Valerian Empire

121  Death of the ghost (4)

Malphus, who had received the fruit from the kind elder man took a bite from the fruit, his mouth noisily munching and crunching on the scrumptious fruit that had been given to his earlier. With the guard out of sight, he took the other end of the alley which was narrow in the passage. His grey eyes swept across the little space to see cobwebs and dirt that had come to be accumulated in time as the people around and in the village had stopped using it.

The human didn't know why his step-mother often sent someone to tail him, it wasn't as if he would defame the family name but then, thought Malphus to himself. Either he wasn't part of the family or his step-mother wasn't part of the family. It was either one of the two possibilities which only came down to that they were far from being related. Not by name nor by blood.

How could he when his own father had left his mother to die alone in her home when she should have been aided by doctors or the white witches. It was as if the woman who had entered the mansion a few years ago just when his brother Silas was born had brought in a plague along with her that had started the destruction of his family. An ill omen that couldn't be waded off that easily. There was something about her and by the papers he held, it was obvious that she was up to no good.

Having no more use for the official parchment, he closed the enveloped back the way he had received it to deliver it to the magistrate. He took his own time in strolling through the streets and after a good hour, the guard was back to following him.

He would have given a piece of advice to the guard on how terrible he was when it came to following him but then if he did, he would be caught easily and who wanted that? Not him at least.

He whistled loudly, the sound of the bustling crowd drowning his whistle and him along with it such that the guard lost him again.

Arriving back at Norman's mansion, he made around. His footsteps casual while trying to pick every single person who worked in and out of it. Was he imagining it or did the servants start to dawdle a little more than usual? Sure they were working, but every movement of his felt like he was being watched.

"Master Malphus," a maid came to greet him who was holding a bunch of flowers and before he knew it, he sneezed loudly for it to be followed by another sneeze, "Are you alright?" she asked worried for him to wave his hand.

"Take it away Daffy. I am allergic to it," he scrunched his nose as he felt something in his throat.

"Pardon me, let me pull out the plants which we planted out in the garden!"

Planted what?

"What do you mean?"

"What?" the maid asked who was newly appointed by himself. Having a better knowledge of the condition that their people were in as he often went out, Malphus had offered the girl a job in the mansion when he had met her on the street. But the girl wasn't the brightest of them all in the servants who worked for them but enough to be trusted.

The young girl who was barely fourteen blinked up at the handsome master of hers who looked nothing less to a cold prince who had saved her from the harsh world to place her here. It wasn't the girl's fault as she was an orphan who was kicked out by her aunt to never return back home. But what would she know that the world outside was much safer than the world here in Norman's mansion.

"You said it was planted in the garden. Who asked you to plant it? Aren't there enough flowers in there, what are we going to sell flowers from the mansion?" he rolled his eyes at her while walking towards the window to look at the garden that had the exact same flowers. His nose tickling, he opened his mouth, readying himself for the sneeze before sneezing loudly.

By now his nose had turned red, "Daffy, keep them away from me," he scolded the girl who thoughtlessly had followed him to only stand right next to him when he was looking at the garden.

"Pardon me, master," Daffy, the maid bowed her head as deep as she could to show she was sorry for it before raising her head up, "It was Mrs. Norman who asked to plant them the day before yesterday. She told me they were your favorite," Malphus's lips twisted in amusement.

"She told you that?" Malphus smiled sarcastically.

"I remember she did," Daffy was unsure how to reply to it. If Master Malphus was allergic to these flowers why would Lady Ester want to plant them here in the garden? Had she perhaps misheard it?

"Mother dearest is out to attend a tea party I believe?" Daffy nodded her head at the question asked to her, "Good now be a doll and remove all the plants from the garden. I don't want a single spec of pollen or flower around in this mansion. I will ask someone else to assist you to make your job easy and faster."

Malpus bought his hand to his face to sneeze again, his ribs hurting with every sneeze that erupted out of his lips. Sniffling, he started to walk away from the maid back to his room.

"Damn woman," he cursed his stepmother. He couldn't leave even if he wanted to, the worse was that he wanted to move out of here, to start fresh but at the same, he couldn't do it. He hated his father and the step-mother with passion but that didn't mean he harbored the same hate when it came to Silas.

Reaching his room, he stepped in and turned around ready to lock while also making sure no one was watching him but to his demise, there was a girl who wasn't Daffy who watched him before he shut the door close. It looked like he would be extra careful due to the rein the woman was spreading in the mansion. It reminded him of the story he had read from folklore. What was it called? Cindy and stepsisters, was it?

Unable to recall the name, he threw his shoe to the corner of the room before going to his bookcase where the books he had often collected were placed here. It wasn't anything special and were rather ordinary books where one would ask why was it special then, that Malphus forbid anyone touching or even breathing next to it?

He ran his hand across the books before pulling out certain books randomly and stepping back for the bookcase to divide into half and make way to an empty hollow looking passage.

It had taken Malphus years to create passageways since the time of his mother's death. What started as a simple safe went to form as a linking tunnel in the mansion in the walls without anyone's notice.

Of course, it was impossible for him to carve the walls without a noise for which he had gone to the black market to buy a bottle from a black witch which avoided the sounds that came from the inside to go out and let anyone notice what he was up to. He had let Silas use it but very rarely as the woman who was currently married to his father had a hawk-like eye on her son as if a crow would take away. He used it to move from one part of the mansion to another, coming to stand near the window of the woman's room which was empty.

This was an opportune time, said Malphus to himself as it was very rare for his step-mother to leave her room or rather the mansion.

Thinking about it, he opened the window carefully before jumping inside the room and closing back the window. The room gave out a faint smell which made his stomach churn as he walked around, his hands running through the cupboards and clothes before coming upon a box that was placed below the bed. Pulling it out, he opened it to find the little set of bottles that were colourful to look at.

Having never come across something like this before, he wondered what they were. Picking one of them, he looked closely at it to shake it. There were little labels that were set but never had he ever heard about them in his life. What were these?

On one of them was written spitgrass. It was one of the unique or odd ones that stood out of them all. Clear like a liquid while the rest were coloured. Taking it out, he put it in his pocket and then closed the iron box before pushing it back to rest right below the bed before he had disturbed it.

There was nothing else that stood out in his eyes. A single safe box laid on the table out in the open. Having already figured how to open a safe box after playing the locks of the mansions over the time since he had understood about it, he walked towards it.

His step-mother had placed the safe as if taunting and daring the people to open it knowing well know one would dare to open it. Before he could go closer to it, he heard someone turn the knob of the door and with the slight creak that produced at the handle.

When a maid arrived at the door, she stared straight at the window which was closed. Her eyes glancing around the room, she took in a deep breath. The scent of a human, someone had entered the mistresses room.

Spitgrass- For the one's who don't remember this was used in BAD, it is used as a corruption ingredient (the last remaining bottle)

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