Chapter 42 - Mutual Secrets

"How are you related to Alphius?" Instead of giving him a straight answer, she questioned him back.

"It doesn't matter how I know him. Didn't you say it yourself? We'll both keep secrets and by keeping secrets, we'll have a mutual trust between us."

The woman gulped as she frowned and waited for a few seconds before answering, "I don't believe it."

Hecathe smirked as he heard this, "Why?"

"Didn't you say you would only ask me one question?" The woman snapped.

"I did," Hecathe nodded his head as his hands reached out and took the papers that were presented in front of him on the table, "I'm going to sign the contract since you gave me the answer that I was looking for."

The woman smiled as she saw the man flipping through the papers first.

"However, I'm asking out of curiosity. Why do you say that Alphius is innocent?" Hecathe asked casually as he kept his eyes on the papers in his hands.

"Who knows?" The woman sang, "Maybe because he's an innocent boy who was just not accepted by society."

"..." It was probably the first time Hecathe had heard someone referring to Alphius as an innocent boy, "You don't even know him. How can you say that?"

The woman chuckled as she responded, "Sometimes you don't need to know people to understand them. You can say that I understand him because we are alike."

"Alike?" Hecathe found it a bit funny as he commented, "I don't really see any similarities."

"You sure about that?" The woman pursed her lips as she pointed down at her legs, "We are more alike than you might think."

"..."

"He was probably miserable because of how people treated him," The woman spoke up and there was a sense of pity in her voice as she continued, "So he recoiled from the society and preferred living in solitude."

"Just like you," Hecathe's eyes narrowed down on the woman as he interjected with a comment.

The woman smiled but didn't bother confirming it as she continued, "He didn't have many friends. Marvin and Hecathe were his only friends so I'm sure that he must have treasured them a lot. Do you think if you were in his shoes, you would have killed your best friend's father?"

"Depends," Hecathe answered shortly without even thinking about it properly, "If he deserved to die or not."

"Young man, you're not god."

Hecathe's muscles paused as he heard this sentence that was really familiar to him.

"Whether someone deserves to die or not, you're not someone to decide it," The woman added with an amused smirk on her face.

Hecathe leaned back on his chair as he put the papers down on the table and stretched his hand out front, "A pen?"

The woman chuckled as she held Hecathe's hand instead of giving him a pen.

Hecathe was confused for a mere second as he saw the woman using her nails to pierce Hecathe's finger, "Blood works better for an illegal contract, don't you agree?"

Hecathe chuckled as he nodded his head and cursed the woman in his mind.

"I know we agreed to keep secrets but I have to ask," The woman spoke up as she saw Hecathe leaving a bloody fingerprint on the contract, "Why are you so interested in this case? Could it be that you came here in search of the truth?"

Hecathe shrugged his shoulder as he simply responded, "It's funny that you guessed that."

"..."

Hecathe smirked as he raised his head and spoke confidently, "I'm definitely going to find the real killer and clear some misunderstandings."

"Why?" The woman asked with a small frown, "His matters should have nothing to do with you, right?"

Hecathe stood up and thought about it for a minute before giving a response with a mischievous smirk on his face, "You can say that whatever concerns him concerns me as well since he's now my other half."

The woman's eyes widened as she absorbed Hecathe's words.

She snapped her fingers and they were once again transported back to the previous living room where Zail was patiently waiting for them.

"I see..." The woman muttered and there was a slight blush on her cheeks as she mentally came up with a big misunderstanding, 'This boy must love Alphius a lot! I would have never pegged him to be the romantic kind!'

"Aunt, why do you look like that?" Zail asked in worry as he approached the woman.

"Eh?" The woman blinked as she covered her face with her hands, "What are you talking about?"

Zail frowned as his eyes trailed between Hecathe and the woman, "Aunt, you're blushing..."

The woman laughed as she smacked Zail on the shoulder defensively, "What the hell are you talking about?! Why would I be blushing?"

Zail gulped as he rubbed his shoulder and cautiously glanced at Hecathe as he muttered, "I see..."

It seemed that this man also came up with a big misunderstanding as he mentally concluded that his aunt must have probably fallen in love with Hecathe.

Hecathe who was still clueless about all the misunderstandings blinked as he questioned, "Where is my room?"

The woman and Zail gulped at the same time as they looked at one another.

"You show him the room," The woman smiled as she instructed and Zail immediately nodded his head but didn't move, and instead, he reached his hand out front.

The woman pursed her lips as she understood what the man wanted.

"You little brat," The woman cursed as she took out some money and handed it over to Zail.

Zail smiled brightly as he counted the cash and put it away in his pocket before turning to face Hecathe, "Sir, let's go!"

"..." Hecathe suddenly had a feeling that he had been tricked somehow.

Zail led the way to the floor above where Hecathe's room was and Hecathe followed him without wasting any more time.

On his way, the woman stopped him one last time as she called out to him.

"Young man!"

"Hmm?" Hecathe turned to face her.

"I'm cheering you on!"

Hecathe blinked in confusion as he didn't understand anything but he still nodded his head as he responded, "Um... Thank you....?"