Chapter 55 - Not Eating You Up

''So that you don't feel homesick.''

''What?" Esme asked confusingly. 

''Didn't you ask why I brought your Aunt here?" Aleister raised an eyebrow and as she nodded, he also gave her a small nod, ''That's what I am saying. I brought her here so that you don't feel homesick. We can go together to meet her whenever you want.''

''But why would you go with me? I can go alone...'' Esme paused, feeling something amiss with his words. Why did he sound like she would be staying in the Castle forever? ''Once I find my brother, I will be leaving. We will go back to Seran and live like we used to.''

Aleister glanced at her quietly as he leaned back on the headrest of the bed. One of his legs remained on the bed with his hand on his knee as his eyes looked at her with an unfathomable expression. 

Esme blinked, ''What's wrong?" 

He shook his head quietly. 

She nodded, ''How did you know that I have an Aunt? I just told you about her existence yesterday. And how did you know that my Aunt is in Seran?" 

The lands of the Visteria are so vast. It was almost impossible for him to find her Aunt in a small village. 

''While we were in the dungeon and you were interrogating that woman, you mentioned it to the servant. Thought you have some relatives there so I got it investigated...''

Esme remembered it. ''I am grateful that you brought her here. I was worried about her health...'' She thought about something, ''When we went there today, I saw two other carriages behind us. Who were the people inside?" 

''Royal physician and his disciples. I left them there so that they can get your Aunt back to her health. The damaged main nerve will not regrow but her weak body can be helped.''

''How did you know that her main nerve is damaged?" Esme was astounded.

''Too many questions,'' Aleister's brows tugged together. 

Esme blinked. Was he...avoiding her question on purpose? 

She did not ask him anything about it, ''Thank you...'' She lowered her head for a moment, ''Will you let that woman go?" 

''She is not aware of anything.''

Esme glanced at him, ''Why are you certain?"

''Why are you certain that she is the culprit?" 

''Why are you so certain that she is innocent?" She blinked. 

''Answer me first,'' Aleister stared at her without much expression on his face. 

Esme shook her, ''I asked you first.'' 

''Are we playing a game here?" He raised an eyebrow. 

''I didn't start it,'' She pushed herself to her feet as she grabbed her hand, ''Come with me. I will show you something.''

He glanced at her delicate fingers that had settled on his palm. 

Esme followed his gaze. Her face burned slightly and she quickly retracted her hand from his, ''L-Let's go.''

''Where do you plan on taking me?" 

''It's not like I am eating you up,'' The words left her mouth when she glanced at his hesitant expression, ''I just want to take you to my room to show you something.''

'I don't mind being eaten up though' He pushed himself to his feet. 

''You said...?" Did he say something or she misheard it?

''To your room then,'' He grabbed her hand and they disappeared together, appearing in her room in the next moment. 

Esme shook her head, to wave off the dizziness, ''You should tell me before you do this,'' She was not prepared. 

He grabbed the back of her head as he pulled her closer such that her head was leaning on his chest, ''Or you can lean on me for support. I am a kind man and I won't mind,'' He casually said. 

Esme ignored his words but stayed in that position for some time until she did not feel like the world was spinning any more. She stood up straight and took a few backs away from him, looking everywhere but him. 

Aleister sat on the bed as he looked at her questioningly, ''I thought you were showing me something.''

''Yes,'' Esme squatted near his leg before taking out a diary that was safely hidden under the bed. 

He tilted his face to the side as he glanced at the diary, ''Isn't it the same one where you have painted my eyes? Showing it to me again and again, do you know how shy I feel?" Contradictory to his words, his tone was very laid-back and relaxing as he shifted his teasing gaze from the diary to her face. 

The corner of her lips twitched slightly as she stood up before sitting on the bed, placing the diary between them, ''I have always been fond of painting things that look pleasing to my eyes.''

''Do I look pleasing to you then?"

Esme tilted her head upwards, looking at his face under the moonlight. He had the kind of face that would make anyone unable to take their eyes off once they looked at him. And it was always accompanied by his formidable presence which was fatally attractive, ''Just those,'' She pointed both her fingers at his eyes as she averted her gaze. 

''So...''

''I will show you something,'' She quickly interrupted him before he could speak about something else. But as she flipped pages, her expressions changed. She stopped at the old page where she had folded the corner of it. The painting was no longer there. She was certain that she had painted it here only, on this page but it was blank. 

Looking at his questioning expression, she sighed before recounting the events as they happened. From the moment she went to the market and her brother was gone to the auction house, she told him everything. ''...I painted her and I remember her face.''

Aleister grabbed the diary from her hand, ''But it's not here.''

''I don't know how,'' Esme shook her head, ''If it was not for the painting, there was no reason for me to doubt that woman,'' For one moment, she could even assume that Aunt Mary lied to her about it but then how did she describe the woman's features so accurately?