Darkness' Touch

Chapter 37: No longer a secret

She searched through her things for a while before she got her hands on a pair of scissors. With a huff of satisfaction, she went back in front of her mirror to finally do the deed. 

"What are you doing?" 

Maybe it was because she was used to Ares talking all of a sudden without any warning, she wasn't startled when the said curse servant appeared next to her, looking at the thing she was holding in her hands. 

"Cutting off some unnecessary things," she answered, parting her hair into small sections to be able to cut it neatly. 

Ares didn't protest nor did he question her about cutting her hair, knowing that it was already hers and the real Avy no longer has a say in her own body. He just sat on her bed and watched, eating berries that he found somewhere in the kitchen, probably. 

"By the way," Avy started, calling his attention. "I will be going out again, just like what I told you, Marie and Revie would tag along so you need to hide for a while. Remember our conversation?" she didn't look at him because she didn't need to, Ares swallowed the food in his mouth and spoke.

"Yeah. I was listening earlier when you were talking to your maid," he replied. "Do you think it will go the way you want it to?" 

Avy gave him a look and answered. "It has to." 

Ares didn't respond after that and just kept quiet, focusing his attention on the berries at hand while Avy was making sure that it would not be that bad to look at after she cut her own hair. She gripped the scissors steadily, looking at the mirror with no hesitation on what she was about to do. 

"You know, Avy never cut her hair short," she heard Ares comment, his voice muffled after stuffing his mouth with food. He finally decided to speak up. "Just a couple of trimmings here and there," he added.

Avy didn't really want to hear any of those, maybe because she didn't want to know if hair is something important to the original owner of her new body, just like how most people are obsessed with theirs.

"Her hair is pretty and was obviously taken care of." she tried to feel empathetic but miserably failed by just keeping her attention on the scissors' place where she would cut.

"My darling's hair is the most beautiful of all." 

"A-!..." 

Avy suppressed a scream when she felt a stinging pain in her finger. She hissed through her teeth as the droplets of crimson liquid fell on the floor, the pair of scissors she was holding just a moment ago was discarded when an image of a woman brushing the hair of a small girl flashed inside her head. She didn't notice that her mind started to wander and accidentally cut her own finger when she was about to chop her hair off. 

"What's wrong with you?" her snake servant asked but she didn't answer and just stared at the small fire that lingered on the floor for a while before vanishing without a trace, and the cut in her finger that slowly closed and healed as if it was never there in the first place. 

Holy crap.

She was only supposed to be surprised by the new memory that was given to her, but it turned out to be a less important piece of information she learned at that moment. Just at that moment, because there will be another afterward. 

~~~

"I didn't know it was possible." 

Avy heard Clerivan mumble behind her as they walked through the busy streets of the town. She couldn't blame him, after all, she was also surprised and somewhat amazed when she first saw her own eye color turning into a completely different one. The two of them rode a simple carriage available in the estate before Avy decided to walk by foot before reaching a crowded area since she didn't want attention. Well, in her defense, even the so-called 'simple' carriage looked like it would sell for bags of gold. And that would be strange if it was not an aristocrat riding it.