Mirror, mirror on the wall (4) - end

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"Lady Sotheby, I don't see any name tag on this mirror."

After arranging all of his lady's presents, the butler found a plain oval-shaped mirror that was half-covered by a purple velvet cloth, lying in a wooden box alone.

"Oh, it was something the shopkeeper accidentally added to my package." 

The little lady was still busy thinking which ribbons were suitable for which present boxes, so she didn't really pay attention to the item in his hands.

"I will ask someone to give it back tomorrow... Oh! I found the right ones!"

She happily waved a red polka dot ribbon and began to tie it to the box.

"I see, then please let me take care of this mirror before we send it back to its owner."

His voice once again sounded a little strange, which was somewhat similar to when he talked about gorgons. This made Sotheby temporarily paused her current work to take a close look at him.

"Mister Lawrence, did you find something interesting but not tell me?"

She gave him a suspicious look, yet above all in those eyes, her excited curiosity.

"Well, I suppose it's a yes." 

The young man nodded before her "Aha!" expression.

"Still, I have a feeling that you are also secretly hiding a very important thing..."

His next words immediately made her eyes change to other directions but him.

"...from me?"

"Nothing at all!" 

Sotheby quickly replied, her fingers got tightened on the skirt.

"Oh, I- I just remember it's time for dinner! I heard from Mr. Langleys that today we would have a really really special menu haha..."

It was so easy to figure out an awkward smile from her, so was her hidden intention.

At times like this, the butler always found it amusing in teasing his little lady. To him, it was like leaving a drop of water on a flower, then watching its petals slightly shake. Nothing seemed special about this act, yet he couldn't take his eyes off it until the end.

"If so, I think I should come to the dining room as soon as possible then."

Holding the closed wooden box in his hands, the butler greeted her with a smile and left the room before her tense look.

"Phew... I almost let him know..."

With a sigh of relief, Sotheby sat down on the floor in her skirt, which would definitely trigger Mr. Karson's manner teaching and a long sigh in no time.

..........

As night fell on Sotheby's mansion, the servants, one by one, returned to their rooms after having dinner and carefully checking on their responsible areas. To tell the truth, this mansion was so large that it took people at least 10 minutes for a thorough examination of their own working place. And yet, this estimated number was only applied to the indoor servants.

For the outdoor ones, such as guards and gardeners, no less than 30 minutes for them to watch every corner of the mansion, especially somewhere that people and "things" could hide inside, to make sure that there was no existence rather than their masters, themselves and safe "creatures" that their little lady brought back. Moreover, the guards still had to take turns every 2 hours to patrol around.

It was widely known that Sotheby was an extremely wealthy family even in the human's world or the arcanist's world. They were famous for having a strict servant's recruitment as well as their overly cautious security.

If someone wanted to be a part of this family's serving force, the first condition they needed to have was a clear and "safe" background. The word "safe" could be considered as not crime-related, no history of mental illness and last but not least, no discriminatory thinking or action between any races, especially between humans and arcanists.

Yes, any factor that could have a chance to harm Ms. Sotheby and her innocence was already blocked outside their mansion's door from the very beginning.

However, there was once time from long ago, when Ms. Sotheby was still a little bird who just began to learn about the vast sky out there through colorful picture books, a dangerous presence had successfully sneaked into her beautifully decorated nest and stole the little bird away for a brief moment.

It was so brief that even the little bird didn't realize she was taken away from her home, her wings could be broken and the bright light in her lime green eyes could be extinguished one and for all.

That incident indeed scared all over the mansion and from then on, the security became more and more cautious, the test of recruiting process turned into something that was known as impossible to pass in people's mouths.

Right now, inside the butler room, which was also a one-man room, the young man began to change his servant's outfit for a night bath.

First, he removed his black jacket, his flower printed black vest and loosened his dark blue tie. Next, he slowly took off the two top buttons and his white gloves, which revealed a pair of pale white hands with a small part of a tattoo that peeked out of the long sleeve of his white shirt.

The whole process was reflected by the new mirror that had just been hung on the wall of his room, next to the small table that had a vase of freshly branches of lavender and an opened wooden box.

The man hummed a beautiful melody, a rather sad one.

Everything went as usual, until the silver scales on the young man's neck appeared behind his loose collar.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall..."

A bewitching female voice started echoing in the room, as if singing on his melody.

"Who's the fairest one of all?"

The sound successfully caught the young man's attention and soon, all of his mind.

"It's definitely..." His silver eyes behind the round glasses shrinked for a moment, then squinted, "...anyone but you."

Hearing his insolent answer, the glass surface shook violently and revealed its true appearance.

A mirror with numerous cracks and a missing piece of glass at the reflection of his forehead.

"Liar! Liar!"

Its luring sound turned into a deafening scream, yet in the butler's ears, a desperate rhythm under the moonlight.

"No matter how many times I pretended not seeing you, giving you a chance to escape, you're still as stupid as you used to be."

He took out the syringe on his thigh and threw it to the floor. Then, from his pocket, a shiny piece of mirror was raised in his pale hand.

"G!iv&e it ba&ck... gi?ve it b@#ck..."

As the mirror lost its human language, there were pitch-black tentacles growing from all over its body.

"Mine, mine."

"How did my younger self even believe that this creature had intelligence like an arcanist, or at least, a human?"

The young man shrugged his shoulders and showed a face of regret.

"You know what, I almost forgot about this experiment until my dear lady helped me recall this morning."

The furious creature with a mirror body tried to approach its prey, yet it soon found out that it was already locked up in a ritual on the wall.

"Ms. Hannah and Mr. Vincent was truly a generous couple. They did pay us a great fortune for being our guinea pigs."

"My pathetic father had told me to destroy you to avoid unnecessary trouble, yet I at that time was still curious if you could find me anywhere after I took a piece of yours."

He sat on his bed, looking at the ceiling that had a child drawing of a big star at the center and several phases of the moon gathering around it. 

A drawing of that small girl.

"Actually, when I saw your presence around my lady, all of my interest for you somehow disappeared."

He stood up again, opened his drawer, chose a small jar of purple dust and walked to the creature that was struggling. 

"Well, I guess your powder may at least become a useful ingredient for my potionology class."

Sprinkling one pound of the purple dust on the creature, he watched it gradually become dried up, while begging for its life.

At some point, he saw his hidden desire on its cracking surface, yet his face remained its stone cold expression.

After all, the desire of one's heart was no real thing but an illusion that was not yet or impossible to come true.

He believed in what he saw, what he heard and what he felt.

Therefore–

"Die already, my broken dreams."

...........

The next day, the chief butler of Sotheby's mansion, Mr. Karson, had come back from his business trip with Mr. and Mrs. Sotheby.

Welcoming him was a surprise party of his little lady, Ms. Sotheby, who dressed in her most outstanding outfit with a big and bright smile on her face.

"Welcome back, Mr. Karson!"

She hurriedly ran to him, once again forgetting all about the proper manner of a lady.

But at this moment, Mr. Karson thought he could let her pass without any reminder.

"I'm back, my lady."

A tight hug was given to him as well as several lovely words and questions.

"Where did you go?"

"Was there anything special on your trip?"

"Did you feel well?"

"Where did Papa and Mama go?"

And in the end, he gently patted her head.

"I miss you so much, Mr. Karson."

"I miss you too, my lady."