Crowned - 12 | Payment Settlement!

 

CHAPTER 12

Elvira remained skeptical of the tomfoolery brewing under her name and the alleged magic associated with it. Only cold hard proof – other than Kaeo’s estranged body – could soothe either Kairo’s delusion or her troubled mind.

“I will accept it only if you take me back to the Count’s Estate,” Elvira demanded.

“Why would you want to go back to a place you were trapped in?” Kairo sighed as he leaned in and placed his elbows on the table.

A portion of food separated them. Though, surprisingly, even after being unconscious for five days, Elvira did not have the urge to scarf down the free meal.

“I need to make sure that my friends are alright,” she replied.

“You have friends?!” Kairo exclaimed, at the same time as Kaeo banged his fist over the table.

“I knew it! You were the one who caused the fire!” he rejoiced.

Elvira and Kairo turned to face at Kaeo, who was busy scarfing down breakfast on the opposite end of the table.

“I was trying to save my friend,” Elvira mumbled and let her head hang.

“Arsonist,” Kaeo supplied, “You’re truly one of us.”

“I cannot believe you made new friends…” Kairo sighed, “I spent five years trying to locate you and you were busy forging fresher bonds…I halted my research on Linch Blood because I wanted to complete it with you…” his words faded into a whisper.

“Woah,” Elvira gasped and backed into the cushioned chair, “That is so nice of you. I didn’t even know that you were real…I never tried escaping because,” her voice cracked, “because I had no home to go back to. At least I had people I cared for, back at the Estate,” Elvira sniffled.

“You were our first friend,” Kairo mumbled, “Of course I would never give up on you, like you did not give up on Kaeo.”

Teary-eyed Elvira and a pouting Kairo turned to face Kaeo. The ravenette paid no heed to them as he was busy shoving rolls down his throat.

Elvira grimaced at the sight.

“Can you leave me back at the Estate?” Elvira asked again, turning to Kairo.

“Can I come along? I want to see these friends of yours,” Kairo narrowed his eyes at the food, ‘I want to see which friends would let Elvira be abused on the regular and still be worth a second thought.’ he thought.

He stood up and with a snap of his fingers, a magic circle appeared under his feet. “Let’s go, I’ll protect you this time,” he said as he held out a hand for Elvira.

The brunette got out of her chair and walked around the table to stand by Kairo’s side.

It was Kaeo who took Kairo’s hand instead, “Leffs goh, brafa!” (Let’s go, brother!) he exclaimed with a mouth full of food as he stepped over the circle.

“Why is he going?” Elvira frowned.

“Gof sum payments to settle,” Kaeo brushed her off.

Kairo passed her a sheepish smile before snapping his fingers.

To say Elvira missed this magic would be an understatement. In no more than a second, they were halfway across the nation and inside the Count’s Estate without the hassle of travelling or showing identification involved. 

Elvira made a mental note to ask Kairo about the rules of Teleportation Magic because there was no logical way for them to be standing inside the East Wing Hallway without him ever having visited it.

“You stay here, I’ll go,” Elvira whispered and stepped out of the circle.

Instantly, Kaeo pushed past them and walked ahead.

Frowning, Elvira took two longer steps to walk ahead of him.

The ravenette scowled and jogged past her in order to be at the front.

By the end of the hallway, Elvira and Kaeo were squabbling like children competing to walk past a door.

Kairo, willingly behind them, shook his head in utter disappointment.

Elvira elbowed Kaeo and walked through the door first, frowning at how silent the Estate was. This time around, maids should have been busy cleaning the window crevices and dusting the doorknobs and hinges.

Kaeo swore under his breath. “First you poach my magic and now you attack me ever so violently!” he seethed in her ear.

Elvira paid no heed to his words for her eyes caught sight of Sinclair walking toward the Count’s meeting room. Elvira ran up to her side, panting, as she called out her name.

The butler’s assistant turned to face the voice and her eyes widened at the sight before her. Instinctively, her feet shuffled backwards and her grip on the tray in her hands loosened. The ovular metal fell to the floor, its thunder echoing in the silent hallway.

“E-e-elvira?” Sinclair gasped.

“Sinclair,” Elvira stated bluntly.

“Y-you are alive…as well…?” Sinclair raised a finger to point at her face.

Kaeo and Kairo walked up to Elvira’s side, which cued a scandalized Sinclair to back into the charred walls.

“A-angels of death! Has my time come?!” Sinclair wailed, backing into a corner. Her mouth quivered and her eyes barely held Elvira’s gaze.

“Sinclair, are you okay? It is me, Elvira, I did not die—is anyone else dead? What happened to Clary?” Elvira asked, stepping in front of Sinclair.

Sinclair furrowed her brows, scrutinizing Elvira’s face. When her assessment deemed Elvira worthy, Sinclair stuttered out a response.

“O-oh, you, you disappeared, everyone thought you died…and Clary, um…Clary is sort of gone…?”

“Gone?”

Tears overwhelmed her eyes but Elvira could only blink them away. A tear slid past her cheek and caught a glimpse of sunlight. It sparkled like the crystal shards rushing towards her, all those nights ago, when Clary pushed her out of the window.

Clary saved her.

Sinclair picked up the metal tray, “Come with me,” she said as she grabbed Elvira’s wrist and led her into the meeting room.

A scowling Kaeo and frowning Kairo followed.

The meeting room was where Count Aramia hosted the commonfolk to hear out their grievances. It was a room on the farthest west of the estate, with its own entry and exit-ways for the commoners. The detached nature of the hall would be the only reason why it survived the massive fire.

A wall of maid-backs greeted them upon entrance. Like the rest of the estate, the meeting room was also a picture of glazed hardwood, antique furniture and tapestries. The commoners had an entry door on the far left, in front of which Elvira spotted Yuna and Lira. Her eyes widened as she followed their line of sight; horror struck her gaze as she backed into a hard chest. Her nostrils flared and squirmed while her ears were assaulted by the screams of agony.

On the small elevated stage at the end of the room were two gold carved chairs, designated for the Count and Countess. Since Count Aramia was unmarried, the smaller throne chair remained empty.

Until a few days ago.

“Is…is that what I see it is?”

Sinclair nodded.

“A-aren’t they supposed to be…?” Elvira frowned.

“A decade ago,” Sinclair replied, her tone equally chill.

For, on the thrones, were seated two people whom Elvira had only seen in pictures before. Their portraits were in the Count’s office, Elvira remembered glancing upon them everytime she cleaned. The pointy chin and upturned moustache of the beady eyed former Count and the triangular face and hooked nose of the former Countess.

Elvira could not believe her eyes when they substituted the people from the pictures on the throne chair.

The dead Count and Countess were sitting on the throne chairs, smirking, with an evil glint in their eye as—

Elvira clutched her heart.

It was Clary.

She was standing beside the Countess, dressed in a shiny black suit, wielding a whip in her right hand. She struck the whip against the ground and a shaggy haired man, curled up on the ground, whimpering.

“Told you, Clary is gone.”

The whip wielding, curly-blonde haired and newly dark eyed Clary burst into a hearty laughter.

“Yeah…well…”

Am I still dreaming?

Elvira couldn’t make sense of reality anymore. All of Count Aramia’s household staff stood in attendance, witnessing the shaggy haired man being whipped while the supposedly dead Count, Countess and Clary, bellowed in mirth.

“They’ve been doing this ever since the day after Salary Day. Head Butler suddenly called everyone here and we witnessed Helif going mad over his parents standing in front of him. Now they do this every morning, whip him in front of everyone, that is. The maids seem to enjoy it a lot.” Sinclair explained.

“Oh? So, he is the one who has been causing me misery,” Kaeo grunted.

Elvira felt a shove before Kaeo walked past her and she came to an embarrassing realisation that she had been leaning against him all this while. She cursed under her breath as Kaeo made his way through the crowd of maids.

“Count, Countess,” he greeted as soon as he was within sight, tone cold and hard.

The nobility passed him a nod of acknowledgement.

“May I?” Kaeo asked.

The old Count nodded, his mouth pushing up in a grin.

“May I what? What? Do dead people have telepathy? The dead people stare-understanding?!” Elvira whispered into Kairo’s ear, exasperated by the whole scenario.

“Your guess may be better than mine, it’s your magic after-all,” Kairo shrugged.

Elvira rolled her eyes and Kaeo grabbed the shaggy haired man by his tattered collar.

“Helif Aramia?” he questioned, looking him in the eye.

“I-I am the COUNT! D-do not say my name, y-you peasant,” the man spat blood, “You are all being fooled by these impo—”

He couldn’t continue for Kaeo’s fist met his face. Elvira spotted a sapphire blue magic circle over his knuckles, aiding the impact of his hits, and her breath hitched. He was Kaeo.

A more…unhinged version though, Elvira realised, grimacing while Kaeo shoved punch after punch into the slender man.

“The young man seems impassioned,” the Countess remarked from her throne chair.

“All well-deserved,” Clary scoffed and threw the whip towards Kaeo, “Use it as you please.”

Kaeo picked up the whip and began wrapping it around Helif’’s neck when Elvira shouted, “Stop it! You’re going to kill him!”