Free Web NovelChapter 81: Mansion Guest Room
The room in which Victor and Luísa Selvarum were alone was extremely cozy for that cold night.
The warmth of the fireplace contrasted with the coldness of the blizzard that was beginning to roar outside, reinforcing the feeling of comfort inside the Selvarum mansion.
"How do you know about my daughter?" Victor asked, looking seriously at Luísa.
At the same time, she was pouring her some tea to drink.
"You know me. I always try to stay aware of everything that’s going on in this kingdom. After we worked together back then, of course I would keep an eye on you for a while to make sure my Hero would be okay." She revealed.
Luísa Selvarum’s choice of words was not in vain. She knew that Victor was one of the heroes, and she was one of the few who knew about his closely guarded secret.
Victor wasn’t very happy to learn that he wasn’t as well hidden in Serenity Village as he thought, but Luísa hadn’t interfered or informed anyone of his location all this time, so Victor felt he couldn’t be angry with her.
So he just sighed and said:
"If you knew where I was and that I was trying to raise a little girl on my own, you might have come to visit me sometime."
"You seemed to be doing fine without my help. After a while I decided to take my spy away and give you some privacy."
"How kind..." Victor replied ironically. "Anyway, the issues I have to discuss with Mari are delicate, but basically I want to know her opinion on a particular curse."
Luísa might not have been able to analyze Victor with her own eyes, but she still had good hearing and knew that Victor was hiding something just by his choice of words and intonation, otherwise he wouldn’t have reappeared after so many years in exile either. Something was going on.
Despite this, Luísa smiled and approached Victor, taking a seat next to him on the sofa, subtly showing more skin than she should as she crossed her legs.
The gesture didn’t go unnoticed by Victor, who immediately looked away.
"A curse? If that’s the case, I’m sure Mari will be able to help you. She has a brilliant mind and I think she’ll be happy to see you," said Luísa and began to drink her tea.
After a sip, she placed the cup on the saucer in her other hand and said:
"However, I must warn you that Mari hasn’t changed much since you last met. Her methods are still... eccentric."
At that moment, Victor remembered that the last time he had met Mari Dundragon in person, when she was only six years old, she had spied on a private conversation between Victor and Luísa and ended up discovering that he was a hero. From that moment on, she began her first battery of experiments to test how good heroes’ reflexes were.
Mari tested Victor exhaustively with various traps and ambushes, which Victor obviously overcame without any problems, but she didn’t give up on completing the experiment until the day Victor left.
Therefore, Victor felt a chill just remembering those days, and the expression on his face made Luísa Selvarum laugh briefly.
"However, I don’t think you should be so worried. She’s grown up and now has a little more sense of things."
"I really hope so." Victor was sincere and put the cup of tea on the plate on the low table between the sofa and the fireplace.
When Victor leaned back against the sofa, he noticed that Luísa was a little closer than before. She was looking in his direction, but she wasn’t saying anything, and Victor couldn’t even try to understand what she was thinking, because her eyes were covered by the black blindfold.
"Victor, I have a request." She said after a few moments in which only the crackling of the fireplace could be heard. "Let me touch your face?"
Victor was a man who had passed the stage of blushing at unusual requests from women. Instead of stammering and answering in the affirmative without thinking, as he did when he was young, he had learned to question women’s every action.
"Why?" he asked.
Luísa’s right hand was already moving towards his face, so Victor grabbed her wrist.
Her face flushed at the question and she ducked her head. "Your voice hasn’t changed much, but I confess I’m curious about your face. As you can see, my current situation doesn’t allow me to see you with my own eyes, so I thought I could at least feel your face to get an idea."
"And why is that important just now?"
Luísa seemed to hesitate before answering. "I could say it’s just a silly curiosity, but if I said that, I’d be lying. Come on, you know what happened between us twenty years ago. It’s only natural that I want to know about the appearance of the man who rejected me twenty years ago to flee to the northernmost point of the kingdom."
"I... I don’t know if that’s a good idea. You might be disappointed."
"Is that the reason you hesitated? Come on, Victor Shieldman, I never thought you were the insecure type."
Victor thought about her request for a moment and after a few seconds took a deep breath. "All right, but just a little." He let go of her wrist.
Luísa then raised her right hand and touched Victor’s cheek.
Immediately, she felt his beard. It wasn’t too big or too small, but just the right amount to hide some scars. She went a little to the left side of his face, felt his nose and, a little lower, his lips. As she moved up, she touched his eyebrows and so groped her way across his face, but at the same time, she slowly moved closer.
Both their hearts were racing, but suddenly there was a knock on the door.
Victor quickly removed Luísa’s hand from his face and moved away, which made her move away too.
Luísa sighed and then said:
"Come in!"
When the door was opened, the bald, sallow guard entered, the sound of his heavy boots echoing.
"Madam, your guest’s room is ready."
Victor then got up from the sofa, "That’s good news. Luísa, I mean, Mrs. Selvarum, I believe this is my cue to leave for the time being, if you’ll allow me."
Luísa nodded with a smile at the corner of her mouth. "Of course I understand, Victor. Your trip must have been exhausting." She got up to stand in front of Victor. "Frugeon, please show Victor where his room is."
"Yes, ma’am."
*
Even the guest rooms at the Selvarum Mansion were incredible. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
In the room designated for Victor, there was a huge bed with new pillows and white sheets. There was also a large closet for clothes and a balcony overlooking the private garden in the center of the mansion.
When the guard Frugeon showed Victor his room and left, Victor found a suitcase on his bed and when he opened it there was a change of clothes and a letter.
[Stranger, no matter who you are, you need to wear appropriate clothing while inside this residence. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
I’ve left you some of my clothes so that you won’t embarrass the Selvarum Family any further, but get yourself some new ones as soon as possible.
- Signed by Frugeon, head bodyguard of the Selvarum Mansion].
After Victor had finished reading the letter, he said:
"It’s hard to admit this, but he has better handwriting than I do."
