Chapter 9

For the following days, every time I opened my door I would fall face to face with Ephraim. He must have been doing it on purpose at that point. I didn't leave my room once and started getting used to laying in bed the whole day. I didn't even feel like getting dressed anymore and just laid in my pajamas. I lied. I only liked laying around for twenty minutes. After that I got bored. Fortunately Eulisses and Arora were there to keep me company.

"Dad! Are you okay?"

I jumped, having not realized that I was spacing out. My tea cup had been tilted and some tea had dripped down on my leg. Fortunately it wasn't burning hot anymore.

"I'm fine."

I tried taking the napkins but Eulisses was quicker. He started rubbing my leg and it was too weird for me not to immediately push him away:

"Stop! I said, I'm fine!"

Eulisses immediately let go and I could wipe myself in calmness. Well, that was without counting on Arora:

"Are you okay? Did you suddenly feel weak? Does your hand hurt?

-What?"

The child's tiny hand suddenly landed on my forehead. She then frowned, looking for something.

"You feel warm! Dad, you should lay down. Quick, we should call a doctor!"

Eulisses immediately went for the door and I had to grab his jacket to hold him back:

"Don't! I'm fine! I was just spacing out, I'm just a bit tired."

I shouldn't have said that. Arora became even more worried. She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the bed. Who would have thought that a child would have such strength? I almost fell off my chair trying to follow her.

"Quick, lay down. Do you need anything? Tell me."

Her eyes were shining and I was terrified she would start crying.

"No... It's okay. This is way better thanks."

Arora suddenly covered my eyes and I jumped:

"Close your eyes and sleep."

How was I supposed to sleep while feeling two people staring at me? I knew that Arora wouldn't leave me alone until I did and I pretended that I did fall asleep. I slowed my breathing down and did my best not to move. Seeing me in that state made Eulisses put his hand on Arora's shoulder:

"We should give him some space. Come on."

Arora did hesitate but she let go of my face and I heard the door close. I was really grateful to Eulisses. He really needed to go on a vacation soon. I finally opened my eyes and looked around the room to make sure I was alone. It did feel uncomfortable being in wet clothes therefore I got changed before crawling back to bed. Who would have thought that being around children would be that exhausting?

I just laid down on my stomach and buried my head into my pillow. Having trouble breathing like that woke me up and I suddenly felt thirsty. I walked back to the tea table and realized that there wasn't any tea left. I looked down at my cup with a frown. Why did I have to spill the tea?

I sighed and walked to the door. However, as soon as I opened it, I found myself face to face with Ephraim. Seeing his face in my corridor again made me scream at him. It was stronger than me. My mouth was quicker than my brain:

"You again?"

Ephraim smirked:

"I'm glad to see that you are back on your feet already. My wife sure is strong. Guess we could finally take a little walk together."

I forced a cough:

"Oh, your husband suddenly feels light headed.

-Oh, how unfortunate. Should I help my wife to bed?

-Never!"

I screamed so loudly that everyone was surprised.

"Hum... I mean. Don't mind me. I am sure you have a lot of bodies to... Behead? Anyway, wow I feel so sleepy suddenly. My eyes are falling off. Bye."

-... Okay"

I closed the door again and realized that seeing Ephraim made my throat even drier. I looked back at the door and realized that some water wasn't worth getting killed over. Technically I would die without water but I still had about three days before that. Therefore I chose to stay. My bed was looking rather enticing and I laid back on it, forcing myself to close my eyes. All the energy left my body at the same time and I suddenly fell asleep. When I woke up next it was already dark outside. I turned around to continue sleeping but for some reason I couldn't. After a minute of trying I opened my eyes, frustrated. I knew that something was wrong and that was the reason why I couldn't fall back asleep but I didn't know what it was.

I growled and suddenly sat up. I did my best to keep my eyes open and looked around the room. After long seconds I realized that I forgot to close the window. I sighed and calculated in my head how far the window was. I didn't know exactly but it was way too far for me to go there. Therefore I laid back down and made a cover castle to protect myself from the cold.

Obviously it didn't work and I jumped out of bed, in a bad mood. I just hated everything in that moment and ran to the window like an angry child. If I had bumped into something on the way I would have probably had a breakdown. Fortunately nothing got in my way and I finally reached my goal. I immediately closed the window and thought that I could finally go back to sleep.

However, being this close, I spotted something outside. I squinted my eyes to have a better view and froze. All the sleep left my body in a second. Was that... A person? I felt goosebumps all over my body and my heart started speeding up. I quickly rubbed my eyes to make sure that I wasn't crazy but that really looked like skin. I pinched myself.

"Please tell me I'm sleeping."

Why was there someone laying on the ground? Were they okay? My whole body was screaming at me not to move but I ignored it and opened the window again. I didn't even feel the cold air on my cheeks and bent out as far as possible. I bent really far and almost fell out, realizing that the body was covered in blood, especially around the neck. Seeing all the blood made me sweat.

Was it Ephraim? It must have been him. Who else? What should I do? Should I call someone? But who? He was the main villain, no one could stop him except for the hero. And this was his mansion. These were all his men. Who would help me? And how would the hero stop him? I didn't remember at all... Should I just wait? But I couldn't just stare at a dead body without doing anything. But what could I do? He was the Duke! He had every right to kill people if he wanted to.

I didn't really have time to decide what to do when the body suddenly sat up. Seeing that made me scream my lungs out and the head immediately jerked up towards my window. I should have ducked down but I couldn't move at that point. I just continued staring at the scene and having spotted me, the body suddenly jumped up before running away.

I had no idea what had just happened and continued staring outside for much longer. I screamed a second time hearing my door suddenly open. Ephraim rushed inside:

"What happened?"

Seeing him wasn't calming me down at all and I started sweating even more. Seeing me all frozen, Ephraim looked at the window and took a step closer. Wait. Would he kill me if I saw the person he killed? Would he need to get rid of me for seeing something I shouldn't have? And would he kill that person again if he realized that he didn't succeed and they had run away?

I quickly closed the window, forcing myself to laugh. I didn't dare turn my back to him however, and continued staring at his hands:

"I saw an howl. Who knew how scary these things could be? Why are their eyes so big in the first place? Am I right? It doesn't make any sense. And their head is moving in such a weird way. I never understood their anatomy. They look so fat but have long legs under their feathers."

Ephraim frowned:

"You woke up the entire mansion for an howl?"

I quickly nodded:

"Yup. Hundred percent for an howl. I didn't see anything else at all. It's way too dark anyway to see further than a few centimeters."

He sighed:

"You really...

-What? Can't I be scared of howls anymore? Have you heard of phobias before? I find you judging me really mean. And close minded. And a lot of other things."

He sighed again:

"Stop talking for three seconds. You're not making any sense.

-You are not making any sense! Why would you rush into my room the second I scream? Who doesn't sleep in the middle of the night? What the hell are you doing awake?"

Ephraim raised an eyebrow:

"Because you are sleeping right now?

-You don't have to know when I sleep. If I want to, I could stay awake the whole night."

Ephraim tilted his head. That wasn't good.

"Was my dear wife having trouble sleeping? I had no idea that it was the case. Maybe I should have paid more attention to you.

-What? No! No, no, no, no, no. I am perfectly fine. So, so fine actually. I have never been better in my entire life."

He shook his head.

"I wasn't a good husband. I should spend more time with my wife."

I felt goosebumps on my whole body. This was way worse than a corpse moving.