Chapter 32: Back to the Winter House
*Back to the Present*
After telling her story, the atmosphere was very silent. She was looking at her own hands resting on her knees.
"Since then, I am nothing but an assassin who kills and kills dozens and dozens of people... Without even being able to remember the full number... After all these years I would like to leave everything behind me, but I have sacrificed far too much to get here, without my revenge... I am nothing but an empty shell. So, do you believe that I too do not deserve redemption?"
She raised her eyes toward Daemon. The latter remained silent for a long moment. Then, gently, Daemon leaned forward and took her hand.
"I am sorry for everything you have been through, Luna... I mean Andromeda... But we always have a choice..."
Luna withdrew her hand. She stared at Daemon coldly.
"What choice? Unfortunately, not everyone is born with the choice of leading a carefree life full of riches or becoming a talented Chi User who mastered the First Sense in three months. Some... are forced to hurt others to survive." She marked a pause, then added, more quietly: "Weren’t you afraid that a criminal like me would kill you?"
Daemon opened his mouth to answer, but the carriage stopped abruptly. The sound of footsteps was heard on the gravel, then a voice called from outside.
"We have arrived, young master!"
Luna turned toward the door. She was about to get out when Daemon grabbed her arm. He then embraced her, and his cheek brushed against her hair.
"I am sorry, master... I am a bit slow-witted... But as I have done so far... I am ready to take risks..."
Luna pushed him away and grabbed him by the collar of his tunic, pulling him toward her. Their faces were a few centimeters apart. She could see the reflection of her own eyes in his.
"That is exactly what I do not want. You should not take risks for me. It is not worth it, to be whipped five hundred times for a criminal... idiot! At this rate, you are just going to die stupidly."
Her voice trembled slightly, but her jaw remained clenched.
"You are not a criminal," replied Daemon without lowering his eyes. "You are my master."
She released his collar.
"Who tells you that I will not become an assassin again?"
"If that were to happen... I will do my best to stop you and prevent you from taking that path."
Luna looked at him for a long time.
"Do not forget your promise..."
She said that before turning around and pushing the door open.
Daemon got out and raised his eyes toward the domain and the large manor standing in front of him. There were maids and servants standing lined up in the main alley.
As soon as they saw him, they bowed.
"We greet the master of the Winter Domain!"
Daemon nodded. He was about to walk past them when an older voice rose.
"Welcome back, Lord Daemon!"
He gave a brief nod, then entered the manor. The stewardess Mallory walked beside him, a notebook in her hand, and Luna followed right behind.
Daemon slowly crossed the rooms. He ran his hand over the table, touched the back of an armchair. His gaze was full of nostalgia. He was thinking of the years spent here with his father, the evenings spent in front of the fire, the history lessons he listened to.
He arrived in front of a large painting hanging in the north corridor. The painting showed a woman with long white hair cascading over her shoulders. Her black skin highlighted her golden eyes. She wore long white gloves that went up to her elbows, and a large black dress that covered her entire body without revealing anything of her silhouette and her expressionless face.
Luna stopped beside him and contemplated the portrait.
"She looks a lot like you," she commented. "It looks like you in a feminine version."
Daemon nodded. He did not take his eyes off Persephone’s face.
"It is true," he said in a calm voice. "Her beauty had no equal except her coldness."
He remained a few seconds motionless in front of the portrait, then turned toward the one of his father hanging just opposite.
"Your son has returned to the fold," he murmured.
Then he moved away. He climbed the main staircase, visited the bedrooms, checked that everything was in order.
After the bath, he dressed simply and went up to his father’s office. The room was spacious. There was a large oak table in the center, covered with parchments and accounting registers. A window overlooked the frozen gardens of the domain. Daemon sat down and began to check that that idiot Conrad had indeed sent everything owed. He went through the figures once, then a second time. Everything was there. The Winter House had already been understaffed for some time. The domain lacked soldiers to patrol the estate, and the lands were not cultivated enough due to a lack of manpower, especially because of the harsh environment.
With this money, he was going to make the domain more powerful militarily. He could hire additional guards. He could also ease the work of the commoners by buying livestock to plow the fields in their place and the irrigation system that had been much talked about for the past few years.
"It is the least I can do. It is their taxes that have kept the domain alive."
Luna was sitting in an armchair near the window.
"Now, what do you plan to do?" she asked.
Daemon placed his elbows on the table and joined his hands in front of his chin.
"I may not be a strategist," he replied, "but I am not an idiot. The Spear Clan has always been the rival of the Sword Clan. And it attacked me, probably because of Conrad who gave away my position. And if Conrad was able to contact them, it is because their leader, Markus, maintains a friendly relationship with them."
"I see," Luna resumed. "And so, you are going to make them your enemies?"
"If it were my father, he would find a way to solve the problem with diplomacy. My mother, she would have simply declared war."
"But you, you do not have their power to use these two methods."
"I know," admitted Daemon. "And I cannot risk causing a rupture between the families. I must first find allies in the Summer House and in the Autumn House. Only then, only then, can I deal with the Spear Clan that wants me dead."
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