That Child Is Strange-7

Frank opened his eyes and as the blurry vision cleared, he looked around for Raymond.

"Brother......?"

"Oh, you are up."

Higgins said as he approached him a chocolate bar in his hand.

"Where is brother?"

Higgins held out the chocolate and said,

" Ah, he is gone to serve the lord's tea. Here, eat this while waiting, he will be right back."

Frank suddenly felt his heart beating fast. 

Why am I so anxious? Brother...... He is safe.... right? Frank lost in his thoughts for a while. Then grabbing that chocolate and standing up, he said,

"I am going to brother."

"Wait.... you....."

"It's alright, I know the mansion hallways well now."

Frank darted out of the kitchen door and was soon not visible.

I was asking about your wounds kid, Higgins sighed and resumed his work.

Frank hopped across the hallway happily, for the first time in his life someone had unconditionally taken his side. He could not wait to meet Raymond and talk to him about all the world.

He turned around to the hallway near the main doorway and his eyes traced Raymond entering the Marquis' study with the tray.

Oh, he just went in, he thought. Guess I'll just wait for him here.

Suddenly he heard something from the library adjoining the study. Like someone let out a gasp.

He slowly opened the door and looked in. 

On a very high pile of thick books, stood Julia Shuzar at the corner of the library peeking into what seemed to be a ventilator.

"Miss Julia?"

Frank unknowingly let out her name as he unconsciously closed the door behind him.

"Huh?"

The girl wobbled from her pile as she looked towards Frank.

"Frank.. shh..."

She signed him to be quiet. She peeked back through the ventilator and found the governess' two violet eyes glaring at her.

"Ack!"

Julia slipped her foot in surprise and along with the massive pile of books, landed on the floor.

"Are you alright, my lady?"

Frank rushed towards her and was about to pull her out of the books when suddenly he heard footsteps stomping towards the library's door.

Within a second the door flew open and there stood the governess.

"You...."

Hannah looked at Frank somewhat dumbfounded. He was eavesdropping on her?

Frank stared at the governess in confusion and dropped the chocolate bar that was in his hand the whole time.

After an awkward silence, Hannah started speaking,

"Were you the one listening to my conversation with the Marquis just now?"

"What... Your what?"

Frank turned his head toward the collapsed pile of books and searched for Miss Julia who had mysteriously disappeared now.

Is she hiding within those books? Frank thought and turned again to Hannah.

"What are you thinking, brat? Tell me already, were you the one eavesdropping just now?"

Hannah glared at him and he glared back.

Miss Julia was eavesdropping?....... Did this woman saw her? Maybe that's why she fell from her book tower, Frank's thoughts were running wild now. If I say it wasn't me, she would look through the library and maybe she would find Miss Julia. I don't know what Miss Julia was doing but if this woman catches her, who knows what she will do to her. I have heard governesses are often scary and rude. If I just take the blame, Miss Julia would go off Scott free. I am on bad terms with this woman anyways.

"Yeah, I was listening."

Hannah looked closely at that golden-haired boy's face.

He's lying, she thought. Only an idiot would admit to his crime right away.

And Hannah was sure that the eyes she saw were ash grey. This brat had dazzling blue eyes which would have stood out even if he was covering them with his falling bangs.

He is protecting someone, Hannah finally reached that conclusion and said," Fine, don't do things like this again. You might be in trouble for taking blame like that."

"What?! I am telling you I was the one who did it!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Suddenly, Hannah's eyes glanced at the boy's hands. There were burns.

"Hey, what happened to your hands! they were alright before."

Hannah grabbed his arm to take a better look before he could even react. 

Suddenly a beam of light came out from Frank's burns and within a moment, his skin was back to normal with no traces of burns anywhere.

"What the.....?"

Hannah looked confounded, seriously confounded.

Did I just leak magic? She was sure as hell that she leaked magic.

Frank had a flustered look on his face too and pointlessly mumbled," You... What did you do...... How are they gone..... This....?"

They both had terrified expressions on their faces.

Hannah was suspecting that her magic capabilities might get exposed. Frank thought he did something to the governess to be like that ( Actually, he didn't).

"You..."

Hannah was about to say something when suddenly...

"Frank! Oh, so here you are! I have looking for you, brat! Higgins told me you came after me?"

Entering the library, Raymond saw Hannah and Frank, the collapsed pile of books, and the twisted look on their faces. Overall, it became an extremely awkward situation.

"Um... What exactly happened here?"

Raymond passed a confused look at both.

Hannah suddenly forced a smile and said," Oh, I just asked Frank to show me around the library and I accidentally leaned over the bookshelf over there and the thicker ones fell."

" Oh, so that's what happened. No worries, my lady. Frank clean up the library...... wait, your burns, are you alright now?"

Raymond looked at Frank's hands, the burns were gone.

"How....?"

" Um. Brother, they were gone when I woke up."

" Oh, really. Well, I see. Guess you should clean up the library then and go home to rest, okay?"

"Yes, brother."

Raymond looked at Hannah and said," Well then, my lady, please follow me. I'll show you your room."

Raymond exited the library. Hannah turned to go but glared at Frank for a moment as a warning to keep his mouth shut. Frank glared back as if he wanted the same thing.

Hannah left following Raymond to her room.

On the way there, she thought all that happened over again.

That child, Frank, was strange.

But it was even stranger for him to take someone else's blame.

From what she knew of his personality in that short period, he wasn't someone who would remain quiet if wrongly accused. So why?

Ha. Maybe it was someone very important to him.

That kid, she couldn't help but smile.

Affection, either given or taken, is poisonous.

Nobody knew it better than her.

A witch's magic disappears when she falls in love.

One of the reasons many witches lost their lives. Love and affection for a witch are like a curse. Just like how it was for her father.

Her father was a witch too. He foolishly fell for her mother who sold him to the imperial guards for a bag of gold after he lost his magic.

Hannah would rather die than fall in love because dying outright was much better than being tortured to death.