A piercing headache went through her mind, as if she was constantly being hit by a hammer. She tried to open her eyes, with them already feeling like they were rubbed with pepper and placed back into the hollows before she was waking. The corners of her eyes started to water as she desperately tried to pull her eye lids open, but even when they were wide and revealing her dark irises, she was the one who couldn't see anything.
She tried sitting up almost silently, her ears still hazy as she rubbed her hands against her surrounding objects to make sure she wasn't in a dream world. Her fingers traced metal and fabric, and a little bit of concrete-like material.
Slowly enough, she started hearing a few sounds, which came in the form of growling to her. Her mind started replaying the traumatic scene she had picked up from the courthouse's dungeon, where the count was executed. A tug felt at her wrist, a needle-like pain settled against her vein as she pulled her wrist back and stayed silent.
"Has the sun not risen yet?" She spoke to herself, as she turned her entire body to the right, swinging her legs at the edge of the bed.
Before she could stand up, or sit back down, she was pulled into a hug by a mysterious person, who just so happened to be weeping into her hair at the same time. She knew the familiar scent, however, she couldn't recall who exactly it belonged to.
But slowly enough, the the voice became clear and this caused her a moment of faint panic.
"Aefia! Why didn't you shout for help?! I was in the next room!" Lewis continued muttering while placing his hand on her head. "Why did you let that woman beat you up like this?!"
Instead of replying, she pushed him away with force enough to make him stagger another step back. Because she had weakened lungs thanks to the medicines, her panic had caused her issues that made her to immediately start clenching her throat.
"What–?" Lewis grew more shocked, when he suddenly remembered about that evening when she had caught him going through her stuff.
"I remember saying not to be brotherly with me. Get out of my room. I don't want to hear your voice." She sternly objected while staring at the floor.
"Young master! Please be careful! You almost killed the Prince!" Brittany softly shouted while rushing to her side. She tried to place a hand on Aefia's forehead. But she too was pushed away.
"Why the heck are you all symphathizing my situation?! Didn't you just stand there and watch as I got beaten up?!"
After that, no one approached her and she felt relieved. "Just step out if there is anyone else too."
I have to fool them that I can see...
Aefia thought to herself as she used her hands as props that could cover her vision so that no one could accuse her of being blind. So really... Is this how my life would end. Being blind? I guess it is still worth it if I died at the end.
"Oh right." Brittany suddenly started speaking as she neared Aefia again, causing her to jolt backwards and corner into one side of her bed. I can't see! And I need to fool them! But I don't know how or where I am supposed to hide myself!
She started to tremble, although she bit back and tried to stay calm. Her hands still covering her eyes.
"Young master... Are you having a heachache?" Brittany asked while placing a hand at Aefia's bandaged head, where the injury was supposed to be. But the interaction caused her to twitch and moved backwards and deeper into her pillows.
"No. I am completely fine." Aefia replied hastily.
"Then... Young master... Open your eyes." Brittany commanded, while pulling off her hands from her face.
Aefia kept her eyes open as the servant had told her.
"Now... How many fingers am I holding up?"
What the heck?! I can't see a thing! I see only blackness!
She bit her tongue to keep it from slipping, however, she broke into a cold swear which was from the worries of being found. She tried to reach her hand forward, and feel the numbers instead.
"A! You can't use they hands young master."
F*ck this situation! I never even wanted to be part of the Imperial family!
I will just have to guess then...
"Two?" Since it is the most common number that someone could hold up in front of them at times like this.
"Oh! Looks like you really have lost your vision." Brittany declared, as Aefia felt a wave of defeat hit her. Her hands immediately retracted.
"Truth be told... I didn't even hold up a number. The prince is witness to this. And whether you like it or not, I will have to head over and inform the duchess and your elder brother."
"No don't! If you do I will fire you!"
"You are right to punish me however you see fit. But I won't let this matter slide that the duchess used her anger on the child she didn't even give birth to, and then ended up having the child lose something so important moving forward in life."
Aefia gritted her teeth in shock and fear, and then stumbled out of her bed to just reach her hand towards Brittany, while being completely blind. Her only way to knowing where Brittany possibly might be, was her imagination and her hearing ability.
"No stop! That woman is going to execute me after my use has worn out anyways! And my use has officially worn out! There is nothing anyone can do for me!"
Her voice cracked just while trying to say it out loud. Although her eyes were still irresponsive, her face scrunched up to show just how scared she was now. But as soon as she had said it, her mouth shut up completely and she stood straight as if regretting something.
"But... If I am being executed... Won't be better for my eyes to stay shut like this?"
The entire room fell silent with a very uncomfortable atmosphere that promised resentment and shock if the information she just spewed out.
Aefia continued speaking without a mind to what the atmosphere around her was.
"If the wolves end up gouging my eyes out of my head... It would be better if wasn't able to feel the pain... And I won't also be able to see the possessed doll as it walks over to rip my brain apart."
The air turned tensed, and despite her painful words, she kept her expressionless face untouched. However, it wasn't long until her head started to hit itself against her skull's inner walls. She started to stumble backwards while clenching the bandaged area, and losing all strength to stay upright.
Lewis being the closest to her, managed to catch her from the back as she narrowed down her eyes and became limp. It had been sometime since she was beaten up this brutally, so her body was fighting against itself to endure.
As he helped her back towards her bed, he felt a wave of anger rush through his mind as his gaze flew towards the side table he had found the sleeping pills inside. Then back at Aefia who was about to fall either backwards or forwards.
He felt a bit guilty since the right the day after he had a fight with his sister, she was beaten up due to a probable misunderstanding between him, his mother and his sister. His eyes darkened and he gritted his teeth, his jaws groaning until it threatened to snap. However, he continued maintaining his anger for quite sometime.
In the meantime, Aefia let out a yawn and shut her eyes, her head drooping forward and then her hands moving like a toppled mannequin. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders while pulling her into his arms as she drifted to sleep. On the other hand, Brittany had went ahead to inform George about Aefia's current situation. As the door clicked shut, he buried his face into his sister's head due to exhaustion.
He had spent the earlier night going through so many herbology books in the library and didn't even bother sleeping for this sister's sake. But despite knowing that there was a possible cure for this toxins in her body, he didn't really get the chance to tell her about it since by the time, she was sprawled up in a chair and bleeding through her head.
The bloody horror of the scene was so disturbing and painful to watch, that Lewis had developed a fear of actually watching her die in the time that he had been paused by the doorway. By the time the duchess noticed him staring at the view with shocked eyes and a book at his hand, she tried her best to explain the situation, however, he wasn't quite listening.
Even now, he still had the fear that he may have to watch his sister die at some point of his life sooner or later. Since the toxins she had consumed had led her to a short life expectancy.
Not only that, consuming the medication too much would lead to brain damage, such as major memory lose and Alzheimer's. There wasn't this symptoms yet, however... Given how a simple smack to the head was enough to make her eyes bleed, and then take away her vision, it was enough to say damage was done.
Suddenly, Aefia stirred in her sleep, causing Lewis to jolt backwards and ensure she wasn't in pain. But it happened to him that she was just having a nightmare as her face scrunched up and her teeth clathered against each other. He then placed her back on the bed properly and pulled the blanket before walking out the door of her room. He wanted to wake her up, however, she still resented him.
As he turned towards the hallway, he was met with a figure who he didn't quite want to meet at that exact time. He pocketed his hands and chose to neglect her presence entirely. Feigning ignorance enough to make her droop her head and clenched her skirt.
Lewis came to an abrupt stop, sensing that there was something she had been meaning to say. He turned halfway and looked towards her direction, who was already turned fully towards him. She held a worried face and her eyes should signs of swelling, either from sadness or no sleep.
"Is she... Alright? Is she awake?" She asked with concern lighting up at her face. There was a shawl wrapped around her shoulders that she was clenching with her right hand.
"She woke up, but fell back asleep." He answered while pulling his hands out and crossing him over his chest. "If you can think she is alright after what you had done... Then I suspect that you are worth being called a mother for her."
Her eyes blew wide open in shock. "Why? What happened? Did she forget her memories?"
"It's far worse than forgetting about herself. She lost her vision... All thanks to you. What do you have to say for yourself?" He narrowed his eyes at her direction while the scene of Aefia's unfocused eyes hit him in his mind.
"She has gone... Blind?"
"And what next? Are you going to I throw her out because she had become a burden?!"
"..."
"Or are you going to execute her because you want your secrets to die along with her?!" He spoke through shadowed eyes as disgust towards his own mother arised within him. "You don't need to even ask me about it anymore... She knows about your own schemes. But I knew about it from a very long time ago. However... I couldn't come forward and tell her about it."
"..."
"Well how does it sound now to you? That she is going to end up wasting her life with no benefits while having to act like 'your' daughter?
"..."
"You are no different from grandma. That daughter you adopted never quite got the chance to make debut into society yet. No one really knows her face yet. But she is already blind."
"But I thought her vision was temporarily gone?! The doctor had told me!"
"It may be temporary... However... Her resentment towards you is not. After she regains her vision... She might even think about running away. Or if she is too vengeful... She would commit regicide without regrets. Then which one of us has the most disadvantage?"
"Well I only hit her because she had drawn a wedge between me and you!" The duchess changed her concerned face for a more angered face. "She just puts us together and then decided she could complicate things between us... You think I don't understand whether you really hit her to bleed her that night?!"
"..." Lewis remained silent while keeping his eyes narrowed. "Is that what you really think?"
"Then what did she intend to do?"
"She didn't have a good communication with me because she thought this family was brainwashing her. That was lady Elanor's doing and I accept that blame honestly... However... How would you explain the toxic sleeping pills?"
"She doesn't do drugs... You think if she did, she would be able to hide it well enough?"
"She doesn't do drugs... But she purposefully overdozed herself to make use of the small amount of toxin. And based on what I found out yesterday... She had been taking them since she ended up being forced to join this family. So until current date, the amount of toxin that she has built up, is already doing it's damage. Her lungs are already corrupted and burned. And that blood was from just trying to shout at me for protesting for her life."
The duchess placed a hand at her mouth and took a shocked step backwards. "So she knows about the toxin!"
Lewis nodded while still keeping a straight face as he looked up for a while.
"That toxin cuts down life expectancy. If it has been that long, then surely it has been long enough to say... That it is hard to decide whether she would be able to push through to her twenties."
"But how long exactly?!" The duchess shouted while furrowing her brows.
"Hardly four years. However, if she continues... No one knows. It could even be now or the next second."