The rest of the carriage ride was uneventful. We rode the rest of the way in silence, each immersed in our own thoughts. While looking out the window, I noticed that we were slowly approaching what looked like a mansion. Even from far way, I could tell it was large and magnificent. It looked a lot like the main estate called “Domus Alba” mentioned in the novel. From what I can remember in the book, Simuel had lived here up until he was 3 years old. However, they had left after Simuel’s condition got worse. It was also stated that Donellan didn’t really like living too close to the capital so he was more than happy to live somewhere else. The whole time they lived in the main estate Donellan had made preparations that have another house built  in the South. And after that, Simuel lived the majority of his life there. This will be the first time in almost 4 years since he’s been there.  Upon arriving at the estate, I could confirm that it was indeed the Domus Alba, otherwise known as the white house (pretty distinctive name I guess). It looked even nicer than the novel described. It was large in size taken up a majority of the land, it was white marble with two beautiful columns at the front of the house. It was surrounded by greenery and had a large balcony on the roof.  

While I was admiring the house, I could feel Donellan looking at me. I turned to face him, and his face was a little dark. It’s honestly no surprise considering this was Donellan’s childhood home. And he didn’t have many great memories associated with the house. Not only was he neglected by his father, but the only time he ever payed Donellan any attention was when it concerned matters of the estate or the future of the Grey family. Not only that, but he lost  his wife here as well.  Donellan’s wife isn’t really mentioned in the novel much but she was referred to as beautiful. There’s not much else on her and from Simuel’s memories which are quite faint, there isn’t much to note either. But for some reason, whenever I try to think about her, I feel a sense of dread and panic. The feeling quickly went away afterward though so I didn’t think much of it. The door to the carriage opened and I was greeted by a group of people bowing their heads. It was quite the scene and till this way I can’t get the picture out of my head. Donellan got out the carriage first and proceeded to carry me out. Even when I got out safely, he didn’t put me down and didn’t show any signs of wanting to put me down. I couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed since I still wasn’t used to this kind of treatment but considering Donellan’s current mood, I made no objections and let him do what he wanted. The first person to lift their head and greet Donellan was a man with a tall and slender build. He had lavender coloured hair and hazel coloured eyes. You could consider him an attractive young man with striking looks but having him stand close to Donellan made him look almost average (that’s how good looking he is). The man in question gave me a once over and smiled but the way he smiled was almost like he wasn’t smiling at all. 

“Welcome home lord, young lord.” He said eloquently. Donellan glanced over at him and replied to his greeting: “Yes, thanks for thanking care of everything Hecate” 

“It was no problem my lord, I was simply doing my job.” Hecate replied with another “smile”. There was something a little off about this Hecate guy but I couldn’t detect any malice from him so I quickly put it off as him being weird. 

Donellan who looked almost fed up with the formalities, made his way inside the house with me still in his arms. I felt bad for the poor guy so in a means of cheering him up, I patted him on the head and gave him a small smile. 

Unbeknownst to him, Donellan’s mood got better almost immediately after that.