Then, a scene changed once again...

It was a dark room. Only the sounds of breathing could be heard...

Click.

Then the window opened, and the figure of a man wearing black, fully covered his body, entered the room... This was the assassin that was sent by the Duke agnes, to kill Aria...

The assassin approached Aria, who was unconscious and asleep in the dark room. The assassin's footsteps made no sound, as the cold steel of his dagger glowed a blue hue...

Then, suddenly, the assassin's shadow rose up on its own, and choked the assassin's breath.

The man reflected in the pale moon light, was none other than Noah....

"Kurukk!"

Noah covered the assassin's mouth, to stop him from screaming and waking up Aria. He was shocked at what the assassin was attempting to do, and said with a slightly annoyed voice...

"Shut up, the hell? What are you doing to my house? You dare to creep inside, with a murderous intent? I can't have such filthy trash enter my home!"

"Keugg," the assassin grunted in response, as he tried to break free from Noah's grasp...

"I'll kill you later," Noah whispered to the assassin as he made him disappear.

Then, Noah sat down beside Aria, who was sleeping peacefully on the bed.

He looked at her, with a curious look, and the memories of his past kept flashing in front of his eyes...

He couldn't kill a man in front of Aria's sleeping figure, so Noah decided to simply watch over her sleep...

But something strange was happening to Noah. It was as if his feelings of hate towards her, had turned into feelings of protectiveness towards her...

' "I can't believe I'm worried to you, by why you have silver hair?" Noah thought to himself, as he saw Aria's silver hair, in his memories...

"Out of all the colors, why that? It's paining me to see a silvery hair like you, and that woman..."

He knew he should leave the scene, and teleport back to his room in the fifth floor...

But as soon as he tried, a black silk robe was held in a tiny hand...

"Ahhh, so really really annoying?!" Noah thought, while shaking his head...

"But why should I leave?" Noah wondered, as he was trapped here.

"This is my house too, right? So what if I stay in this room? It's also a part of me, and it's mine," he said to himself, as he thought about the situation.

"Hmmm... How annoying it is that every time I see you, it's as if we are destined to meet."

"But what if I adopt you? Then you would be my first child, if I accept your request..." Noah said, as he thought about it...

"...."

"Damn it! What am I thinking?" he continued to wonder, as he thought about the idea of him adopting Aria.

"Just how dare I dream of such a thing? I'm a monster cursed by god!" he thought, with an expression of deep regret on his face.

"Do I even have what it takes to raise a child? My father raised me as a monster... Because I had the powers of god... And my mother... My mother went insane, and despised me... I cannot do it..." Noah said, with a de-jected look on his face...

"And I know very well, that the words 'children' and 'family' do not match me... A monster..." Noah said in self-reflection, as he thought about the irony of it...

"It's foolish of me to desire such a thing... But there was a time though, when I once dreamt it. That one time I dreamt of becoming a husband and father...

Achieving the unthinkable...

I dreamed of having what I never had...

"I'm fated to die at the age of thirty; I told myself, that I do not believe in happiness," Noah thought to himself with a sad frown on his face.

"I sank into my sorrow and pain again... Like a fool..."

He didn't know how his dream could ever come true... Yet somehow, his dreams had come to life, and became reality...

"But I didn't know that my dream would come true..." Noah whispered to himself with lifeless look

""How old are you?" Lariette asked Noah, with that sarcastic look she had.

"Twenty," Noah responded, with a cold tone.

"Then I can be your younger sister, if you want," she chuckled, with that teasing voice of hers.

But something about that question... Triggered something in Noah...

He started to glare at Lariette, as if he wished to take her life away...

"Wahhh! It's a joke! It's a joke!" she protested, as soon she felt Noah's murderous gaze...

Lariette's behavior was really annoying, and she got on Noah's nerves in their first meeting together.

He envied how she lived every day like it was her first, and her last simultaneously. It was something he could never have done.

Yet, he felt jealous of her... And he wanted her to suffer because of it... He let her do whatever she wanted, all because he was so enraged by her...

"But after all their encounters... After all the conflicts they had with each other...

Something about Lariette... Made Noah truly care for her... Something made him fall in love with her...

She became the one woman that Noah loved the most in his life...

Yet, he feared that she might betray him, and choose the crown prince over him.

'I'm scared, that Lariette will find out what I truly am. She will see me as the cursed one, the devil in the flesh, the evil force of the empire, and the one cursed by God, himself. She will leave me, and choose the crown prince over me...'

"It's true, that I am cursed... But what would Lariette think, if she found out? She would no longer love me, if that happened..." he thought anxiously

Yet, she still chose him over the crown prince. She lost everything she had... All for him... No one had ever done something like that before for Noah...

So, once again, he wanted her to be his wife in the future... But, he knew that he was going to die at the age of 30, and he wouldn't be able to spend his life with her... He couldn't die with her at his side...

So Noah desperately made herself return when he was 20 that way he could always go back to went he meet her for the first time...so he could love her forever.

"Hey, don't cut your hair. You look great with the long hair, you know?" Lariette said with a soft, smiling look, as she gently looked at Noah...

He couldn't believe what she was saying... Why did she prefer long hair? Was it because she liked the way it looked on him, or because she felt that it was more comfortable for him?

"What utter nonsense are you saying?" Noah looked at her, with his expression full of disbelief but his heart beating so much

"Hahaha! But, handsome Butler, is that you?" Lariette was teasing him, as he was wearing a Butler suit, and looking very handsome indeed.

"What the f$#&$?!" Noah felt completely irritated by Lariette's teasing behavior, as if he couldn't stand it any longer.

"A playful woman who always wants to tease me. Of course, I have a bad temper and get angry easily,"

"But... But, I didn't fall in love with that annoying girl, because I was lonely, or crazy, or insane, or even bored... I fell in love with that woman after getting to know her personally... I realize that I wanted her to be a permanent part of my world... I want to own her, someday..."

All of these things made him love Lariette, even though she was an annoying woman who irritated him greatly...

"It's all too good to be true... But, I still want it..."

"But my curse is getting worse... Worse and worse, by the minute, by the second... And after each time, I destroy my own soul, just to avoid my mother's painful death... I want to meet that woman again... I want to spend time in that world, with her and nobody else, for eternity..."

///

"Ah, it's morning now. I have to go to the 5th floor," Noah said as he stood up from his place. But then, suddenly, he heard a soft voice coming from the rear. It was a gentle, feminine voice, that he recognized instantly...

"Your grace, what are you doing here?" Someone asked from behind.

'What am I doing here? This is my house, and my room, of course, I can go anywhere I want,'

"I-I forgot my glasses!" Noah said quickly, and snapped his fingers, before disappearing from in front of Aria's eyes.

"Wait, Duke!" Aria exclaimed, with a face full of confusion.

She saw him disappear, and she didn't fully understand how he suddenly disappeared...

"What just happened?" she asked, while staring at the empty space in front of her...
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To Be Continued~