Penelope who was taking rounds in the mansion had both Sylvia and Elliot as her guide when it came to explaining and talking to her, their speech not once hurtful but kind which made her wonder if they knew about her being a white witch as the Lord knew about it. Though they had spoken in the dining room, nothing was told directly as to why she was going to the church but at the same time, it was an understandable reason as to why she would visit the church frequently.
“Oh, there’s Areo,” Elliot walked ahead and picked up a black cat that was only passing by without waiting to greet anyone in the corridor.
“Meow,” the little black bat meowed when Elliot picked him up.
“Whose cat is this?”
“He belongs to Lord Alexander,” Sylvia stated, going to scratch its neck before letting her hand slide down, “It was a gift by the late lady.”
A cat as a pet, thought Penny to herself as she stared into the cat’s eyes, “He is very handsome.”
“Damien is handsome too, how long has it been since you both started to you know,” Elliot started the topic casually to receive a look from Sylvia which he ignored.
“Uh, just some time ago,” Penny replied, a small blush coming up as no one had ever asked her this before. Maybe Lady Maggie had put it politely without much use of words, “How about you both?” she quickly diverted the topic to them.
“Since we first met. It was love at first sight,” Elliot replied, that had Sylvia scoff.
“Please!” Sylvia rolled her eyes when Elliot’s face brightened, “He badmouthed me to Lord Alexander to not have me work for him.”
“Now now, Sylvia. You know that is not what I meant. You should know how much I dot on you,” Elliot took a step closer to her and in a blink of an eye, Sylvia had pulled out a sharp hairpin as if she was ready to stab him.
Elliot turned to Penelope, “This is my cat. She hasn’t been tamed yet,” his words came out to be playful.
“Don’t listen to him, Ms. Penelope. Would you like to see the artifacts room? Come,” the woman raised her hand to show the way while sending a glare to Elliot.
Penelope was instead in awe as to how she had pulled up the pin out of nowhere. One minute her hand had been free and the next moment she was ready to pierce it through the man’s skin. Her voice was filled with a mix of curiosity and excitement as she asked, “How did you do it? The pin.”
Sylvia at first stared at her before raising the pin in her hand, “This?”
“Yes,” Penny nodded her head eagerly.
“I learned it from my father. He taught me how to use it when to release and to stab someone.”
“It looks like, Ms. Penelope is interested in it,” Elliot commented, “You should ask the young master,” Penny made a note to ask him but at the same time, she felt one of his skills was to break and crack fingers.
“If you want I can teach you some of the tricks,” Sylvia offered and Penny looked elated by that.
“I would be happy to learn from you, Lady Sylvia,” Penny bowed her head thanking the woman.
After taking the tour of the mansion, they dropped her to one of the rooms which Martin had only got it cleaned. Damien hadn’t returned back to the room and she walked towards the patio before stopping her footsteps. She reminded herself that there was no water around the mansion. Taking a step forward, she felt the cold air touch her skin but she didn’t feel the cold like she did before but she did rub both her arms together. With her arms crossed, she looked at the quiet night. Noticing that Valeria wasn’t heavily snowed like Bonelake and Wovile.
A vacation, thought Penny to herself. They were far away from home. Far away from the trouble that had been there for years and away from her mother who was ready to throw her into the fire for her own use.
She did feel her mind settle down, like what had happened was a distant memory or dream but that dream would come to haunt her again and before that, she had to do something.
Damien had brought the books along with him and she could only imagine Lord’s Wovile’s confused expression when they had carried the books of vegetables with them.
When she finally shivered in the cold, goosebumps started to form around her skin and she decided to go back inside. Turning her body to see Damien who stood there, making her wonder how long he had been standing here.
“Aren’t you feeling cold?” he asked, stepping back when she walked forward and stepped back inside the room.
“It is freezing,” she muttered under her breath, closing the door to the patio so that no air would come to enter.
“Take a seat at the fireplace. Now,” he said, not happy to see that she had decided to stay out without wearing a coat or a shawl around her to protect from the harsh weather, “How was your tour of the mansion?”
“It was okay,” Penny answered, going to the fireplace she sat down right in front of it without taking the chair. Her legs crossed, she raised both her hands in front of the fireplace to feel the warmth on her skin, “Come sit,” she said looking at him for him to stare at her, “Don’t be shy,” she grinned at him.
He rolled his eyes at her, “Do you want me to show you, who is shy?” walking behind her, he pulled the plush chair closer to the fireplace and placed it behind her.
Seeing him sit behind her, Penny moved back so that she could lean her back against his legs, continuing to feel the warmth seep back into her bed with Damien sitting behind her.
