Chapter 68 – Mind Games

Noah took a sip of wine to stall for time and gather his thoughts.

"Forgive me, My Lady. This so-called friend is only within my mind. He may hear you but not make an appearance." Said Noah opting to lie in front of her as little as he could.

"That's too bad. He seems like a fun person." She said with a slight disappointment.

"Does my company bore you, My Lady?" Noah asked with a bit if a joke.

"Oh no, not in the slightest. That's not what I meant. No, on the contrary, you seem very interesting." She said with a fluster. Surprising him with how much she changed from her previously chilling cold demeanor.

A few flustered moments and she regained her calm and regal demeanor looking at him seriously.

"I am not a human." She said out of the blue

"I have noticed this, My Lady." Said Noah calmly.

"I am what people would call a monster." She said, putting down her glass and leaning her hands on the table while still holding it

"I pretty much figured this out." Said Noah gazing at her emotionlessly.

"Indeed. You two have been conversing this whole time without stopping. So what have you figured I may be?" She asked.

"An Arachna, your Ladyship." Answered Noah

"Your Ladyship? We are back to being distant and officious?" She said, squinting her eyes.

"It is appropriate if we are being open, considering the difference of our statuses, Your Ladyship. It may have been forgiven to speak more familiarly while not knowing the status of the person you converse with. It is however improper to do so when you are fully aware of it."

"I see. Do tell me then, how much have you figured out about me."

"You are Duchess Threadweaver of the Twin Creek Valley in the Northern domain of the Moonstar Kingdom." Answered Noah

"It does not surprise you that a High Noble of the kingdom is a monster?"

"It was a guess that was quite hard to believe." Replied Noah.

"I see. You are quite open minded. Oh well you have been quite sincere in your answers ever since you came here, which earns you some favor. It is my turn to speak of my findings about you now, isn't it?"

"Please, oblige me, Your Ladyship." Said Noah.

"I may be not a human but neither are you a just commoner. You hold yourself in a noble manner to much for it to be a play. From the way you greeted me at the door with every single move of it exactly within the regulations of etiquette, to your wordings and understandings to the ways of nobility. Even the way you held your spoon while ravishing the meal was unlike a commoner would. You were born and raised with status." She spoke leisurely

"I am not a…" Started Noah

"You have been sincere the whole night, please do not offend me with lies at this point." She said with a bit anger to her tone

"Anymore. Your Ladyship. I was going to say that I am noble no more."

She looked at him for a few moments and nodded.

"I see. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes.The question would be how high of a status you would have. Monster houses are being kept a secret and only spoken of within the close circle of the high noble society. You have heard of my house name, however you lacked information of my true entity. This you figured on your own. That means you are below my own status however not too much, as those too low would not know even of my house's existence. That makes your status somewhere around Counts. After that I had a bit of difficulty figuring you out. Your demeanor speaks of etiquette and calculative bearing that would be driven hard into the members of the houses that have the right to partake of Royal Galas and have an audience with the King. These are however at the count level and higher. Which brings an inconsistency to my logic, because count level houses would know of monster noble houses and the creatures in them."

"That is quite an astonishing analysis, Your Ladyship." Said Noah taking a gulp of wine, emptying it.

"Oh, this is not the end. It did stall me for a time however, I think I found an answer that I searched for, which is your Name. As I said you have not lied to me even once, being truthful the entire time you have been in my house. That includes your Name. Noah Daniels is indeed truthful yet there is no noble house with this last name among the Higher Nobility houses. There is however Count McDaniels house, where recently deceased Head had two daughters and one son named Noah, who was still underaged at the time of his death." She said with a voice as if remembering something.

"The information of the Monster Noble Houses would usually be disclosed to the members of the house after their coming of age, which a young legitimate heir would normally be taught by his mother in case of his fathers premature death. That however may not have been exactly so, in case he was the son of the second wife, who had succumbed a lot earlier than even his father and his step-mother and step-sisters that did not like him much, were the only relatives he had left." Retold her thinking process to the woman as if repeating Noah's life.

"That would explain your behaviour at the door. You figured what I am the moment you saw me, as I felt your fear in that exact moment. You did not calm down in the slightest however after I introduced myself. Also you have been searching for proof of me being really who I said I was by carefully watching and studying the portraits in the halls. Only regaining calmness and assuredness when you saw my and my family's similarities with the people on all the portraits on the walls of the hall that we passed through on the way to the kitchen. So tell me have I been right in my thinking process and whether I can call you young Count McDaniel the only son and legitimate heir of the McDaniel house."

"Your logic has no errors in it, Your Ladyship." Said Noah astonished. "You have shaken me by how deep you have seen through me. My findings of you seem less than mediocre in comparison."

"Oh. Do not judge yourself so low. It would take a really wise man to accept the fact that a High Noble House of the human race that eternally warring with monsters might actually be a monster herself. I compliment your open mindedness." She answered with a pleased voice.

"Lady Threadweaver I ap…"

"Tessa. My Lady is fine too. Please. There are only us here. So now that we both figured out that we both are members of the society and have no reason to tear each other's throats out over a misunderstanding, please, let us discard this noble pretence and converse freely without this game of calm and emotionless.

"The game I have lost miserably. My Lady" Said Noah smiling ruefully.

"Really now?" She said with a raised brow in a tone that might have implicated something and then gulped down the rest of her wine.

"May I ask how you figured out that I was having a conversation with someone." Asked Noah.

"Oh that's easy. I was doing it too. Ever since you've been here, all the small friends here have been conversing with me while keeping a good eye on you." She said and a small spider dropped to the table in front of Noah and then ran off toward the woman across from him. Then ran over the table top's edge hiding away from his view.

"My daughters and I can converse with these small fellas telepathically, so I am aware of the signs when someone is having a conversation behind your back. Also I have a skill that is helpful in discerning the most minor of things. Arachnas have a few skills, which they are being so feared for. As an educated man you should be well aware of them right?"

"The Weaver and The Puppeteer." Said Noah, nodding slightly.

"Yes. And as the head of the High Noble House I am the master in both skills. Low level Puppeteer allows you to connect strings to an object and control it from a distance." She said and a barely visible shiny line streamed from the fingers of one of her gloved hands and reached the cupboard at the side of the room. While she sat still without even moving a finger, the door on the cupboard opened and a bottle of wine flew out of it, slowly floating in the air as if held by the invisible person or a ghost. Barely anything gave out that it was controlled by the thin strings that were almost invisible, just a split second shine of a silken thread reflecting the shuddering light of candles around them.

The bottle reached the table floating above it as if frozen in space. Then with a light pop the cork slid out from inside its bottleneck on itself and froze at the side of it. After that the bottle moved through the air to Noah glass and carefully poured the wine into it, before moving to the other side of the table and filling the glass of the woman across from him. Next the bottle slowly lowered at the center of the table and the cork slid back inside of it on its own.

"Manipulations like that are but a child's level of mastery. What it is really feared for is when it's taken to the degree of true masters. Like me. It allows you to manipulate an entire body to the degree of the slightest gestures. With my ability I can make a dead body pretend to be living to such a degree that no one would figure it out in years as even its heart and organs would function under my control. I am able to control it to the slightest mimicry of its face and the tone of voice that it would be making, which would make you converse with it without you ever figuring out that it is very well Dead." She said, making Noah's mouth dry. He took a slow sip of wine to quench his sudden thirst.

"This allows me of course to be very proficient in the slightest changes of people's face and behaviour. Thus my logical conclusion of you having a conversation. I have noticed the slight changes of your behaviour. I can even judge to some degree what you were conversing about." She said smiling at him, which made him want to urgently take another sip.

"I see. That is indeed a very powerful skill worthy of…respect."

"Should we proceed back to the fireplace? Having a conversation with a guest of your status in the servants kitchen is unbecoming of a house head." She said standing up from the chair.

"I personally don't mind, but will listen to your wishes as the House Head, My Lady." Answered Noah standing up after her. She put out the candle fires around the kitchen leaving only their chandeliers and they walked back to the hall.

"You keep surprising me, Noah, still." She suddenly stopped in front of him while walking by him as he stood aside to let her go through and into the front of him.

"How so, My Lady?" Asked Noah, while they both stood so close to each other they could feel each other's breaths, while looking into each other's eyes.

"Any sane person, hearing about my skill would wonder. Am I really the person you converse with? Or is this a body of the Duchess controlled by someone just to lead you into the trap of a puppeteer. However you did not wonder that for a moment. I can assume you have a way to be assured that I am indeed the original instead of a puppet." She concluded.

Noah slightly smiled without commenting, but she did not need him to. She turned aside and kept walking.

"As I said. You are very interesting." She said in a pleased voice while walking.

"So are we continuing our game of explanation? It is your turn."

"I am afraid there is not much else I might add." Said Noah.

"You did not try to run away when I was gone." She said without turning to him, however he was sure she had a smile on her lips.

"I doubted I would pass through the barrier inside the mansion, that prevented me from sensing who you are from outside." Said Noah.

"I see. So you have seen through that barrier."

"That barrier…muttered Noah. There is another barrier?" He asked.

She turned her head, shining her smile over her shoulder at him. But did not answer.

"A barrier around the territory of the mansion. You said. It's not a place someone could just wander into." Reasoned Noah.

"Yes, the barrier you should have noticed when you passed through it. However you did not. Neither did I notice you passing through it. Which brings us to the question of how did you get inside my shed." She said, throwing another glance at him, seeing how Noah froze in place for a moment.

"Interesting. Very interesting." She muttered. "This is but one of the questions I am still figuring out. So I would argue that you have lost the game miserably as you said."

They walked inside the room with Noah becoming quite scared of how much she might know if she conversed with him some more.

"Anything else?" She asked while they sat down back into the armchairs.

"It may be very unbecoming to mention it."

"Oh do not worry. We passed the moment of trying to kill each other over a misunderstanding." She said.

"Many paintings have you in them. Different eras. Different painters. Very different gowns and hair styles. But it is you, My Lady. Which means you are very very…"

"Ancient would be a better word than old in my case." She interrupted him while peering at him from behind the armchair's backrest that almost covered her from his view.

"Yes. You are correct. Which also would explain why I am so good at such games. I have been playing it a lot longer than you. Monsters live far longer than people because of their magic bodies. Powerful people live a lot longer than normal people too. But powerful monsters are, as you might figure are ageless. If you know my true age you might go white in the hair at this very moment, so I will only limit it to information such as, I have been around when people in this country still spoke another language.

"Another language?" Muttered Noah thinking on the Moonstar History. "This country has existed since the time of humanity coming back after almost the entire annihilation back in…. You mean the first civilisations?" Asked Noah astonished

"I will leave it to your imagination. A lady would never confess her true age, after all." She answered vaguely.

"Alright my turn again." She said and did something that he did not see coming. She moved legs underneath herself, turning to him in the armchair and leaned at the arm rest, sitting in such a girly way that was unlike the hundreds, if not thousands year old woman. Which almost made Noah gap at her with open mouth. However it also gave him reassurance that they were now on a friendly note.

"Before that, My Lady." Said Noah interrupting her. "May I ask a question that has been bothering me?"

"Alright." She said listening intently.

"You have mentioned it twice now, that we were about to rip each other over a misunderstanding, which I do not understand well in the way you say it."

She watched at him with a bemused look on her face for a moments as if it was totally unexpected of him to ask that. Then she sat thoughtfully for a few moments.

"I see. In other way you totally were concentrated on the thing that I am a monster and you have missed the fact that I might have been afraid of you just as much as you were afraid of me." She said surprising Noah with her answer.

"Afraid of me? You?" Noah asked baffled.

"Of course you buffoon." She said with exasperation. "Look at this from a Lady's perspective. Or rather a single mothers living alone with her daughters far away from anyone." She explained making Noah this time gap at her with an open mouth.

"A dark malign thing of unknown origin, sneaked through one of the most powerful barriers that this country might have seen, totally unnoticed by me and took a residence inside my shed, crawling inside it for who knows how long before one of my daughters accidentally stumbled on it, scaring the hell out of her. It then silently stalked inside the shed for almost a week scaring me and my daughters so much I opted to send them away to their aunt, rather than let them stay here risking their lives."

"And only when I was totally alone did you finally make a move, coming out of the shed while taking form of a human and pretending to be a lost traveler in the middle of a freaking night. What agenda could that thing have with me other than trying to kill and eat me." She said, shocking Noah more and more.

"It took me all my years long experience to hold myself in hands from fighting you there and then with my life on the line. I opted to figure you and your abilities more before a fight instead of confronting you in the blind without knowing what you are capable of."

"Hold on, hold on." Said Noah. "But I am just a human. What threat I could possibly pose to the immortal being such as you?" He aske exasperated.

"I did not know then. And do you even know how many…things out there, that could pretend human better than you, even though you born as human. Some of them far scarier than me. You could be a Skin-walker or Naaldlooshii as they were also called in the ancient times. That thing... I don't even wish to imagine myself ever confronting it."

"And why do you think a powerful being such as I live behind multiple barriers? To scare away mice and crows? The stronger we are the more experience for humans we give. I may be a noble but human greed is only second to demons."

"But you let me in."

"You sneaked through first barrier. Nothing stopped you to go away and then sneak through the mansions barrier and attack in surprise. I figured it was better to hold you in my view now that you made a mistake to come into open."

"I see. So how did you prove I was not such a dangerous being pretending human?" Asked Noah.

"Well the main thing that made me think in the key that you really might be human despite all thing pointing at you being a dangerous creature is my previous analysis."

"Previous analysis?" Asked Noah.

"Do you think I am an idiot to stay here alone while sending my daughters away just on a whim? The moment I found you in my shed I figured this kind of situation might happen if you are left alive, so I called my friend for help. Together with her, there are not much things in this world that could pose a threat to us. Even if you were a Skin-walker, we would have tore you apart in to million pieces." She said smiling at him with a devious smile.

"What stopped you?" Asked Noah gulping.

"Interest." She said briskly.

"Huh? You risked your life for interest?"

"Well that's what my friend basically told me too, but I was interested whether my analysis of you was correct or not. I felt challenged you could say and wanted to see what was your end game."

"I don't get it. From what you told me I posed danger to you and your family. What could you analyse that made you risk like that?"

"This question I am not answering right now." She said rubbing the armrest with a finger while smiling a cunning smile and scheming luster in her black eyes totally looking like a young girl.

"Why?" Aske Noah with suspicion.

"It wil ruin the intrigue of our game." She said slyly.

"Well among other things that made me suspect you being human was exactly your fear. Had you been the creature that came for my life there was no way to pretend that. After that I watched your demeanor and pretty much figured your plan of action." She continues to explain.

"Once you realized I might be actually a full fledged Noble of the Kingdom, despite being a monster, you tried to appeal to this side of me. You were extremely truthful, galant, polite and gentlemanly. Also you searched the ways to sneak out of here instead of trying to appeal to me your trustworthiness to be let to stay inside as any cunning creature would have done."

"Had you tried to press on to me the thoughts that you are a noble and you are a trustworthy person, I would be sure you are an enemy. Your discomfort and attempts to leave though gained my trust instead. That why I risked opening myself like that on the kitchen with the plate. It was the turning point that put a dot to my analysis and allowed be to breath out."

"Wow. I…I am shocked my lady. I have brought you distress so huge yet did not even suspect. I am truly sorry for this."

"Forget it. Also we deviated from our game. I remember that it is my turn still, even though you tried to cheat by changing topics." She said gazing at him with squinted eyes and a smile on her lips.

"My apology, My Lady. Please continue." Said Noah and gulped some wine.

"One other thing I figured is that you are too calm in trying any food or beverage I presented to you. Had you been a monster in disguise it may not have been a problem to some degree. But still would make you bit wary to gulp it down in gulps like you did. For a human that was however too risky. And I know you are not stupid as you analysed me quite well. So where did you get your assuredness in not being poisoned?" She said and Noah froze his movements again. Just how deeply she looked through his secretes.

"So as I figured your status and family name I remembered the recent information circulating in the news. That you were supposedly succumbed in the Great Tree Labyrinth near the Greenville town. Also in this very town there were some interesting events recently that ringed around whole Kingdom."

"One of the news was of the tamer with a slime very useful against any poison. So I had a hunch. What if that tamer that disappeared at the same time with your appearance in my shed is actually you. In that case the thing that one of my spiders here saw you eat when I was away was that anti poison slime. Also I did not feel any lies when you said of your companions death. And tamer had a wolf companion. So as I figured your wolf was killed in a fight before you escaped with some means and somehow appeared in my shed, thousand miles away from Greenville town just to hide from the attackers. Crazy idea. But it proved to be true, right?"

"I am now afraid you might actually know about me more than I know myself, My Lady." Said Noah.

"I see, so I am right. You somehow transfered more than thousands of  miles in a days time"

"I truly lost this game of wits, My Lady. Please forgive me but I really feel tired. Also it is very late already. You offered me a place to sleep. May I take you on this offer still, My Lady?" Said Noah figuring that avoiding her was the best choice to stop her from analysing him and gutting out all his secretes out of him.

"Yes. Of course. As you may have figured I tend to be a bit of a gambler and forget myself for a bit. Please follow me to the room that you can rest in." She said apologetically, jumping up from her seat and grabbing the chandelier to lead him out of the room. This time they were walking with barely a few steps between them, finally feeling quite relaxed in each other's company.

They walked out the hall with a mirror where they traveled when he just entered the mansion and returned to the main door then walked deeper into the mansion reaching the stairs leading to the upper floors.

"While we walk, would you oblige me to play this game of wits for the final round?"

"There is really not much for me to say anymore…"

"Well your question that interrupted my turn can be counted as a double turn from you. So your turn has already passed in this final round. It is my turn now." She said, smiling at him.

Noah breathed out as if giving up.

"Very well, My Lady. I am all ears." He said.

"My final finding is about your and your invisible friends' second plan on how to stay safe in this situation. Which I derived from one simple emotion. You are disgusted with me."

"My Lady, that is NOT…." Started to say Noah exasperated, but gentle touch of silken cloth of her gloved fingers on his lips stopped him. She stood a few steps above him and their eyes peered into each with a slight tremble as if searching for something.

"Yes. I misspoke. Not is disgusted, but was disgusted." She said gently, removing her fingers from his lips. "I saw it in you. Whatever your invisible friend told you when you were discussing strategies, there was an emotion of disgust that you felt toward me." She explained while walking up the stairs again. "I do not fault you for that. It was quite normal….it is quite a normal reaction of any sane person."

They reached the end of the stairs and turned to the hall on the right. "You do remember however how I told you it would be interesting to make an acquaintance with your invisible friend. I said so because I felt that in your long conversion whatever your friend told you, it influenced you very strongly. In fact, so strongly you became hard and even checked my ass when we walked the hall with a mirror. I noticed that through the reflection in the mirror."

Noah opened his mouth but closed it, not finding anything to say that would not be lies. He did indeed check her gorgeous ass back then while being hard as a rock from what system did back then.

"After that, for the entirety of your stay here, your invisible friend was slowly chipping at your common sense and disgust at whatever idea he was promoting to you. To the point of that intense moment in the kitchen when I came extremely close to you. At that moment you felt fear at what I might do had I moved to harm you. But also you felt excited. Excited as a man that desires a woman." She spoke while walking in front of him without turning to see an expression on his face.

They stopped in front of one of the doors and she put her hand on its handle, while standing with her back toward him.

"It has been….long since anyone looked at me that way. It felt strange. Yet very pleasing." She said and turned the door handle, pushing it inside the room and opening the dim room behind it.

"It is a guest room. As etiquette dictates, I alway hold it clean in case a guest arrives, although I have never had any guest to stay for a long long time. You may use this room." She said and then silence hung over them. She then turned around to look Noah in the eyes.

"My room is the last one down the corridor to the right." She said gazing at him with a trembling eyes.

"Do you remember my toast, Noah?"

"Yes. To the crazy friend and the most outrageous of choices."

She nodded slightly.

"What if I tell you that I figured that your friend's suggestion was to seduce me. Seduce the monster and fuck her so hard she would not want to kill you. At that time you felt disgusted. You felt outraged at the idea. But after a night under your friend's persuasions and after getting to know me, how much of this disgust is still left? This is the question I can't answer. But I really would like to know, Noah. Because ever since that moment in the kitchen, ever since you looked at me with desire of a man for woman, I felt a similar desire that a woman feels for a man as well. And since then wished that you would make the 'outrageous choice'." She said without breaking eye contact with him. Gazing at him intently. Then she closed her eyes for a moment and turned away.

"Good night, Noah." She said and walked down the hall, while Noah saw her off still standing in the hall without entering his room.

She walked to her doors and pushed the door to open it. Then she turned toward Noah and stood there watching him silently for a few moments before entering the room.

Noah stood alone in the hall in silence still looking in the direction of her room and the door that was left half open, letting out the light of her chandelier into the corridor where Noah stood. He stood there for a few long moments but her door stayed open. Left open for him. Noah gulped. And breathed out a hard breath.

/System you are fucking bastard, I hate you for doing this to me./ He said and turned to walk down the hall to her room, stopping at the half open door while peering inside.

She stood deep in the room with her back toward the door and waved her hand in front of herself from which as if in magic an invisible seam on the back of her dress opened making a slit from her neck almost to her butt.

She slid one shoulder of the dress off her shoulder and slowly turned to the other shoulder. Then she glanced up from her shoulder and met eyes with Noah watching at her from the hall through the slit in the door. She kept looking into his eyes while slowly lowering the second shoulder of her dress, making the dress slowly slide down her body to the floor.

Noah looked into her eyes an then slid his gaze over her body. Then he stepped forward entering the room and closing the door to her room from inside.

*Just according to Keikaku, user*. Said the smug voice of the system.