Her body lay on the ground, still. Her consciousness slipped, and a high fever took over. Due to the situation at the underground dungeon, her body had overexerted itself to keep her alive.
As she lay, the sight was hard to look at. The silver parts of her tied hair was dyed red, with dried blood flaking at the edges. She looked more like a dead corpse now, as if her wish had been fulfilled.
Emily looked down, at where she was now laying lifeless on the ground, where she had sprayed her blood just yesterday. Then at her own hands, which had been holding her just two days ago like she were holding her own, birthed child. Her eyes were stained with the nightmares of almost losing Aefia multiple times.
She non-hesitantly crouched down and flipped her over, until Aefia's head rested on top of her lap. Her fingers tucked her arms and legs in, while placing her head on her shoulder with care. She was aware of her brutal punishment in the dungoen.
It was because one of the few jealous servants had went over and smacked her head so bad against the wall, the force itself rattled her teeth and had her spine nearly dislocated.
"Poor girl... Does it hurt because you keep thinking of yourself as a disgrace to your parents... Just because you have failed to do something?" She whispered while tucking a stray lock of hair behind Aefia's ear. "I can say that your parents would be proud of you if you managed to make it back alive while surviving all of this... Because if they don't, they are not worth being your parents..."
George frowned at his mother.
What's the point? Weren't you the same? Besides... What kind of twisted affection of a mother is this?
"If you are scared of Lewis and Henry knowing about this... Why aren't you quiting? For them?" She continued speaking, not giving a mind to the fact that she was unconscious and that the guards had ears sharp enough to listen into what she was whispering.
"Or is sacrificing your life to save the others so important you forgot you had other siblings? ... They were asking about you this morning. And I couldn't say anything or they would suspect many things."
Her eyes landed directly into her bleeding forehead. The wound was open, and seeped blood everytime a movement or a tug was felt at the skin. The wound was so deep that the greyish colour of her skull could be seen if the skin was opened a little bit more. It was absolutely hard to believe that a simple double smack against the wall could do this much damage.
Her eyes, diverted to her hands, served as a witness of the harsh reality in the dungeon's. The missing finger digit and the deep cut at her pinky finger was too clean to be a gunshot.
That sight alone, served as a breaking point to her insanity and she immediately turned towards George hoarding the kneeling group of guards. The dagger at his hands pressed into his skin in anger and anticipation.
"Do you still have no clue of who chopped a digit of her finger off? And that without consulting my permission first? You know the price for drawing Imperial blood... Or do you need to be taught about it again?"
"No. I don't need to be taught again. In fact... I was going to ask if you were going to get a physician come over to treat her or you were going to treat her yourself. I don't even know if I should get my mind into this matter after what she had told me while coming here." George answered back while grabbing another one by the hair and hoisting it up. "I don't think she wants anyone of use to intervene with her matters anymore."
"What did she say that makes you think she has finalized her decisions?" Emily asked back while adjusting the weight at her lap into a comfortable position. She noticed the slight hesitation and hurt at his face, and understood the situation instantly. Her eyes fell onto the pale face of the girl at her lap.
"She said she didn't need me to take care of her anymore." He answered back after a short while, with his fingers trembling against the weight at his hand. "Which I think she actually deserves to understand what the reality of life is. I don't want to judge her opinion at this point."
The duchess let out a sigh. "She will say a lot of things when she is mad. And as far as I have heard, her parents grew her expecting perfection. So of course when she has failed an unavoidably easy task as death, she would feel frustrated and as if she has disrespected her parents." She answered back while looking towards the guards.
George tightened his grip on the guards head in anger.
"For once though... Were you any different?" He asked while gritting his teeth. "You always punished her the harsh way if she ever failed to move with your instructions. So why are you suddenly so bonded to her as if you would die if she ever died. Like she is the oxygen that is currently filling your lungs.
"You know for one thing, mother? I think she would have been better off without a mother like you. At least in my opinion, if you can't raise a daughter and give her the happiness she deserves, then don't try to raise her. Leave her to someone who can actually take care of her."
"..."
Emily looked with hurt at her own eldest son. She had never truly understood in her life, that she had crossed such big lines and ended up regretting it.
"You are wise of saying that..." She added with a sigh. But the next second–
"However, I don't think anyone would ever give up trying to change themselves. Aefia is still young and I can still look after her. Give her a life that is meaningful and joyous. But I don't think she can do so if someone in particular tried to snap off her finger."
Her glare landed on one of the guards. Pointing out the culprit.
"I wasn't in this! They forced me into it because they wanted me to enjoy her sufferings!" He shouted in return, while trying to scram away. At the end, he was a little too late to avoid the blade. A sickening snap echoed against the room's walls, followed by a thud and then the scent of blood. The remaining flinched at the sight and slumped deeper down in pure fright.
"I am not sparing anyone today..." George added while wiping his blade with a handkerchief. "Of course, they mocked my orders. So they deserve punishments."
Without waiting a second longer, he went ahead and turned the floor bloodsoaked.
The duchess looked with a satisfaction as the guards got killed, then shifting her gaze to the girl at her lap, who didn't get to see the rest of it. "Is that all of your enemies?" She whispered while tracing her pale face with her knuckle. A smile settled onto her face until she vividly recalled the last scene she had seen and heard before the poison took over.
"Oh wait! There are maids and attendants left!" She shouted at George's direction while keeping a concern faced now that no one else was seeing or hearing. "You need to exterminate them!" She continued while cradling Aefia's head at her shoulder and trying to stand up.
"Before that. You need to get a physician to check her up. Just to make sure she didn't catch any sort of infections. The cell she was in was drowning in mold and she had a fever that is barely showing with her bloodless face. And right after that, she needs to be quarantined to contain her failing mind." He answered back immediately while walking towards the doors.
"Because if she isn't the one alive... Who would you be sacrificing for then? Whose enemies would you be trying to kill if the person herself isn't even alive at that point?" He asked while passing their place, stealing a quick glance at Aefia's face before leaving the room. "I will go and get him. It would be a safer option to get the physician who takes care of you. While you are present to guard, so that he doesn't seem to be rivals with her too."
The room fell silent with his departure, not even the faint, difficult breathing sounds coming from Aefia's lungs, were enough to kill the silence. The duchess looked from the door to the girl at her lap, again. For some reasons, despite knowing that it was the same person who betrayed her the very next day with poison, she still felt like it was a mother's duty to take care of a lost child.
"I don't know your biological parents or I have never met them... But they are unlucky now that you are gone... I know that for sure. It is a huge cost that they have lost you... They should be guilty." She spoke in a whispering tone. "And if they don't feel guilty, they are not good parents and need to be immediately executed. I don't want to know about them anymore. But if I were to ever have given birth to a daughter like you, I won't even give a care to your brothers."
"But also... Why is the contract still causing you a misunderstanding?" She asked into the void of the room.
"Because I don't care about it anymore... And I have removed more than eighty percent of the rules from there."
***
Aefia's room doors swung open about a week later. While she was seated at her sofa, with clean clothes and bandages holding her skin in place, from turning her into a living ghost completely. She was bored, while she watched the few servants take away more then half of her library. The books that she had glued back, thrown in a fit of rage, tore it with frustration... They were all being taken away because of her safety and so she couldn't research her death anymore.
Unlike any other times, it was the first time she had woken up within three days of falling unconscious. It was mostly luck to anyone at her place, facing a depleting health and no magic. She watched the last pile of her books get taken away, then diverted her attention back to her fingers, where she was using a needle to scratch her knuckles and drawing blood. The scent of it being the only thing keeping her sane and from killing herself.
I hate everyone. Why do they have to give a care to the world that I live in?! Like go mind your own business you low class servants! She shouted into her mind as she watched one move in front of her, completely ignoring the fact that she needed more attention and eyes from allowing her to do anything else. But the attention they were giving her instead, were scoffs and side eyes.
Look her acting all rich and noble. They really have no skills on communication... Do they? Make them go back to school instead!
Suddenly, the cushion dipped beside her, as George sat right next to her on the sofa. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but had been hesitating the entire time. He was supervising them while they cleared her library, so they couldn't lay a hand on her.
He noticed the way she was scratching her skin, and the way she had gone all silent within one week. Despite the injuries she had faced, she was a healthy teenager within days. If anything, it seemed like she had magic a little more visibly.
He reached out a hand to pat her head, but pulled back at the last moment. Then, he opened his mouth while keeping a calm expression.
"Look Aefia... I know that in your age, death seems appealing... But I don't see it interesting when you lose the major oppurtunities in your life."
He spoke while keeping his voice within a level like the duchess had said. "And I am truly sorry for whatever I may have done or said the last week." He added while glancing her way, but she didn't break her gaze or lift her head from her work.
Instead, she stood up and moved away from the sofa he was sitting on. Her steps lifted towards her bed without a second thought, her deep green coat fluttering behind her. She didn't look up, and she didn't say anything. The only response he got was her distance. It really made him realize by then that she had removed her name from their family... Mentally. He realized that the distance was that she didn't want to be the sister to a brother who was the reason she had broken another one of her biological parents' rules.
"You need to be fast and perfect in whatever you do! No expections and definitely no excuses!"
The words echoed into her mind as she continued working on her knuckles. "It wasn't my fault that I failed to die... It was theirs'." She whispered to herself while setting down the needle at her fingers and looking up. Her gaze sharp and frustrated. "Do you always have to put me under huge supervision... I can't get a single second or even a minute alone..." She asked him, with her eyes burning with fury accumulated through the past one week.
He turned shocked. She may have spoken to him, but the only thing she said was also sharp and filled with hatred. He wanted to speak or even protest, maybe scold. But he had to keep his voice low like what the duchess had told him. He stood up, but didn't move any more steps, as if waiting for orders.
She turned more maddened.
"Did I ask you to stay stood like that? Get out! And I prefer that no one enters for the rest of the day... I don't need food either." Her voice echoed with a coldness in it.
The gaze she would give on a battlefield, was the same gaze she was giving him right now. And she didn't move back or feel any regret as she watched George leave with a hurt expression. However, her personality had changed completely within the past one week.