The following fifteen days were fully just filled with recovery and complete silence over the entire palace. Aefia felt her steps onto the palace tiles as her gaze stayed locked at the repetivive black and white, until the only thing she knew was the two colours. The heavy bandages at her neck had caused her movements absolute trouble while it was lasted.
Finally, she reached her room, now fully restored and filled with a heavy lavendar scent. "Oh... You look tired..." Brittany spoke while standing near the dressing table with a comb at her hand. Although the real human was dead, she was able to create an illusion of her, who could do the things she asked for and talk back with the same personality as the real servant.
"I am... I am actually drained..." She replied while flashing a smile, which felt like walking out of a colourless area and turning into a room filled with sunshines and rainbows. Her steps turned lighter as she ran over with her arms spread open. As she reached the illusion, she tried to wrap her arms around the body, which just snapped into thin air particles as soon as she touched it.
Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground with her palms impacting the ground with a heavy thud. "Don't be silly... Illusions can't hug back... Try again another time..." Brittany spoke while placing a hand on top of her head. "And if you are going to be the heir to the throne... Don't be delusional like your mom."
"She isn't my mother!" Her fingers tightened against the carpet as she started to tear up with the words. "She didn't have mercy when she took you away... She is just a crazy woman! I don't want to be her stupid heir! I don't want to stay in this dumb empire! It's sucking at my happiness! ... Every day..."
Her voice turned hoarse while her hands flew to her face.
"Stupid girl... If they hear you... They will kill you. Don't call this empire dumb... Although it is." The illusion replied while kneeling down beside her to pat her back. "Now get up... You might have your brothers visiting you any time sooner..." She replied with a smile that felt unbreakable.
Suddenly, Aefia turned normal as if it was just an act she had out up. "Brittany... Go get me a glass of water."
"I can't... I am not a human anymore... And your magic energy is at its lowest. I need to go if I want you to be alive and healthy..." The servant added while fading away.
"You all are just... Negligent."
Aefia muttered to herself while standing up and heading out of the door. Her throat was completely dried out, and it threatened to take away her speech next. So the best she could do was to run out and get it herself. However, her feet caught on something and she stumbled on the way.
"No running in the hallway! How many times do I need to tell you?!" George shouted as he grabbed onto her shoulders in time to keep her face from colliding with the ground.
Just when, she seemed to have found a solid source to speak to in days. "Help me get out of this palace!" She shouted into his arms as her voice turned dried and came out muffled against his tight, trembling grasp. "I don't want to stay here another day! I don't want to see her face again! I hate her!"
Her elder brother seemed shocked as he involuntarily dropped the documents at his left hand and brought it to hold the back of her head. "Did she do something again?" He asked while stroking her hair. "I just don't want to see her face! She killed Brittany over a trivial matter! I don't want to lose anything else! She has made me as delusional as she is! I just don't want to lose my sanity again!"
"Do you want to go anywhere in specific?"
"I don't know! I just don't want to stay here anymore!" She replied while clenching his coat with her fingernails growling with the tension. "It feels too lonely and like the air itself is tearing at me! It is painful every second! I want to really run away!"
At this point, he was left speechless while he stared down at the sister who seemed to be crying for the first time in front of him. It may have even been the first time she had finally opened up about her situation. But the only thing was, it would be impossible to move her away from the duchess's grip. The fact itself was that she said she wanted to leave, what worried him the most about this part was that she actually meant permanently. For the asylum, it was possible because it was only for a month, and it was still the beginning of her time at the palace.
"Look... I don't know what I am supposed to do about this..." He spoke while running his fingers through her hair in a comforting gesture. "I need you to hold on a little longer until I have finally figured it out. I think I need to first find out how to get you out, then I will help you run away. How about that? I also need to work while staying out of the duchess's eye sight, as well as keeping you out of it too."
But just as he had finished, a new set of steps echoed against the hall, with a familiar, regal click and clack against the tiles. The sound that caused Aefia to go rigid as a new found fear collapsed over her face, almost blurring her vision. Her eyes were sent wide as she stared at the ground beside her and clenching the coat tighter, while her knuckles turned white, and her nails starting to bleed from the edges, against the friction of the fabric. George's hands stopped abruptly as he observed her tremble just by the sound of her footsteps, so he covered her eyes and ears for the time being.
Their mother stared from the entry of her room, while glancing their way with a specific type of stare which contrasted between pure and genuine guilt, and jealousy surfacing onto her complexion. She didn't say anything or didn't make a sound as she looked directly at the way her 'daughter' was clenching onto her brother's embrace with a protective gesture and the tear stained face which she was trying to cover up with the coat.
I wish... I was the one she was crying about her situation to... But I guess my truth didn't eventually reach her ears that day...
With that thought in mind, she walked inside while locking the door behind her, as if trying to isolate herself from the reality she created. What am I trying to protect? She isn't my pawn anymore... Let her rest...
Her eyes jolted to the ceiling as she slid down the door with a single motion and started ripping at the carpet surrounding her feet. Then, her gaze dropped to the place the dead body of Brittany had fallen and where her daughter had bled out that day, just because of her simple mistake.
"What was I thinking?!" She quietly shouted to herself as she staggered up and walked towards the desk and sliding her hands at the place her daughter's blood had spilled that day.
"I am such a stupid mother! What was wrong with me?!" Her hands instinctly flew towards her hair, and clamped onto the roots. Her vision turned a wave of blue and red, before slowly inverting back to their original colours. The memory of the day flashed back of life, exactly how the blood had spilled onto the floor.
The sounds, the dead bodies and the wounds on a new dead body. They all came to her vision at once.
To her eyes, Aefia was laying unconscious on the table this time, only now was she dead.
The blood that fell from her wounds moved towards her feet, as if it were a sea wave. She couldn't do anything then to stand in the centre of the room and keep watching with widened eyes.
Out of a sudden, a familiar hand came to rest on her shoulders.
"What is it Emily? Did I manage to prove to you that you are nothing without me?" Her mother's voice came into her eyes. A woman with purple eyes and fiery red eyes.
The duchess immediately turned around. "What does it have to do with you and who I adopt and what I do with it?"
"Oh? So it is my granddaughter?" The woman walked towards Aefia's dead body. "She was very pretty... But why did you kill her?"
"I didn't! It was an accident!" She glared while watching as the mother lift Aefia's head to rest on her shoulder.
"An accident?" The woman smiled. "Well I guess now I can take away my granddaughter for an interrogation in the afterlife. and I will come back again to question you of your doings."
"She isn't dead! So don't even think–"
"She will die... Soon. And when she does, even you won't be able to watch her die." The woman spoke while dissapearing. Finally, the entire room went back to normal, and the duchess felt as if she needed to go check on something immediately.
***
The food on her table stayed intact as she fumbled with the fork at her grasp, thinking with heavy intensity as she heard the others softly hit their cutleries against the plate.
"Aefia... Why are you sitting at Henry's place?" The duchess spoke while leaning forward and clasping her hands behind her. She had been in that position for a long time, with the same expressionless face as her daughter's. The words from her mother stayed in her mind, circulating.
"I thought it might cause you a bit trouble... Empress." Aefia coldly replied while keeping her eyes stuck at the food on her plate, as she set down the silverware back on the table with a clutter. A ripple of silence went through the entire dining hall in a single motion as the servants' hands shivered with a type of fear they had never faced in a long time.
"If it is a problem... I will move further away." She responded, as she stood up and moved her chair further from the table and sat back down.
"No... If you separate yourself further... I will slit your throat." The woman replied as she placed both her hands flat on the table while trying to be strict, but failing every second.
"But my throat is already slit..." Aefia replied back while keeping her eyes stuck at her plate.
The duchess's eyes turned widened as she leaned forward to try and reach the girl from her distance. "Stop... Saying that..." Her eyes turned tear jerking as her teeth gritted due to guilt.
"You ought to change seats back." She continued while fixing her shadowed gaze against the tablecloth.
"No Empress... Do I not have the freedom to choose where I get to seat?" Aefia replied while pulling her hands down to from the table.
On the either sides of the table, the brothers stared back and forth and acted as if they were not listening. "You do have freedom... And you... Must..." The woman tried to speak as she lost her words midway as she felt her eyes turn blurry with tears.
"I must remain as a pawn... And not break the rules of acting as if having a close bonds with any of the family members." Aefia continued as she finally lifted her eyes to face the woman. "Isn't that a rule on the contract... Which, if broken, I will be punished..."
"The contract isn't valid anymore!" The woman stood up from the main seat while slamming her palms flat on the table. "I don't want to bind you to the rules of the contract anymore! You are simply free to be with the rest of us!"
"Then if I am free from my rules... I want to leave this empire and get a new identity..."
"No! Don't speak nonsense! You are not going anywhere! You will certainly not get a new identity! You just stay the Imperial Princess who is the heir to the throne!"
"Do I have a crown... To keep me binded to the throne?" She asked, glaring, while tilting her head sideways to meet the woman's gaze which was shaking.
"Do you want one?!" The duchess asked while frantically searching her 'daughter's' face for a clue of what she really wants in order to keep her at the palace and within the borders of the empire.
"..." Aefia breathed out heavily as she turned her head back to her plate. "Now that you mention it... A crown would bind me even more tightly... So I down want one..."
She replied after a short moment as she too stood up from her seat, keeping the plate on the table completely untouched. "And I most certainly am not hungry... I would like to head over to my room to take a short nap." Her gaze travelled across the table in a request of confirmation.
"Fine... I can't force your life and recovery." The duchess replied while standing straighter against the table.
"Thank you... Empress..." Aefia bowed while walking towards the hallway without a glance back as she felt eyes staring at her retrieving back.
Puppet... I think... I am finally free... She spoke into her mind as her eyes darted to the ceiling.
"Giirrl~... You went a little too far... You are isolating yourself... And trying to cause problems leading to your execution." Her elemental animal replied while trialing her steps.
Back at the dining table, the duchess had her eyes blurred to the point the girl retrieved. "I am not hungry either." She made a last command while walking away to the other side, which led to the garden at the back of the palace. The sudden shift in atmosphere had George glancing back and forth between the two plates of untouched food and two confused brothers.
Finally, he stood up too, and placed a hand on Lewis's shoulder. "Go pack your bag... And Henry's. Just enough for a week long vacation." He responded while immediately retrieving towards his room. Quickly, they finished their foods and rushed to their respective rooms with a hint of what is about to happen next.