Household of the la Avise family

Step after step, Eugene was getting closer to the la Avise manor, however, he was yet to pass his own house, the park and finally, the lavender field that was slowly withering away from the pressure of mother nature. Even though he was so far, he felt like one step brought him miles closer to his destination. All because of his tiring thoughts regarding Sylvia and her family.

"I want to see you, but do you want to see me?"

At once, his motion froze, he stomped on the ground receiving the attention of onlookers and continued strolling down the street. Whether she wants it or not, was a problem for his future self. For now, all he needed to do was to finally reach the household he once chickened out to disturb.

And his pathway proceeded without any precautious, just some stray cats and leafs blown by the wind occasionally blocked the road, though nothing drastic like a meaningful superstition put any doubts about his doing. No black cats were present, and thus he finally reached the familiar gothic building that housed the la Avise family. Considering the lack of other structures around, their servants as well.

Eugene gulped down, stepped on the porch and made a few loud knocks with the heavy door knocker.

"Never used one of those." whispered Eugene while examining the wavy pattern the knocker had, when suddenly the door opened, revealing the silhouette of a short blonde woman. Eugene immediately recognized Sylvia and was taken aback.

"Oh, hello!" he exclaimed, but then the woman disappeared in the doorway and only faint words were heard from her, "Come inside."

Eugene shrugged and carefully opened the door, obediently nodded and entered the house. Immediately, his attention was emerged under the spectacular look of just the hallway. The whole interior was made of dark wood, walls were decorated not only by wallpapers in dark shade of green and gold, but also with various paintings of abstract art that were visible from the get go. And, of course, the cherry on the cake was the daughter of the house, standing in front of him. Various frills, the strong red colour and thin fabric piqued his interest, despite it as a whole being a more modest form of her usual fashion.

Sylvia narrowed her brows and crossed her arms, which Eugene noticed and finally raised his eyes. She sighed and said, "So, what is the reason of your visit, Monsieur buffoon?"

"Stop calling me that!" said the man, and pointed at Sylvia, "Maurice sends his regrets about what happened between you two, he is very sorry for what he said."

Sylvia remained silent, but once she realized that Eugene finished talking, she said, "And what am I supposed to do with this information?"

"Well, how about you apologize back?"

Sylvia shook her head and replied, "Do you consider us equally guilty of the situation? Who do you think lacked manners before their own guests? It could have ended under a civil note if a certain someone would swallow his ego. Moreover, what kind of human would accept such a second hand apology, why didn't he crawl here in his glory?

Eugene clicked his tongue and said, "He did, however, your crazy butler threatened him with a gun, thus he ran off!"

"What?" Sylvia looked at him in shock, then turned away in thought and faced Eugene again in a concerned voice, "What did he see?"

"Painting, he said it looked similar to the one in Monso Rooster."

Sylvia stood in thought for a little while, but then turned around and went down the corridor right into the guest room. Eugene narrowed his brows but followed her lead cautiously. As soon as his face peeked from the doorway into the room, he was met with a gaze from an unfamiliar woman. She was dressed in a simple black dress reminiscent of a maid's uniform. The glare of hers was hostile, however, she did not say a thing to the man.

"Cossette, could you leave us for a moment?" said Sylvia, and immediately after the woman nodded and departed from the room. Finally, Eugene was free to have a look at the grand room, decorated by a huge chandelier and a chimney made from red brick. It was surrounded by sofas with a small coffee table between them. The table contained a few books and half empty cup of tea. The interior was cosy, yet a little uncanny due to the darkness that hid the corners of the room, making it look like a circle.

"Have a look at those." commended Sylvia while pointing at the wall. There, a great number of paintings done in various sizes and styles fully enveloped the wall as if they became one in its stead. It was a grand sight and quite questionable as well, considering he was hunting down a Phantom Cormorant, someone who steals those for a living.

Suddenly, one of those felt way too familiar for the man, upon a closer look he recognized the battlefield of the Napoleonic wars, it was certainly a painting that was supposed to be in Monso Rooster.

"Why is this here?"

"That's just a copy." Sylvia said and came closer to the man, "Martin often hires a painter who is good at copying other works. Even for our standards, he could be considered a genius."

"And what is the name of this painter?"

"I can not disclose that information. And to answer your next question, he is not anyhow related to the Phantom Cormorant."

Eugene crossed his arms and said, "Then what about the Vincent guy? Why would he threaten someone with a gun?"

"For Monsieur narcissist to not disclose information about our collection. In the end, he, his relatives or friends could be a Phantom Cormorant."

"Well, he is not!" protested Eugene to which Sylvia replied, "You can not be one hundred percent sure."

"Then how can you be sure that a Phantom Cormorant is not a part of this household?"

Sylvia did not answer. They both looked at the paintings from authors such as da Vinci, van Gogh, Picasso and more. The more the man looked at them, the more irritating was the thought that those are not original works. It surely diminished the value of the real deal enclosed in various museums and galleries. Thankfully, Sylvia slipped away from him, finally allowing him to look away from the wall of art. She sat into the sofa and had a sip of tea.

"If a Phantom Cormorant was in this household…"

"They would be executed on the spot." suddenly, someone interrupted Sylvia while completing her line. The two of them looked at the door that slowly opened, revealing a middle-aged man in the doorway. He casually strolled into the room while embracing an oil painting in his hands.

The gentleman was wearing a velvet coat, black boots and the same black hair with some spots of grey. His gait was confident, however, his left leg limped a little, although it was not too obvious from the get go. That man passed both Eugene and Sylvia in silence and went towards the wall of art works. He observed it for a little while, moved around some of the paintings and made space for the new one that was immediately squeezed into the gap between four other frames.

"Homme se demandant by Pablo Picasso. Inspired by the military failures of Nicholas 2nd of Russia. Strong strokes of black paint symbolized the certain death for those who were led by the brown bear at the top. There is a saying in Russian, "Медвежая услуга", which means a "disservice". A perfect symbolism for the one who left his own nation in ruins. Do not you think, Sylvia?"

"For me, this is nothing more but a chaotic mess." silently said Sylvia, to which Martin laughed lowly, "You truly are her daughter."

Then, the man turned to Eugene and said, "And what do you think of this painting, young man? Or perhaps, should I call you Eugene Dagaz?"

"You also know my name, huh?" warily answered Eugene, making the man gasp, "Of course, perhaps, I should introduce myself as well. My name is Martin la Avise. I am the father of the girl over there."