Ch. 7: Of this beautiful disgrace

After the meeting was concluded, Jack excused himself to go to see how Lacie was doing with the kids. Mindful of the Duke's request, Kevin asked to go with him, under the pretence of checking up on Edward and Emily. Not that he expected the man to betray himself in any way, should he really be responsible for the disappearance of the precious children.

Jack didn't offer any protest and agreed, with a smile, to show Kevin the way, because the manor was a real maze and getting lost on the first or even fifth visit seemed more like a part of the program than anything else. That was what Jack said, not losing the smile. Faced with his unrelenting grin, Kevin had to wonder.

'Aren't you worried?' he asked as the door to the meeting room closed behind them. Jack's smile faltered.

'Of course I am worried,' he said. 'But the only thing I can really do is hope for the best and try to cheer up the kids, if they need it,' he added, grabbing a red cloak, alike those that the guards in the manor wore.

'Why do you have one of those?' Kevin asked, frowning. Jack glanced at the cloak and laughed.

'It allows me to move around without getting all that much of attention,' he said. 'Don't you just ignore the figures wearing red cloaks around here? Well I know that I'm not exactly wanted here and it's only Oswald's word that keeps some of those guards from ripping me to shreds. So I asked Lacie if I can get one of the cloaks and like that most of the guards ignore me,' he explained.

'I will pay closer attention now,' said an irritated, female voice behind them and both Kevin and Jack jumped in surprise. A pink-haired, young woman was glaring at Jack with eyes that were a shade darker than her hair.

'Hi there, Lottie,' Jack said with a sheepish grin, but she only glared and knocked on the door to the meeting room. 'I hope I'm not missing on anything important,' Jack muttered as the woman entered the room. 'And now Lottie will tell everybody about my little trick with the cloak, damn it.'

'That slip of a woman is a guard?' Kevin asked, unsure if Jack was joking or not.

'That slip of a woman is a vicious beast if you let her,' the Vessalius replied. 'I'm lucky that she all but worships Oswald,' he added. 'Now shall we be going on our way?'

'Right,' Kevin muttered. 'Since I will be staying here for a while, can you tell me something more about the household?' he asked, half of genuine curiosity, half to keep Jack talking while he thought. The kidnappers have probably used the guard's cloak, but would that make the others ignore them even if they carried an unconscious heir to the House? It seemed unlikely.

'You have to beware of the guards,' Jack started. 'If they think you're up to no good, or, god forbid, trying to hurt "Glen", as they call Oswald, in any way, they will have your head.'

Those kind of guards would not let it slide if somebody was trying to carry away important people, Kevin thought. He noticed that the guards were wearing their hoods down, so a foreign face, combined with a suspicious situation, would surely raise alarm. Not to mention that one would need to know that a red cloak gave the wearer such immunity. Kevin imagined that it was not a well-advertised fact. Possibly only Jack knew about it, but Jack has been seated at the table for the whole time, or at least until he left with Oz and Ada, which was probably long after the kids were abducted.

'I still haven't been let in on the secret of why the next Duke has to be adopted, but I can bet my head that it has something to do with the red eyes,' Jack was continuing next to him, but Kevin only paid minor attention to his words up until that moment. 'I don't exactly know what Lacie is doing for Oswald either, but it must be real important. And I know that Vince is meant to take over her functions when Gil becomes the next Duke.'

It was such a weird place, Kevin decided, unlike any other noble House. He had a feeling that he had barely grazed the surface of their secrets, with the red-eyes and weird succession, and he wondered if he would ever want to know more. He wondered if his master hadn't made a grave mistake by approaching the Duke Baskerville.

'However, once you get to know them, both Lacie and Oswald are quite nice people, unlike the stiff and dark Earl Nightray,' Jack babbled. Calling the Duke a nice person seemed to be quite a stretch in Kevin's mind. 'One would think that it should be the other way around, with Oswald guarding so many dark secrets. He was a bit more relaxed before he took the title, but not all that much, so I suppose the darkness doesn't affect him that much.'

'You knew them before?' Kevin asked, making Jack laugh shortly.

'I have been pining after Lacie for more than eight years now, ever since I finished school and saw her sitting next to Oswald on one of the parties,' he said with a smile that suggested he was recalling fond memories. 'I knew Oswald from school, of course, but have never seen Lacie there, so I was pretty surprised to find that she was his sister.'

'So you are-' Kevin trailed off, not sure how to ask the question.

'Alice's father?' Jack helped him out. 'I am not and I do not know who is. For her eyes I would have said Oswald, but the two of them would have never done something like that, I know it for sure,' he added. Kevin was shocked that he could even voice such an outrageous suggestion out loud. 'I tried asking, but she wouldn't tell me and when I was close enough to her to actually have a conversation she was almost nine months pregnant.'

Kevin wanted to ask why Jack wanted to be with a woman who had other man's children, but he wasn't given the chance, because they have arrived. Jack waved amicably at the guards standing next to the double door and opened it. Kevin followed him into a large chamber, which was obviously the children play chamber of the manor, if the multiple toys and books were any indication.

Everybody looked up as they entered, hopeful and then disappointed. Jack immediately went towards Lady Baskerville, who was sitting in a large rocking chair with a blond boy curled up on her lap.

'Kevin,' Edward exclaimed and the knight turned his steps towards where he was sitting, together with Leo Baskerville, not far from Lady Baskerville. 'Did they find them?'

'They were not in the manor anymore,' Kevin replied truthfully, watching how the hope, shining in the eyes of both boys, faded.

'We knew that,' Vincent said sullenly, glaring at Kevin with his mismatched eyes, before turning to Lady Baskerville, asking why he couldn't see Gil anymore. The question sounded like he was losing it and Kevin grew worried, but the woman just smiled sadly and said something about the lack of training.

'Vince was insisting the whole time that Gil was not in the manor anymore,' Edward said in a hushed voice, sounding a bit spooked out by that. 'He kept repeating that he should have been looking properly, or something like that.'

It sounded weird at best, but Kevin knew better than to press for details. He was positive that it had to do with the red eyes, but if the Duke was keeping secrets from Jack then Kevin didn't want to start the conversation. Even now he could see Jack listening carefully while trying to pretend that he was talking with Alice.

He looked up when the door opened and the pink-haired guard, Lottie, stepped in, accompanied by a tall, brown-haired man with a tattoo on his left cheek.

'The guest rooms have been prepared for you,' Lottie announced, looking at Kevin and Edward. 'The Baron asked if you can stay here,' she added as an explanation, before Edward had time to voice his surprise. 'Fang will lead you there.'

'Don't they look intimidating?' Jack asked Kevin, who couldn't deny the truth of that statement. The name "Fang" didn't help matters much either. 'But they will not touch you unless Oswald orders them to and I think he has other things on his head now,' the blond added with a laugh. How could he laugh at this?

'Jack,' Lady Baskerville scolded. 'Fang, please take Edward and Emily with you. I would like a word with Mr Regnard before he retires for the night,' she added, turning towards the servant and then urging the children to follow the man, telling them that the man would be their private bodyguard for as long as Kevin was charged with helping the Duke.

Kevin stared. How could she have known that?

'Jack, could you please go with Lottie and take the kids to their rooms?' she asked. The man looked vaguely disappointed, but complied, picking the blond boy up from her lap and asking Leo and Alice to follow. Countess Nightray also excused herself, saying that she would go to find her husband.

Kevin felt vaguely nervous when the door closed, leaving him alone with the red-eyed woman and his unease increased with every second of silence. Not to mention that the room full of toys looked somewhat creepy in the moonlight. He almost expected the dolls to start moving and talking, which was a ridiculous thought.

'Are you going to actually say something?' he asked finally, unable to stand the silence anymore. 'Eh, excuse me, my lady, I am a bit nervous,' he added despite the smile that stretched her lips.

'Please call me Lacie,' she said. 'Everybody does,' she added, before explaining the weird situation. 'I just wanted a moment to look into your soul. I know that Oswald charged you with the task of supervising Jack. I am sorry that I am unable to complete this task and you must be burdened with it.'

'How would you know that?' he asked, shocked.

'There is nothing that my brother can hide from me, just like there is nothing that I can hide from him, if either of us wants to know the truth,' she announced. Kevin thought that now might be a good time to run and forget he has ever stepped into the Baskerville manor. 'I'm sorry, I usually don't look into people's souls without asking first, but Oswald has asked me to check if you are trustable,' she added.

'If he was worried about that, why didn't he ask you to search Jack's soul?' he asked, unable to stop the question. 'You seem to be much better at it than me anyway.'

'Unfortunately, my eyes are clouded when it comes to Jack, due to the nature of the relationship between him and me,' she replied with a small, somewhat sad smile. Was she sad to be in love? Or was she sad to be unable to carry out her tasks? 'I will try to train you, if the situation doesn't resolve itself quickly,' she added.

'Why not train Vincent if he can already see his brother?' he asked, wondering if he would dare to ask what it even meant that he could see his brother. Lacie smiled and he realised that she understood what he really wanted to ask.

'The Duke of Baskerville, sometimes called Glen, is a person chosen to guard the Abyss,' she said. He blinked. What? 'Have you ever heard about the Abyss?' she asked and he nodded, because there were fairy tales about a dark place to where the souls went after death. 'It exists for real, but is kept secret from people, so that they don't try to use it. Centuries ago, people meddling with the Abyss caused horrible distortions and finally, one of the Glens decided that this had to end. He worked to erase Abyss from people's knowledge and since then is keeping it secret.'

'This is why the Duke of Baskerville has to find the heir of the title, rather than produce one,' she added offhandedly. 'Gilbert, as the chosen one of the Abyss, can be traced through it by a person who fulfils two conditions.'

'I suppose red eyes are one of them,' Kevin muttered.

'Indeed,' Lacie agreed easily. 'The second is that they have to be related by blood to the chosen one. However, this skill needs to be trained or else it is limited to small physical distances when the person is fully focused. Now there is neither time nor place to teach Vincent those things.'

'Why are you telling me all this?' he asked finally. He had no desire to make enemies out of the powerful family and he definitely did not want to betray the trust that Baron Sinclair has put into him, however, did the Baskervilles know that? Were they going to kill him once this mess was over? He hoped they didn't expect him to go down without a fight.

'Because I trust you,' she replied seriously. 'I love Jack with all my heart, but I have pledged my allegiance to Glen Baskerville and if Jack has taken part in threatening the future Glen then there is no forgiveness for him,' she added in a cold and firm tone.

Kevin wondered if all the people in that manor were so devoted to the Duke.