Silence permeated through the air. Sarah had cold sweat flowing profusely, but she hid it well enough to not let her host know about it. There was something about Sebastian's current aura that struck fear into the hearts of those who dare get close to him, but in reality, it was just one of his mood swings.

Sebastian stared at his guest while he remembered the unpleasant memories piercing and holding his mind together. He was finally able to be set free from his cage that his family has set for him. Due to his inborn talents for both mental and physical tasks, he was set to become the next head of the Mortem family.

From a very young age, he was trained in almost every aspect, twice as hard as any other noble or commoner. The results? Excellent skills and remarkable instincts at such a young age. The catch though? The skills and instincts put a toll onto his child-like mind, always threathening to break his will and sanity if he were to let his guard down, if for even a moment.

The responsibilities he held at such a young age would normally kill any sane adult's mind, but it was a miracle the child's mind and soul was still intact. Thus, he was caged by the responsibilities set by his family, and attempting to escape by force proved to be a futile effort, as they would train him even harder.

And now, he finally found a way out of the acursed mental cage set to lock him in place.

"Sarah, since no one else is here, we can drop the formalities," he sighed a little, thinking he was finally able to relax his posture.

Sarah was unsure why her host sighed, causing confusion to sprout within her. Her look must've betrayed her, since her host immediately answered her questions.

"Oh, no, no! You didn't do anything upsetting. It's just... I finally found salvation, mine, in fact," Sebastian spoke calmly.

"Wha-" Before Sarah’s question was finished, Sebastian spoke again.

"Well, the one you love is the one who can bring me salvation, of course. Ever since I've been caged, I've never known true freedom. But now, the one who can free me has finally appeared," he then continued," May I request a meeting with your... boyfriend?"

"Uh, oh! No! No, no, no, h-he's n-not my b-b-boyfriend.." Sarah instantly rejected Sebastian’s words while blushing,

"Well, I did saw him fly away into the forest. To think he was behind the unwanted pregnancy cases as well.. What a surprise," Sebastian spoke as if he didn’t know what he knew.

"You know he's the one behind it all!? Please don't tell the court! I beg you!" Sebastian's words must’ve shocked her since she shook a little while begging.

"I won't tell the court bout it. I already told you, he's my salvation, didn't I?" Sebastian repeated the last part of his sentence again to Sarah. His guest was continued tearing even though he already rejected the idea.

"T-then what do you want from me?" Sarah sounded please.

"I want you to get him to teach me how he caused the unwanted pregnancies, so I could claim the act was done by me," Sebastian explained.

"Why would you want to shoulder the responsibility?" Her mouth was hung open.

"If I were caught, then my family will think I'm not fit to be the next Mortem. That will end my misery and free me from my cage. Although I'd still be jailed, I'll escape and follow the one you love, for the rest of my life, perhaps, or something like that," the determined tone hinted that Sebastian was set on doing what he planned.

"Ok then.. I'll have to ask him first," Sarah then continued after a slight pause, "There's just one problem,"

"And what's that?" Sebastian's determined look was still unwavered as he looked at Sarah.

"He's somewhere lost in the forest, you see.." She replied apologetically.

"What!? There are trolls living within the forest nearby, are you serious?" Sebastian then got up and bounced to the door. The door opened the moment he was going to crash into it.

"Where are you going?" 

"To get help in order to get him out of there!" Sebastian sounded a little mad.

"It's Tenur. His name is Tenur," Sarah told him.

Two butlers came, bowing when they see Sebastian standing there.

"Where are you going, young master?" The one nearest to the him asked.

"Send two squads into the forest to search for a teenager who has.. What are his characteristics, Sarah!?" Sebastian turned back to look at the catching up Sarah.

"He.. He has dark brown hair, with a brownish white skin tone. Oh yea, he's also tall and considerably fit," Sarah told Sebastian.

"Heard that, you two? Now go and send those squads to search for him. Remember to tell them his characteristics!" Sebastian ordered the now hurrying butlers.

There were beads of sweat embedded onto Sebastian's forehead. For the first time, he felt the unsettling feeling of having cold sweat. It was a bad feeling to have, he decided.

He then turned to Sarah and told her, "Go home, and be careful of your mother. She may kill you in your sleep, or that child of yours."

Without any chance to protest, Sarah went straight home. She was hurrying since the thought of her own mother strangling her child to death scared her. She ran as fast as her high heels allowed on the cobblestone road.

Well, he did treat me pretty well..

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Back home, Andrew was playing with his toys when Della suddenly burst through the front door, heaving heavily.

”Grandma! Grandma! Are you ok?” Andrew went to help his grandmother walk, only for her to refuse his help.

”But why are you panting and heaving so heavily? Are you chased by someone or something?”

The sprouting curiosity showed itself through Andrew’s gaze. Anyone would’ve been pacified the moment they looked at him, but his grandmother’s gaze became one of disgust.

It shook him for his grandmother to actually look at him in disgust.

"But.. why?" Tears gathered, glistening in the sun lit living room. It held a type of emotion he never felt before.

Suddenly, his grandmother squeezed him by his shoulders. The only thing that prevented him from being actually squeezed to death was his pectoral bones, even those were beginning to fracture from the increasing pressure his grandmother exerted.

A sudden fluctuation of mana interrupted his distress. The mana were seeping into his grandmother's muscles, bones and tendons, releasing the natural limiter a human has in order to protect themselves.

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"Argh, a marionette.."

The only explanation he has so far is, his grandmother, Della, is experiencing an incredible amount of emotion, thus allowing stray marionettes to easily possess and take control of her.

As he concluded, the force applied onto his bones were almost triple the amount from the beginning, there were also capillaries visible on his grandmother's eyeballs, proving the exertion is actually harming her a lot.

His bone began to fracture as a result from the contionuously increasing pressure. The pressure also caused him to take in shallow breath only, due to the pain acting only when he takes deep breaths.

"Ugh! Grandma! Stop!" There was no response other than the continuous increment of strenght and the gritting of teeth.

Having no other choice, Andrew manipulated the mana that was now directed at both his grandmother's limbs and head. The marionette was trying to take over Della while she was still conscious so that it could devour the poor soul.

"W-rong.. Mo-oo-ove!" Focusing mana onto the contact point between his grandmother's hands and his skin, he ignited the mana through the sudden conversion of mana into attributed-mana.

What followed was a chain reaction that flowed away from him. The reaction continued up to his grandmother's limbs, then her head and after that, along the mana supply channels. This caused the marionette to suddenly jerk away from its host in order to protect itself, but it was too late, for the reaction already reached its mana pool, burning it up.

"Die.. Bitch! Et non nocere" With those final words, a spell was cast by Andrew to purge the marionette from this world.

Although the marionette was left half dead (in its spirit form), it tried to interrupt the purging process. What it gained in return for its effort was an etherium shock that was only capable of being produced by a being who transcends man. The marionette's mana pool was then brought out of the world, through a magic circle that formed and disappeared through a split second.

Della, without the supply of mana for supporting her strength, collapsed onto the ground. There was a silent 'thud' when she knocked her head on the wooden floorboard.

Andrew's gaze wandered to his grandmother. Thinking she had suffered a lot, he supplied mana into his arms in order to increase his strength and carry his grandmother back to her room. As no sound rebounded, the atmosphere was strangely peaceful, other than the occasional cicada hummings.

----------------------------------------

When Sarah came through the front door, she couldn't catch sight of her mother. There was nobody in the living room, so she thought it was strange.

"Where's Andrew.. No.." Emotion welled up as she suppresed the urge to scream. There was a hot feeling swelling in her chest, threathening to burst open if she were to not resist it.

"Ok, ok.. Check everywhere first.." Sarah told herself.

Obviously, her child wasn't in the living room, so she went to check the other rooms. FInally, the mother found her beloved child in her parent's bedroom.

Andrew was sitting on a chair next to the bed, nursing his grandmother. She was on the bed, with blankets insulating her from the coolness of the surroundings. When Sarah entered, Andrew looked at her with a sad gaze.

"Mom.." Andrew started.

"No sweetie.. It's alright.. It's alright.." Sarah immediately walked forward and embraced her child.

"But.. But! Grandma.." Tears were once again welling up in Andrew's eyes, threathening to flood the room if it were released.

"It's alright honey.. All that matters is you're safe.." Sarah held her child tightly, because the moment she came into the room, she felt the stench of death lingering.

To find her own child safe, instead of her own mother. It was a price she had to pay, in order for her child to survive. She knew the moment she directly refused the marriage proposal, bad things were going to happen. But it did not occur to her that the death of a loved one would become a possibility.

Realising the fact when she was halfway back home, she prayed for her child to be safe, instead of her mother. Everything led down to this moment.

The both of them, mother and child, cried as their family member's consciousness faded into oblivion. The corpse remaining had flowers blooming over it all of a sudden, and as if the flowers were part of Della's corpse, the moment the flowers fell away, was the moment the corpse no longer existed.

The only thing that did not decompose into flowers as well was a leather bound book. There was the stench of mushroom coming from it, but the sweetness of a pandan plant's aroma could be perceived.

"Mom, that's..!" Andrew yelled in surprise.

"Huh? What's this..?" Sarah turned around while her eyes were still swollen from crying, only to lay them on the book left behind.

"It's a grimoire! I didn't know grandma was a mage or sorcerer.."

"Well, mom had her mysteries as well.. So, what should we do with it?" Sarah wiped away the remaining tears.

"You should contract with it, mom, since you're related by blood to grandma,"

"So are you,"

"Yea, but you're closer to grandma's bloodline, maximising0 the success rate for inheriting it," Andrew explained.

Staring at her own child who was looking back at her, Sarah sighed. Since she had no other options on what to do with it, she went and picked it up.

A ghastly voice resounded in Sarah's mind, attempting to communicate with her.

"You.. are the daughter of Della Henck, yes?”

”W-who are you?”

”I am the marionette contracted to your mother. It seems you would like to continue her contract, yes?”

Not sure what the voice meant, Sarah hesitated for a moment, but the moment was seized by Andrew.

”You!” Andrew shouted as he stared at his mother.

”What, child!? Wait, you’re the one who casted me into the ehtereal realm! How dare you!?” The marionette was angered just by realising this fact. It did not think that such a feat could be produced by a mere child.

Looking at him closely, the marionette then noticed something out of the ordinary.

”Child.. your soul is but a mere fragment,”

Andrew was surprised that the marionette was able to perceive his soul. Feeling harassed, he fired insults at it.

”You..! You dirty mongrel! How dare you look at something so private! You should be ashamed! Did your previous not teach you manners!?”

”Wha-.. How dare you insult me! I am a first rate marionette, the pride of all marionettes. Shaming me.. I will not forgive you!” Creating a channel from the ethereal realm, it tried to assault Andrew.

To a being who is not at least 50% mana made, they would see that pure and untainted man was suddenly forming out of thin air. But to Andrew, the channel supplying the mana was increasing in size. Seeing this, he wrapped a barrier made of environmental mana to keep the channel from expanding.

”Stop! Both of you!” Sarah yelled while looking at Andrew and where the channel was located at.

Both her son and the marionette stopped struggling and looked at her. There was an intimidating aura surrounding her, and it would surely cow even the toughest person.

”Andrew, release your barrier now. And you, marionette, do not attempt to harm my son, or else I shall cast you away for eternity,” Sarah glared at the bolt of pure mana that began dissipating. Her gaze seemed to even pierce the dimensional barrier between herself and the marionette.

”Marionette, I want you to explain to me, what the contract made by Della Henck said. Do not leave any information,”

”Yes, mistress. First condition, the contractor holds the absolute authority to command the marionette. Second condition, the marionette must not harm the contractor, even possessing is not allowed. Third condition, marionette must keep contractor safe, and must not betray him or her. Fourth condition, marionette is allowed to remain in the physical realm. Fifth condition, when contractor is in a condition where mental state is unstable, marionette is allowed to gain control of contractor’s body, in order to prevent harm. Sixth condition, contract is heritable, and descendants may choose to continue contract or end contract. If contract is to end, marionette is set free into the physical realm and is no longer bound by contract. Requirement, all descendants disagree to continue contract, or all heritable descendants are dead.”

”Do I have any other relatives that can continue the contract?”

”No.”

Sarah pondered for a moment on whether or not she would take charge of the contact. If she confirms, then the marionette will be bound to her until she dies and after that, inherited to her son. But if she denies, there’s a chance that the marionette after being set free, will come back to kill her and others as well.

While she's thinking hard about it, her son dissuaded her from continuing the contract.

"Mom.. Don't do it.. You'll be trapped forever!"

He constantly gave reasons, until his mother finally made the decision.

"I accept, marionette. Do it,"

"Very well. Now," the marionette manifested itself into the physical realm. Then, it started drawing a symbol with formulas within it on the floor.

"Please stand in the circle, mistress,"

Sarah reluctantly stood inside it. The circle flashed a rainbow of colours around her, illuminating even the darkest of corners in her home. The both of them, mother and child, felt amazed and bewildered at the sight, as the light show was nothing they have ever seen before.

Then, as soon as a radiant yellow light shone through, the light show was over, alongside the fading circle that gradually disappeared into the ground, as if it was never there to begin with.

"I am now bound to you, mistress," The marionette bowed down at Sarah. Sarah felt another feeling foreign to her formerself: pure, ethereal magic.

"W-what's the mana surge doing to my mother!? You filthy thot!" Andrew shouted at the marionette accusingly. The marionette merely side eyed him before explaining.

"Since I'm now bound to her soul, my mana is basically hers to control."

Sarah felt exhausted for various reasons she could not understand. Feeling her mother's fatigue, Andrew helped her mother get to the sofa. Somehow, Sarah still wasn't able to relax as a thought kept crossing her mind.

Where are you, Tenur?