Chapter 68: Chapter 67 – A lady in the night

"Allow me to introduce myself again, your ladyship. Noah Daniels." Said Noah, performing a greeting bow.

The woman looked at him for a few moments as if in thoughts.

"Theresa Threadweaver." Said woman stretching out her hand in silken gloves that reached her forearms with her palm down. 

Noah gently took her hand feeling the soft thin cloth of her gloves and made a greeting gesture.

"Your hands are cold." Said woman with an emotionless face gazing at him without even blinking, making Noah want to shudder but he held his reflex under control. "You should get warmed by the fireplace." She added, starting to walk at him.

Noah quickly moved away from her path, stepping aside while she walked in the direction of a hall to the right of the main door.

"Your ladyship, I dare not trouble you more than just ask you for direction. It really is fine to just point me to…"

"Ladyship is too grand of an address and there is no settlement close enough to reach within a day by walk. Neither is there a road that you would discern in this darkness." Said woman without turning, still walking slowly away. "You shall stay here for tonight." She added with a tone that had more an order to it than a suggestion.

Noah finally walked after her while holding the distance so that he was barely at the precipice of the light coming from her chandelier's candles. He pictured the approximate map of the mansion and figured she was most likely going to the room where he saw the light from when he was outside.

While they walked he noticed a huge mirror on the wall in front of them and how she kept her gaze at him through the reflection in it rather than looking at the dark hall she led him through.

Even when they met eyes in the reflection she did not look away constantly watching him without blinking as if stalking prey. Only when they finally reached the mirror did she break eye contact with him and turned to the side where a large double door was slightly ajar with a dim light coming through the seam. 

She beckoned him inside, standing aside and waited for him to enter, closing the door after them later. Noah stood aside once inside the room and she walked in front of him again leading him to the armchairs with high backrests standing near a lit open fireplace in the wall.

Once they came around the armchairs Noah noticed an almost empty glass of wine standing at a small table near one of the armchairs.

"Have a seat." She said and turned to the heap of wood logs at the side of the fireplace. She bent her knees hidden under her black dress bending toward the logs with an extremely straight spine, then picked a few of them, standing back up and throwing them close to the ones that were almost burned down inside the fire.

Noah sat inside the armchair and noted that she never really turned her back on him, turning away just enough to hold him from her side and in the scope of her eyes and having him in the corner of her view at all times. After she added some firewood to make a larger fire she turned to her armchair and started to sit down when she looked at the glass.

"Would you like some wine?" She offered.

Noah swirled his thoughts on what to answer her if she were to ask ever since noticing her wine glass.

"Only if to accompany you, My Lady." He answered, deciding to go with a standard noble polite reply.

She turned around and walked away to the side of the room where she took out the glass and wine bottle out of the cupboard with frozen glass panels in the doors and walked back. 

While she was away Noah took a chance and glanced around, noticing how the inside of the mansion looked quite well preserved unlike its outside appearance. If only a bit too dusty and dirty in some corners and less used places. There were few small spider webs at the upper corners of the room, but not anywhere within an easy reach of hand. He also noticed a few frames with pictures above the fireplace as well as a big painting on the wall to the side, but did not stay his gaze in them for too long as he saw her returning.

"Please allow me, My Lady." Said Noah when she put the glass on the table. She looked at him for a moment and put the bottle on the table as well, taking her almost empty glass instead and then sat down into her armchair while elegantly pinning her dress to not let it wrinkle.

Noah stood up from his seat and took the bottle taking out the cork with a slight pop. She stretched her hand holding the wine glass in front of herself while intently watching his movements. Noah poured some wine for her while gazing back at her black as night pupils and then turned to fill the glass that she brought for him, while she took a small sip from her glass.

"So, what brought you to my doors, Sir Daniels." She asked when he sat down.

Powerful people could often sense the lies and he did not want to agitate her being found trying to deceive her. So he decided to go with a diluted truth that gave as little information as possible.

"I was in a forest when I was attacked, by wicked people, My Lady." He started to explain. "In an attempt to save myself I have traveled without taking notice of directions and found myself lost. Feeling quite disturbed I noticed the light of your window and walked toward it in hopes of finding any help.

"You've been traveling alone?" She asked with a cold voice gazing at him with half her face hidden by the half round back rest of the armchair she has sunk into.

"I had a companion. He died in the attack." He answered without pointing out he was talking of the resurrected wolf.

"That is quite woeful." She said and took another sip from her glass.

They sat in silence for some time with her staring at him, making Noah greatly uncomfortable from her gaze, both slowly sipping their wine in their own thoughts until the gurgling sound of Noah's stomach broke the silence.

She raised a brow and Noah had a tint of red on his cheeks while looking at her with an apologetic face.

"You have not dined for quite some time I presume?" She asked.

"It…has been…a long time since I ate indeed." Answered Noah finally remembering that he may have not eaten for days if not a week.

She put her glass down and stood up.

"It is quite late so the leftovers from my dinner have been stored and probably cold already. However the kitchen hearth should still be quite warm so it would not take long to heat it."

"Oh, no. Please do not mind me, My Lady."

"Nonsense." She said, "A guest of this house will not go to sleep on an empty stomach. Sit and warm yourself. I will see to what is left in the kitchen."

Noah stood up as a polite gesture while she took the chandelier from a small table and ignited the candles on another chandelier standing at the side of the fireplace before walking away with her chandelier in hand.

Once she was out of the room, Noah finally breathed out.

/Have you found what I asked?/ Said Noah in his head while taking out a green slime out of his homework folder and putting it in his mouth.

*It took a long time as it was quite a long memory.* Answered system and a couple of short recordings were shown to him by the system.

/So what the hell with the minimap not showing anything until we crossed the threshold?/ Asked Noah.

*There should be a barrier that prevents it from working.*

/So bolting out, while she is gone, would not be the smartest of ideas, as I understand./

*I believe so. Besides agitating her, it would bring us nothing else, as we would probably be stopped by the barrier.*

/So the best choice is to rely on this information you have dug./

*You are betting on the very thin chance, user. My suggestion has a more plausible outcome.*

/You have seen the recording. I am right./

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*Maybe, it doesn't have any proof.*

/I would rather bet on that, than go with your plan./ Said Noah while coming closer to the fire and stretching his cold hands toward it to warm up, while looking carefully at the pictures above the fireplace.

A few minutes later the woman returned, walking in the measured steps with her dress almost reaching the ground, yet not touching it.

"The hearth is quite hot, still. Follow me to the kitchen. The food will be warmed shortly. Grab the wine." She said and turned away not waiting for his reply making it plain that he should obey without talking back.

Noah picked up the bottle and another chandelier that she lit for him and briskly followed after her, slowing down once he was at the same distance from her that he followed her at when they just met.

They slowly walked through the halls in silence for a few moments with her leading the way while Noah occasionally lifted his chandelier to better see the walls and paintings hanging on them, throwing brisk gazes around without staying his eyes anywhere for long.

"May I ask you a personal question, My Lady?" Asked Noah.

"Yes." Said the woman in a detached and cool voice.

"The pictures above the fireplace are of your family? They are your daughters and husband I presume."

"Yes."

"May I inquire where they are?"

"Visiting aunt."

"My Lady, in this case I am afraid I need to refuse your offer to stay for the night here. Staying the night in a lady's home, while her husband left would be a very disrespectful act on my side."

She stopped for a moment looking over her shoulder at him, with a bit of surprise.

"My husband is not in this world anymore. You need not worry about this." She said starting to turn away.

"It is still looked down upon in society. Would anyone find out the Lady is bringing male guests to her house in the middle of the night while her family is away. I would like to avoid serving an ill favor to you, My Lady." Said Noah persistently.

"There is not a single soul for miles from here. Neither is it a place that someone would be wandering into often. You need not worry about this, either." She answered while half turning back to him, measuring him with her chill gaze.

*Your plan ain't looking well.*

/Shut it./ Said Noah in his head.

The woman gazed at him for a few seconds more as if in thought and then continued to walk down the hall.

A few moments later they reached the room that was lit with a few candles that had been placed around the room making it a lot brighter than the one they sat in before. In the center of the room was a large wooden table with a lot of cutlery hanging above it on the hooks. At the side of the room was a hearth for cooking.

"Have a seat." Said the woman when Noah entered the warm room. She walked for the hearth and opening the lid on it, she grabbed with her gloved hands a small pot that was inside and put it on the table, quickly closing the lid on the hearth again.

She took out the plate, put a spoon inside and poured some porridge for him from the pot with the smallest of ladles that hung above the table among pots and pans. Then she walked with the plate toward Noah while he gazed at her intently, as if trying not to miss even the slightest of her gestures. She stood over him gazing straight in his eyes with her cold eyes and then slowly and very slightly bent, placing the plate in front of him without breaking eye contact with him even for a second.

At that moment Noah was so tense he could feel a sweat starting to slide down his back. For a moment they both stopped to breathe and in the silence that hung over them Noah could hear the slight crackling sound of his own fist tightly clenched under the table. 

System did not wait. Activating its calculative capability to the max it slowed down time for Noah, making him perceive the moment as she slowly let go of the plate in all clarity. All his senses at this moment intensified a few times over. He perceived the movement of every fiber in her body. He could sense the taste of porridge in front of him with just his sense of smell. He could sense the thin fragrance that she exuded and even felt it on his tongue. He could hear her quickening heart beat and almost imperceptible tremble in her cold emotionless eyes. At one moment he noticed how the hair on his hands stood up in time with a slightest if shiver that spread through her skin. 

Then that intense moment ended with her breaking eye contact, closing her eyes for a split second while blinking and then immediately straightening up and turning aside to walk away. Only when she moved to the other side of the table Noah started to breathe again with his back almost drenched from sweat.

She took her glass with her back still toward him and gulped a heavy swallow, almost drying her glass in one go in a totally unlike her noble lady behaviour before. She grabbed the bottle and poured herself some wine then walked back to him and added some for him too without looking at him. Then she quickly walked back to the other side of the table and sat down.

"Please enjoy it, while it does not get cold again." She said with what Noah felt as a much gentler voice surprising him a bit.

"Thank you, My Lady." Said Noah picking up the spoon full of porridge placing it in his mouth.

"This is delicious, My Lady." He said.

"Thank you." She answered gently, lightly biting the corner of her lower lip after that, in what Noah thought was the first ever emotion he had seen from her in the whole time he was inside the mansion, however he did not understand its meaning.

Only when Noah finally swallowed the first spoon, did he understand how really famished he was. He tried to maintain appearance as much as he could yet instincts almost took over, making him quicken his eating. Unnoticed by him, that action put a slight smile to the corner of her lip.

Too soon for his own want his spoon clicked against the dry bottom of the plate bringing him out of his eating reverie.

The woman across from him stood up and picked up the pot bringing it over to him and pouring him another serving. 

"Help yourself." She said walking back to her seat and watching him eat while slowly sipping her wine.  

His second serving Noah ate a lot more calmer with occasional sips of wine from his glass.

"You cook yourself, Lady Theresa?" Asked Noah

"I don't have any servants…anymore." She said while swirling the wine in her glass.

"You are a magnificent cook then." Said Noah.

This time Noah noticed the slightly curved corners of her lips before she covered them with a glass of wine taking a sip.

"It was a wonderful meal. Thank you." He said when he finished the second serving. "I am full now."

She stood up and walked over, taking his plate and bringing it away to place in the basin with water at the corner. Then she took a bottle and filled their glasses again emptying it of the last of the wine. She took her own glass, coming closer to Noah and standing over him again, however this time he felt that the atmosphere had changed. There was no intensity anymore. She slightly stretched her glass toward him in a toasting gesture. Noah picked his glass smiling slightly and gently clicked against her glass.

"What are we drinking for, My Lady?" He asked.

She looked at him thoughtfully and silently went back to her seat where she sat peering into his eyes.

"For crazy friends and the most outrageous choices." She said making Noah freeze for a moment and lose the mask of calmness for a split second, making her smile with a bit of smug and pleased shine in her eyes.

*Mhmmm. One point in systems favor*

/Don't be smug. You do realize what she just said? She…/

"So who is this friend you keep talking to? May we get an introduction." She said, taking a sip of wine.

/…found out about our plan./ Finished Noah in his head after. /And about you./

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