A bouquet Of Roses

Benedikt and Igor felt themselves getting closer after that specific incident. They shared quiet moments in the office, drank mugs of hot coffee by the fireplace with the kids and even invited him (with special consideration of course!) to join the meetings despite the elders being against it though.

This also initiated a subtle but definite change over Igor's demeanor from the grumpy, conceited and cheating businessman to somewhat being a little trustful in his dealings who seldom cheated on people. The villagers wondered whether an alien has kidnapped the original and replaced him with an identical replica who is nice.

He invited all his servants which added to the suspicion

Even though they were wary with his intentions. They still returned one by one curious as to what their boss was about to tell them.

They imagined many things from money issues, food and how they can come back and serve the mansion as they have no food, no fixed income to rely on and their boss treating them like trash like he usually does. but they didn't expect an hour-long apology definitely not an hour-long APOLOGY! The servants eyes bulged out of their heads as he said his heart filled thanks for taking care of them and saying sorry in the most sophisticated and complicated way possible that the common man who was hearing this feel like they were listening to a conversation made by an alien from another universe!

Igor stopped next to Antricia and his inner guilt multiplied. He knew that he treated her waaaaay worse than the others, recently hearing that she had lost her second son due to illness was upsetting to none! he also had children the same age as her sons! So, he apologized to her in front of fifty servants his kids and his wife promised her double the amount of remuneration as compensation for losing her son and added that he knows he cannot change the past but is really willing to pay up for his mistakes in the future.

Benedikt wondered if anyone will object to his clause but none of them did and surprisingly everyone was agreeing to it instead.

The thing is Antricia's husband was a lieutenant in the military who died during duty. She had two children in which one of them that is the youngest died due to the inability to treat the illness as the medical expenses were higher than the salary she owned. Her coworkers just watched helplessly when she cried at her child's funeral holding his corpse and rocking it back and forth singing lullabies as if he was alive and was just sleeping. There was no burial as she couldn't afford it so she burned his remains and tied his ashes to a pouch.

Hakkan a migrant from the middle east who was a proficient jewellery maker offered her a way to store her sons ashes without any cost from her side. He took the ashes refined it and made a beautiful locket out of it. The villagers was stunned after seeing this, how did he turn someone's ashes into a locket is indeed quite a miracle for them! The mother was not very happy about it but she endured. Many were also very unhappy with the jeweler as taking a person's ashes and making rings and lockets out of it according to their belief is the same as desecrating a corpse.

The servants was given an early pay as an apology which was enough to satisfy them for an entire year so, they decided to give their master a second chance.

Benedikt became the head housekeeper and supervise the others to make sure they are doing their work diligently. The mansion became noisy again and almost everything was the same as it was.

One person was not happy with this development, the lady of the mansion felt that something was surely wrong. She hoped her husband will reconcile with her since it's been quite so long that they had a normal husband and wife conversation. Whenever she came to visit the manor he looked at her as if she was a stranger coming from afar and not his wife coming to visit him, he seemed warm towards Benedikt instead.

Yelena suspected that her husband's aloofness towards her could be due to him and her mood instantly soured. 'Why is he getting special treatment? Am I the wife or is he the wife now? Igor why can't you tell me!' She was curious as to what kind of relationship they both have but she was also very afraid of it as well.

What if she couldn't handle the truth and her suspicions were right?

'Can you handle the heartbreak that comes right after Yelena?' She muttered to herself while she was cradling little Valentina in her arms, the child cooed excitedly and she looked at her with warmth in her eyes. It's best not to jump into conclusions immediately lest it causes trouble. Sigh…. she was not overreacting, is she?

Verisha was not fond of it either, his suspicions matched with Yelena's. He knew something was up with both his lord and his coworker, their relationship was slightly different from the way Igor treats everyone else. Igor would say something in his ear and Benedikt's face will light up like two suns. Verisha didn't understand what was fucking funny anyways, his master is not the person who cracks jokes! Something is definitely wrong and it cannot be entertained, nope, not at all!

He wanted to warn Benedikt to not get too close with his master and protect him from the dangers of the man named Igor with a capital 'I'. He knew he wasn't old himself but his heart jumps up to his throat whenever Benedikt was with him, his thoughts out of control and his emotions reacting to inner rage which he concealed within a very chill façade.

Benedikt strangely felt as if he was standing on a freaking landmine which could blow up at any given moment.