hazel was looking at Aile with a complicated gaze.
She probably thought, "How did Aile know something happened here?"
Aile did not remember the rest as he was in shock mentally, he just woke up the next day.
He thought it was a dream, but it was too real. So he used his hearing to the max to find out the situation.
From the many bits of conversation between the maids and guards, he found out what he saw was true. Jana was taken to the healer, and they had no more news.
Aile felt useless, he did not want anyone that he liked to face a problem like this ever again.
He went in-depth into improving his senses and cultivation.
Days passed, and there was no news of Jana, Aile had not rested in these days, and focused on training himself to get better.
Then there was a great noise in the entire house, Duke White had come, and he was reprimanding the guards.
He then came and looked at Aile and examined him. He saw that he was fine, then he just left. Duke White met with Hazel outside and just said that a few people would come to live here. It was three maids and Marcus for protection.
These three maids would come with Marcus.
Aile had heard Duke White, that new people would come to the estate, but he did not really care about that at the moment.
He was desperate to hear news of Jana, but he could not get any. Thus, he just internalized his anxiousness and hate. All he could do was dived deep into cultivation and improve himself.
A few days passed, Aile had been paying attention to the conversation in and around the estate. However, there was no news of Jana, in fact, the conversation had changed multiple time over the days.
Aile concluded that people here do not value human life, and no one cares about Jana's fate. She was just another maid to everyone else.
Aile sighed at his weakness.
Then, he heard the rhythmic sound of hoofs hitting the ground. This was a very memorable sound to Aile. He knew it was the sound of the horse-like creature he had ridden on.
He had memorized this sound as he was training his senses during that time.
Soon the horse-like creatures stop in front of the mansion's entrance.
From them came 3 ladies, 3 kids and Marcus.
They entered the house, and Hazel met with them. She took them to the guest room downstairs, and they picked their rooms.
Marcus picked one room.
The three ladies picked a room each.
Two of the kids were living with one lady, one went with the other.
After that, the ladies settled down, and unlike Hazel; they did not have storage rings. Thus, most of their staff were in boxes, and they brought them to their rooms and unpacked.
Aile had been listening to the sounds and had been keeping track of them.
With the addition of more people, the house got a better vibe and more energy.
Later in the evening, the three ladies came to Aile's room. They wanted to see Aile, as they would be responsible for taking care of him. Aile was not in a pleasant mood since he did not have any news of Jana.
They stayed in Aile's room for a few hours.
By this time he figured out that the name of the three was Emily, Fiona, Diana.
Diana was Marcus's wife, and they had been married for 2 years. She was beautiful; she had long brown hair. Her eyes were royal blue, they could easily be mistaken for black. However, if light directly hit them, they would show their beautiful blue colour.
She had a noble bearing, and she had 2 kids with Marcus. One boy 1-year-old, and a girl who was had been born a few months ago. She wore a long black baggy dress. She looked exhausted.
The other two's information really surprised Aile, almost making him giggle.
Fiona and Emily were the wives of the two mercenaries that Duke White killed in that cave.
Apparently, after Marcus finished with Duke White's business, he went to Fiona and Emily. He told the grim news and then proposed to them.
They had rejected him, after which he invites them to come and work under Duke White. They accepted knowing that they had lost their backers.
They cursed Marcus blatantly, and every time they mentioned him, contempt was visible in their eyes and face. There was more to the story, but it seemed Aile would not hear of it now.
What was surprising was Diana seemed to not care about them publicly cursing Marcus. She did not seem to like Marcus either. Aile looked down on Marcus, his opinions of Marcus dropped further.
Fiona was the young mercenary's wife. They had just married for a day when he left on the mission with Marcus. She looked very young.
She had shoulder-length silver hair. She had light blue eyes, her eyes had a bright gleam. From the way she talked, she seemed confident and very smart.
Fiona had a magnificent body, and she was dressed in a white dress, making her look very attractive. She seemed to have a lot of plans to improve, gain power and not just stay as a maid.
Emily was the wife of the other mercenary. She had a little daughter; she seemed to be born 7 months ago. This was approximately the same time as Aile and Sara.
She had an athletic build highlighting her curves. She had reddish-brown hair tied in a ponytail, and she had an icy personality. She contributed little to the conversation. Emily just listened to Fiona and mostly nodded to her comments.
She had tight leather clothing, and if one looked at her, they would assume she was an assassin.