~Ophilia ~✧*.
"Duchess Seraphine, Your Grace looks exactly like you," one of her personal maids said warmly, watching the little girl play.
"She's very gentle and clever."
[I look at my mom, sitting elegantly in her chair.]
She chuckled softly. Her dark brown hair, long and curling, drifted gently in the breeze. Crystal blue eyes shimmering. Skin so smooth and fair it seemed to glow. She took one quiet sip of her tea before stepping toward Ophlia, who was running freely through the garden.
"My, my... of course she does. I'm her mother, after all," she said, smiling warmly.
She laughed softly, then reached out her hands. Slowly, she lifted Ophlia onto her lap and walked toward her flower garden.
The garden was beautiful that day. The air smelled like something warm and alive. Especially because Ophlia was there, with her mother, the person she loved most in the world.
Her mother introduced each flower one by one. But Ophla noticed something. One flower hadn't been mentioned. It looked different from all the others. Black mixed with red Blood....
She frowned slightly.
"Mom, that flower looks dead," she called out proudly, pointing toward the flower sitting right in the middle of the garden.
She waited, fully expecting her mother to praise her for noticing.
But the moment those words left her mouth.... her mother's expression changed.
Completely.
Her eyes went wide. Her body went still, frozen, staring at the flower. Sweat began to form on her face.
All around them, the maids suddenly became frantic, rushing for water, moving quickly as if something was about to happen.
Ophla looked around in confusion, then back at her mother.
She wanted to ask. But....
Her mother's lips moved. Whispering something Ophla couldn't understand.
"Mom," she whispered softly, still watching her.
She reached up slowly and wiped the sweat from her mother's face.
Her mother startled, as if she had just come back to reality.
Her eyes were glistening, but she smiled warmly at Ophla anyway. Her hand gently stroked Ophla's head.
"I'm sorry, baby," she said. Over and over again.
Ophla had grown used to hearing those words. Her mother said. [I'm sorry]. often, even when Ophla had done nothing wrong. She always knew something was making her mother sad. Something she couldn't see.
"Mom, are you okay?" she asked, watching the expressions around her shift, faces going quiet and heavy, yet still smiling, as if everyone was hiding something from her.
Her mother wiped her own eyes and tucked Ophla's hair back gently. She smiled, the way she always did.
"Don't worry. You will always be my baby," she said. Her eyes were clearly holding something back.
Ophla nodded and smiled.
"Ophilia ,you are like a flower in my life. Every time I look at you, you give my life colour and light," she said softly, her warm smile steady and calm. Her crystal blue eyes shone so brightly in that moment.
She leaned her forehead gently against Ophla's.
"My baby. We will always try our best to support you. Even if the whole world turns away from us, we will always be with you," she said, laughing softly with happiness.
Both of them smiled.
From a distance, Duke Herold had been watching them, and feeling completely left out. He broke into a run toward them.
"Look who's been excluded!!" he said, pouting dramatically.
They laughed.
"Dad, you're so slow!!" Ophla teased, watching her father look genuinely wounded.
"It's okay, Dad, come here!!" she said brightly, waving both hands toward him.
"Mom, Dad... I love you so much," Ophla said, even though she didn't fully understand what her mother had meant just moments ago.
Her mother startled at those words. Then both of them wrapped their arms around her at the same time, warm, and full, and real. And kissed her on the forehead.
That was the last time Ophla felt truly warm.
Because after that, something happened.
___________
Her mother fell ill.
Healers came from everywhere. But the sickness was strange and rare unlike anything anyone had seen. And slowly, Ophla found herself seeing her parents less and less.
"Excuse me... when will Mother come?" she said quietly, standing in front of her parents' tightly closed door.
The maid's expression shifted, uneasy, sad.
"I'm sorry, Your Grace. Not yet. Let's go back," she said, guiding Ophla away.
But deep down, Ophla already knew. Something wasn't right.
_____________
Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. And still .. the door stayed closed.
Then one day, the maid came back.
"Your Grace ... your mother would like to see you," she said, her face tired and sad all at once.
The whole walk there, Ophla studied every expression she passed. The Aethelgard estate felt darker than it used to. Heavier.
"What happened to my mother?" Ophla asked, walking straight ahead, smiling as if nothing was wrong.
The maid said nothing. Only shook her head.
Ophla smiled. But inside, she was deeply, quietly disappointed.
---
When they finally arrived at her mother's room ....just as her hand reached for the doorknob .....she heard something.
Something she probably wasn't meant to hear.
"She saw it, didn't she?" An familiar voice from inside. Rough. Irritated.
"That's exactly why I told you not to have that child." The man's voice rose slightly.
"Your life will be the price."
Someone was crying.
Ophla went still.
What flower? What child?
She froze.
Then .... the doorknob turned from inside.
Ophla stepped back quickly. The door opened.
An old man stepped out. Brown hair. Eyes the same shade of blue as her mother's. He looked straight at her.... sharp and unblinking. He walked past her without a single word.
It's granpa!...
She lowered her head to not look at his face
Then he stopped.
"The flower you saw in the garden ," he said, his voice low and serious.
"Was it black?"
Ophla, without looking up, nodded slowly.
Hmph!!!
A short sound of disgust. Then he was gone.
Ophla stood there alone, head down, not understanding what she had done to make that man so angry and disappointed.
_________________________
She stepped inside.
Her mother's room was dark. Dim. Cold. She looked around, hardly believing it ... the room that had always been so bright was now covered in long heavy curtains that swallowed all the light.
On the bed, someone lay completely still.
Beside that person sat her father ....Duke Herold, head bowed, holding the woman's fingers. Crying without stopping.
The maid spoke softly.
"Your Grace, she is here."
Duke Herold lifted his head. His eyes were red and swollen, as if he had been crying for days without rest. He stood slowly, wiped his face, and called to her in a voice that had gone hoarse.
"Oh..,come here," he said, smiling the way he always did.
Ophla walked toward him, her eyes never leaving the woman lying on the bed.
"...Dad," she said quietly.
Her father closed his eyes and shook his head slowly.
"My darling. I'm so sorry. You're too young to have to feel something like this," he said, pulling her into his arms.
"All of this was my mistake."
He paused. Then, holding the woman's hand gently.
"Do you want to see your mom... for the last time?"
"What are you talking about, Dad," Ophla said, trembling. That sentence somehow shattered something inside her chest.
"Your mom... is right in front of your eyes," he said. His expression was helpless. Lost.
Ophla thought he was joking. But, His eyes didn't look like joking eyes.
Her smile disappeared.
She turned slowly.
She looked at the woman's face.
Barely recognisable.
"...That's Mom?" she whispered, her voice rough and small. Her whole body felt numb. She couldn't move. No tears came. Only empty, hollow eyes.
She not heard anything, all she can see is the woman infront of her, that she called it Mom...
'ff
______________________
Time passed.
Before she knew it, her mother's funeral was right in front of her.
Ophla didn't cry at all.
The smell of damp soil filled the air. Voices surrounded her, but they sounded so far away. Like she was no longer part of that world.
The world remained silent to her.
Until...
A drop. Something warm slid down her cheek.
She froze.
"...huh?"
Another one followed. And another.
"Why..."
Her hands trembled as she touched her own face.
"Why am I crying...?"