"How are roses supposed to know my fate?" She asked while staring with blank eyes at the bright red colour of the petals, with dews on top of the smooth surfaces. "They are embedded with magic, where it turns black with every day that you will suffer in your life." Lewis replied while walking towards the bushes and placing his own hand against the stem of one of them.
The flowers blackened by only five or six at maximum, as he plucked those out from the bush and stepped back from it. "Now you try. It should be incredibly easy to do it, just touching the flowers would do enough." His free hand gestured towards the red petals of the fresh roses.
Aefia nodded, but she already knew the answer to the question they wanted. Despite that, she needed to please them in order to survive in this palace. Her hand reached out, but before her fingertips touched the surface of the petals, a spark felt at her hand as she noticed the flowers instantly turn black with something shotting out from deep inside the bush towards her. A spike! A spiked branch!
She immediately managed to miss it by leaping away from its trajectory, and simultaneously glanced up to place her gaze at the bush, which was starting to blacken at a slow yet sure pace. Curious, she shifted her gaze towards her brother with a serious face as if to ask this was a way for her death that was planned.
"That's... interesting... and a strange thing..." He tapped his chin while speaking around to face her on the ground. "You are cursed... and it seems you will suffer a terrifying life." He spoke out the results and holding his own black roses.
"Of course it was expected the way I am extremely tied to the Guardian of Silence. And she seemed to have flipped the role of one of my skills, which caused my fate to flip around too." She stood herself up and dusted her clothing. "You still have to be confirmed despite knowing the answer... do you seem to believe I picked up lying at the asylum?"
"...Don't change the topic." He spoke while handing the flowers to her hand and walking back inside the palace. "The bushes can't repair themselves to their original state, so we are going to have to uproot it." He shrugged while walking away, giving no backward glance until he heard leaves rustling. His head turned a full hundred eighty with a very fast and abrupt motion.
"What?" Aefia asked while swiping her hand across the entire bush, restoring their colours and bringing back the original colours. At her other hand, the red roses reflected the colours with a holographic glow, that looked like a coat of protection was layed on them. The entire garden seemed to turn back to a glorious sight as she stood still at the edge of the bush with a curious face. Her steps stopped as her nose bleeded at the end.
"Did you just...restore the condition of the garden?" He spoke with shocked eyes as if he didn't withness something like this in real-life just now. "Anyway, don't do that again. You are putting a toll to your health. Your bandaged head, does it hurt? They told me to keep a close eye to see if there is any sort of pain."
"Then tell them I can handle a wounded scalp. I didn't die or fall unconscious the instant I was hit, so you know this isn't a problem. But since you asked about it anyways, it's not hurting. Just burning due to that ointment they placed onto the wound." She replied while placing a hand at the side of her head. "I survived more gruesome injuries."
"Uh... yeah." Her brother replied while scratching the back of his head as guilt fell onto his face. "Anyway, where did you want to go again? You asked George about it, and I was asked to take you there." Before he could finish his sentence, she had already passed by and almost reached the door to the palace.
"I want to go to the graveyard, if that's alright by you? You probably already know why I have intentions to visit it." Aefia replied while putting the flowers into her invisible inventory and glanced backwards one last time. The moment of quiet stretched irritatingly long and eventually, she spoke out. "Nevermind, it looks like you will be busy. I will go another time then."
"No I am not busy. I was just worried if you would feel a little upset when you get there. It's been a month, so do you want to reconsider it with when you want to go? Maybe when you become a little more... stable in the mind?" He answered instantly. "It's alright from my place honestly. I am alright with seeing her grave now." She answered while tilting her head. "I appreciate your concern for this case, thank you."
Her hands wrapped around the handle as she pulled it open and entered the building with an almost blank mind. Although it had already been a month, it still felt stranger to watch her with no smile on her face, as if she had forgotten it after entering the asylum. Many people wanted to ask her questions about what happened, but there was a need for privacy due to the fact that she was now the member of the Imperial Family.
There are visible scars at her hand, she seemed to be a little... false when she smiled. Like it was a form of lying, but also assuring. And what were they talking about when I was away? It's just... I seemed to have been slightly madened by the fact that our mother was in fact heavily drunk due to her facts. Just why couldn't she have said something to her? What is she trying to do distancing herself from the rest of us?
It was visible how multiple thoughts were resurfacing that he wanted to ask her. But opening his mouth, he would only pay the price of getting the same answer back... that she was mentally unstable and there was no idea from herself that she was doing so. Everyone got the same answer, and no one could force this information out of her.
Suddenly, she stopped short at the staircase and glanced up, as a faint reflection lingered at her eyes. A small golden glow, and then she was hitting her head with her own fist. "Darn it... headche. I really hate them." She spoke while turning towards the way they were walking and turned her head halfway to ask just one more question. "By the way, you haven't said if you can accompany me to the graveyard? Otherwise I can go on a later date."
"..." Lewis breathed out a second later as he prepared to speak out his words. "If what you said was true that you can tolerate the situation, then I guess I have no choice. Afterall, you have a right to go visit the grave of your own relative." Just when he glanced back up at her, he noticed at the way she was staring upwards with a questionable gaze, that glittered with a golden glow speaking to her.
But this time, blood escaped the sides of her mouth as her eyes fixated at what seemed to be the silhouette of the Guardian of Silence. Oh look at that! Pitiful Child! She is back! The words seemed to ring only into her ears as Aefia's expressionless face locked a smile into the golden glow's face. Now...my child? Do you want to surrender your soul to my hand? Don't tell me the asylum changed you that much.
"..." Aefia stayed glancing at the figure while finally moving her mouth. "No. I don't have the wish to die just yet. I still have many assigned tasks left to do and I won't give up until that has happened. Don't get me wrong...I am actually coming after you the next time." Her eyes became red and widened as she stared at the glowing figure as if fearless now.
"I didn't know you have become that determined to stay alive? What happened to going into dangerous battles trying to save this world despite knowing it will never benefit you back at where you belong." She stepped down onto the ground while walking forward with her hand placed in front of her as if to touch her face.
Even when she was aware that something was going to happen, she stayed silent and didn't move away. "But as long as I stay here, I don't think I will stop taking the risks to get inside dungeons...because it will benefit the people who live here. Honestly, what benefit are you getting? Trying to hunt me down?" She responded as the vivid images of Ms. Avry's death flooded into her mind.
"You will never learn anything... pitiful child." The Guardian of Silence zoomed through her soul as Aefia stumbled backwards as her consciousness fell into the same void she had seen the past few days. Luckily, Lewis grabbed her shoulder and rapidly shook her into her senses again. "Who the heck were you talking to?!" He spoke with a concerned face while using a handkerchief to wipe her face.
"That Gaurdian placed a curse in me... and it's causing me to be highly prone to witnessing the things I usually didn't suffer." She steadied herself and held her forehead while also covering one side of her face. "I think now that I am back to the palace, I need to find a cure too." Her steps continued towards the end of the hallway as she recalled what Silence had said a few seconds ago. "I am tired of that woman. I really want to rip her apart but I am not strong enough."
"Maybe one day you will succeed." Not really knowing what to say about that, he replied while walking to her side. "Honestly, I have a question. What happened to your wrist? It wasn't like that before you left for the asylum...what was the rules you placed against yourself?" He finally spoke while glancing sideways. I don't know what she was told, but that kind of conversation must have something to do with going into dungeons?
"I really don't remember. The wrist... well I onced tried to escape against my own accord." She spoke while sticking her tongue out to herself and scratching the back of her head. "What?! Escape?!" He seemed extremely shocked with that phase as he repeated it back to himself. "What do you mean you tried to escape?!"
"Don't get me wrong alright! Someone dared me to do that saying I wasn't strong enough to escape my handcuffs! And then in an attempt to break free with my pure strength I accidentally snapped the cuffs against my wrist! Don't overreact like that! Honestly got me scared!" Her widened eyes and her shaking hands while her face seemed shocked, annoyed, and disgusted at the same time.
"But that doesn't mean you were going to break free from it like that! Do they know you are part of the family?" He shouted back as the maid servants all turned their heads towards them while some dropped what they were holding and stood still. "Of course they didn't! You think I will let those mental people to know what my name is?! What have you become mental too?!" The fighting continued in the background.
"What do you mean I am mental! I wasn't the one who just came back from the asylum! I wasn't also the one who stayed there for a month!"
"Well at least I left with core intelligence that I was going insane! I don't think you would have known it if you were in my place!"
"Stop flipping the topic!"
"Who is?! You are the one who started the argument!"
"Then you want to settle it with a fight?!"
Before the could throw the items at their hand towards the opposite person, a maid servants approached them with a hand held up. "Umm...young masters...you might as well-"
"What?!" Both of them shouted at once while the maid stepped back with a scared expression and pointed at the person behind them. Their heads instinctively moved a hundred eighty as both of them stood straighter and their heads bowed.
"Mom is sick... so you two might as well practice silence for this. What is this argument about?" George spoke while placing a hand onto both of their shoulders, with sharp eyes that showed anger in each of his eyes, alongside with calmness. Henry, who was at his side, broke out in a laugh as he rolled on the ground. "They were calling the opposite person mental!" He spoke out for both of them as they stared with a somewhat feared face in front of their elder brother.
"What do you want me to do after hearing she tried to escape from the asylum due to someone's insult!" Lewis quickly added.
"They were insulting me saying I was weak!" Aefia argued back while glancing at her silver-haired brother. "Maybe you are the age your hair suggests! An elderly!"
"Oh wow! Then explain how your hair is turning white at the ends!"
"That's enough! Samoyed, you are basically a direct bloodline to this family, so you better watch the way you speak. Husky, you know better then to argue since you are a girl, and also from this family. Added to that, you are basically taking care of the house, remember that." George added with closed eyes as he walked away from them. "And if you both ask me why you have gotten those names, remember that only dogs bark like that."
"Then... Know thy place, for thou hast transgressed against the dignity of my station, and justice shall be swift!" Aefia spoke with a cleared throat as soon as he had walked away.
"Thou claimest nobility? Truly, the only thing 'high' about thee is the level of thy madness!" Lewis continued shortly afterwards as his expression turned to match the words.
"Husky! Tarry no longer! The dead claim their quiet when the light fades, and the iron shall shut at the stroke of five." George added from the distance and Aefia broke out into a run towards the gates with the last words.