What Awaits In The Gardens

He got what she meant quite easily, but had to consider his options. He did not want to go near or touch the girl, but having her magic would be fun to take. He did not want her thinking this was a proposal, but once he took her magic it's not like she could do anything in retaliation.

He doubted his mother would mind either, she may even say that she deserved it, though maybe not as much as the girl standing in front of him, one of the few times he'd ever seen her truly interested in something other than her beasts.

"What were you thinking?" He asked as she smiled, Penelope was in for a very bad week. Why stop at simply tormenting her into frustration slowly when she can simply get rid of her magic all at once. It's a shame she could only do this on Penelope and not all her other siblings which annoyed her, Klausse, but she was likely the only one dumb enough to sign away her magic willingly.

"Exactly what I mean," she responded, crossing her arms. "The second wife isn't an idiot, but she is." As long as her mother wasn't around, it was pretty possible to take her magic. Her mother was the main instigator behind everything, just letting her daughter run loose in the meantime.

Nodding, he could agree. "She's the one who tried to form an engagement on numeral occasions." He shuddered, the mere thought of the woman was enough to also send him into fight or flight response. He hoped that he wouldn't meet her while he stayed at the estate.

"We'd have to find a way to lure her out without her mother coming, that means we shouldn't ask her to come to us verbally or written, she'd have to find us first." She'd learn a thing or two from the Argyris family over the years.

Penelope would obviously complain and blame her once her magic's taken away, she could even try and blame the Elyas family for it, but she was confident enough that if Isaac could turn the tables to make her look like an idiot effortlessly, so could she. "She needs to seek us out first, which should be easy." She mumbled, talking over the plan with him and discussing what would or wouldn't work.

It was refreshingly to openly say that she wanted to humiliate Penelope and even conspire against her, rather than just saying she didn't want to go near her. Their plan wasn't perfect and it would definitely take a few days, but two of them had the shared hatred to push them through.

"What's in it for me, though?" He asked at last as she glared at him, clearly annoyed while he laughed. "You get an Argyris' magic out of this, you still want to ask?" Fair enough, he thought, if only her magic were strong, he couldn't care less about it as it was.

Standing up, she begun walking out of the garden, telling him to hurry up. "You're my guard, aren't you? You better get used to the beasts." So she had a one track mind of just her beasts, huh?

Puffing his pipe, he slowly massaged his temple while standing up, taking a break from his work. Ever since the recent report, he couldn't clear his mind. If only death would take him, instead.

If he visited her, would she be angry? Or rather, would she just be subjected to more torment, he wondered. Noticing his behavior, his attendant took no time to hold the door open for him, joining him in silence for his walk.

No words needed to be shared between the two of them as the Duke walked aimlessly with no destination in mind. If she died, he would certainly be dead by that child, perhaps instantaneously if he were really lucky. If he had a chance to do everything over again, how different would things be?

Walking past, the maids all kept their heads hung low and in silence as he made sure to keep his pipe on him. It was the only thing keeping him sane in the moment as the thoughts raged inside his mind, growing much more aggressive by the second. He'd thought about having a family dinner to check on her condition firsthand, but that would be far too bad of a decision. The only thing he could do was pretend she didn't exist.

Ending up in the gardens he took note of the only two people there, oblivious to him. The daughter he originally didn't want to have anything to do with and the boy that appeared before him that morning insisting on guarding over her while his son was away. Did he think he were sly?

Even the way she smiled and glared was far too similar to her mother's expression, it was a mistake to come for a walk. It was also a mistake to find himself walking deeper into the gardens, up until the point he heard her telling the boy that they were going to the sanctuary. Just when were they so close? It was annoying that this Elyas kid was causing him so many problems with his daughters being friendly with him.

As she turned to walk out, her silver eyes stared right up at him into his eyes, proof that she really was an Argyris as well. "Eleventh daughter Theia Argyris greets father." She gave a polite curtsey as the Elyas boy bowed down as well, glaring at him. It seemed obvious that others outside the Argyris family wanted him dead, too.

Unfortunately for them, they'd have to work hard to kill him. He wasn't going down without a fight, no matter how badly he awaited his death. If they wanted him gone from this world for good, they'd have to send him to hell themselves. The only place he'd get salvation for his crimes, he thought.

Gazing down at her, he ignored the boy as a thought appeared in his head, something he didn't think of doing in the first place until seeing her face to face. "Dismissed." He allowed them to get back up and walked off. He wasn't going to tell her, she could find that out on the day itself.

As soon as he was far enough away, she let out a deep breath while turning over to Arkadios. "Let's hurry to the sanctuary, I want to see my beasts." Every time she met him it was stressful. Even from the look of Arkadios he too felt fear instilled in him after bowing, the Duke was far too intimidating of a person.