The Duke's Passion

At the same time...

"Garden in the west wing," Kristina whispered, walking through the quiet hallway leading to the garden in the west wing of the palace. 

For the past three days, Rufus ordered her to survey the town of Libira, an outskirt in the capital, and she only had returned now. Rufus' words had intrigued Kristina, so she headed in the west wing as soon as she was done reporting.

"The west palace is more deserted than I thought." She looked around without pausing in her steps, eyebrow raised. "I haven't bumped into anyone since I came in here."

Not that it was strange, as this was the area of the cold palace.

"Nevermind." She shook her head, heightening her senses instead, just in case of possible danger. Her steps slowed down when approaching the garden as the air from it was thick… too thick that she instinctively held on her trinket, Mace. 

Kristina cautiously entered the west garden, her eyes scanning the surrounding, and soon caught a figure. Her breath hitched as she scanned the person standing not far away from her, his back facing her.

"Who…" she trailed off, studying the man's towering and lean stature, wearing a butler suit. 'Mister Fabian?' she thought, recalling Lilou's description of the most notorious psychopath in history.

Fabian was holding a watering can, staring at the newly dug spot with his other hand inside his pocket. He seemed strangely at ease, but the air around him felt… eerie.

'Why would Sir Knight tell me to come in here?' she wondered, taking a cautious step back, but froze when Fabian glanced over his shoulder. There was an instant chill wave that ran down her spine, even though she didn't meet his eyes.

"Hey!" Kristina jumped when a man's voice snapped in the eerie silence. She moved her eyes in the opposite direction, making her brows furrowed. 

'Isn't that his highness the fifth prince?' she wondered, studying Klaus's annoyed face as he stormed towards Fabian. The latter only cast him a quick look of disinterest before continuing on in watering the ground.

To Kristina's surprise, a child was walking behind Klaus. She heard about this child, Claude. A pure-blooded La Crox and also the bearer of Auron. Although she hadn't met him before, despite being both bearers, her Mace recognized Auron's dominant presence.

Claude halted in his step and set his doe eyes on her, blinking adorably without saying a word. As she locked gaze with that adorable child, Kristina swallowed down the little saliva left in her. 

'They said the bearer of Auron is strong, but his aura felt really different in person.' She thought, evaluating the difference between her strength and Claude.

"Fucking Fabian! I heard you nearly murdered Hanz?!" yelled Klaus, catching Kristina's attention and saw Klaus grumbled in front of Fabian, pointing a finger at him. "How dare you try to kill my brother!? I told you he is mine to butcher!" 

Her attention towards Klaus didn't last long as Claude inquired, "Mace, what are you doing here?"

"Uh." Kristina snapped her eyes, clearing her throat, as this was not what she expected to see in the west garden. "Sir Knight told me the air in the west wing is refreshing, so I came here for a walk," she explained, afraid they would misunderstand her intentions.

"I see." Claude nodded, and an awkward silence instantly befell the two of them.

"I," Kristina cleared her throat for the nth time, thinking Rufus probably didn't expect that these people would be here. "I should go," she said and Claude nodded.

Just as she turned around, fear crept up to her spine as she sensed someone's gaze.

"Where are you going?" asked Fabian, blinking ever so slowly as he watched her turn her head back at him. When their eyes met, he added, "If Rufus told you to come here, then that only means you're invited to the party."

"Invited?" she furrowed her brows, darting her eyes from Fabian to Klaus, and then to Claude. "What… were you people planning?" Kristina asked, as it seemed Rufus led her to a path with no ticket to return.

Fabian smiled, his eyes squinting like usual, but she felt a sudden sense of dread behind it. "Gardening and cleaning party, Miss Monroe," he said in a light tone. "Just some simple chore, nothing special." 

"Careful with him," Klaus whispered, which didn't seem it was meant to be a secret. "Else, he will bury you alive!" 

"No," Claude chimed in, staring at the ground Fabian watered. "Just don't be stupid like my uncle Klaus and you'll be safe," He added in an emotionless tone. 

"Child, do you want to die?"

"Uh…" Kristina recoiled when she saw a finger from the newly covered pit. "Someone…" she pointed at the finger, but Fabian only offered her a smile before he answered.

"The sprout is just growing. Please don't mind it." 

Kristina's face twitched. "Is it the…"

"It's not Uncle Hanz," Claude answered, even before she could complete her sentence. "It's just some mice sneaking around."

"Ohh…"

"Fabian, can you stop burying people? This is a garden, not a cemetery!" Klaus clicked his tongue, irritated that everyone got to be buried alive, so they struggled until the very end. "Your sadistic methods are just wasting our time!" he added.

"Sadistic?" Claude tilted his head to the side, genuinely appalled. "Uncle, I think Mister Fabian is just downright diabolical." 

Kristina resisted from having face spasm with their conversation. For hell's sake! The person they were talking about was just standing an arm's length away from them!

She cringed when Fabian responded with a calm, "I'm giving them the opportunity to breathe life into the earth." Fabian shrugged as he squatted down, picking up the grass shears, then cut the finger as if he was merely cutting the grass!

Her mouth fell open, staring at the severed finger, and then Fabian casually brushed more soil on the small hole the finger caused to cover it! What more shocking was that Klaus and Claude didn't even bat an eye, already used to Fabian.

'I heard a lot about him, but…' Her thoughts trailed off as she gulped. 'I didn't think he actually lives up to his notorious reputation. Just what was Sir Knight thinking? No, just what kind of trap did I step into?'