I am so sorry this is posted so late in the day. Monday came faster than I thought. Thus, I am extending the update days to three days apart instead of two. The next update will be Friday, July 21st.

Thank you to those who commented! It is very exciting to see people's interest in this work :D

The route was direct, leading to a large dining room equipped with a table set for ten. But no one had shown, not even the Lord. Feliciano's escort carefully pulled back his chair and gestured for him to sit down at one end of the long table. The escort himself sat opposite him, in the chair clearly designed for the head of the house.

Feliciano ogled him. "I'm not sure if you're allowed to sit there."

"Why ever not?"

"I think that is the seat for the Lord" Feliciano stage whispered, leaning forward in worry. "You and Droge are very scary when I do something wrong, but I can't imagine what that compares to when someone sits in the Lord's seat"

The man stared at Feliciano for a long, long time. "Feliciano, I am the Lord of Darkmoor Castle. Please, call me Ludwig."

The brunette's mouth dropped open in shock."You're the Lord? Oh my god, that's so exciting!" He exclaimed, hopping up. "Thank you so much for selecting me for this trip, though I don't remember applying, and also you have a wonderful castle and you're so very scary sometimes and even though I just met you I like you much better than anyone else I've met here!"" Feliciano stared at him with a wide smile, chest raising quickly as he took a breath.

Ludwig froze, one hand on the table. "You're… welcome?"

"Oh boy, I was afraid you were a werewolf or something" Feliciano said, sitting down at last.

"A werewolf?" Ludwig said, smiling good naturally. "How interesting."

"That's what Lovino thought." Feliciano hummed. "Or a vampire."

But at the mention of Lovino, the Lord's light expression turned to stone. "Ah yes, your guest. Tell me, is he your... brother?"

Feliciano smiled. "Yup, three years older than me but we share the same birthday. Crazy, right?"

The fun fact did not seem to change Ludwig's expression. "Yes. That is peculiar. But enough on that. Would you mind telling me more about yourself?"

"Hmm…" Feliciano pondered. It was one of his favorite subjects. "Well, let's see. I like to paint, but only portraits and cats. I'm from a small town, I can speak Italian and German, and I am bad at any kind of sports that's not track. I graduate this year and I love all kinds of games. What about you, Ludwig?"

Ludwig was quiet as he thought. "I was once very good at javelin" was all he said after a minute of silence.

"That's it?" Feliciano asked, inching forward. "Nothing else?"

"Yes…" Ludwig paused for a moment. "But no matter. I believe the food is ready to be served."

As he said that, the doors to the kitchen opened, and a man with long blond hair wheeled out a cart filled with food as if he had been waiting. But when he entered the room, he gracelessly stopped the cart to stare at Feliciano long and hard.

"Excuse me." Ludwig coughed, breaking the spell.

"Oh, right of course." The man said at long last, walking closer. "It is just… nevermind. You reminded me of someone. My name is Francis Bonnefoy and I am the head chef here. It has been a long time since we have had guests to serve and I am grateful for your arrival." He paused, as if waiting for someone to applause. Feliciano gave a little clap to appease him. "Tonight we have Spaghetti Alfredo, with assorted sides" Francis' continued. "I believe it will be to your liking. Ah, is the other one not joining you?"

"Other one?" Feliciano asked. "You mean Lovino?"

"No…" Ludwig said. "He has not come down yet"

"No matter. I'm sure he misses my cooking. Enjoy, children." Francis said flippantly, before departing.

"He seems nice," Feliciano said as he started eating.

There were no sounds but that of chewing as the two enjoyed the meal. Feliciano did not look up much, but when he did, he noticed that Ludwig did not touch any of the food on his plate. A muffled bumf bumf bumf came from the walls.

"What is that noise?" Ludwig asked, looking around. Bumf bumf bumf.

"What noise?" Bumf bumf bumf.

"That noise- do you hear it? It almost sounds like-" BANG.

Before he could finish, part of the wall swung open and Lovino came tumbling out. "Oh my god! Lovino!" Feliciano exclaimed, standing up quickly. "What are you doing?"

Lovino lay dazed on his back, staring at his brother upside down."I fell down the fucking stairs, what do you think?" Lovino finally said, pointing to the hidden staircase that now swung openly into the room. "What the h-hell was that? There was moths and a staircase and I came fucking flying-"

"Excuse me, what is the meaning of this?" Ludwig demanded. "We're in the middle of dinner."

Lovino looked up. He was lucky, falling through the fucking wall only gave him minor bruises and it was the shock that really hurt. Still, have some manners dickweed. "The hell are you?" He snapped, letting Feliciano pull him to his feet.

"My name is Ludwig and I am the Lord of-"

"Oh you're that bag of cats running this scam?"

Ludwig gritted his teeth. "There is no scam"

Feliciano laughed. "No, no it's not! You see there's even this really nice dinner and we were waiting for you to come down and now you're here- let's eat!" He pulled his brother down next to him, sliding him a plate. "Mr. Ludwig hadn't even started eating yet because he was waiting. How nice is that?"

Lovino looked the host over. He certainly didn't seem grateful for Lovino's arrival. In fact, he was giving him a stony stare as if his mere presence was distasteful. And he still wasn't eating. With nothing else to do, Lovino began to eat. The food was good, he realized, but he didn't recognize most of it. Yet, Ludwig not eating began to set him off, and with only a bite in, Lovino put down his fork.

"Eh? Are you not eating, 'Vino?"

Lovino ignored him and stared at Ludwig. "I don't eat German food."

"It is Italian in nature" Ludwig said, gritting his teeth. "And I assure you, there is nothing wrong with the cooking."

"So eat."

"I am not inclined to take order from you."

"Oookaay…" Feliciano whistled, awkwardly putting down his own fork. "Lovi, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Feliciano stood up from the table, pulling an irritated Lovino away. They huddled together away the dinner table. "Don't be rude!" Feliciano whispered. "He's our host!"

"He's really creepy" Lovino said, looking over his shoulder. "And no one invited me to dinner! Just you."

"I'm sure it was an honest mistake."

"And I'm sure you'd be the first to die in a horror movie."

"Why are you being so nasty?" Feliciano asked, his voice rising. "I am actually having a good time. Everyone here is very nice!"

"Well I'm not!" Lovino said louder. "You weren't there, but earlier there was this maid and she wouldn't even look at me. And our rooms are so far apart and-"

Feliciano broke him off with a gasp. "Oh no, Lovino!"

Lovino sighed in relief. Finally, he was seeing it his way. "You see? There's something wrong-"

"You got rejected by the maid! Why didn't you say so? You poor thing!" Feliciano tried to pull his brother close, patting his hair at an awkward angle. He was just a little taller and used his height to his advantage. "I got rejected by a pretty girl in the market place just last week."

"This has nothing to do with my flirting prowess!" Lovino shouted, pulling himself away. "And I didn't get rejected!"

"There there, come on. Let's go back to eating. And tonight we can stay in the same room. How about that?"

"Unbelievable."

But Lovino complied as he was dragged towards the table once again. It seemed Feliciano was determined to have them break bread no matter what defense he put up, and it was easier to just let him have his way.

Lovino played nice through the rest of dinner, even eating what was left on his plate. He found that if he blatantly ignored the Lord, and the inane chatter Feliciano was determined to keep up, then he could actually let himself relax.

After dinner, Ludwig offered Feliciano a tour of the gardens. Much to Lovino's chagrin, Feliciano accepted, and faced with a choice of leaving his brother with a stranger or being the world's lamest third wheel, Lovino found himself walking behind the two as they toured the castle's exterior.

"And this," Ludwig pointing to a small, framed archway tucked underneath a willow, "Is Elder's Grove. Couples used to come from all over the world to get married here." He looked unsure for a moment, then said, "We've even had some… unorthodox marriages here. Castle Darkmoor may be old, but we are not bound to tradition."

"Just say you're all gay," Lovino griped. But no one paid him any heed.

They wandered over paths and walked under trees ripe with fruit. Feliciano was transfixed, pointing out each and every new discovery, first to Lovino who ignored him, and then to Ludwig. By the end of the night, he was clinging to Ludwig's arm and asking every question he could about the gardens. It was all, "How did you get these to grow so beautifully?" and "What two flowers were bred together to get this lovely little thing?"

Lovino stared quizzically at his back. Since when was Feliciano into plant husbandry?

"I don't know," Ludwig admitted. "I only run the affairs here at the castle and admire the gardens. Our gardener does the real work."

"Ohhh," Feliciano hummed and immediately after his interest in the flora diminished.

As they walked Lovino found himself looking at the stream. It bubbled and flowed, making funny sounds against the rocks. He was tempted to put his feet in. Drifting away from the tour, he risked dipping his fingers in the clear blue water. The light from the sunset was beginning to fade but the yellows still seemed to light up the water in the most peculiar way. Lovino stopped completely. Maybe he could sketch this.

He sat down and pulled out the small notebook and pen he kept crammed into his pocket. Using the golden sun as his guide, he began to sketch.

Lovino was oblivious to the changes around him as he became engrossed in his work. The light, which was dissipating slowly at first, now seemed to run between the trees until there was none left. Shadows began to elongate before taking over the ground they touched.

He paused for the first time and noticed just how dark it had gotten.

No one may roam freely at night.

Lovino stood up. He wanted to get back. But where had Feliciano gone?

He grabbed his notebook and shoes and began to walk down the path. He knew they had walked ahead through the garden and turned left here…

But when Lovino walked around the corner, the one path he intended to follow split into four. He assessed each option, looking to find which one would take him to the castle fastest. It couldn't be that hard. Following one path, he ended up back in the same place next to the stream and was no closer to where he needed to be.

"Is this place a fucking maze?" He moaned, throwing his hands up.

"I don't think so, no."

Lovino spun around. "Who said that?"

The garden remained empty. Lovino looked around, but there was no one else. Not to mention it was getting darker...

Just when he was about to despair, Lovino noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Someone had lit a torch in the darkness that was beginning to descend, and was moving along a path he had not tried yet.

Lovino walked toward the torch in a daze. Was it leading him towards the castle?

Slowly, he followed the light. It bobbed and swayed, slowing down when Lovino could not catch up. But try as he might, he could never get close enough to the torch to see who was carrying it. Just as he saw the castle entrance, Lovino put on a burst of speed and emerged from the gardens. A doused torch lay on the castle steps with no owner in site.

"Oh, Lovino! Thank goodness" A voice cheered and Lovino looked up to see Feliciano waving at him from the door. "I was about to go look for you, Droge is giving me a very nasty time about retiring to my room."

"Were you holding the torch?" He asked, his voice sounding far away.

"The- oh, no. I don't want to go out at night. It looks scaaaary. Come on, let's go inside."

Lovino let himself be pulled inside and followed his brother up to his bedroom. Along the way, he kept trying to bring up what had happened in the garden. Yet, Lovino couldn't seem to find the words that made sense. A floating torch? That was nonsense. True to Feliciano's promise, they stayed in the same room that night. As he crawled into bed and fought off Feliciano's clinging arms, Lovino vowed not to wander in the gardens without someone else again. At least, not at night.

[=]

"Don't get lost in the garden," He was warned by a laughing gardener, waving his shears. "Roma's gotten lost plenty of times."

The Young Master laughed too, waving him away. He would not get lost, not when he knew the way to his secret spot by heart. Over the stream, through the bushes, under the towering Silver Birch tree, until he finally came to a stop at the carved wedding arch.

It was here that he loved to go, away from prying eyes. Here he could curl up and read the newest letter. It read:

Dear Veneziano,

I have given much thought to the color of your eyes. I once thought they were simply brown, but now I realize that I was truly incorrect.

They are amber, trapping suitors in your gaze until they cannot escape, stuck forever and memorialized in their affections.

I feel that is what loving you is like; when I cannot say my true feelings aloud.

Forgive me. I am never one for words of admiration.

Signed, Yours

No name, as always. But Veneziano held the letter close to his chest. He knew who it was from. His letter back would be unsigned as well, but he knew the Lord would receive it and cherish it as much as Veneziano did his.

He tucked the letter away for now and stared at the bright blue sky. He hoped this moment would never end.