The walking stick slammed down heavily at the side of her head as she loosened her grip against the child, but not completely. "Hey... are you still mad at me? I am not supposed to speak to you... I guess." She spoke while placing him down and waddling in place for a few seconds, at her knealing position. "But can you perhaps run outside?" There was no smile at her face.
Blood slid down the side of her face, the first day back at the palace, and the situation had already worsened. Who knew what was about to happen around the next few days. The child had immediately nodded and left with sobbing eyes, as she continued to struggle trying to get back up on her feet.
"Aefia... I had no intension to hit you." The duchess spoke while placing the stick back down on the ground and picking up the glass bottle from her desk. "I know that too. But it was expected to happen if you were intoxicated." She answered back while glancing at the woman in front of her. "Twelve bottles, what was your reason?"
"What twelve? It's only been five or so..." Her mother replied while leaning against the desk and placing a hand at her forehead. "Where is that kid? Where did he run off to?!" She smacked an empty glass bottle onto the table, which shattered in an instant, and pointed the shape end in front of the young girl in front of her, with a bleeding face.
Behind her, the others rushed in with the sound, as Henry held onto their eldest brother's shoulder with teary face. "What is wrong with you mom! Now you are after the kid like you forgot your family members in a few days!" Lewis shouted while grabbing onto the door handle and bursting in. "What was your point in trying to get into this commotion? It's a family tradition, you need to understand that too." The woman greedily replied.
"Darn family tradition if it is going to kill a young kid with a life." Aefia sharply replied while wiping her bloodprint from the face with her sleeve that stained black against her deep blue coat. "And it's alright as long as I know she was doing all that with no common sense...how long has she been doing the same thing? Twelve at once? It must have been a long time."
Her brothers stood all shocked, as Henry silently smiled with a comforting feeling despite being far from her reach. "She has been surprisingly doing this for... a month exactly aligning to the date you left this estate." George replied while setting down the kid on his feet and waking over. "I have been stressed for that reason, she has dropped most work at the palace and you know after your presence was added to this estate, the empire did a huge turn around. So the same way, it's going down again."
"..." Aefia remained silent while her eyes diverted towards their mother and fell to the pair of hands that was crushing the bottle, at least trying to. "I think it's time you go to rest. Quit drinking the next time for the sake of your health... although to think I have more advantages to have you dead instead." Her steps retrieved towards their mother and raised a hand towards her face.
"If my death is a good think than let it be." The duchess answered while coughing up blood and dropping the glass bottle, just to smack her hand away. "I think I have a right to let you enjoy your life for once. I was blindly treating you away from me... and you still don't seem to understand that I want to understand you... as a family member." She tried to straighten up as her lungs started to slowly collapse. "I forced you out of your ordinary life into a type that you will be forever traumatized by. I ask for your forgiveness." Tears rolled down her eyes.
"..." She still remained silent while breathing out quietly with sharp eyes staring at the woman struggling to stay up. Behind, she could tell Lewis was starting to get jealous with her and she indecisively picked up the topic. "I think it's better to ask for forgiveness from your biological sons first. I am not blood-related to you, so I am going to hold your request for the time it takes for you to repent to your own birthed children."
The duchess gritted her teeth as her cough worsened over the time. Silently, everyone waited for her speech to fall out, that any second she was going to apologize, but her coughs were louder then her thoughts. "Fine then, I will have to ask for that myself." Making it a final decision, she turned her head towards her silver-haired brother.
"Do I have a choice? Not yet." He looked away from their mother and walked away, while a hand stopped him. "I didn't say there was a choice. You are not being treated the way Henry is right now, are you? For Henry though, there is an option to say yes or no. In the meantime, have you forgotten that we are both under the custody of George?" She spoke as her eyes glowed.
"You are hard to deal with... Alright, I forgive her in one condition that she chooses to change herself." Lewis shrugged as she let go and looked towards the duchess. "Another word, you should have a good reason for forcing me to this decision. If you are finally thinking about mending this family's bonds, then make her fix her own problems first." He added after a short while.
A smile surfaced on her face that reassured him, but what was surprising that she didn't do it often around now. Most definitely not from the time she had left for the asylum. His eyes dropped to her wrist, which had marks that followed a burned skin and cuts which may have resulted from her desperate attempts trying to free herself away from the sickles. I think it's time to ask what were the added things for her at the asylum, whether restriction in movements was also something forced against herself.
"You heard him... mother." She spoke all of a sudden while moving forward to the duchess's direction. "Do you pledge to change yourself and your current state? Added that you will stop intoxicating yourself, and that you will restrict yourself from abusing around the palace. And only at that, will I think about forgiving you. In the meantime... I won't see you as a mother... I am sorry."
"...I will try at the most." Her purplish eyes turned into an irritated shape as she flipped her head upwards, and stared at the ceiling. "I just wonder when you will understand what I had been trying to tell you the past one month. Why aren't you getting the point? Is it a hard thing for you to choose mercy?" A short pause, and the words hung in the air.
"I am usually merciful... but I am also very egoistic. I am just trying to distance you from me, despite knowing and understanding your story." Aefia looked down while closing her eyes and responding. The same fear settled into her mind as she diverted her attention towards the duchess in front of her, with shocked eyes that panicked the woman in front of her.
Fixing her expression, their mother tried to move forward, but her brain spun on itself with blood shooting out of her mouth and her hands slamming multiple glass bottles off the table, turning the carpet slightly stained. Her eyes shut as she silently lost her balance collapsed onto Aefia's arms, as the young girl fell to her knees just to catch her.
"Rest well." Her hand placed onto their mother's head and placed her mouth against it. "You might as well get a nurse in here." She spoke to the others while lifting the duchess and walking towards the bed. "If she had been drinking in heavy amounts for the past month, don't you think her liver is probably at the worst condition by now? And did none of you give an eye to it?"
"Don't try to blame us for it! It was you the one she was stressing over, alright?! She tried talking to you and you never listened!" Lewis spoke while running towards the door. "I don't understand one thing! Why are you distancing yourself from everyone?! It's like a death traumatized you so much that now you are isolating yourself from everyone!" He shouted while rushing outside with a panicked face.
"... He still cares about mom." Aefia spoke while sitting next to the duchess and glancing closely at her hands and face while clasping her fingers against her palm. "And I still wonder why he would be distancing himself from her despite being concerned about her well-being. Honestly... everyone in this house seems to do so."
"You can say that you are doing that too." Henry spoke while climbing onto the same bed, but opposite to her. "I don't know what happened to you, but from that day, the day you had suddenly come back with your hair starting to whiten and your eyes a bright red, you seem to have somehow gotten preservative about yourself. Why are you doing that?"
"... Even I honestly don't know." She spoke while looking down at her own hands that suddenly released the one she was holding. "I think because I became a person with a different mentality from that time when I entered the dungeons..." Her speech fell as she trialed off with deep thoughts.
"Is it because someone close to you died and you think that if you get close with anyone else, you might end up accidentally killing them. Not with your own hands of course, because someone will do it in front of you and not allowing you to save them." The child continued speaking while staring at her eyes, that widened with the response. "Isn't that your fear? And isn't that also why you didn't choose to speak with me when you came to the palace. The experience was painful for both you and me."
"You have gotten smart with situations now." Aefia diverted her attention as she stood up. "I think you have the right brain to learn about my situation that I am facing, or my distancing from this family. But I also think that if you come to understand my situation, you won't be able to think of a way of interaction with me anymore. Because I have more ties and loopholes in my side of the story then it seems at the surface. For short, I am living my life with a curse."
As soon as she entered the threshold of the door, Henry started speaking at her direction with his curious eyes. "I know about your curse. Isn't it something to do with the Guardian of Silence? Lewis told me about your situation while you were away." Her back straightened and her head lifted towards the kid who was still sitting next to their mother.
"We had no choice, because he was continuously asking us why you went to the asylum and avoided speaking to many people." George answered the rest for him, despite her not questioning anyone in the first place. "He is still a kid with a curiousity to know things, and you know how short-tempered he can be. And Lewis too had lost the patience, then eventually spoke to all out one day. Don't be mad about that."
Aefia's eyes stayed resting as she listened to his explanation, and only opened her mouth after he finished. "I am not mad because it was a stated fact that somehow someday I was eventually going to have to explain about this situation to him anyways. And since this already been done, I guess there was no necessasity for me speaking about it in the first place. I actually appreciate your doings for me and I should ask just got be confirmed then, Henry, do seem to find my mentality a little overwhelming? Otherwise, I am trying to recover at my best."
She shut her mouth while waiting for a response. "I guess I wanted to ask if I could help you." The kid responsed while getting down from the bed and rushing to her side. "I know you will say I am too young, but I can try to do anything I can to help you. In anyway possible." He grabbed onto her hand with pitiful eyes.
"I... will allow it as long as you don't want to harm yourself or anything. Now I don't know what kind of help, but I understand you want me to do something?" She tilted her head sideways while lifting him up. "I wanted to help you try to recover. Maybe to help you get along back with us while also staying far, so you don't miss out from all the fun." The kid smiled while his eyes shot towards the injury on her head, that stained some silvering parts of her hair a little red in colour.
"Like... your injuries." He spoke while placing a hand on top of it, despite it not being hygenic for a wound. "Anyway, you just came...so you should go get some rest first. I am here guarding mother if you are worried about it." The child spoke while throwing his hand up, with blood at the tips of his right hand.
"Oh right, that gets me wondering... if going to the graveyard is all right." Her eyes shot towards George who sat still at the edge of the bed. "When do you want to go?" He asked in reply. She hesitated for a few seconds, then answered. "Now. The raining just stopped, so I wanted to go now."
"Alright then. But take someone along with you." He stood up as the nurse rushed inside, throwing Aefia aside and not giving a heed to it. Following that, Lewis entered calmly, but before he could speak, George grabbed his shoulder and spoke into his ears. Noticing the concerned faces, she set down her younger brother to the ground and bowed while trying to flee the place after saying, "I guess it's not a matter that urgent now."
"The garden is this way." Before she could get outside the door at the end of the hallway, Lewis pulled her away from the direction of her room. "There is something we need to know...about your fate."