᯽⊱❈═ E T H E L ═❈⊰᯽
Footsteps could be heard by the tinkling of the armor, the heavy breaths, the drops that fell in that space.
It was high, even falling from a feather there would be.
"Why am I here?... " Ethel began to wonder when tightening her long platinum hair "it wasn’t me... would not even be..." he continued to murmur as he held the waters that wanted to fall from his eyes.
She tried to review all the things that made her reach that moment, from her childhood to her marriage, her sale.
"I can’t love you, I’ll never be able to love you," the platinum clearly remembered, remembered the intonation, the wide sapphire eyes, the way that man’s body had moved to throw that in her face.
The same man who said he fell in love at first sight, the same man who had bright eyes and a gentle smile and a sweet voice; now he said he would not love her.
Was she some kind of joke to him? Was there anything she had done wrong? Had that passion dissipated as its ashes would be in the wind? Was that it?...
"No, it was all just a theater for him..." tried to convince himself by closing his fists "staging, pure cheap staging!" continued, and so clenched his teeth with considerable force.
However, she soon found herself in that place, the place that held her with bars and handcuffs, the one who treated her like a wild animal that did not deserve to have human interaction, see the sunlight.
But it wasn’t like I already had something better, not after your parents died when I was only seven years old in that unfortunate accident; maybe that was it, didn’t deserve to be treated well, didn’t deserve something like happiness and the cosmos or whatever existed above it, I wanted to make that clear.
She was treated like nothing disposable by her grandmother, just when she was alone, being soon thrown in a place to be trained, to be able to rebuild that duchy that could no longer stand on her own.
It’s a bargaining chip.
Yeah, a bargaining chip, that was his job.
And when it finally proved its worth as such, there it was, that Archduke who possessed a grayish blonde, light clothes with only a dark blue as his eyes giving color to that set, like a fairy tale prince charming.
Lying.
Like any children’s tale, that was a lie.
Not after you proposed to your supposed husband, not when he showed you how cold he could be, just because she said she loved him.
Without rest, on both sides, she could not obtain such a thing, such a privilege; in her old house she was reminded every time how useless it was, how she could not do something easy and obvious how to be seen as the archduchess, but how could she? When not even her husband saw her like this, when not even he recognized her as such and always brought a more beautiful and slender face into his home... How was it so obvious? How was it so easy? How did everyone get it? Why did everyone get it and not her? Was it really...as incompetent as your matriarch was keen to make clear?...
Probably, that was the case, after hearing so much the same thing, his head could not think of another justification for the distance that occurred in their marriage to be so wide.
So she tried harder, tidied up more, helped in all matters she could, attended all meetings in which she was allowed and even turned a blind eye to all the lovers who were brought.
However, of course it did not help, that is not how things work..., of course that is not how they work.
"I’m hungry..." once dared to tell her matriarch when she returned to her former residence, searching for a north "My stomach hurts..." continued with a certain whining, which earned her a slap on her face, one that made her go to the ground.
"Hungry? Do you think you’re allowed to starve? When you don’t even get in that dress?"
His grandmother said with some anger, anger that made vessels visible on his already wrinkled face.
And meanwhile, Ethel felt something strong in her stomach, a blow that tore tears from her eyes, but at that moment she did not know if it was the pain, humiliation or just the fatigue that was abundant to her for some time.
"You can’t even conceive an heir! A BLOODY HEIR!"
Her grandmother began to scream, and she felt more and more blows being thrown at her body.
Everything was only reinforced at that time, how hard to love it was, how incompetent as a woman it was how...sinful it was.
Yeah, he didn’t really deserve love.
He couldn’t have earned it.
But even so, he kept trying, trying and trying until it seemed that his efforts were bearing fruit.
He began to smile more toward her, to dine with her, to talk to her, to be mildly kind to her again.
"Did he... start loving me?" He cannot help but think, to have even the slightest hope in his breast, a brief, tiny spark of happiness cannot be prevented from rising up in his being.
Until you had your son.
Son that was torn from his arms when he was born, son who did not have time to cry and be placed in his chest..., son who was replaced by a cold and contemptuous sapphire look.
That’s it, now you got what you wanted.
She was no longer useful.
He had given an heir.
That’s where it ended.
Hung up.
He no longer had his senses, he no longer wanted to live, he no longer had glitter in his purple eyes like amethysts.
Now he was walking, walking like a walking corpse, walking like a dying man waiting for the sweet waltz he would have with death, with the gentle touch she would give him when Ethel was in his arms.
But no, I couldn’t die so easily, could I?
No, of course not.
He had a moment when he had just woken up, awake next to a dead body and strangled next to a deep cut in the marked throat.
What do you mean? She didn’t do that, did she? There’s no way, there’s no way...
But it was too late, they picked her up and soon brought her to the cell that was now, a cell that was moldy and clearly carried the heavy air of all the cries and screams that those walls had to witness.
However, perhaps this would be the first time they would be able to see such a level of despair.
The one about suicide.
"Can I at least..., decide how..." arched her lips weakly by taking a dagger that was hidden in her leg, one that had been a gift from her father before leaving her "father, mother...I will meet you again..." she said, and shortly after, that silver blade made his stomach his sheath, one that was crimson and gushed like a river.
And a silver glow in the distance, was the last thing he saw
•♱•♱• •♱•♱•
᯽⊱❈═ E T H E L ═❈⊰᯽A humming, that’s what I could hear in the background almost distant, one that belonged to a sweet and cozy voice, one that was nostalgic to him.The voice of your mother."Um..." the platinum end up grunting as she scratches her eyes "mom..., what are you doing here?" He couldn’t help but ask, but then he noticed; his hands were now small again, and his voice thin as when he was a child.Child? A... child?"What do you mean what am I doing here, silly?" His mother did not avoid laughing when answering, thus bringing one of his hands to his mouth "I came to stay with my little daughter, what else would I be doing here?" soon further messed up the hairs that were now short of Ethel.Now his purple eyes were confused, he was lost, he was wondering a thousand and one things inside his now small, pale head.Had she died? And if not, why did she come back? How did she come back? Who made her come back? With what method did she come back? Would that have any side effects
᯽⊱❈═ A U D R A ═❈⊰᯽Eyes as dark as the night that now surrounded him, black hair and a pale skin that was the complete opposite of what normally belonged to him.A disguise.A crude one.Well, but it wasn't as if the dragon needed more, not as if anyone would notice it was him, not with that little intellect that all those guards seemed to possess."Did you hear? They said she went crazy and killed the archduke's favorite mistress" one of the guards approached the one next to him "the cause was strangulation, and then a deep cut to the throat…" the man's gaze dropped, as if they were now feeling sorry for the poor soul they had never even met."Yes, everyone was talking about how the body was found, it was something horrible to see" the other added "she really must have succumbed to madness as they said, but it's not surprising" he leaned forward a little more, thus putting his hand in front of his mouth, like a true gossip woman of high society "it was common knowledge that she didn
᯽⊱❈═ K Y R E E ═❈⊰᯽Guilt.Guilt.Guilt.Guilt.Blame.Blame.Blame.His blame.Only his, no one else's, yours, and there would be no taking the weight off of him, the one that was crushing her bones with each passing day.She was dead, she was dead inside a body that still kept walking, the bright eyes, those purple ones that you admired so much from afar, that you loved so much and selfishly wanted to keep for yourself.They were dull.Dull.Imbecile!It was going on in his head, next to his fingers that were practically pulling the blond strands that he was so attached to before, that he was so proud of before.What good was it? What good did it all do?A descendant of the heavens? The title he had inherited from the Archduke? All the power and beauty that anyone could ever wish to have?What was the use?What was the problem?What was wrong with him?Everything."I ended her life." his eyes allowed the tears to well up, so that they came out in a shaky, choked tone "everything tha
᯽⊱❈═ A U D R A ═❈⊰᯽He would take that cold body in his arms, the one that was now lifeless and unresponsive, the one that now had a blade stuck in it with blood flowing as profusely as it did in a waterfall.He would bring her back.He stood up with her on his lap, and walked to the outside of the cell, where Kyree was staring at him with those deep eyes."Why are you still here?" the dragon asked in a cold, cutting way, with an arched lip that matched his "I thought you didn't care" he turned his now silver eyes to Ethel, eyes that now carried melancholy and regret."I had to be sure you wouldn't make a joke when you left," he said as he fixed his sapphire gaze on the corpse, "did you kill her?" he seemed to try to keep his tone unchanged, but clearly failed when he sounded embarrassed and frightened."Why do you care?" the silver eyes stared at him "do you want to pretend that she matters now?" he spoke trying to contain the scream he wanted to give, the anger he wanted to throw at
᯽⊱❈═ E T H E L ═❈⊰᯽At the festival, this was where she was, this place she found herself, in this call full of noise, people, and colors too vivid for her eyes to keep up with.'I don't know where to look…' she thought as she closed her eyes briefly, trying to make them not hurt, trying to get a direction of where she was, where she was taken."Ready...whoa...? - She looked around, looked everywhere possible but couldn't find it.No sign of those brown hairs that looked like honey when the sun was shining; no sign of those platinum hairs like hers.She was lost."We didn't even get to the festival properly." she realized while searching, while trying to see hair as white as the petals of a lily "how can I lose such white hair?" she asked herself, a question that was recurrent even in her early life, since it didn't enter her head how she could not find her father, not with such an extravagant color on his head."Miss...?" a child with black skin, burgundy hair and silver eyes asked a
᯽⊱❈═ A U D R A ═❈⊰᯽He had seen her again, had met those violet eyes he had seen lifeless, had seen that white hair without being stained with a viscous, icy crimson.He just saw her, being a child and simply... living."This... makes me happy," his forearm covered his eyes, eyes that could no longer stand the light coming into them, "I hope you're not an idiot like the first time," he smiled at the thought, wondering if she could ever reach that level again, if she would ever fall in love with that unhappy celestial.No, she couldn't.He hoped something would confirm that she was smarter than he expected."She has her memories, there's no way…" the silver-eyed man found himself answering his own questioning "only if he really thought he could change something, and this... clearly isn't the case" his voice was getting lower, worried "there's no way to change something like that, he's an imbecile of a Maverick" his teeth clenched, clenched, clen
᯽⊱❈═ E T H E L ═❈⊰᯽· · • • • One month later • • • · ·Papers, papers and more papers. That's what she had in her hands at that moment, the ones she had picked up while her father was not in his office."Let's see, who could it be?"She concentrated while reading in the middle of that garden full of flowers, the fragrance was spreading everywhere because of the wind that now messed up her hair and made it difficult to read."For the… I nee-...A leaf ended up flying through the air and a slight panic filled her. She couldn't lose that leaf, she shouldn't even have that leaf to begin with.But in the midst of this, red hair was seen next to a black garment that accompanied the hand that took the document. It was the boy who had helped her at the festival."...What are you doing here?" he seemed to really question as he looked into those silver eyes."Your father sa
᯽⊱❈═ A U D R A ═❈⊰᯽He kept looking at his options, what would be the culprits?Obviously, if they took out the damn archduke and the damn curse that went with it, maybe even that wouldn't be necessary in a way, maybe a culprit wouldn't even show up before that thing they called Kyree sprouted and fell in love with her...but it was good not to remedy, he didn't want to make any mistakes this time."Suspects..., suspects..., suspects…" he started mumbling to himself.Nobles? But what nobles? That family was barely involved in anything, you barely heard Verena's name in the gossip wheels, they were practically erased in this matter, and only stand out in a way by their title..., so something from within would be more likely?"On her mother's part? No, what would be the motive? It's a distant place and they're a family of priests, plus the place goes well...from her father? Who is left? That old woman with the sour face?"He took the artifact and ac