The Duke's Passion

Meanwhile...

"She... the Madam is gone!"

All the servants in the mansion's foyer were frozen in place. Their eyes immediately veered from the maidservant to the house's patriarch. Everyone knew how Samael loved his bedridden wife that he rarely left her side. Now, this servant was telling him the Madam was gone? 

"What do you mean my mother is gone?" asked the child coldly after a second of silence.

"I was..." the Maid's voice hitched as her eyes darted from the father to son. How would she explain it?

Samael slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He wanted to keep calm and collected because his son was present. He suppressed the raging emotions swelling up in his chest, opening his sharp eyes.

"Son, you will have to stay here while I search for your mother," Samael informed, gazing down to his son, who was looking up at him. The latter frowned and clutched his hand.

"I will look for mother as well."

"No." 

Samael and his son stared at each other for a moment before the former sighed. He knew his son more than anyone. Even if he told him to stay, he would search for his mother on his own. 

"Alright." He nodded and squatted down. "But promise me you won't go off on your own. If you do, you can't run away for the next 10 years."

His son frowned while staring into his father's eyes. Seeing that Samael was serious, he nodded. With that, Samael held his son's hand as they walked towards Lilou's room to investigate first, followed by the servants.

Once they reached the room, Samael scanned it to detect if there was an unwanted presence left in here. To his relief, he couldn't trace anything aside from Lilou's lingering presence. He and his son walked towards the open balcony, caressing the railings carefully. 

'There are only two options that happened here. First is, that time of the year came early, or she had already awakened. Either way, if it's the former... I had to get her back.' 

While Samael was deep in thought, staring at the landscape of the estate, his son was staring at him. He was not pleased how his father, who spent so much time with his bedridden mother, could be so calm in this situation. He was even zoning out instead of ordering a search party. 

"Father," the child called, tugging Samael's sleeve to drag him back to reality. "We must hurry."

Samael gazed down at him and nodded. "You're right."

The servants who stood behind them watched as Samael carry his son in his arm. They were waiting for a search order, but all they heard was Samael's footsteps going away. Their master didn't speak a word as he strutted back to the mansion's entrance hallway, and they followed in silence.

"Master," called the butler when he couldn't take Samael's silence anymore. Although the master of the house had always been calm, they thought he'd be enraged and would panic with the disappearance of his wife. He loved her, after all. 

"Should I hire a search party to look for Madam?"

"No need... I mean, sure." Samael glanced over his shoulder and stopped when he reached the mansion's lobby. His eyes caught a man's figure carrying a crate of fruits inside the mansion.

"You." He snapped a finger, catching the man with a towering height and a robust physique. 

"Yes, master?" 

"Come with me, and..." He looked around to see a maid entering the entrance hallway with a broom in her hands. "... you, as well."

The servants, including those he called specifically, were rendered speechless. The other maidservants looked at each other, bearing the same questioning eyes. 

Samael wasn't in the mood to explain, though. He just faced the old butler with the same stoic expression.

"Hire a search party to look for my wife, but tell them to be discreet. We don't want to offend the Malum if we make a lot of noise."

"Yes, master." the old Butler placed his palm across his chest and bowed. Samael nodded before shifting his gaze to the other servants behind.

"Prepare a hot chocolate and some foods just in case my wife is hungry." 

Puzzlement dominated the faces of the servants, but they still bowed. To them, it was impossible for someone who was bedridden since birthing the young master to move as if nothing happened. After giving his orders to them, the servants could only watch their master walk away with the young master, a young maid, and the stable boy.

"What are you waiting for?" the Butler clapped, snapping the servant's attention to the current lapse. He didn't even wait for them to respond as he ordered.

"Do what the master said. Now."

"Yes!" 

With that being said, the servants scattered to prepare a banquet for the Madam who could just be abducted. Meanwhile, the butler had reached out to people and some guarding knights on the estate to form a search party.

While everyone was busy executing their orders, the young master darted his eyes from the maid to the stable boy. A frown dominated his face before gazing at his father. 

"Do you want to see mother?" the young boy asked, as his father's action showed him otherwise.

Samael just glanced at his son, who was in his arms. "Of course."

"Then why are you taking a maid and a stable boy as your company? Don't you have enough money to hire all mercenaries to look for Mother?" he inquired; although it sounded more like he was suggesting. "Having more people to look for her raises the chances to see her immediately."

"The butler will do that."

The young boy's frown turned grim. "And what will the four of us do without a proper knight with us?"

The maid and the stable boy looked at each other, biting their tongue to hold their comments. They were used at the young master, and wouldn't blame him, as he knew nothing.

"Ramin and Charlotte are enough." Samael smiled and patted his son's head. 

"You know their name?"

"I knew everyone who works for us, Son." his son didn't doubt Samael's words as there was no denying his father had a good memory. "Ramin, prepare my steed. No, a carriage. Riding in a horse will gather more attention."

"Yes, Your — Head."