Chapter 2
1228 Words
After hearing a commotion, Ann and I faced the window and saw mother in deranged clothing carrying a bottle yelling at a maid father is hiding.
"Misera, are you out of your mind!?" My father asked mother enraged.
"I'M. OUT. OF. MY. MIND!?
I must punish a wretch who dare crosses me." Mother yelled in her drunken outfit.
"Emilia has nothing to do with this!" He said, pointed out a maid amd ordered them to escort Emilia, the maid he made an affair with.
"You, the one standing over there! Escort Emilia to her quarters."
"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!" She yelled as she throws her half empty bottle of wine to the ground.
"And someone, please take her back to her room..." He said with frowned brows.
Mother's maids then held and took her assist to her chamber.
"What's going on here?"
I asked upon arriving.
"Your mother tried to drown one of our maids. Luckily, I happen to pass by and saw her. If I hadn't stopped her, Emilia would have died."
Father said, then sighed in disappointment.
Emilia?...
I see...
"Well, I must be off to my classes. I wouldn't want to make my teachers wait any longer."
After saying that, we both bid a good day and farewells.
Ann keeps glancing my way during our walk towards the study hall.
"Ann, is something the matter?"
...
"... Ah! Nothing, milady."
She says that, but looking at her expression, she must've been worried about me again.
Well, as I have said, I don't really feel any longing towards both of them.
I wanted to tell her that, but she would probably feel even more worried, so I kept it to myself.
After my classes, I once again saw my brother standing at the exact spot he was yesterday.
Looking over from his position, it seems like a bird left a chick on its nest.
He must've been worried that it might fall.
"Is the bird coming back?"
I asked.
"... Ah, sister." Startled
"The bird?... Oh, no, I'm afraid not.
I seem to have killed its mother while practicing the arrows."
"I see... Then are you going to kill it too?" I asked.
The space fell silent.
"Killing it would be too much, I guess?" He smiled in hesitation.
...
"Pfft, I was joking about killing it. No need to look so nervous.
If you're not going to kill it, then would you keep it?
Leaving a small chick unattended is like feeding its predators by hand."
I looked at him while he stares at the chick with pity.
As we stand there in silence, a breeze gently caressed his hair.
He really does resemble mother...
His silky black hair and his sapphire like eyes resemble her all too well. Unlike my deep black hair and red eyes that seem to resemble, not the rubies, but filthy blood...
...
"You seem to be busy, so I would have to leave first."
He nodded in reply, so I left and went to the greenhouse.
It seems like Ann had already prepared the tea.
Seeing my brother made me recall mother. The expression mother had back then looked pitiful.
Even someone as beautiful as mother can become so ugly.
I can already guess what happened.
It seems like the maid father had an affair yesterday was one of his lovers.
Though this is quite unusual. He normally wouldn't upset mother just for his lover.
"Young mistress..." A maid came.
?... She is one of mother's maids, correct?
"What is it?"
"Madam wants you to visit her chamber room tonight."
"I see...
You may go now."
The maid gestured and left as I continue to drink my tea.
I already expected this since mother did seem very enraged.
"Will you be alright, milady?
You've been working hard today, she also just called for you yesterday, so if milady is tired, I can refuse her and take your place."
...
I placed my cup on the table.
"Did you think you, a mere maid, not even one of her own, can dare reject her?"
Ann's face glooms.
"Don't be stupid.
I am capable enough to do at least everything in my schedule with ease, so assuming someone is tired when the person himself hasn't told you anything is the same as telling him his not competent enough to finish a simple task.
Besides, this is a family matter. Even if you are my maid, you're still an outsider, and outsiders don't have any right to intrude."
I took the teacup and sips tea.
"I know you're just worried about me...
But remember, you are only a maid of low nobility. Talking back against someone of higher rank than yours is stupidity or just plain suicide."
That's right...
This is the first rule in surviving the noble society...
Ann then cries.
"What? Why are you sobbing?
You realize crying doesn't work on most nobles, including me, don't you?"
"Sobs... Sobs...
IT'S BECAUSE...
Sniffles...
Milady is scolding me because she's worried about me!
I'm so happy!
Sobs... Sniffles..."
"Uh!... What are you saying?
Isn't it... Normal for me to wo... worry about you?...
You're my maid so, of course I'd be forced to take full responsibility on you."
"Wails, sobs....
MILADY!
.·'¯'(>▂<)'¯'·.
Uuuuuhhhh... (Crying sounds)
Sniffles..."
"Wipe your tears, I can't have my maid looking like this."
My tea time ended in Ann's crying.
It is now nighttime. Mother's maid then escorted me to mother's chambers.
*Knocking on the door.
"Mother, you called?"
Wrecked drapes... broken glass...
This scene doesn't surprise me anymore.
Everything is the same... except the bottles of liquor have multiplied and...
A side of mother more beautiful than anything else I've ever seen...
Beside the window dressed in her white nightgown, she stood holding a bottle of wine half empty.
She shifted her gaze towards me and smiled.
"My daughter..."
She muttered before she fell on the ground unconscious.
Mother's maid waiting by the door, after hearing a thud, aside from the usual shattering sounds of liquor bottles, peeked out of concern and saw mother collapsed on the floor dripping wet with wine from her bottle.
Her maid called for help and rushed to mother's side. Moments later an aid of people, along with the family's doctor, took her to another room for immediate check up.
Everyone looked panicked.
Didn't they see mother in her most beautiful side?
Hair unkempt that still shines like silk under the blue moonlight shade... Skin as pale as snow... Clothes wrecked like art... And, mother's delicate face with eyes as dead as the night, gazing the moon....
Such incomparable beauty...
After that incident, mother was restricted to consume liquor and was bedridden for days. I greet her every once in a while, her complexion has changed, but she's still as lovely as I remember.
Her empty eyes that seem to lure me every time I meet it gives me shivers down my spine.
Like a splendidly sculptured doll with porcelain skin... So meek yet beautiful.
Even after receiving the news about mother's illness, Father didn't even visit once.
I also have not heard anything about the maid father had an affair with.
Weeks have passed, mother's condition seems to be worsening.
Then unexpected news shocked everyone in the manor.
To be continued...
- Writer
