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nSimeon opened his mouth to answer his question, “He found her on a street in Accua. It’s one of the towns that’s situated not far from the borderline that separates Woville and Bonelake. His wife pitied her and wanted to give her a home.”

n“Why didn’t he adopt her then? Why leave her here?”

n“At that time, Raymond moved a lot and his wife was already pregnant who couldn’t handle another child. He convinced me and Helen to take her in and we did. There was nothing more to it”

n“What about her actual parents?” Nicholas continued to ask to see Simeon shake his head.

n“I don’t know. We never went to look for them. We didn’t even know her name when she was brought here,” the man answered truthfully, his gaze fell to his son who laid on the ground and went back to meet the lord’s eyes, “We answered everything you wanted to know. Please let my son go, Lord Nicholas,” he pleaded but the lord didn’t budge from his position and instead rolled his shoe over his son’s head.

n“I am not done asking question, Mr. Curtis,” Lord Nicholas gave him a sharp look and then asked him the last question, “What were the lies you spoke before your son arrived?”

nNora didn’t know how she had missed his menacing aura that surrounded the room. His words were dull and quiet. If Nora wasn’t scared before she definitely was now.

n“Nora. Why don’t you do the honours dear?” the lord called her, waiting for her to speak. Her throat had gone utterly dry and no sound came out of her mouth when she opened her mouth to speak. The lord sighed and suddenly her brother began screaming and thrashing on the ground.

nPanicked, she spoke quickly, “Wait! Wait! I will tell you,” her eyes looked terrified.

n“I just don’t know what is up with the humans not talking unless being tortured. Makes me feel that your kind is quite a masochist,” he smirked at the entertainment they were providing him with.

n“I-I...When we were on our way home from Bonelake, Heidi escaped and that is the truth! We don’t know where she is. I swear to God that we don’t. We didn’t do anything but she ran away. She ran away before too when she heard about her marriage to Mr. Lawson for the truce. That is the whole truth!” she cried.

n“I apologize on my daughter’s behalf for the lies she spewed but that is what it is. We don’t know where Heidi is but we will find her,” Mr. Curtis spoke solemnly.

n“Please don’t fret about it. If you wanted to find her, you would have done it when you out about her when she escaped but seeing that you haven’t...well,” he pushed his leg further as the sound of bones cracking under his feet was heard.

n“Stop!”

n“Daniel!” Both Mr. Curtis and Nora cried out but the lord finished what he had started until the head he had his feet on had been crushed like a melon that had been dropped on the ground, spilling the contents inside it.

n“No,” whispered Nora in shock at the fact that her brother had paid price for the lie she had spun. It was a white lie which anyone could have uttered, a harmless one which didn’t change the truth that her sister had escaped from them, “D-Daniel did nothing. W-why d-did you kill him? WHY?” she screamed.

nIn a blink on an eye, he stood right behind her, “Ssh, you don’t want another body to be added along with your loving brother now, would you?” Nora began to sob, her hands covering the whimper that passed her lips while her father stood in shock, staring at his son’s dead body. After a few seconds, the old man fell on his knees in regret as he stared at his eldest child who had been brutally killed in front of his very own eyes.

nFurious in anger, he turned to look at the lord and before he could say anything the lord beat him to it, “The same holds for you Mr. Curtis.”

n“Daniel had nothing to with it! How dare you threaten me in my own house!” Mr. Curtis growled, getting up he went to take a swing at the lord but the lord was too quick for him to keep up and in turn got a punch thrown in his face.

n“Mr. Curtis, I would require a favour from you.”

n“And what makes you think I would help you?” growled Mr. Curtis and his eyes widened when the lord casually placed his hand on Nora’s head, “I have heard how precious your daughter is to you. Aren’t you papa’s girl?” he shook her head lightly. The sobs that were passing through her mouth suddenly seized and she began to tremble with fear knowing what the lord was capable of.

n“God won’t leave you unpunished for what you have done,” Nicholas’ head bent back in laughter, “Ah, the human kind. I must say your kind is oddly entertaining. Anyways...” he trailed, making sure the man was listening to him which he was, “Go back to your brother or the Duke himself and tell him to stop the trouble he is brewing and I hope for your own good he does.”

nA crow cawed outside, drawing Nicholas’ attention outside the window. With a single flick of his finger over the girl’s forehead and she fell unconscious in a second in his arms.

n“What did you do to her, you son of-”

n“Careful there, Mr. Curtis,” Nicholas clicked his tongue in distaste, “I don’t believe you to keep your word and therefore I will be taking your daughter as an insurance along with me. Don’t worry I won’t kill her but if I find out that you have tattled like a rat to anyone except for passing on the message, I will give you and your family something worse than death. Until later then,” Nicholas asked his guards to pick up the girl and place her in the carriage.

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