The Duke's Passion

727  [Bonus chapter]Tilly's wisdom (?)

It had been Claude's habit to ride on a horse and just gallop around to clear his head. But with the hostility they had gathered from the Von Stein forces, riding a horse at full speed was taxing. Klaus was now free, so there was no reason for him to stay in the food storage. Thus, here he was, on the roof to kill some time. "Tch." Claude clicked his tongue in irritation, ruffling his hair for the umpteenth time. "It's not her fault — ugh!" He clasped a portion of his hair, hunching in. He admitted he acted rashly and lost his temper at Lilou. Although he didn't want to, he just couldn't help it. Her kindness... sliced through his heart. It would be better if she just got angry with him or ignored him. That was what he deserved, not kindness, since it only amplified the guilt for Penelope's death and the guilt about their current situation.

But he just had to lose it and make it sound like this was all Lilou's fault. What a dumb man. "Do you have biscuits?" Claude flinched in surprise when Tilly's voice rang to his side. He glanced at her and Tilly was already sitting beside him, looking at him with an innocent countenance. A deep exhale slipped past his lips. "Can you carry yourself with presence?" he requested. "I didn't even feel your approach."

"That is because you weren't paying attention to your surrounding."

"No, that's not — never mind." He shook his head, sighing for the umpteenth time. "So, do you have biscuits?"

Claude cast her a dead look. "No, I don't."

"Then why did Fabian tell me to come in here?" she asked.

"Stop hanging out with Mister Fabian. I mean, don't believe everything he says."

"But he sounds reliable."

"He had centuries of practice duping other people. He is even deceiving himself for that butler persona of his."

"Make sense." Tilly nodded, although it didn't seem she would listen to his advice. "Really... how can you two not change in this situation?" he grumbled, shaking his head and sighing one more time. "Will changing just like you make things better?" she inquired; a harmless question she just threw out there that rendered him speechless. Tilly waited patiently for his answer, keeping her eyes on him, and took the word 'patiently' to another level.

"Tilly." Claude breathed out in distress when he couldn't take her undivided attention anymore. "I don't have biscuits. Why not try asking His Majesty? He had funds and Auntie Lilove likes snacks, so he would surely keep some."

"Oh..." she nodded once again, while Claude pinched the bridge of his nose. When he noticed she didn't move an inch from her spot, he arched a brow and took a peek at her. "What?" he inquired impatiently. "What?" she returned.

"Why are you not leaving yet?"

"I am... tired."

Claude kept quiet for a moment, watching her blink innocently. Another faint exhale escaped his nostril, deciding to let her be because Tilly was just as strange as Fabian. Actually, she was even stranger than Fabian; she was like someone who would never be fazed by anything in this world. Claude looked up at the night sky and slowly collapsed on his back. There was a long silence between them as neither of them talked for a while. "Tilly," he called after the prolonged silence, eyes still on the clear night sky. "Why are you always so calm? Just how do you keep your composure in every situation?"

"I'm not calm," she denied shamelessly, although anyone who would hear her tone would think otherwise. "If I am, I wouldn't be here, but in our home."

steps didn't even falter when she took a step out of the roof, landing perfectly on the ground as if 10:47

nothing happened, and continued to saunter off. He glanced at him. "Your home."

Tilly kept silent for a minute and gazed ahead. Looking at her, Claude could not help but wonder what was going on in this woman's head. Was she thinking? Or just looking without thinking about anything else?

"Claude, why do you want to be hated?" she asked after a minute of silence, still keeping her eyes ahead. "Because... I deserved it," he whispered, peeling his eyes away from her to the sky. "We wouldn't be in this situation if I didn't allow my emotions to take over me. I cannot protect Penny or Uncle Klaus. Even Auntie Lilou and Uncle Hell. Now, everything is just a mess, and that is because of me."

"That's strange," she mumbled. "For someone to think they deserve to be loathed instead of being understood that you are not perfect."

His brows creased slightly as he glanced at her. Tilly was still looking in the same direction, tilting her head to the side. "The house on the mainland was never my home, but when Samael and everyone came there... they made it into a home, I would like to share with everyone. If you suppose being hated is what you deserve, then I think you deserve it. Because there's no greater insult to your family who is fighting for you and embraced what you call mistakes with all their heart, but gets chased away in return." Tilly slowly set her gaze back to him and instantly locked eyes with him. "You think hurting yourself is enough, but hurting yourself only hurts those who truly care for you."

"Lilou and Samael, Fabian, Rufus, Law, Sunny, Silvia, Yul, Klaus, and you... were my family. You had accepted the way I am, and thus, I accept you the way you are. You showed me what family is like; something that sticks together through bad and good times, and accepts everyone's flaw without judgment." Tilly didn't bear any change in her reaction, as if she was simply reading a script, which... she was, albeit more like what Rufus, Samael, and Fabian told her to memorize. Although her first sentiments before this originally came from her. "Rather than asking them to hate you, thank them for understanding you," she added, this time adding her own thoughts since she forgot the rest of the ones she memorize. "And if you truly want to take responsibility, then give me biscuits."

Claude just stared at her in silence, knowing parts of what she said didn't come from her. Even so, he didn't point it out as he averted his eyes from her to the sky. "If I truly want to take responsibility... instead of dwelling on what had already happened, I should put the past behind me as a lesson, not something to hold me back, huh?" he continued, guessing what Tilly forgot to say. "I don't have biscuits. Ask His Majesty."

Tilly pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded. "Alright."

With that being said, Tilly slowly stood from her spot and sauntered towards the edge of the roof. Her steps didn't even falter when she took a step out of the roof, landing perfectly on the ground as if nothing happened, and continued to saunter off. Meanwhile, Claude stared at the night sky in silence. His eyes softened until a tear rolled down his temple, smiling. He covered his eyes with his arm, biting his lower lip to muffle his cries. Even if Tilly spewed all that after being bribed (probably), her words still got through to him.

"Thank you…" he hiccuped through his gritted teeth. "… Uncle Hell."