Taking her place

the announcement

“Congratulations my love.” Mother says as she grabs Lenna’s cheeks and kisses them. “you have made me very proud.” Tears make their way to her eyes and Lenna begins to tear up as well.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you if you hadn’t given us a second chance in life. I don’t know what would have happened to us.” She grabs mothers’ hands as she squeezes them gently. “you have carved us a path and we are both very thankful for it. We love you.” She smiles widely as mother begins to cry.

“no, you are the ones who have given this old hag so much.” She begins to shake as she grabs Lenna and hugs her.

When she found us she looked as if her entire world was falling apart.

I remember waking up and being given a place to stay, a comfortable bed, and good shoes but whenever she smiled at us her eyes looked as if she wanted to cry.

All we could do at that moment was wait and hope that whatever our benefactor was struggling with. That she would fight it off and make it to the end of the road she was traveling but the more we looked at her she seemed more lost.

At night she would have nightmares and would wake up crying.

Lenna and I began to feel awful for her because we knew what that was like.

Lenna had nightmares about that day when our parents died. How she could not save them and eventually how the man in black would begin to chase her. It was as if she was constantly running from the ghost of our past. Unable to escape this pitch-black nightmare.

I on the other hand would have the constant visions of what is to come. Lenna on the ground with dirt on her face as her lifeless eyes look straight ahead of her. Sometimes I would get spared and have nightmares about my countless killings instead, how good I would sleep on those days.

The most terrible one of all, how I died.

I hated dreaming.

So, I knew that whatever she was fighting wasn’t easy.

At one point she began to open up to us, mostly because Lenna was a rainbow of sunshine whenever she smiled at her and called her ‘mommy’.

Mother finally began to smile as she would take us to picnics, us three. Sitting under an apple tree as she would move the wind with her magic to cut us some apples.

She taught me to appreciate the wildflowers of the world. The cave that I had gone to last night, if it hadn’t been for mother, I would have just passed through it and would have never found the beauty that it holds when magic is given to it.

She became something of a life mentor in this life and we loved her for it.

She is a powerful woman with a strong will and yet I noticed something that even Lenna had not realized.

Whenever her ex-husband was involved in any conversation her eyes showed this glow.

I had seen the eyes of someone who was truly in love, eyes filled with hatred, eyes filled with sadness but what mother felt when he was brought up was scared.

She was terrified of him.

I look at her cry her eyes out in Lenna’s arms as my fists tighten up from under the table.

At one point mother's nightmares got so bad that she tried to erase them, to make them stop by taking her life but it didn’t work.

“I don’t want to die; I want to live.”

Her words ring in my ears as I look at the table now.

What Lenna doesn’t know is that mother’s words are real when she says that we gave her so much.

The lady in front of me was pale as she had a bottle of wine at one hand and in the other a blade.

The blade was so beautifully handcrafted that with the tiniest bit of moonlight it shined like a jewel.

She cried as I opened the door slowly.

I could hear the squeak of the door from the old hinges that it had as she raised the blade to her neck.

“will this bring you happiness?” I asked as she stopped and looked at me with a completely shocked expression.

Her hand began to shake as she dropped the blade. “what are you doing here?”

I moved closer to her as I grabbed the blade.

 It was truly a beautiful piece of art.

“I’ve never met someone who was willing to die.” I pointed the blade to her neck as she froze. “you’ve been trying to do this yourself for the last couple of nights, but you never go through with it, do you want me to help you?”

“What?” she said in disbelief. Her breathing sounded haggard.

“you helped us, so I'm willing to help you in return.” I pushed the blade closer to her neck as blood began to come out from her delicate skin.

So far it was just a mere scrape, but she began to cry out in pain.

“I don’t want to die; I want to live!” she cried as I pulled the knife away instantly. The amount of blood on the blade was a mere drop, nothing too fancy really and she was already crying in pain.

‘This is new.’

“It’s just that If I continue to live, he’ll come back and he’ll…”

“then why don’t you just ask us to protect you?” she looks up at me with tears in her eyes.

“How pathetic of me, having a child tell me that they can protect me.”

“I can protect you though…” I looked at the blade and then at the door to make sure that no one was listening. “I can’t protect you as I am right now but once I get older, I will be able to do almost anything. Lenna will probably be a good knight as well but I can assure you that I’ll be able to protect you.”

She looked at me petrified as she grabbed my hand with the blade and slowly took it from me. “I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have let you see something like this.”

“there’s nothing wrong with expressing what you feel though.” I grabbed her cheek as she looked up at me. “there are other people out there who wish to be able to do what you are doing right now.”

She flinched as she gasped softly. “do what exactly?”

“feel.”

‘perhaps she could have died if it weren’t for us…’

Kuro grabs my hand as he looks at me with a worried expression. I smile back at him as I pull a plate of cake from the center of the table towards him.

“Now why don’t we celebrate with something sweet.” I give him a fork as he begins to eat it excitedly.

“you’re right.” Mother says as she grabs a piece for herself and one for Lenna. “we should be celebrating, not crying.”

I watch them as they all eat contently.

A maid brings me a coffee without sugar as I begin to drink it while staring at the wall ahead of me.

‘who would have thought that what I would have to protect would slowly grow.’

The sounds of the forks and sweet laughter fills my ears as I continue to drink while trying to sober myself up from last night.  ‘I have it good, in this life at least.’

“I'm so, so sorry about last night!” mike yells as he bows towards me. “I heard from the driver about what a nuisance I was being.

He looks at my wrist as he pulls it towards him. “did I do this?”

The mark on my wrist is mildly purple but it does not hurt. Not as much as when Lenna marked my arms.

I pull my hand away from his grasp as I sit down while rubbing it from side to side.

“don’t you have anything better to do today besides coming to my house to bother me about something so meaningless.” I sit back as I put an arm on the side of the couch.

“I just- didn’t think I would get so out of hand like that.” He looks at the ground as he sighs while grabbing his head.

“it's fine, I was the one who invited you in the first place. I knew what I was getting into.” I cross my arms as he smiles shyly. “I think you have better things to do though. Tomorrow after all you will be coming to my sister’s celebration ball, won’t you?”

“oh, about that, I have everything prepared.” He rubs his hands together. “do you know what exactly your mother is planning for tomorrow? I heard she invited the royal family to attend. She usually doesn’t do that unless it is official business.”

“she’s going to announce Lenna as the heir to the Artema household.”

“what? So soon?” Mike asks as he looks at me with wide eyes. “she hasn’t even found a marriage partner yet.”

“she needs to marry to continue the blood that’s all, but my sister is perfectly capable of ruling this household without a man at her side. Mother thinks that first, my sister must inherit the house, and then when she gets used to the work, she can begin to look for her cinderella.”

He looks at me bewildered. “cinderalla?”

‘oh yeah, that story doesn’t exist here.’

“never mind.” I sigh as I look at the ceiling while I lean back.

“what are you going to do after you graduate? Are you really going to get married?”

“I guess…”

“seriously?” he asks as he looks around the room. “I just don’t see it. No matter how much I think about it.”

“I might travel, but I haven’t spoken to my mother about that yet. It all depends.”

“the ball tomorrow will be with masks, if you would like to roam around the house, I can provide for you something to wear for the night.” I say as Alec raises an eyebrow.

“well, that bound to be more interesting than to hang around in this boring room.” He smirks as he looks at the ceiling.

“I will have it prepared for you by tomorrow morning.” I say as I walk out of his room while closing the door as slowly as I can. As if I were trying to not awaken a monster from its slumber.

Lily prepares for me a wine-colored long dress that covers my back and is long-sleeved to cover the wolf mark. She prepares a cape that hangs on my left shoulder.

“my lady, you rarely use dresses, so I went all out with the design.” She says as she points at the embroidery.

The embroidery is so well detailed that it has the Artema house symbol and if you look closely you will be able to see a small wolf along the edge of the red cape.

I stare at it in disbelief “it's beautiful.” I say as I touch the embroidery.

“yes, you are.” She whispers as she continues to do my hair.

“I see that you are finally ready.” Lenna says as she runs towards me. Her long white dress uncovers her shoulders as her white cape covers her dress that sits below her shoulders as well making her look like a butterfly as she runs towards me. “you look beautiful today!”

“you look like a butterfly.” I say as she looks back at her dress. “a beautiful butterfly.”

We both smile at each other as Lenna hugs me. “congratulations, father is definitely proud of what you have accomplished.”

“you think so?” she asks as her voice cracks slightly.

“no.”

The memories of how in our previous life the most that Lenna could do was hunt boars for a living while the man who took us in took most of the profits pops up in my head as I smile.

“I know so.”

The sounds of people chattering begin to fill the halls as people begin to gather in the main dance hall where the ball is to be held.

“Today I have an announcement.” Mother says as she stands in front of the hall with her forest green dress on full display. “but before I make any announcements, I will allow all of my guests to make it to the event. She lifts a glass of wine to the sky. “for now, please enjoy yourselves to the music and the food.”

I sit behind a dark overview on the second floor as I watch the guests mingle with each other.

When I finally see Mike enter the ball, I begin to feel a sense of excitement. Today is the day when he will begin to play his part in our mischievous plan that will take the authority away from his parents over himself and his house.

I watch as he smiles at every lady politely and begins to get surrounded by the older generation. At first, they seem intrigued possibly because they want their granddaughters to be given a chance at becoming the duke's wife but they begin to look at him with a troubled expression.

Some women leave as politely as they can while others stay and listen to his words, he continues to speak as he looks at my direction. He continues to talk as he begins to pull in the older men into his conversation and its settled.

‘he's found his allies.’

The people in the ball suddenly grow quiet as they begin to look to the front of the doors and the royal family begins to make its way inside.

A red carpet is extended for them to enter without getting their shoes dirty.

I scoff as I cross my arms.

‘royals, how dramatic.’

The crown prince begins to walk inside as he walks inside by himself and is followed by his parents the king and queen. Behind them enters the princess Nia as she is escorted by a knight of high social standing. She whips out a fake smile as she looks ahead of herself.

My mother welcomes them as she leads them to the seats in front of the room that was specially put in place for the royal family.

“now that all of our guests are here I would like to present to you my daughter Lenna Akuna Artema!” she signals to the stairs and Lenna begins to walk down the stairs as people stare in awe at her beautiful figure. She’s like a small white dove as she climbs down the stairs with her mask made out of white bird feathers.

As everyone stares at Lenna I notice a man leaning against the window at the opposite side of the stairs.

His expression is that of a man who wishes to be anywhere in the world but here. From the clothes that he wears and his mask, I recognize him immediately, Alec Moretti.

‘I didn’t think he would actually come, what a surprise.’

“Lenna here has graduated from the top of her class in the Academy and has received the promise of the sword of knighthood with great pride, tonight I announce my retirement! I will no longer be the head of the Artema household, after today all rights of ownership and authority as the head of this household will go to my daughter Lenna Artema!” she takes a glass of red wine as everyone in the crowd look at her as if she were crazy.

“to celebrate today's happiness! May the skies bring our kingdom prosperity!” she drinks her wine as some of the guests clap and drink their wine with a smile on their faces.

While others do not drink their wine and try to protest my mother’s decision as they stare at her and Lenna with judging eyes.

The music begins again, and people begin to chatter with each other in their own group of friends.

Some talk about the future prosperity of the Artema household while others talk about its downfall.

I finally decide to come out of the dark overview while everyone is preoccupied with what just happened as I begin to climb down the stairs.

I thought that for some reason if I showed up after everything went down that I wouldn’t pull any unnecessary attention, but I was wrong.

As soon as I begin to walk down the stairs everyone turns to look at me, but I stand my ground and ignore their gazes.

Once I'm about to make it down the stairs I see a red curly-haired man that I hate dealing with, walks towards me.

‘f**k no, please don’t.’ I begin to walk faster as I try to run away from him, but the hand of another man shows itself in front of me before Julius makes it to the bottom of the stairs.

Alec stands in front of me with his hand held out “would you do me the honor and have this dance with me, my lady?” he asks, and I internally sigh loudly.

‘thank goodness.’

I take hold of his hand as he helps me down the last couple of stairs.

With a gentle motion, he leads me to the dance floor where dozens of pairs have gathered, and we begin to dance.

“you know when I told you to roam around, I didn’t mean to catch an entire kingdoms attention.”

He smirks as he looks at Julius “and here I thought you needed my help.”

I look away as I try to not sound annoyed. “thank you for that but you really shouldn’t have.”

“oh yeah, because running away from a man would have looked much more elegant than this.” He whispers as he gets close to my ear and I can feel my cheeks redden.

‘how f*****g embarrassing.’