Belle Adams' Butler

It was the time of noon when the carriage continued to move in the direction that headed towards the town where Belle's friend Pauline was getting married to the man today. Belle wore a light blue coloured dress so that she wouldn't stand out in front of the bride or other females who would be attending the wedding. Lucas had not changed his clothes and still wore the butler uniform as if he were accompanying her to the wedding. 

"Isn't it exciting?" asked Belle to Lucas who had been looking outside the window of the carriage with his leg and arms crossed.

"Eloping and getting married?" Lucas confirmed if that is what Belle was talking about and she gave him a nod. Given that it was Belle's idea which the girl named Pauline had applied when it came to running away from the house and marrying secretly now, he could tell Belle was more excited than the bride and groom. 

"Well, not that but everything. I am so happy for her. She had been worried that her parents would never come to accept a man who was lower in status than her but isn't this amazing?" asked Belle. 

Hearing her question, he said, "I wonder how things will go if her parents were to find out later that she's married. Do you know years and years ago, the girls who tried eloping from their house were shamed and embarrassed in front of the whole public. Sometimes they were asked to annul the marriage before they would get married off into another household without bringing the matter to light."

"That is suppressing of freedom," said Belle, her eyebrows furrowing together where she turned around to face him, "And isn't once you're married it's done."

"Not necessarily," said Lucas looking at Belle who had her brownish red hair tied in a pony, "Even the couple who consummated after marriage was sent to do the higher up's bidding." 

"I am glad that we don't live in that age. I mean I, You lived," said Belle which was when her curiosity rose about him, "Lucas. Some time ago, you said you come from Wovile. Did you have a past life there?" she asked him, her red eyes looking into his black eyes. 

Lucas shook his head, "The place I spoke about in Wovile, it is the easier portal you will find to go into the land of the dead. I am a creature of the dead, Belle. It is the realm of the dead that I belonged to."

Before going back to the land of the dead to search Lucas, she remembered Barron speaking about how it wasn't right for the reapers to be living in this world. When she had tried to ask about it with Lucas, he had asked her to not worry about it. He had also promised to stay by her side therefore she decided not to weigh her thoughts there right now. Believing what Lucas said to be true and walk along with him while hoping somewhere deep down he would not perish and leave her to a place where it would be hard to see him again. 

"Where do reapers come from?" Belle asked him, her eyes darting towards the coachman who sat outside. 

Lucas could tell that Belle wanted to know everything and anything about the land of the dead but more about the reapers because he was one. She wanted to learn more to know about him and he didn't think there was any need to hold back when it came to information. Belle herself now belonged or was part of the dead even though she was alive. 

"Death reapers don't have parents. No siblings, no relatives. Friends are rare which never works out as they often end up in betrayal," but it was also because the death reapers were often busy collecting souls and transferring it to through the gates, "Some are born just like that, out of nothingness but there are some who come from the land of the living."

"Exchanging jobs?" Belle asked with a smile which she knew couldn't happen. For a person to step into the land of the dead, one had to die. 

Lucas smiled at her words, "As you know souls that don't make through the gates, they turn to wasted spirits," Belle nodded, "But some of the spirits have strong will and power. Better than the others who sometimes either slip into the land of the living by possessing bodies or another way where they thrive and feed on the other creature lower than them. Eating other creatures have their own powers that turn to be theirs."

"Can these spirits feed on reapers?" she asked intrigued and slightly worried at the fact that there were more than fifty spirits that had taken home in her residence, who had been wanting to feed on her and take her body as their own vessel.

"The lower death reapers yes. In time, these spirits turn to death reapers who fall under the law and order of the Hawverts so not many consume or attack the reapers. It only ends up in a fight on who will kill first," explained Lucas. 

The land of the dead was uglier than she had thought it would be. Most of the people who lived in this realm believed one would either go to heaven or they would go to hell depending on their deeds. But no one knew that if a reaper decided to leave you in the middle of the deserted towns and villages, you would eventually be hunted and killed, ceasing existence. 

Lucas then mentioned, "There's someone called as the rower. He is the Seventh Grim." 

"What does he do?" 

"The Seventh Grim, Rower will assure that he will take you to the gates if you pay him when you reach the land of the dead," chuckled Lucas.

Paying? Was there a certain currency or jewels that worked in the land of the dead? Thought Belle to herself.