"Welcome back young master"
"Thank you" thats strange Arabella would normally be by the door welcoming me back with a huge smile.
"Where is lady Arabella?"
"His lordship count dumont sent for her earlier today" what! Why would father send for her? It hasn't been that long since I last went to see him.
"How long has she been gone?"
"About 6 hours now my lord" 6 hours? Why would father need her for so long? I don't have a good feeling about this.
"I'll be leaving first, have a carriage sent to the estate." If I will use flight magic, it should take me half an hour to get there.
"Huh what's that in the sky" one of the guards at the gate pointed up.
"Huh, it looks like a bird"
"Its too big to be a bird..... Oooohhhhhh, its young master clark" landing just a few feets from them.
"Greetings young master" he was completely out of breath.
"Is Lady Arabella still here?"
"Yes young master, she got here about an hour ago"
"Thank you"
"Young master hurry they are in his study, I tried to stall for time as long as I could but they have been in there for the last 10 minutes. " Alan was waiting for him as he opened the door with a petrified look on his face.
The scene i stepped into was straight out of my worst nightmare.
Arabella was on the floor as father screamed at her few feets away from her.
"Arabella" I ran to her, she lifted her head. She was crying and there was a little blood on her lips her face was red and swollen like she had been hit.
"Clark i warned you, this is what you get for defying me. I told you not to marry a defective product like that. Had you married marquess Jone's daughter like i said, we would be dukes by now." I helped her up, i'm so useless, how come I don't know how to use healing magic, what should I do....
"Where do you think you are going? Come back here you useless...."
"Father shut the hell up." He flinched backwards.
"I'll be back for you my dear. I'm so sorry" i hand Arabella off to Alan safely asking for the healer to see her.
"Clark since you married that wench you have been being more disobedient. I'll have to put her in her place. Maybe it's time for me to find you another wife...."
"Father...Arabella was the last person you should have messed with." i want to kill him.... I want to strangle him till he draws his last breath..... I want to beat him till he begs for mercy..... that's right..... I should just kill him..... he is a waste of space.... it's been a long time since he was of any use to anyone.....
"That stupid wench" he screamed and I just lost it, before I had realized it, I had strengthened my body with magic and i was punching him. I wasn't thinking right now, all I wanted to do was protect my wife. He tried struggling but I just kept hitting and hitting as blood splattered all over. He had stopped struggling but all I could see was my wife hurt and helpless on the floor so I didn't stop. "For Arabella... for Arabella..... I will turn into a monster. I'll take on the whole world if it will make her smile. So how dare you? How dare you make her cry father" I was so angry, he hurt her...He hurt my Arabella..... my bright and brilliant Arabella..... the savior that pulled me from the darkness...
I kept hitting... he had stopped struggling moments ago but I didn't care. He was down now and i wanted him to stay down forever.
"Young masterrrrrrrrrr" a scream from behind me pulled me from my trance. I looked down at what used to be my father who was now in a pool of his own blood. His body was all mangled up, his face was distorted and bones were sticking out of his flesh. I heard the door close shut.
"It's okay young master, just step back slowly. "
"Alan i didn't mean to ..... he had hurt Arabella... I just wanted to save her..." what did I do? What did I do? I killed him.... I killed my own father.
"Young master" Alan's voice shook me back. My hands were trembling and my vision tunneled.
"Young master, you did the right thing"
"What?"
"You did the right thing young master. His lordship has a lot of enemies. So it was only a matter of time before he got what was coming. If you hadn't done it.... i might have"
"What why would you? He was your master for years." I'll go to prison..... then what will happen to Arabella.... what do I do
"I introduced him to my daughter. I wanted her to get used to things in the household, as i was going to train her to take over from me as my successor" I could see his face contort as he clenched his fist holding back.
"But he took one look at her and said she would make the perfect countess" what!!!! I know father was insane but I refuse to believe that.
"She is just 12... How dare he say that about my daughter who can barely differentiate between her left and right hand"
"I'm sorry you had to go through that Alan."
"Its fine, we just need to clean all this up. Don't worry I have someone who can help out and also has a bone to pick with the count. He should arrive in a minute."
The door swung open as Regef came bursting in, he scanned around the room closing the door behind him.
"Dont tell me what happened, the less I know the better for everyone." He was already rolling his sleeve up.
"How did you get here Regef?"
"The spell binding me to that bastard was broken. The only way for that to happen is if I die or he dies and well.....I clearly didn't die."
"Did father cast a 'rebirth' on you"
"Well dull!! Why do you think a 5th circle mage is working for a lowly count."
Father how could you be so wicked, Regef has been with the household for 15 years but he was only 10 years old when he joined our household. Does that mean father cast a forbidden spell on him to keep him bound?
Rebirth is a forbidden spell that binds souls together, it basically makes the person who it was cast upon a slave to his master unable to function without orders.
If the person ever disobeys the caster, the spell explodes their mana, heart causing them excruciating pain then death.
"Dont act so surprised, everyone knows that lord Arno was never a good person."
Clap clap clap.
"Lets not go off track, so here is the plan..."
"Will that work?"
"It has to, I'll cast the healing spell now. 'Entren cuver letrie Indion armian. High heal" all the injuries healed as his bones realign.
"Are you sure he will not come back to life"
"I'm a healer not god, I can't bring a soul back from hell."
He looked good as new, like he was just sleeping. They quickly cleaned the blood on the floor.
"Arabella...."It took Clark a while to get the blood and the stench off him before he went to see her. she was covered up on the bed in the dark bedroom whimpering, Clark bit down on his lips as he cursed himself for being unable to protect yet another person he loves from his father.
He crawled into bed and wrapped her in his arms as she sobbed
"I'm sorry, Bella... I should have been there to protect you.... I'm so sorry"
The weight of killing his father was slowly weighing him down but he had to focus on his wife who he had failed once.
Arabella tried to speak..... to reassure him that she was fine.... that it wasn't his fault, but the words wouldn't come out. Each time she tried to speak she would just sob harder. She couldn't understand why she was crying so much, count dumont had only hit her across the face once, it was shocking yes, but it wasn't so bad that she had to break down over it.
"I'm sorry Arabella..... I'm so sorry....." Clark hugged her tighter as she spun around clutching his shirt as she cried.
*******
By the next day the news of the counts passing was all over high society.
The news shook all of high society, not because he was loved but because he was a cunning man who only kept those he had dirt on around him. He knew they would be too afraid to betray him, fearing that he would expose their secrets, so for a man like him to die, it was akin to a miracle.
"What was the cause of death?"
"Your majesty, it was written that he suddenly collapsed in his office, and despite efforts to heal him, he passed away shortly" the emperor still couldn't believe that his biggest headache had just dropped dead.
"Send a donation to the temple in my name, tell them that ubertas has illuminated my way with golden light " he laughed loudly for all to hear as he proclaimed that day a golden day.
"He was such a nuisance, always looking for ways to forcefully elevate his status, your majesty " his aide standing beside him chimed in
"Yes Marquess Sirius, he expected me to elevate him to the position of a Marquess, just like putting a sword in the hands of an enemy waiting to stab you"
A messenger arrived in runan with a black flag and a letter.
"My ladyship, your lordship...." Stefan had brought the letter to Oliver and isabella with a grim look.
"A messenger arrived from the dumont household with a black flag "
"Oh no, thank you Stefan bring the letter here"
Isabella sighed softly.
"Honey? Who is it" she turned towards Oliver handing the letter to him
"Count dumont collapsed and died 2 days ago.... what bad timing....."
"Stefan bring me stationary, we need to let them know that we sympathize with them and also let them know clarisa is presently away from the castle and will be back in 2 days."
"Yes your ladyship" Stefan walked out and Oliver hugged Isabella who looked so grim.
"They were both just starting to get their feelings straight.... I wonder how much sorrow this will cause clarisa" he hugged her and kissed her forehead.
"No matter what happens, she has us here. We will do everything to help her with the grief"