The Duke's Passion

Chapter 722  Stop this slander now

"I know what they did to you is unreasonable, but we still have a problem at hand. You can wait for later and settle scores."

The hot-headed yet softhearted Klaus marveled at her beautiful and warm smile. In his eyes, she was akin to an angel lost in hell. Perhaps it was because no one had shown Klaus kindness, since everyone in here was a lunatic. That was why he was so moved by Lilou's words.

<nulli>'Oh, gracious,' he thought. <nulli>'If only she knew they treated me like some sort of circus.'

When Claude regained his composure, he moved closer to Klaus and warned him. "Uncle Hell will kill you if you caused him inconvenience."

"This little --" Klaus bit his tongue, suppressing the swelling anger in his chest at Claude's audacity. He shouldn't lash out at him now, since Claude might change his mind.

Klaus remained calm and held his anger in until the ropes around his wrist loosened. He hissed in satisfaction, but when he spread his arms, he winced. Being bound for days numbed his muscles, giving Claude time to undo the bounds on his ankle.

Unlike what Klaus, Lilou, and Claude expected, Klaus just lay flat on his back like a dead tuna. Claude, who already had his hand on his dagger just in case Klaus would assault Lilou, furrowed his brows in bafflement.

"Fuck..." Klaus breathed out, closing his eyes to rest them for a bit.

"Feeling better now?" he reopened his eyes when Lilou's voice caressed his ears and then turned his head on her.

"Yes, but damn... I feel exhausted." He clicked his tongue, letting his stiff muscles relax and enjoy this freedom that was taken away from him for days. If he didn't feel numb, Klaus would have sprung to his feet and knocked Claude unconscious, before running amok to settle scores with Samael and Fabian.

Although he was aware he would end up being tied up again. Worse. Fabian would bury him. But Klaus just had enough of those two and their crazy schemes.

"Are you hungry?" asked Lilou, pleased that Klaus was surprisingly keeping his word. If only she knew he didn't plan to, but his body was so beat, she wouldn't be smiling so brightly.

"I haven't had breakfast," she explained. "And it seemed they had left the manor. You can join me for brunch. I don't think I have ever seen you eat."

"I'm good in here." Claude waved weakly, walking back to the crate. Taking out two daggers, he grazed their blades against each other to sharpen them.

Lilou pursed her lips and sighed. Looking at Claude gave her this immense feeling that she couldn't point out what exactly. But what she was certain of was that this man seemed to be close to her and the distant air around him felt... upsetting. But she simply tossed that thought at the back of her mind to ask Samael later.

"Let's go." She pushed herself up and raised her brows. "I'll be making food. Don't refuse the blessings. You will come too."

Claude furrowed his brows as she turned on her heel and skipped her steps. He just told her he didn't feel like eating, but the way she stressed her last remarks sounded a little threatening. For a moment, Claude felt his Auntie Lilove talking.

"Is she... good at cooking?" Klaus mumbled as he lazily dragged himself to sit up. His nose scrunched up at the light breeze his movement caused and allowed him to get a whiff of his rotten scent. "Ugh... I smell like a dog --"

Klaus flinched when Claude suddenly sprung up to his feet. Gazing at the man who was a part of his abduction, the line in the space between his brows deepened.

"What?" he asked impatiently, catching the slight panic in Claude's face.

"She's cooking," Claude mumbled and without further ado, he marched to follow Lilou.

"Oy, wait!" Klaus yelled, stopping Claude's tracks. "What do you mean by that?"

The latter slowly turned and looked at him in dread. "She'll poison us," were the only words that came out of his lips before running after Lilou.

Meanwhile, Klaus cocked his head to the side and scrunched his nose up. So he meant that naive girl was a terrible cook? Not that Klaus felt the need to panic just like Claude, but with his rumbling stomach, eating terrible food for the first time after a long time was not the best way to celebrate his freedom.

<nullb>******

"You're a great cook." Lilou was in awe as soon as she had a taste of the stew Claude prepared himself. "That's surprising."

Claude simply glanced at the woman across from him and kept silent for a moment. "I learned it from him." He tipped his head to his left, where Klaus was gobbling his food five seats away from him.

"Huh?" Stuffed with food in his mouth, Klaus looked at Claude in dismay. He pounded his chest as he swallowed down the food in one go. "Hey, you. I don't know you, alright? Stop this slander now. I don't remember teaching anyone to cook — I don't cook!"

"In Monarey..." Claude's voice was low, almost faded into the sound of Klaus's cutleries hitting the plate. "... it's part of the survival training."

While Klaus didn't hear Claude's remarks because of how busy he was shoving down food in his mouth, Lilou heard him loud and clear. Her eyes softened, pursing her lips into a thin line, eyes at Claude, who was barely touching his food.

She felt like a hand was clenching her heart the more she observed the man's demeanor. How could someone carry himself in such an intimidating way, but at the same time, feel like he had deemed himself as nothing?

<nulli>'Why am I so worried about him?' she wondered. If this was Law, she would understand. But this man... looked like he was much older than her. With all that untrimmed beard and his rough hands, she should feel like he was her uncle of some sort. But alas, she felt this motherly concern towards him.

<nulli>'Law is my firstborn... as far as I remember...' she thought, sighing at the throbbing pain in her head.<nulli> 'Knowing nothing, but feeling something is surely starting to get annoying. Just who is this man, and that other person for him?'

Lilou darted her eyes between the meek Claude and the glutton Klaus. The familiarity she felt towards Samael was the same as with these two. Although it wasn't the same attraction, her heart... recognized this familiar affection. But it seemed Claude was the only person who retained his memories and Klaus was just the same as her.

<nulli>'My head hurts...' He shook her head mildly, focusing on her food since she believed it was because she skipped breakfast.