The Duke's Passion

"I didn't."

Rufus furrowed his brows as he looked at Fabian in confusion. What did he mean by that? Didn't Law get that scar because you opened him up with maleficent?

"I did open him up because it was fun to see healthy organs."

"Fabian."

Fabian chuckled playfully. "What I'm saying is, I opened him up, but there's nothing to do. Stefan had already broken his link with Law when I opened him up. I believed that was the time when he was already fighting Master." He shrugged, but then rubbed his chin while his eyes narrowed.

"Hmm. Now that I think about it, there was this faint blood link left in the young master to strengthen the core of his blood," he added while nodding.

"Did maleficent feel something suspicious?"

"Nothing. I would've done something about it if I did." His eyes suddenly flickered, which was left unnoticed. "Now, can you answer my question? What is the sudden interest in the dead? It's not like you thought of wanting to get along with me by talking about it?"

"Nothing. It's just I received a letter a year ago. Stefan wrote it, and we're now in search of his surviving shadow knight, Lena. It's a little eerie letter." Rufus shrugged indifferently as he gazed at the pocket watch in his hand. "What is it about this pocket watch that you're giving it to me?"

"Hmmm. It looks interesting? The organization values it a lot. So, I thought it's really important."

A laugh escaped Rufus's mouth as that was something Fabian would do. "Thank you." He slid the pocket watch inside the pocket of his trousers before raising the wooden sword.

"Enough with the idle talk." The side of his lips stretched from ear to ear. "I won't let you walk around this place with that bloodlust leaking from you."

Fabian smiled until his eyes squinted into mere slits. "I'll take this as a payment for that pocket watch."

In a blink of an eye, the two clashed. A wooden sword and maleficent. Even though it was simply a wooden sword, it clashed with maleficent without breaking.

All night, Rufus and Fabian just sparred as if there's no tomorrow. In the middle of the duel, Fabian forced Rufus to wield his sword through his vicious attacks. The sound of their clashes was so intense that some people rushed to the training grounds to see what was going on.

One of them was Dominique.

The duel lasted until it was dawn. The result? Draw. Both inflicted minor injuries, but they were too numb to wallow about them. Since Fabian released his itch for blood, Dominique assisted him to the guest's quarters.

Meanwhile, Rufus went back to his quarters to bathe and sleep. Laying down on the bed with his arm as his head cushion, Rufus held up the pocket watch Fabian gave him. A subtle smile appeared on his lips, staring at the watch hovering over him.

"This is the first time he gifted me something decent." He chuckled, thinking that the only gifts he received from Fabian were human remains. "Although he stole it, it is highly appreciated."

Rufus closed his eyes, holding the pocket watch close to his chest. A spar with Fabian was surely exhausting. He has almost forgotten what it felt like to be exhausted that he had to catch up to his breathing.

'Master and Madam will come in here,' He thought before he succumbed to sleep. 'I should make sure no one will see them. They tend to cause trouble anywhere they go.'

The night was oddly silent, and before he knew it, Rufus already succumbed to the darkness.

*

*

KNOCK KNOCK

Rufus grunted and touched his head as it throbbed. He peeked from one of his eyes, looking at the door that creaked open. He clicked his tongue when he saw Fabian pushing a trolley inside.

"Fabian, just what the hell are you doing?" he grumbled while ruffling his head. For some reason, his head was throbbing so badly, as if he was experiencing hungover.

"You slept in, which you rarely do. So, I brought you some soup."

A deep exhale slipped past Rufus as he blinked. "That is so kind of you, but put it away. I don't know what poison you've put in it."

"My lord, what are you talking about?" Rufus furrowed his brows at what Fabian addressed him. He slowly set his eyes on Fabian, who was standing beside the bed near the trolley tray.

"I do not dare put anything harmful in your food..."

His voice sounded distant in Rufus's ear as the latter studied his brother. Fabian looked a little young, or rather, at peace. It was almost like they were back to the time Fabian's mental state was still tranquil. That time when he was just a full-time butler in the duke's mansion.

Rufus's eyes veered to the wall behind Fabian. They narrowed instantly before a sudden surge of panic crept up to his spine. Rufus looked around and the more he did, the wider his eyes got.

"What...?" he trailed off and his heart suddenly pounded against his ribcage. "... is going on?"

This room... Rufus knew this room very well. It wasn't the emperor's chambers, but the chambers he used back in the mansion. His breathing gradually grew heavier and slower. As he did, he suddenly felt the pocket watch.

He gazed down at it. It was still in the hand where he held it, but the watch was broken. The hands inside were moving in the same number.

"Fabian, what year is it now?" came out a question that naturally came out of Rufus's mouth without going through his thought process.

"Huh?" Fabian furrowed his brows but still answered. "It's the year 1825, my Lord."

"18... 25?"

"Yes."

"And His Grace?"

Fabian frowned because Rufus's questions were nothing but strange. "In his dwelling."

As soon as Fabian answered, Rufus suddenly sprung up to the bed and bolted to Samael's dwelling. The Duke's dwelling during his hundreds of years of slumber.

*****

Meanwhile, in the Grimsbanne Mansion, on the mainland...

Tilly suddenly stopped drinking her tea as she gazed at the terrace. Her eyes narrowed slightly, but her expression remained the same.

"Tilly, are you alright?" asked Law because Tilly just stopped suddenly.

"We need to go," she whispered, peeling her eyes away from the terrace to Law across the chair.

"Huh? Where?" Law titled his head to the side, baffled at Tilly's remarks.

"The Heart Kingdom," she answered in the same tone, but her eyes were glinting. "Ramin, Charlotte are gone in the mansion. Your mother too."

"Tilly, I think I am slow-witted. I don't understand."

"Claude had done it." Tilly breathed out heavily as her eyes darkened. "He had reversed the time. A time when you and Sunny aren't born yet.. And the dead are back to life."

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