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n“No one knew why they left me alive. It was something no one understood. Being the only heir of the lord, I was sent to Wilhelhum Rune’s mansion and because of what happened to my mother I killed the lord with everything I had learnt and acquired for twenty years. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get hold of the humans as the council had executed them after finding the truth of what had happened,” Nicholas explained picking up the arrow from behind and aiming at something which Heidi couldn’t see with her naked eyes.

nSeeing him draw and release the arrow in a blink of an eye before he took another one to only release it, she followed his steps to find a stag lying down on the ground. One arrow that had pierced both its eyes while the other undoubtedly went through its heart.

n“We found our dinner,” he smiled, going to the stag to pull it by its hind leg, “Let’s head back now, shall we?”

nHeidi only nodded and went back to where Nicholas had tied his horse. As it was just them today, he had brought only his horse, making her ride on his horse along with him. On their way back she stayed quiet, feeling sorry for what he and his mother had gone through. Nicholas didn’t seem upset in anyway and it made her think if there was more layers to him or the events that he had gone through had turned him to the person he was. When the mansion arrived, the butler came to pick the stag with other two men. Nicholas helped her get down from the horse and he stepped down himself.

nHeidi walked inside numbly. Thoughts lost in what Nicholas had shared with her. It wasn’t because of his character that people stayed away and avoided him. It was because Nicholas was born under different circumstances. She finally could piece out the words of his and Warren’s relatives.

nAunt Margery pursed her lips, “Is he now,” the woman asked pursing her lips, “In the beginning I didn’t understand how the council could send the girl there alone. I mean no mother or sister to accompany but it is good to hear that he is only looking over the girl because the head council asked him. He is thick blooded after all,” some of the woman nodded their head while Heidi wondered if the term ‘thick skinned’ was replaced as thick blooded here.

n“I know, what you mean! We were all so worried,” another relative spoke, her words holding hidden contempt, making her dress proper after crossing her legs, “People never change. The blood is what flows.”

nThe Perone and other family were rude and heartless to blame someone who had no control over the matter. Her eyes filled with tears at the thought of him alone in the hut with his dead mother and her heart clenched in pain. Nicholas who had turned to look at her, raised his hand to wipe the unknown tear that had slipped past her eye. He stared into her eyes, not breaking his gaze as a smile made its way to his lips.

n“We all have our pasts that is scarred with something, but isn’t that what makes us what we are today?” he ran his thumb over her eye. She wound her arms around his waist to hug him, in an effort to console the boy who had lost his mother so gruesomely in front of him.

nIt was true that things people experienced made a person who he or she was but it was what they had turned into. If it was someone else in Nicholas’ place, the boy would have feared to be around people or blood. Cooping themselves into a corner until there was no more life to give. But Nicholas hadn’t turned out like that, not even close to it. Instead, his character had done a complete change.

nHe enjoyed killing people. Having someone else’s blood on his hands gave him a feeling of exhilaration.

nAfter a while, Heidi asked, “How did you escape if you killed that man? Aren’t the council strict when it comes to the lords?”

n“They are. Lords are pretty much the head of the empires so all the matters are handled personally by the head council,” Nicholas smirked like he was laughing at an inside joke, “By the time the council members inspected and filed a report, it was written that a rabid animal tore the lord’s head because of the bite marks. Though there was councilman who found me guilty, there was no proof to any of his words. They couldn’t find the rabid animal and finally had to dismiss and close the case.”

nHeidi didn’t know if she had to praise Nicholas for escaping his life sentence so easily. To execute a plan as such, she wondered for how long he had been honing his skills just to kill the man. It also made her think on how he gave the council a slip without any errors.

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