The eyes are the window to the soul
A lot can be told by staring into one's eyes, feelings that are hidden from words, emotions that can only be seen through their pupils.
Unlike words which can lie or the posture of one's body which can be faked. A single gaze can tell what a person is feeling.
[Her eyes, they're cold as ice, as if she's been analyzing me this entire time]
Neila had her arms crossed, she had this intimidating aura unfit of her small stature, her long golden hair that caught the brilliant light as she stared at Hoshimi from across the dinner table.
Neila sat to the left to him, she stared at the carpeted floor, twiddling the hem of her shirt.
Lucy whispered into Hoshimi's ear.
"I forgot to give my thanks for helping me during the entrance exam, I thank you for aiding me in the fight with Dominic".
She pulled back with a faint smile, her bifid tongue poking in through her two front teeth.
"It's fine",Hoshimi muttered. "There's no real need to thank me".
The chandelier's crystals scattered light across the table, gilding the spread of meats and fruits. Even the food looked staged, glistening for show.
Then the head butler entered, his steps long and deliberate. A striped box rested in his hands. His face betrayed nothing as he cast the briefest glance toward the eldest child before looking away.
His face unmoving as he walked into long strides.
He glanced at the oldest child—Adrian for a second and immediately looked away.
"I have gathered you all here today for a specific reason".
His tone was clipped final.
Edward immediately stood up from his seat, his black eyes staring strong.
"Then, what's the point of having us here"?
The head butler had his hands behind his back as he spoke in a stern voice.
"The head has a message for you witches.".
"Father is about to spout something cryptic shit again".
The youngest child—Elias sat at his chair tapping away at the table.
"Espy, descry and distinguish from one action to another".
Hoshimi leaned against his arm, his eyes glowing a slight hue of violet.
[Huh? Three different synonyms for perceiving something. Does the head want us to…..watch his children?]
Neila's eyes narrowed as she stared at the middle child—Audrey, her eyes flickered, the girl rubbed her wounds and looked at the ground.
[Who would he want us to watch? The youngest child definitely seems unnerving but what could he possibly do?]
A maid started approaching towards Neila, handing her a glass of juice.
A bright orange liquid swishing in the glass, a cheap juice that could be bought from the supermarket.
Neila stared at the glass with a scowl on her face.
"Are you kidding me"!?
Her fingers gripped tightly onto the glass, slightly creaking under her grip.
Neila crossed her legs as she pressed the heel of her shoe onto the maid.
"Why would you ever think that I'd drink something this putrid"?
She poured the drink over the maid's hair, the orange juice seeping into her scalp.
The maid stared down at the ground as her eyes shook.
Lucy clenched her fist as she immediately jumped out of her seat.
"Don't".
Hodhimi immediately barred her path with his arm.
"Don't do anything rash, you'll just make the situation worse".
"We're in front of important figures, if you fight her right here, we won't be let off with just a slap on the wrist".
"B-but".
"Sit down".
Hoshimi's eyes bore holes into her very soul as she reluctantly sat back down.
Adrian calmly stared at all the witches with a look of disdain, a look that expressed that he thought he was superior to all of them.
He glanced at Audrey's plate.
Her plate was full of greens and a single large piece of steak coated with salt and pepper.
He clicked his tongue as his voice rang out.
"Servant! Why are you feeding this.. this witch human food!? Why would you feed food prepared by someone to a dirty rodent"!?
"I'm sorry, master Adrian".
The same maid came in and grabbed her plate away from her, her hair still dripping with juice.
Audrey looked at her empty table with a straight face as she sighed.
She had this deadpan expression on her face, like she has experienced this thousands of times.
The butler sat the box down and twisted its dial.
A man's voice came out from the black box, his voice echoed throughout the entire hall.
"Hello children, I have important news for you three". Pause "You three are adopted from witch families, I know this might be late but congratulations to Audrey for being the first to awaken".
Then a sudden silence.
A static buzz.
The message ended.
Adrian's chair screeched as he leapt up. His eyes went wide and his face twisted.
"H-hold on! That's it"!?
"What are you so surprised for? Father has always been like this", Elias commented. "Well… stepfather".
Adrian slammed his fist into the table. Plates rattled. "The hell!? We're Mirlos, we've always been Mirlos"!
But Audrey didn't move.
Her fork remained in her hand, her expression didn't flicker, not a single hint of surprise, not outrage or anything.
She just sighed.
[I thought that it was pretty obvious from the beginning, they have differently colored hair and eye colors. The oldest seems to be on edge, this'll be really fun]
Neila calmly stared at them with a straight face as a sudden smirk spread across her face.
She walked up behind Adrian, getting close to his face, whispering into his ear with a sultry tone.
"How pitiful, all of that hype just for you to not even be part of the family. Witches cannot be in a position meant for humans".
Her eyes glowed a bright blue, her entire face started to be clouded in a shroud of black.
"The prime minister position you always wanted, stripped away from you with a single word".
"Shut the hell up you fucking witch"!
Adrian screeched, pinning her to the wall by the neck, the wall behind her started to crack.
Neila's legs were off the ground, a small smirk rested neatly on her face.
A thin layer of mana surrounded her neck, preventing her from being choked.
"You know lashing out at me won't do anything"?
"There's no way"! Adrian scratched his scalp until his flesh started to fall off. "You think this is funny"!?
"Yea".
Neila's eyes glowed.
"It's hilarious".
She smiled, not a smile of happiness but an unnerving smile.
Dominic's chair screeched as he slowly got out of his seat, he stared calmly at the two of them.
"Neila, you should stop playing around".
She rolled her eyes as the smile disappeared from her face.
"Fine". She pulled his hand away from her neck with her brute strength. "It's not like I enjoyed it anyways".
Adrian's ragged breath filled the silence. His hands shook, strands of hair sticking to the sweat on his forehead.
"Where'd all the firstborn pride go"?
Elias tapped away at the table.
"She has a point you know? You're still just a witch without any mana, you're still a fly that hasn't accessed its wings yet".
The words stabbed harder than any kind of bruise, Adrian froze, then whipped his head towards his younger brother.
"You shut your damn mouth—"
But Elias didn't flinch. His voice stayed bored, almost lazy. You're not human Adrian, we aren't Mirlos either, we are witches".
"I'm not a fucking witch"!!
Adrian roared, grabbing a fork and throwing it towards his younger brother.
Audrey immediately stepped in, catching the flying fork with her bare hands.
Adrian screamed as loud as he could, gripping onto the table and flipping it over with one violent swing.
"Hey I was eating, you just ruined my food".
Sarah had her legs crossed, her mouth full of food. Her brunette hair raised into a ponytail, her red eyes wide open.
Kira pulled at the sleeve of Hoshimi's sleeve, hiding directly behind him.
She muttered quietly.
"Are they still fighting"?
Lucy immediately jumped down, her eyes glowed red, ready to leap out at the slightest chance.
Hoshimi stared. His glowing violet eyes shifted between Adrian—red-faced, veins bulging in his neck—and Audrey, who still stood calmly, her eyes suddenly shifting into a shade of black.
"Lucy, please sit down".
"Are you kidding me? This is going to get out of hand".
Hoshimi glared at her.
"Intervening will only cause more trouble".
"Tsk".
Lucy's jaw clenched, but the heat in her eyes dimmed slightly. She stayed put, though her hands trembled with restraint.
"Hatred truly is a vile thing".
Adrian's breath came out in ragged gasps. His hand hovered over the overturned table, fingers twitching like claws. He looked at Audrey—his younger sister—like she was the one who had betrayed him.
"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT"!
He walked up to him, slamming her towards the wall.
"YOU DID THIS".
"You know I didn't do anything".
"Y-YOU should've said something"! Adrian slammed his fist into the wall, breaking away the wood wall beside her. "You knew didn't you"!?
"Adrian, you've treated me like shit. What good would telling you have done"?
Audrey's blank expression didn't falter, her hand started to bleed from the previous throw of the fork.
"You're not my sister! Elias isn't even my brother!! I'm the heir! Not some fucking witch trash"! His teeth gnashed together, spittle flying from his lips as he roared.
"You know what!? I'm glad I managed to kill mom! And there's no fucking evidence that's going to get me arrested"!
Audrey clenched her fist.
"Take that back damn it".
Elias walked behind the butler, grabbing onto his shoulder.
"I want you to give them the order".
Hoshimi slowly stood up from his seat.
[How did the butler not notice that? What is that child planning?]
"Witches, please stop master Adrian from his temper tantrum".
Lucy immediately dashed in, grabbing into his arms and pinning him onto the ground.
"Enough, master Adrian".
"Let me go you witch"!!
With one wave of her hand, he was knocked out in an instant.
There was a dull thud as Adrian's body struck the floor. His breathing was shallow but regular—Lucy had been accurate, a knock-out, not a kill. Nevertheless, the air within the room grew heavy, silence pressing against the throats of everyone.
Abruptly, Elias laughed, sharp and shattering the silence.
"Well, that was dramatic. Somebody finally shut him up." He curled a lock of his dark hair around his finger, eyes shining with silent mirth. "Though I have to say, seeing him lose his cool was almost entertaining."
"Elias."
The butler's voice was cold enough to shatter glass. He smoothed his gloves, his face as impassive as stone.
"This is no time for jokes."
Neila leaned forward on her elbows, chin in one hand, her petite body humming with unexpended energy. Her eyes flashed blue.
"I believe it's an ideal moment for jokes. Just look at all of you—so polite and oh so dignified—when your whole family structure just blew up in front of a chandelier and a plate of ruined steak, isn't that just so funny"?
Sarah wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and finally pushed her plate away, annoyed.
Hoshimi's bright violet irises fluttered. He did not bite. Instead, he studied Audrey. She had not moved since Adrian fell to the ground. Her blackened eyes were steady, unreadable, the only sign of strain the faint tremble in her bloodied hand.
[She's colder than I expected. Not shocked, not broken. Just… enduring. This girl's soul has been emptied by years of this.]
Kira's grip on his sleeve tightened. Her gentle voice brushed against his ear like the flutter of a moth's wing.
"Hoshimi… something doesn't feel right. Did you hear what Adrian said? About their mother…"
"I heard." His voice was level.
Elias suddenly clapped his hands, and the room startled.
"Now that the drama's settled". He indolently waved his hand toward the heir out cold on the carpet. "I believe that it's time we talk about the elephant in the room, the message Father left us, don't you? Or are we going to pretend that wasn't the most important part of tonight"?
The butler's jaw tightened. "Your father's words were clear, Master Elias. You are adopted. One of you has developed. That alone is enough to change the path of your fates."
Lucy's fists tightened, her red eyes blazing. "Change? You mean destroy. You're making it sound like being born a witch is a crime.".
"It's a crime." Neila's soft, sing-song voice carried across the table, but her smile was venom. "Or haven't you realized? Every witch at this table is chained! Be glad that you aren't a peasant as well, or you might be executed as a whole. We're weapons, we're slaves. We aren't human".
The words hung in the air.
Audrey finally stirred. She made a dry laugh, small and bitter.
"Nothing new. We were never family. Just stand-ins for the failures of the Mirlos." Her eyes flicked to Adrian's unconscious body. "Some of us just took longer to realize it."
The chandelier above trembled. Mana seeped from the air like a pressure valve hissing. It wasn't Neila, or Lucy, this time. It was Audrey.
The crystals above trembled more forcefully, light shattering into jagged, weaving beams.
Hoshimi glanced once more at the chaos before him and walked out of the room.
[I'm making my great escape before they bombard me with dialogue, I don't want more trouble than I already have. Well since Kira isn't following me I can finally find out the thing that has been bugging me this entire time]
He walked through the decorated hallways, his footsteps echoing in the empty space.
Paintings of the primordial witches followed him wherever he went, as if they were watching him.
Then he suddenly stopped at the entrance of a library.
He pushed through the door with his feet, books upon books surrounded the place. Wooden shelves so tall it seemed as if they were looking down on him.
[I've been scouting the place since I entered and I've found no other way into this room]
Hoshimi stopped at a corner, throughout the maze like bookshelves.
He pushed the heel of his shoe into a crack in the wooden floorboards.
As he started tumbling down into a large open room.
The cold air slowly brushed past his skin, his eyes slightly flickering for once.
"He's not just a prime minister, that head is crazy isn't he"?
Large glass pods were placed neatly around him, inside them were small children, their eyes closed, their bodies curled up into fetal positions.
"They all look at least 5 or 6, and the mana coming off of them, they're all child witches. He's experimenting with their very souls".
"How interesting".
A female voice rang into his ear.
"I can't believe that someone like him would be hiding all of this".
"Neila Shaw, what do you want"?
"Oh nothing much".
Neila jumped onto the nearby desk, knocking away all of the chemicals onto the floor.
"I thought it would simply be interesting to follow you, you seem like the type to know more than you simply lead on".
Hoshimi's face stayed emotionless.
"I was just curious as well".