Hayward Morris has been serving the Arkwrights all his life, he has been watching three generations of them grow up. He made it a point to memorize and engrave every single detail about his master on his brain so that he will be able to serve them more effectively. And that to be said, he also knows the difference between the auras they emit and he is able to tell which is which without seeing their faces. He knows them better than he knows any other people.

Except one. And it was lady Avy.

The Lady who refuses to leave her room unless Young Master Ashton invites the successor of the Harrington Dukedom over or Lord Alistair offers to be the said boy's sparring partner once in a while so that there would be a reason for him to step foot inside the Arkwright Mansion and their only girl would finally come out of her room. The Lady who never smiles unless the Duke talks to the Crown Prince and convinces him to visit her more often so that she would not be holed up inside her room every day without even knowing if the Empire collapses. The Lady who refused to take any personal servants until Young Master Ciel personally picked a maid and told her to only tend to his sister unless she wants her to. And the very Lady who wouldn't come down to eat with her family unless Lord Alcasser orders every servant to stay out of her sight the whole meal.

Hayward never had a chance to study her up close after she started distancing herself from the world and only welcomed a limited number of people inside. She was one of the many mysteries that reside in the estate. She lived in seclusion that she wanted, supported by the family that she treats as strangers. The old butler wondered why she hated them so much. Does she blame them for turning her life that way? He was one of the few that witnessed how everyone was deeply scarred by the Duchess' passing yet catered to her need despite having the same grief as her, discarded their own selves because everyone pitied the little lady for being blamed by the people outside the mansion because of a simple child's mistake.

Why did she come to the point that she wanted to leave just to get out of the family who sheltered her from the dangers of the world? How much hatred did she give them that one day, every single one of the Arkwrights no longer approached her and let her live the way she wanted. They stopped trying to talk to her and just did whenever it was necessary.

But Hayward could never bring himself to hate the Lady. Not when the ones who received her indifference never laid their eyes on her with anger. The Lady was just a victim. And her family believed that it was their fault.

The same lady stood still in front of him as he threatened her with a knife nearing to slit her neck. The old man only realized who it was when the person he was about to take out made a sound, a sound that is the same as the Mansion's only lady's voice.

"I believe this is my house. And I am not a visitor."

Hayward quickly hid the small knife and acted as if he had never drawn it in the first place. The moonlight revealed the face of the girl, wearing her nightgown and a scarf on her shoulder that covered the rest of her arms.

The sinister smile plastered on the butler's face faded and was replaced by an innocent smile from a normal old man. "I apologize, My Lady. My senses must be getting weaker out of old age and didn't hear any footsteps, that was why I was alarmed." he bowed his head apologetically.

That was half the truth. Hayward didn't hear anything despite having the sharpest hearing. It was a cessation, but cessation doesn't erase the mana of a person, and only blocks the flow so that one wouldn't be able to use their magic for a short while. Meaning, he can still sense the presence of a person with mana. But the odd thing was, he was able to sense someone but not hear any sound that a living creature would have. Unless of course, it was a trained assassin.

Maybe old age really was affecting his work.

~~~

As far as Avy knows, she is not someone who gets startled easily or gets scared of small little things, but for heaven's sake, after she woke up inside the Arkwright household, she seems to be facing death much more often than she was in her whole past life. And counting how much she was almost killed mistakenly. Two times. Two times just because she was walking IN HER OWN HOUSE in the middle of the night.

Was it a crime in that world to be awake at that hour? No. She knows it was her fault for using her ability that she thought would help her but it ended up putting her life in danger. Fuck Ares.

"May I ask why the lady is walking around in the middle of the night?"

Because of all the times that she almost shook hands with the god of death, she was no longer surprised about what happened, maybe a little, but not like last time that she couldn't breathe because the cook murdered her heart by throwing a stupid kitchen knife at her face. And to be honest, the old butler who mistook her for an 'uninvited visitor' was less scary than Raux who looked like he would not touch a fly but would stab you with a fork if you spit out the food he made.

"I was going to sleep next to the Prince."

"You're shameless."

As much as she wanted to slap Ares, she kept a straight face to back up her bluntness, and she's not gonna act all embarrassed, because she's not. Sir Howard, if she remembers his name correctly didn't look at her strangely at all. That's not a good thing either, that only means the real Avy occasionally does things or says things like that and he was no longer surprised.

"I'm sorry My Lady, but that would be disrespectful towards his highness. And His Grace would not be happy if you entered a room where a man is staying." the old man shook his head, expressing how he opposed the idea.

"I meant, I'm going to sleep in the room next to him. That much would not be a problem right?" she stated which cleared up the misunderstanding immediately.

The butler smiled in relief, "Would you like this old man to escort you?" he asked but Avy refused.

"Then if you need something, please call a servant." he bowed politely and waited for her to leave, but she didn't. She studied him from head to toe as if looking for something.

"Aren't you holding a knife earlier?" she said, and she was for sure that she saw the old man's eyes glowed dangerously before it turned kind and gentle again.

"You must be tired after a long day, Mi'lady. You should hurry and rest." the butler smiled at her, and she did not push any further, her instincts told her not to. She just turned around and left, chills ran down her spine knowing that the butler was still looking at her to disappear from his sight like a normal servant would do.

She takes it back. Raux is not scarier than him.

Old people really are scary.

~~~

Crown Prince Lucifer was still awake.

It was nothing he was surprised about, after all, he barely sleeps at all, him not sleeping was just a normal occurrence. But his mana wasn't the only thing that kept him awake, also the strange happenings that day.

It was strange.

During cessation, one cannot use their power even though their mana stays inside their body. Mana becomes useless that stones powered by it cannot be of use because nature takes its ability to make anything work if mana is involved. But he was able to use his ability when he called for the servants after seeing his fiance sitting on the ground at the back of the mansion.

And the odd thing was, he could no longer use it again after he parted ways with her.

It has never happened before and he wondered if the Goddess just made a mistake, or if Lady Avy's presence was opposing the Goddess herself.

Prince Lucifer closed his eyes but still couldn't bring himself to sleep. It was always like that and he mastered pretending to be asleep for hours until he finally drifts off to a dreamless rest.

*click*

Not too long after, a sound shook awake his consciousness although he was not exactly sleeping. His ear is just sensitive to noises because of being a lightning mage, and a capable one at that. Mages who have trained for long and already reached a level that is enough to be called strong have superior senses than ordinary people and being a lightning mage, being able to hear small noises is possible even during cessations.

He was about to sit up to guard himself in case it was a dangerous person, but a wave of warmth came crashing down at him as if telling him to stay still and leave everything behind. No, it was more like, a wave pulling all his strength back to the ocean. And he couldn't help but fall back as he finally lost the fight, his exhaustion won over. The presence of a certain someone lulled him to sleep.

That night, Prince Lucifer slept soundly for the first time in years.

So did the Lady who laid herself on the bed inside the room next to his.

They dreamed of nothing but darkness, quiet and serene.

It was warm.

~~~

"Wake up, woman."

Avy's sleep was interrupted by a voice before the feeling of something being placed on the bed followed. Scratching her neck in an annoyed manner, she sat up with a grunt, eyes still closed, missing the warmth of her pillow that tried to pull her back to sleep. But Ares wasn't having it.

He mercilessly wrapped her whole head with black smoke, taking away her ability to breathe with ease. The sleepiness in Avy's whole being immediately disappeared as she desperately clawed the smoke out of her face, and when she succeeded, she was gasping for air, eyes wide awake.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME YOU FUCKING SNAKE!?!" she roared in annoyance, grabbing the nearest thing she could reach before throwing it straight at Ares' face. Hard.

What was that?

She glanced at her side and found a stack of books where she got the thing she threw at her snake servant. She knitted her brows in confusion, she doesn't remember bringing books with her when she went to the room next to the prince's chambers.

Groaning in pain after receiving the hit of the power of knowledge, Ares answered the question that lingered in Avy's mind. "I fetched that... From your kid's cave," he said, pausing to help himself stand up since he was knocked over by the book. In his defense, it was a thick book.

"I don't know how that kid got his hands on this book, but I'm impressed." he picked up the thrown book from the floor and threw it back at Avy who glared at him as if telling him to 'not throw books around'.

"I've been searching for that book," he added, piquing the Lady's curiosity.

"What's this?" she asked, opening the black book with no given title on the cover.

"Prosperine's records about her power."

Intrigued, Avy quickly focused her eyes on the front page.

"I completely forgot about this..." she breathed out in disbelief after she laid her eyes on the words written in the old book.

'Touch, Hold, Embrace, and be one with Darkness'

It was the book she was looking for when she stepped out of the Mansion for the first time. It slipped out of her mind because she was too focused on keeping Kill alive that she didn't remember her true purpose of entering that cave in the first place.

"And why is that?" Ares raised his brow. "Why would you look for this thing?"

"For future purposes," Avy answered, her face buried in the book trying to find something useful.

"Wait..." Ares looked at her in pure surprise after the realization hit him like how the book landed straight on his face earlier. "You're familiar with ancient language?"

Avy glanced at him and shrugged, of course, she knows, after all, the author of the book used her mother's language to convey messages written by ancient people, that is french. And as someone who lived in France for quite a long time, she is perfectly fluent in the language used there.

"You're aware that I'm not from here right? I learned this language from where I came from."

That raised the curse servant's curiosity by another notch. He knew the exact moment that she entered the body he was living in, and he watched her do things that he couldn't understand. Of course, he wasn't watching all the time, but when he does, the feeling that the woman he was seeing was someone who knows things that he doesn't. Almost like a God. Or was she?

No. She can't be a God. Sure she acts like nobody is above her all the time. But what kind of God cusses until their tongue falls off? Maybe she was a witch. That's more credible.

"Are you a witch?" and he doesn't know where he got the courage to say that to her face.

"Go to hell, Ares."

It's fine. After all, his own origin was a devil incarnate herself.