Rade's Demon Elimination Service

Chapter 27: The Second One that No One Ever Notices

Rade smiled and accepted the gift though she has one too many cardigan.

Every piece was as comfortable and practical as it was pretty though, Rade could never just not accept any of the crocheted cardigan that he gave to her. Right now she was being fitted into another one again. He has sewn for her for almost more than half of her life, he already knew her measurements that he wouldn't take note of her body symmetry while crocheting the cardigans for her.

"Won't you let me paint over it?" someone asked, sprawled on the floor and sketching on a gigantic book.

"Lauri," the crocheter said rather timidly while looking at how perfectly Rade fit into her new cardigan that he made. "Why are you writing on that book? Papa will be mad at you."

"Eh? Heh, who cares?" Lauri Haeven told him sarcastically and shrugged her shoulders. Her gleaming blonde hair was beautiful underneath the golden haze of the rarely used ballroom where the three of them spent most of their time, away from the adults' gaze and scrutiny. "That old man can rot with those demons and I will bring more honor into this family than he ever did, mark my words."

"Marked," Rade said indifferently though she found those words cringey and a little cheesy.

But Lauri have always liked giving cheesy speeches so there was that and nothing new really.

"Listen, Carys," Lauri said, turning her attention away from the book she was sketching on.

As always, charcoal stained her skin and her clothes, formal they were, were also tainted with paint. There was just no holding Lauri back from doing what she wanted when she wanted it done.

"If you don't stand up against that old fart that calls himself, what is it again?" Lauri continued when she secured Cary's attention then paused as if to think what she should say next and the very obvious answer of her rhetorical question. "Oh right father! That old fart that's actually our father. If you just let him push you around, he'd be extremely satisfied with himself and you would never leave this hell."

Rade looked around.

There was nothing wrong about the Haeven clan's family manor, but she must admit to herself that there were better manors among the hunters' society that have ranked even lower than the Haeven clan. The Haeven clan wasn't the glamorous and glorious clan among the hunter clans it once was.

Just an image of what it used to be with peeling wallpapers, cracked tiles, wizened old people, and a crumbling reputation.

"Or be a hunter!" Lauri continued still while Carys, the youngest and only son of the Haeven clan, was watching his elder sister to just chatter on. "Or be a hunter, Carys. Like Rade!" The girl then pointed at Rade, already fitted perfectly right into her cardigan, and has started braiding the boy's long blond hair. "Like me," she said proudly, her right hand on her chest like she was pointing at herself.

"I like crocheting more though," Carys said politely, turning down his sister's ambition for him. "You can be a hunter for me, Lauri. Right, Rade?" He turned his head slightly, seemingly wanting to glance at the girl behind him who nodded her head mindlessly as though the one talking to her could see the movement.

"You can be anything you want, Carys," Rade told him, finishing up the braid and twirling it on the side of his hair.

"Yeah!" Lauri said. "And we'll be right behind you and support!"

Carys smiled then, not knowing what lies ahead of their intertwined fates.

On the farthest side of the ballroom came a creaking sound. It was the door being opened and what came through it was one of the few remaining servants of the household of Haeven. Paulette, an aging woman who has served in the Haeven household for almosy two generations now, was only of the few mortals ever allowed around the manor. She was a wrinkled and wizened woman in her late eighties and having had a husband of one of the most trusted hunters of the Haeven family, she was familiar with the three.

"Paula," Carys said, he was beaming at the old woman. "Look at what I made for Rade."

The wrinkle faced old woman, whose eyes couldn't even be seen because they were too small and blurred by the lines and proofs of her age, turned towards Rade. She was walking silently, not wasting breath speaking while she was still a good distance away from them.

"Exquisite, my boy," she complimented, her thin lips stretching to a smile. "You are getting better at this, Carys." She patted the boy's shoulder and looked at Rade. "It looked really good on you, dear. Brought out the lustre of your long hair."

Rade nodded.

Somehow, Paulette became their grandmother figure but Rade couldn't shake off the feeling that Paulette, or Paula as they call her, was still guarded against her. It was the prejudice that her bloodline brought, Rade supposed.

"Miss Haeven," the old woman said, her voice meant business out of nowhere. "You are not done yet on your private lessons with Chantal. Get back there at once!"

And Paulette was the only one that could yell and shout at Lauri like that and be still respectable on Lauri's perspective. With a sigh, Lauri furtively flicked with one of her foot the book she was sketching on to a near furniture, obscuring it out of the old woman's observing eyes then she stood up.

"I should go," she said and pouted but Paulette was not amused with her and didn't found it endearing.

"Come along now, Lady Haeven," Paulette said with ehtusiasm. For a woman her age, she was quite agile and fast. "Your tutor is waiting for you."

"Combat skills," Lauri moaned and groaned. "Rade is better than anyone at it, why not just choose her?" she asked but the old woman and the young lady was already speeding through the hallway, out of the earshot of the two that were left inside of the ballroom.

"Or you can be a tailor," Rade finally said.

She stood up while Carys was still remained on the beautifully designed carpeted floor of the ballroon. He looked up to her, his eyes were big and blue.

"So you wouldn't turn your back on us," Rade told him. "And so we could meet you again."

Carys felt a heat creeping up to both of his cheeks then to his eyes. Sometimes, he felt like a nobody though he has a name. Often times, he felt useless compared to both Rade and Lauri. He always needed to be protected, he was always sickly and confined to his bed. He couldn't go to a normal school like how Rade and Lauri do it and has to be homeschooled.

But he always got the feeling that no one ever expected anything from him. Lauri has always been the perfect daughter whom his parents both adored and she has every right for that.

It was just Carys felt that even his face was a liquified version of Lauri— a thing that was lesser than the one previous to him.

The only thing he have passion for was making clothes and crocheting. For that, nobody wanted to talk about it with him. He even thought that, at times, Lauri got also bored listening to him which fabric he should use of what kind of color of the string was good for this and that.

He smiled at Rade, not knowing that was the last intimate memory he would have with her in the coming year.

"That's a wonderful idea, Rade," he said and took her hand.

The night that Lauri Haeven died, Carys was sound asleep on his room. He didn't know that his only sister and protector was drawing her last breath, looking at the skies in which he wasn't looking at.

And when Carys thought of it too deeply, of how he has never felt so alone and blue and of how betrayed he felt after knowing that his sister became a vessel and the only person who truly believed in him just stood and watched it happen, no, actually she was the one who killed his sister, he felt as though his heart was being compressed until the moment it would shatter into thousand pieces.

It was cruel, he thought to himself, too cruel.

He has never had a day's work of labor other than his crocheting and cooking. For this kind of scene to unfold right in front of his eyes and to be the very first hurdle he faced, it was indeed too cruel. His whole heart has been ripped right out of his chest then put back again and ripped and and put back again until he wanted to just lay on earth, never come back up

"Lauri!" Carys would yell at his sleep.

He wouldn't be able to stop his tears from running down his face. He wanted to run towards Lauri, saved his sister even if it cost him his life. The amount of suffering he has to face doesn't just stop at Lauri being dead or Rade betraying his trust.

Since Lauri was the only of them two siblings to have a hunter's ability, she was a waste of real potential. She could have been everything, other hunters would say, everythinb. Much more so that she was beginning to succeed on where even the great Geneva Aldeia found difficult to master, the Time Freezing Technique where one would be able to stop the time itself.

It was playing god, Carys knew.

She was supposed to bring honor and greatness to the household of the Haeven clan until she dropped dead from her encounter with the Shadow Fantasm. And the only one who surived was the carrier of the cursed bloodline, the Aldam girl.

Carys was pushed to the brink of death. He wasn't supposed to be the heir but he was forced to go through great measures to acquire a hunter's skill. His smooth pale skin has turned into magnificent olive and the once timid shy boy turned into a stone.

In his mind, Carys could still see and remember Lauri's smile. It was kind and proud at the same time. And it was the kind of smile she would always do when she knew that things won't work out after all so the people around her wouldn't succumb into giving up and surrendering.

She never did liked losing, Carys thought.

Of course no one knew any of this. Carys has always been quiet and he also managed to learn how to be resilient even under pressure. No one knew that Carysia Haeven never died and that there wasn't supposed to be a second casket.

But it was all according to Carys' desires.

"Elora Isolde Aldam," he said, his boy was slinging on the shoulder of his right arm while the other was pulling the string taut. "I come to seek the payment of your debt."

She looked so happy, Carys thought to himself with spite. So happy that he felt disgusted. She found new friends and he lost the only friends he ever had. She found a new home and he felt lost even in his own.

She found a new life.

The same was also true for Carys, but the life he was living currently was a page that came straight out from hell.

It was unfair, Carys thought.

For her to have lived like nothing happened and be welcomed in open arms, it was unfair.

"C-carys!" Rade exclaimed, running to Carys and the scimitar holy weapon of Aíma was let go and laid forgotten on the ground.

She sputtered and stammered, seemingly not knowing how to speak or what words she should use but Carys could only see Lauri.

Lauri whose corpse did not have any chance to lie on her own casket towards her final resting place. Lauri whose blood was smeared all over Rade's hands and her face.

His sister that was taken away from him.

"Carys," Rade repeated as though Carys didn't heard her the first time. "You... are here, am I dreaming?" she finally asked, disbelief was on her voice.

"I'm not repeating myself, murderer," Carys said and reached towards his bow. Though it was rather heavy and his shoulder ached and ached, he didn't let it show on his face.

Not for the first time, Carys wanted to cry and complain but he bit back any words that were about to escape from his mouth.

"Not here," a woman said, there was a whip on her hand that snaked on her arm. It was quite the elegant thing but her face was contorted with suppressed anger. "There are people around us, hunter. If you want to be killed off by the Huntsman Order then by all means. But what ever it is between the two of you, do it on a place where no one would get hurt."

Carys looked around him.

The mortals only stared at the three of them for a split second before they all proceeded on their own businesses thinking that it wasn't an actual rifle but only a toy that was hanging on Carys's shoulder.

Carys conceded, letting the bow slide into across his chest. He nodded at the woman that nodded right back at him then he started walking away from them.

"Carys, wait," he heard Rade said, but he didn't even stop from walking and jumped from a low branch of one of the trees to a higher and then to another until he could not be seen any longer.

That was the first time that Rade ever saw Carys after Lauri's death or at least after the Haeven clan gave her up to HODE.

She never thought that she would see that Carys' face ever again. With a chilling realization, Rade realized that Carys had been alive without her knowledge and he had been alone for the past couple of months since Lauri's death.

Rade looked back at Nina, she saw that the older girl was looking at her with an incomprehensible expression on her face.

"That was..." Nina tried to say, motioning to the direction where Carys went and faded. "Is that...?"

Rade nodded to her.

"That was Lauri Haeven's younger brother," Rade said, her voice became harder and her throat closed off as though it doesn't want her to speak. "Carysia Haeven."

"He's trying to kill you," Nina stated, there was still the shocked expression on her that didn't fade even as the moments passed already. "And he is supposed to be dead, isn't he? Someone is playing a dangerous game."

"I also figured that much," Rade agreed, she also looked into the darkness and it seemed that the darkness have seeped into other things with the exit of Carys. "I should go now before Carys come back. I don't... I don't think I can face him off like this. After I kill Lauri all over again."

Behind Rade, Nina turned silent. She didn't know what happened, but she has also experience being loved and being so lost. Maybe even just a tiny bit, she understood Carys Haeven's anger and why he remained hidden behind the news of his supposed death. The debt in which he implied he would take Rade's life as a payment of his sisters.

"Rade," Nina said, stopping Rade from walking farther away from her.

"Yes, Miss Kov?" she asked in return, stiff and formal like how she always acted.

Rade never got around on calling Lovenya Kov as Sis Nina similar to how Kalleid and the others would. It felt too late now to call her like that when she has gotten used to calling her Miss Kov. If she asked if she should be familiar with her, that also seemed to be as equally wrong too.

"Don't let him really kill you, Rade," Nina said. And despite their surroundings being a little too noisy, Rade was still able to hear her words. "It won't help with his anger. Taking lives feels... as if it's also taking a part of your soul."

Rade stared at the woman by her side. Oddly enough, Nina was looking at her with the same expression as earlier. Like she was about to cry and she was doing her best not to.

"And why don't you call me Sis Nina?" she said, removing any of the unease that started to take shape. "I'm calling you so casually so you must call me as your sis, yeah? But what are you planning to do now?"

"I will let him decide on what he should do with his anger and the vengeance he has," Rade answered, "it isn't my right to just tell him what he should do."

"That's right," Nina agreed. "Anyway, I should go home. And you should too, it has been such a long night."

Rade said yes and finally bid her farewell again. Not looking back, she followed Carys' tracks. It was too dark and she almost couldn't see anything on her path. Rade knelt down and observed where she thought Carys step on. After a few minutes of trailing behind, Rade gave up.

There was something odd about how Carys suddenly appeared out of nowhere besides the fact that he was supposed to be dead right now. He didn't made much trail but he was still able to get close to Rade without alerting her hunter honed senses. Besides that, he was also able to grazed the barest of skin of her shoulder.

If she didn't moved, she would have been killed right now or losing so much blood that it wouldn't take her two minutes before she bled out.

Rade frowned at the blood-stained kimono that has a little rip. Many minutes ago, Emma has already went back on her skin, marking her all over again. She felt faint from the pain of the intrusion but she only gritted her teeth. She looked at the barely visible cut where Carys' pure spiritual energy grazed her. The pain from her own holy weapon was as so bad, she forgot she was even shot by Carys.

Such a shame, she thought suddenly. She would have to pay for the kimono to Megumi because of the ripped fabric. It was so beautiful too that Rade felt a pang of regret that she was the one who wore it instead of the others. Rade only hoped that it could still be repaired.

But on a more serious thought, Rade was still shocked about her childhood friend's sudden appearance. The Carys she grew up with wouldn't hurt a single living organism, he wouldn't deliberately put any human or animal into pain. Even ants were being pitied by Carys, he was even a vegetarian so he wouldn't hurt any animals. His hobby is crocheting and he liked it when he finished crocheting a cardigan for her. His whole world was the inside of the Haeven clan's manor. Cooking, crocheting, and lazing around, cheering for Rade and Lauri when she was alive.

So how come that passionate little boy who was always crocheting at the corner of a room, having his own world with his strings and needles, has now turned into something that almost resembled a hunter?

No, Rade thought and contrdicted herself, he is now a hunter right now.

"Carys," Rade whispered silently.

For whatever it was worth, the person she just encountered wasn't the child she grew up with. Carys Haeven has changed. He wasn't the timid boy who would let Rade braid his fair hair and who would gladly corchet a cardigan out of thin air.

"It's my fault." Rade lowered her head, her chest getting heavier and heavier as though something was pinning her and compressing her heart.

Even with the Shadow Fantasm at the Attic, being closely monitored by both Megumi, the fourth of the great demons of the humanity, and the Aldeia clan, one of the most powerful clan in the hunters' society that even HODE couldn't say anything about their actions and moves, Rade was still unable to do the dramatic revenge she sought for.

But everything has changed.

A lot of things have changed now.

Unlike before, Rade doesn't think she deserves to die any longer. She wanted to start a new life but that wouldn't necessarily mean that she would forget what happened in the past. She was still regretful and remorseful about it all.

And if it takes her life to make Carys saw that there was more to his own life than exacting revenge and planting roots of anger then Rade would do everything she could to save him from ruin.

But first, she must need to talk with Carys again and see just how far he planned to go.