Darkness' Touch

Chapter 17: Erased and Unseen

"... haaa... I can't anymore... I-I'll die at this rate..." Avy was panting heavily while her hands were on her knees almost dropping to the ground as she catch her breath after running a couple of laps around the training grounds.

She looked at her spectators who were watching her on the shed from afar with a frown. It was indeed a very odd mash-up consisting of five people, including her bother Ciel, the Prince, her maid, her personal guard, and the most surprising one, the head chef, Raux.

'Why did it come to this?'

(Two days ago)

"You're going back to that cave again?"

For the third time, Avy walked stealthily out of the Arkwright Mansion wearing a simple brown dress that commoners usually wear as well as a hooded black cloak to cover her face. Just as she expected, the security became tighter and there were even more knights assigned to guard the surroundings, making it easier to be spotted if she wasn't careful enough. It was a good thing that they only do rounds to check on the back of the Estate, meaning, she will be able to sneak out in between their patrols.

"How about your knight?" Ares asked her once again, he was in his human form since he was the one carrying the books that Avy was supposed to give her 'son' in the cave.

"Marie said he was told to say his farewell to the knights under him since he'll be working for me for a long time. He won't be back until sunset so there are a bunch of guards outside my room earlier. She took care of them." she answered, they were able to get out of the walls without any problems.

"Hey. Aren't we going this way?" Ares looked back at her when he realized she wasn't following him to the path where she usually takes whenever she goes out. It was the route that follows the wall to the front gate where the carriages take off.

"No. I observed the knights from the balcony of my room, I saw them switching duties in the front gates and there is a big possibility that the other group scouts the outside of the walls too. It'll be risky to go that way since we might come across the knights, I'll be dragged back to the mansion in no time." she then walked in the direction of the woods where there were trees, plant,s and bushes around.

"I think the reason why they only do rounds in the back of the estate was that this area is still the private property of the Arkwrights. Nobody would dare to step their foot here unless they have something shady going on inside their heads." she explained while she was walking, her lips formed an upward arch and her eyes had a glint of mischief in them.

"I heard from Marie that the Estate was a former headquarters for the Family Knights. And I happen to stumble upon the surveillance tower where you can see the estate surroundings from above, so I know exactly where the blind spots were. If a person unfamiliar with this area would go through the woods, he will immediately be spotted by the knights watching from the tower, and the only escape is to cross the small river that connects to the man-made lake inside to run away from the Arkwright grounds. Since, according to Marie, the majority of workers and knights are either Fire or water type, so touching the water that can be boiled or turned into a big booby trap by the water and fire Mages inside is out of the question." Ares was no less than amazed by how confidently she spoke even though he himself knows that she's not originally from there. And studying the whole land for something as trivial as sneaking is something only maniacs would do. But just as people say, there is only a thin line between a genius and a lunatic.

"They can also be shot by arrows and die a miserable death. So I can say that our wall of defense is quite impossible to penetrate, I wonder how those assassins were able to sneak inside the mansion as if it was nothing?" she looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking off unnecessary thoughts.