When the carriage stopped, Belle was still stuck at the thought of how she was able to see her mother as a whole person again. The mansion looked the same. The flowers, the plants, the gates having the same colour. Her eyes continued to look around and she followed her mother. A servant came by to take their coats. Stepping inside further, she saw the maids she was familiar with, bowing their heads as they walked past them.
"I need your help in rearranging the items we bought from the Valley," said her mother and Belle agreed to it in a heartbeat. To be able to live with her mother and stay around her, she considered it to be nothing less to a fortune, "Mrs. Edmond has placed a tea party in her mansion. She was asking for you while mentioned about her son," said her mother with her back facing Belle, as her mother was storing the items in the cupboard.
Mrs. Edmonds was the family her mother had been about to meet before the tragic day, "Is that so…" trailed Belle.
"He"s supposed to be a smart man. You two might possibly make a great pair," proposed her mother which was filled with glee.
Though Belle had fallen for Lucas, she had never got the opportunity to ask her mother what she thought about a possible relations.h.i.+p with the butler of the mansion, "Where is Lucas?" asked Belle to receive a look from her mother.
"Lucas? Who is that?" asked her mother and Belle frowned.
"Our butler, of course."
"Our butler is Reeves and he has been working for more than two decades now," her mother chuckled, "Who are you talking about?"
Belle realized that as this wasn"t the actual world she came from, it was possible that most of the dynamics were different and so were the people.
Taking a deep breath, she said, "He...He is someone I like, mama," and hearing this, her mother turned around, "He is smart, handsome, very polite, makes sure I am alright. You will like him," answered Belle.
"You should bring him home so that your father and I can meet him," Belle could see the look her mother was giving, making sure she wasn"t picking any random man.
"I will bring him home," Belle nodded her head though she was not sure if Lucas was here as a human or was still a Grim reaper. This world, the ghoul said it was a world of the ghouls that belonged to them. A fabricated world which was similar to the land she came from.
Belle spent her time in the mansion, with her mother and she also met her father, that made it feel like nothing bad had happened to them. She had dinner with them at the dining room, to know and understand that this was a perfect world of the ghouls. The creatures who killed had a perfect world where everything was alright. Where there was peace.
And no matter how perfect this world seemed, this wasn"t the place she belonged to. When the time of night arrived, Belle went to the floor which was recently discovered by her. She touched the walls to see nothing happen.
After spending some more time, she met the ghoul that was in one of the corridors, "You disappeared," she said looking at the tall ghoul, "Do you want to keep her here?" she asked it.
"Here," was the lone word it spoke.
"I don"t think it"s safe to keep them in the land of the living or in the dead as the chances of corrupting and turning to spirits are possible. I will have to make this place feasible for their soul but for that, we need to test. We need to make sure it will work," she looked away from him, to look at the clouds outside and the village that wasn"t too far away from the mansion.
Saving Vivian"s life was important and this included the soulbond she had created with the Duke. They had three weeks to set things.
"Do you know how this world works?" she asked the ghoul and the ghoul shook its head, "Okay...I must head back. We can come here once I am done with the preparation," said Belle to have the ghoul garble something incoherent which she didn"t understand.
She wanted to stay here longer but she had to get back to reality.
When Belle reached back where home was, she walked towards the door to see Barron and Lucas who stood outside, "How was your day?" asked Lucas, raising his hand to take her hand and she stepped close to him, receiving a kiss on her temple.
"Were you able to find out on how to save their souls?" asked Barron who had an apple in his hand.
"Yes, there"s a way to save the souls without corrupting them. I will have to go through the books to run the spell but there"s one problem. How long does it take for a soul to be corrupted once they are dead and left alone without any help?" asked Belle.
"Three to four days," answered Lucas.
She gave it some thought and then said, "I will prepare the place but we need to make sure it will work. Vivian needs to live..."
"Are you saying we need a scapegoat to be killed and put in the box to see if he survives?" asked Barron, his ears standing tall and straight in the excitement of having to kill someone.
Belle looked at Lucas, "We find someone who is not worth living here and send the person to that place. We will have enough time to know if it will work or not," it wasn"t an ethical move but if the fate of the living depended on the stars then this was necessary.
"Consider it to be done," responded Lucas, "Where is the place?"
"It is a place that the ghoul built, or it has access to. A fabricated world that looks and feels real," answered Belle remembering the time she spent with her parents.
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