XIII FRANCESCO AND MARCELLA  

I gave my master an expectant smile as I waited for him to tell me everything I wanted to know about this mysterious woman Marcella, but like what he used to do, he scoffed upon hearing my demand. 

"Do you really believe that I will give you what you want?" Taemin's dark brows shoot up as he gave me a weighing look. 

"Will you?" I grinned but to my dismay, he shook his head and stood up from his seat. With that, I quickly reached for his warm hand and pulled it. "W-Wait, where are you going? I taught you're to stay here for the night?" 

"I am." He said nonchalantly. "I'm just retrieving something from my room. Now, mind letting go of my hand?"

Blood rushed into my cheeks and I could feel that my face is warming. I let go of him as fast as I can and hid the blush blooming on my cheeks and I am thankful that he didn't noticed it. 

Taemin's silk slippers brush against the wooden floor and the sound soft rustles of the smooth silk traveled through my ears. After he crossed the connecting hole of our room, I heard a drawer being opened then closed. The next thing I knew was that he was already back inside my room. 

Through my dimly lit room I realized that he was holding a leather bound journal. 

I saw hesitation dancing on his now brown eyes as he handed me the journal. Judging from the yellowish papers and the peeling of the leather, I could tell that this was quite old. I am guessing that this notebook dated decades back or even centuries. And when I turn it around, an elegant engraving greeted me—Francesco Chevalier—it says, so this journal was his. 

"This is your journal, why are you giving me this?" I asked him with a curious eyes and speaking of eyes, I quickly added, "And how come that your eyes turned brown? How do you do that?" 

Taemin massage his temple after hearing my question. In just a few weeks of staying with him, I quickly learned that this guy has a really short tempered and by the looks that he is currently giving me, I instantly knew that his patience was running thin. 

I was about to drop the matter and gave the journal back but his grunt prevented me.

"Ugh, Naeun will not be Naeun without her questions." He said with a low voice and despite of looking away, I knew that he's rolling his eyes on me. "It's a reaper thing. We only use our silver eyes on times of work. It can help us channel our abilities and sense souls faster. If we're not working, we could freely change it to its natural color."

"Is that so?" I murmured and hand the journal back. 

Taemin's brow arched once more as he stare at me in confusion. "I thought you want to know about Marcella?" 

"I did but I don't remember asking for me to read any of these." 

"If you want to know about her then you need to read it. I don't want to talk about her anymore so I gave you that instead. It contain everything you want to know. Or rather, everything that you need to know."

My mouth formed an 'O' as I came to realize the real purpose of the old journal. When I am about to unroll the leather bounding of it, I felt Taemin's warm hands seeking for mine causing me to pulling it abruptly. 

With a nervous voice I asked,  "W-What do you think are you d-doing?"

"Holding your hand?" My master said innocently and with that, I could feel that my heart beating doubled and warmth bloomed again on my cheeks filling it with reddish tint. 

I gulped down air plenty of times before I came to answer him. "Was holding hands necessary as I read your journal?" 

Flame ignited on Taemin's eyes as he finally loses his temper that he's been keeping. "Are you really an idiot? You were severely injured, you need healing, and the fastest way for that to happen is to transfer my life force into you in surges through physical contact. So if I were you, stop fancying yourself that I really want to hold you."

​​​​​​"H-Hey, there is no need to be rude! I'm sorry, okay? Sorry for getting the wrong idea." I mumbled softly through my pouted lips. 

"Shut up and just read." He said as he gently pulled my hand closer to him. "And can you please stop doing that?" 

"What now?" I looked at him and blinked as I asked innocently. 

When I did that, Taemin quickly looked away from me and shifted his eyes somewhere else. "T-That. You're pouting and you look.. you look.. ugly."

It is now my turn to scowl. He may be my master, he can boss me around all he wants but he don't have the rights to call me ugly! How dare he easily said that! Doesn't he know that it took me a lot of years before I can fully develop my confidence and accept my flaws and he dared to call me ugly!? 

My dad even used to tell me that I look the cutest when I do that! How can he said that I look like that?

I opened his journal with anger radiating from me that I almost wreck the peeling covers. As I turned the first page, a neat penmanship greeted me and it was actually hard to believe that this grumpy man beside me was the one who written it.

The first entry was dated from January 3, 1847, and after releasing a long sigh,  I finally started reading what has been written there. 

 

 

3rd January 1847 I finally found a new reason to start writing a journal once again. Today, my sister Roselle asked me to accompany her to the streets of Saint Honoré to purchase her dress for the upcoming ball for our brother Giovanni. At first, I disliked the idea of having to walk from stores to stores since I thought it would only be a waste of time but all my negative emotions vanished when I saw an astonishing young lady entered the last shop that Roselle and I entered.  The mademoiselle was wearing a yellow corset dress that perfectly complimented her porcelain skin. Her dark, glossy hair was tied up with loose curls framing her angelic face. But what really caught my attention was her eyes. Her eyes were as blue as the seas, as blue as the vast skies above.  I was so intrigued by her beauty that I found myself standing on my feet and approaching her. But to my dismay, my sister Roselle called for my name to finally leave. I was disappointed. But then the store clerk suddenly called her name.  Marcella, such a gorgeous name for a gorgeous mademoiselle. 

 

After reading his first entry, I threw Taemin a ridiculous look since it's hard for me to believe that my master was actually capable of feeling anything. What I find even funnier was the fact that he experienced 'love at first sight​​​​​​' with a lady who happens to be sharing the same face with me. 

An idea suddenly struck through my head. If Marcella had this effect on him, did he felt the same way when he saw me on French class? 

Idiot, I mentally scolded myself. Of course not! He was staring at me intently almost the whole period.

A chuckle escaped from my lips from the thought which caused for the man beside me to stir suddenly. With a questioning voice he asked, "Are you laughing at my journal?" 

"N-No. Don't mind me!" I replied without throwing him a look. 

I gently turn the yellowing page aside and read the next entry. To my surprise, the next one also contained about Marcella but there was a huge difference between the dates. It seems like this journal was solely dedicated for the lady who caught my master's eyes.

 

 

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