Uneasiness
Lily looked at him suspiciously but couldn't argue with him. "You didn't tell me what you need her for?"
Carlos answered, not really caring about what she thinks of him. " i just want her to be on good hands since she was almost forced to be taken to a place she didn't want to go to and all you need to understand is that it's better for you to listen to my orders so you don't get into trouble."
Lily scoffed, "Whoever hears you is gonna think you really care about her."
Carlos chuckled. "I really do care about her. All that matters to me is that she's here now and safe with us and that you have to take care of her and do as I ordered you if you want the deal to remain as it is."
Lily's eyes narrowed as he talked about the 'deal' she held the tray tightly but just responded, "As you wish, sir."
Lily turned angrily and left as Carlos just watched her walking away and sighed tiredly, then went to his study room.
Three days after that incident, Katherine was walking around the mansion holding the black cat that she named Ruby because of her red eyes.
She walked along the long hallway till she reached a huge double door and got curious about it as she approached and opened the door to peek a bit, and realized it was the library and no one was inside.
Kathrine entered the library looking through those various books and finding each one interesting until she stopped in front of a green book with a white title, "the hidden sanctuary."
When she was about to take the book, Ruby out of the blue became aggressive and clawed her using her paw, blood came out of the wound as she let go of Ruby abruptly with a yelp and held her wrist "What's wrong with you Ruby?..."
Katherine left the library so she could at least clean the wound, and it didn't take long for her to meet another servant on her way that she helped her with the wound.
When she went back inside the library but couldn't find Ruby nor the book, she thought maybe Ruby went to wonder a bit or maybe she was hungry so she went to look for food, but what she found strange was that the book disappeared.
-Someone was her and took the book...- Kathrine thought.
And soon enough, the answer to her question appeared with a deep voice speaking behind her. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on your bed resting?"
Katherine turned toward the voice and saw Carlos behind him, a man wearing a uniform that resembled Carlos's uniform, but with less badges, the different thing about this man is that he had black wings on his back, with black hair and white eyes he looked at her surprised since he didn't see another human here.
Katherine looked at the man surprised, especially because of the wings, and found it a bit scary and took a step back, but she managed to answer Carlos's question. "I- I just wanted to wonder a bit in this mansion. If you don't like me wondering in your house, then it's your fault since you're the one who brought me here."
Carlos chuckled. "Well, good point, but no, you can wonder how much you like. It doesn't bother me at all, plus I don't care since I'm not here all the time."
The man spoke up. "Well, what a surprise, I didn't think that you'd have brought another human other than Lily, Carlos."
Carlos looked at the man and said, "Why not? I like seeing them at my mercy and some I'm merciful with them to the point of 'saving' them, I thought you knew me well enough Stefan"
The man named Stefan looked at him suspiciously but then smiled, "Of course, sir."
Katherine glared at them cautiously, and Stefan noticed it and smiled warmly as he bowed slightly in a respectful manner and said, "Don't worry, I'm Stefan the Deputy sir Carlos."
Katherine was a bit surprised. "Deputy?" She turned her head toward Carlos."What does he mean by 'your' deputy?"
Carlos smiled as he looked at her, then nodded while smiling. "Exactly, I'm the head of the army in this empire."
Katherine was surprised that he had a high rank, just like she predicted.
"At least i was right about something. i suspected you had a high rank in society because of your uniform."
Carlos's smile didn't fade. "That's good to hear since it proves that you've regained your capacity to guess and analyze."
Katherine narrowed her eyes at him. "Yeah, maybe..."
Stefan felt the heavy air settling. "Well, did you find something interesting in the library?"
Katherine smiled. "I'm still looking through the shelves... Carlos, since when were you here in the library?"
Carlos smiled gently "No Katherine, i entered after you... why? Did something happen?"
Katherine looked at him, and at Stefan "no... nothing happened, everything's fine."
Carlos answered, "I'm glad to hear that, I don't want my guest to be uncomfortable in my house oh i just remembered, lily told me you've found a cat and named her ruby, where is she?."
Kathrine narrowed her eyes a bit. "Lily told you?.. Ruby clawed me, and when I came back after cleaning the wound, I didn't find her.. do you know where she might be?"
Stefan shook his head no. " Carlos was with me since the morning, and we didn't see a cat at all."
Katherine just looked at him for a bit."Sure, I think she's just wondering around, and it won't take long to find her."
Carlos said, "I'm free right now, wanna leave this mansion and walk a bit in the capital? I'm sure when we'll be back, you'll find Ruby waiting for you."
Katherine was a bit surprised. "Well... I don't know..."
Carlos responded, "Maybe it's gonna help change air a bit. In addition, my younger brother wanted to walk in the capital, so I think it's a good way for you to meet him and have a bit of a distraction."
Katherine turned her head, looking outside the library window at the many houses, then turned her attention toward him again."Sure.. why not?"
Carlos's smile widened. "Change your clothes while I'll tell the butler to prepare the carriage, take your time, Katherine..."
Carlos and Stefan turned and left the library without another word.
As soon as they left and the door closed behind them, Katherine started to look around the shelves again to try and find the strange white book, she tried to look in every corner without taking too much time to not let Carlos suspect because of her being late but couldn't find it anywhere and was getting flustered.
-I swear the book was right here... someone entered right after I left to clean the wound... but who? That's so irritating... I've already lost too much time in searching for this book. I need to change my clothes quickly so he won't suspect why I'm late..-
Katherine left the library directing toward her room, where she found Lily cleaning.
Katherine frowned. "Lily... you told Carlos about Ruby?.."
Lily looked at her, then continued cleaning."Of course, it's his house, after all."
Katherine fell silent at Lily's words and clinched her fists. She was right... Carlos is the owner of this house... anything was gonna reach his ears, no matter what it is, but she still smiled at her.
"Sure... you're right, Lily. It's his house. He knows everything that goes on in this mansion, I just hope that I still have some privacy."
Lily smile "don't worry about it. He does respect privacy."
Katherine looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes but eventually smiled. "I hope so, anyway, Carlos wants to take me out and meet his brother, you live here, so you must know about the culture here.."
Lily smiled brightly. "That's great, in terms of clothes, there's plenty of choices in the dressing room"
Lily started walking to the dressing room but stopped in the middle of her way and turned to Katherine, and her smiled turned cold "Don't ever say the name of the emperor 'Lucifer' outside of this mansion if you wanna stay alive"
Katherine felt chill running down her spine at her words but then frowned with a bit of fear. "Why? I remember you've said a few days ago 'he's known to be strong and not have mercy for anyone that's why everyone follows the rules without hesitation so as not to be punished by him' does it have something to do with it? If yes, may I know what is needed to be known so I won't walk into the lion's den?"
Lily smiled. "Well, there are rules that are similar to the ones in your world, and these rules, 1_ don't mention the name of the emperor or talk about the royal family. 2_ When you meet a member of the royal family, don't look at their faces. 3_ it's totally prohibited to Forest of Oblivion. And 4_ be respectful with those who have a higher rank than yours. If you respect these rules, you'll be okay." Lily posed and then continued "oh I almost forgot, don't trust anyone out there. It might cost you your soul."
And with that, Lily turned and went to the dressing room to get a good dress made for promenade as Kathrine was still standing there processing the rules but as she thought about it she only found other questions instead of answers.
Soon enough, Lily returned with a beautiful white dress that had elegant touches of gray as if it were stains in the form of flowers.
Katherine was surprised by the dress but could only feel an uneasy feeling settling in her chest. "I like it..."
Fumiko put on the dress and left the room, heading towards the big double door of the mansion where Carlos was waiting for her.
Katherine spoke, "Sorry for being late..."
Carlos smiled and answered her with the same gentle voice. "I've told you, take your time."
Katherine frowned a bit, but before she could speak, Carlos made a sign for the guards to open the door.
When they opened the door, Katherine saw a big dark blue carriage with silver borders with four black horses attached to it.
Carlos didn't let Katherine make a reaction as he took her hand respectfully and gently and guided her toward the carriage and helped her get in.