Chapter 66

66 Legend of The Beyor Family (Part 2)

The four of them were sitting on the outside benches, waiting for their food to be delivered. Anne carefully touched Justice’s arm on the table, he looks at her with a frown on his face.

“What is it?” Obviously, he wasn’t thrilled to be waking up.

“Uhm... I wanted to brew you some tonic, Xavier told me. You have a rough day, so...” Anne said to Justice while her eyes looked at his face, a tired face from the crown prince.

“Fine! Just do whatever you can. I doubt it will work, though.” Gruntled Justice, then grab a loaf of bread and one cup of fresh moomilk, he turned to Xavier, “I’m going to eat this inside the carriage. I think I really need that sleep.”

The three of them saw him entering the carriage, with a loaf of bread and a moomilk in his hand. Xavier let out a sigh and smiled at Anne. “Don’t mind him. He becomes cranky when he lacks some sleep.”

“No... It’s fine. I do worry about him. I’ll check my supply after we eat our lunch. Hopefully, I get what I need to make the tonic for him.” Anne does understand how stressful Justice’s life can be. He is the crown prince, one of the prominent figures in the Valorian kingdom. Of course, it comes at a higher price than any other job, but his duty always comes first above all, especially the pressure to find the next empress is increasing every day.

Their food was finally being served, Andy munching on his meat broth a little excited, Anne giggled when he saw the young man ravaging the soup.

“You must be so hungry,” Anne has spoken to Andy, with fascination in her eyes.

“Yes! Yes, I do, I am sorry, it was ungentlemanly of me to eat like this in front of a girl,” Andy smiling at Anne, and then trying to say, “Especially for a beau...”

.....

Xavier immediately cleared his throat and glared at Andy. “Are you finished? Just eat your food.”

The poor young man eats in a more quiet manner afterward. Anne huffed her breath. She was upset about how Xavier treated Andy earlier. Xavier couldn’t care less. In his twisted mind, Anne belongs to him, and of course to his three friends whom he considers his brothers. They eat lunch quietly, and after the hearty but stressful lunch, they continued the journey, but not before Anne pulled Xavier away from the carriage.

“I wanted to talk to you.” Said Anne briefly to Xavier. The two of them walk into the backyard of the inn, where Anne already standing with her hands on her hips, “Oh my God, Xavier, do you have to be so rude to the poor man?”

“What do you mean?” Xavier tries to act gullible in front of Anne. “I like to eat peacefully. He was too noisy... for his own good.”

Gasping at how rude Xavier is, Anne unexpectedly stomped her feet and took one chair, and put it in front of Xavier who looks confused about whatever she was doing. Unexpectedly, she stands up on the chair and flicks Xavier’s nose.

A stinging pain spread from Xavier’s nose to all over his face. “Ouch! Hey, what was that for?!” Xavier rubbed at his now reddened nose and looks at Anne with a sulked face.

“I’m sorry, but naughty boys need to be punished sometimes,” Anne giggled at him while she was still standing on the chair.

He took his revenge by carrying her from the chair into his arms. Anne squealed and held onto Xavier.

“Xavier, what are you doing?! Put me down!”

Xavier’s eyes looked directly into Anne, while his smile appeared. Anne could see a fang appear, she never notices it before.

“I don’t want to put you down, I’m a naughty boy after all,” With a smirk coming on his face, Xavier walked back to the carriage with Anne on his arm, “Little girl, next time, make sure you punished me harshly so that my revenge will be more severe.” He whispered into her ears, giving her a sensation of a tingling that was coming from his warm breath. She can also feel his lips touch a bit of her earlobe.

She entered the carriage with a blushing face. Justice had already woken up, he looks at Anne’s face and asked her with some annoyance in his tone.

“Where were you? We need to catch up with the light before we arrived at the inn.”

Anne mumbled some incoherent words about Justice and prefer to sit quietly in her seat. Xavier entered the carriage while whistling. They continued on, with Justice glaring at Xavier and Anne, while both of them prefer to be silent.

“Ah, Andy, how about we continued with the story now?” Anne tried to ease the tension by asking Andy to continue the story, also because her curiosity wager more than her fear.

Andy looks between Justice and Xavier and glances at Anne, where the young girl nodded to encourage him.

“Just continue the story, Andy. I’m going back to sleep, and at least one of us here will be entertained by it,” Justice said while his finger pointing at Anne.

“Yes, Anne needs to hear the story thoroughly, so, continue Andy.” Said Xavier, his eyes gazing at Anne, whom the latter choose to avoid his stare.

Andy can sense the three of them were struggling right now, seems like a tension that can be cut with a knife. He let out a sigh and nodded his head. “Alright, let us continue the tragic tale of Richard Beyor.”

The carriage took them into the lush forest, while Andy begins the story once again. “When Drake Beyor looks into the room, he was screaming as loud as he can, calling all of his brothers to come. The three of them were horrified when they saw the dead body of Richard Beyor protruding from the casket with a rigid terrifying look on his face”

Clearing his throat, he continued on, “Horrified, they examined their father’s dead body. There’s no reaction from the dead body, and they put him back in the casket with so much effort. Afterward, the dusk finally and the three of them went home as soon as possible.” Looking to his right and left, Andy’s storytelling compelled Anne so much, Justice and Xavier couldn’t help themselves stare at the girl.

“The carriage with Richard Beyor’s casket was galloping through the road. They wanted to arrive at the mansion in less than one day. After changing horses, they took a short rest. They never rest at any inn. They were afraid that people will notice an anomaly in Richard Beyor’s dead body.” Andy cleared his throat, and with a whispering sound, he said, “The anomaly wasn’t about the odd and terrifying found of Richard coming out from his casket, it was because they noticed a knocking sound that coming from the inside of his casket...”

Anne’s face grew pale, but she couldn’t help to say, “Really? So... Richard Beyor’s dead body...”

“No... When they arrived at the mansion, and open the casket, the body lay still in his solemn pose with two hands clasped together, his three sons even more terrified than before. Was it a dream? Or is it because they have already been haunted by their own father?” Andy said, while Anne looks at Andy with focus and also with her terrified expression, “The awake for Richard Beyor was being held, all of his immediate family came to do their final respect to the astounding alchemist, the three sons of Richard Beyor were so protective and guarded the casket twenty-four hours, they slept beside the casket, and look so grim whenever people tried to look inside the casket.”

“They... they were afraid, right?” Asked Anne directly at Andy.

Andy nodded his head, “Yes, they were afraid, and guarded the casket, in case their dead father’s trying to do another mischievous or sinister deed, three days went by, and the funeral will be held in the family’s cemetery behind the mansion in the morning.”

“So, what happened?”

“No one knows what happened that night. The witness that came for the burial saw the mansion burned, and they can hear blood-curdling screaming coming from the inside of the mansion. They couldn’t do anything, the fire was already spread everywhere. After the fire was gone, the once beautiful mansion was now already in ruin and rabbles, with burned bodies everywhere,” With widened eyes, Andy continued, “But... there’s only one thing that survived the long night, which was the casket with Richard Beyor’s dead body fully intact.”

“The end!” Shouted Xavier, making Anne squeak and spontaneously hold on to Justice.

“Well, I must say, Xavier, need to surprise you more, River Anne,” Smirked Justice at our heroine. His face has a bit of color now, even though his hair becoming scruffier than before.

Anne muttered a word at him, “Shut up, your majesty, it was just a spontaneous reaction.”

“Yes, we can see that, and...”

Suddenly, the carriage driver was screaming from outside. They were tumbling inside the carriage, and not long after stopped with a deafening silence. Dust from the dirt road came inside the carriage. Anne took Chikara from the basket and hold him tightly. Justice was holding her tightly, protecting her from the accident.

“Are you okay?” He asked Anne with a concerned face.

Anne looks at him and saw blood dripping from his head. “Justice, you’re hurt!” She tried to reach into him, but then another scream came directly from the door of the carriage. They turned their attention to the door and look aghast at the figure outside the carriage.