PART II: Traces Left Behind
Back at the Sunrise estate, in the dining hall, the servants circled around the empty seats as they set up the tableware perfectly as they had always practiced.
The head maid instructed each of the servants, pointing out their mistakes in the process. "Careful, Missy, do not drop the glasses today as well. We barely have time to finish preparations as it is; we don't want any extra clean up."
The maid paced by as she held two trays, one in each hand, carrying four empty glasses on each tray.
"I know, miss Annie, I know," Missy replied.
"And you, how many times do I have to tell you the fork is on the left and the knife is on the right of the dish? How incompetent are you to be unable to remember that?" the head maid yelled out.
"I apologize, head maid. I will fix it." The maid reached for the knife, just barely touching it.
"STOP!" the head maid yelled out. Everyone froze in their place, not moving. She walked up to the girl who was correcting the knife and whispered in her ear.
"And how many times have I told you not to touch any silverware with your bare hand?"
"I... I am so sorry, head maid. Please forgive me," the young girl pleaded.
"Go and fetch another set of silverware, and do pack your things tonight and leave silently. Your final pay will be sorted out via a letter." The head maid commanded. As she started to remove the silverware from the table, she muttered, "Incompetent fools."
The young maid cried as she ran to the kitchen to fetch the new set of silverware.
"And you, go tell her grace that dinner is ready," she commanded the butler.
"Understood." The butler bowed before he left the room, walking towards the Countess's room.
On the second floor, in her room, the Countess was lying down on the couch, looking up at the ceiling, and as the sigil of her house—the sun engraved on the ceiling—grew darker with the sun's light fading from the room, it greatly resembled the empire's black sun, causing flashbacks to break their way into her mind.
She shot back up and sat there looking down at the floor, trying to avoid the sun from her memories.
But to no avail—the smell of blood shot up her nose again, the voices of her and others agony filled her ears, and the sight of the black sun high in the sky was unavoidable. Wherever she looked to avoid it, she saw dead bodies and rivers of blood.
She covered her face with her hands, her crimson eyes still visible from between her fingers. As she shook in fear and pain, the familiar coldness of dead people engulfed her body.
A hard knock brought her calmness, stopping her shaking body, followed by the butler's voice. "Your grace, may I come in?"
Her vision came back. She slowly dropped her hands from her face, wiping away her tears in the process. She stood up, collecting herself and fixing her golden dress before allowing him in.
"Come in," she said in a deceivingly calm voice.
"Your grace, dinner is ready. We await your arrival, then we shall call over the family and the guest." The butler did not lift his head at all—he bowed down for formality and respect.
"I will change and be there shortly. Tell the children and the guest to get ready for dinner as well, and provide the guest with formal clothes his size," the Countess commanded as she walked to her wardrobe to pick a fitting dress for dinner.
"Understood, your grace." The butler lifted his head, closed the door, and left.
The moment she heard the door close shut, she sighed, then barely made her way to the couch before her legs gave out and she fell onto it.
She ground her teeth together while muttering to herself. "I will never let them take anyone from me again.
In the guest's chambers Nex laid on the bed, his thoughts were all over the place, the feeling of the Binding Rot reaching for his neck was creeping through his mind.
Images of the Varya's death circled around every important thought in his mind, the thought of his own death followed soon after, as he placed his hand on his neck.
Some forgotten memories broke through his worries, a cold voice, unfamiliar, spoken in unknown tongue, and a single image of Nex waking up in complete darkness, the feeling of coldness from his wet clothes, his breaths coming back to him, that was all that Nex could remember.
And by the time he stopped trying to remember he found himself sweating while breathing heavily, almost as if someone is stopping him by force from remembering what happened after his death, telling him not to cross a line.
"Tazan, Actaeon, please be safe, brothers." He muttered to himself as he faded to sleep, but not to rest, as nightmares of the Binding Rott and his friends and people's death haunted him.
"A harsh knock hit the door as Nex tossed and turned in his sleep. "Your majesty, may I come in, your majesty?"
Nex struggled to hear anything. In his nightmares, Lucy was sitting in her usual seat on the balcony, knitting as she usually did, humming his favorite melody.
"Lucy?" he asked as he ran forward towards her with excitement and happiness in his voice. He yelled out, "LUCY, I am back!"
She stopped knitting. The balcony stretched out, the flowers dried out in an instant, the skies turned darker, the melody became less familiar, and the distance between them grew larger as he ran towards her, but he kept on helplessly running until the distance grew shorter all of a sudden.
She turned around, revealing her hollow eyes, as maggots crawled inside her skull, visible from her eye holes. Black blood ran down from her mouth as she cried out.
"WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?!" Her voice knocked Nex off his feet, and he started to find his footing again while shaking. He looked around to see walls rising around him.
He stayed all the way down at the bottom of the hole, a familiar one—the same one he and the others were stuck inside in the Grand Bazaar Massacre.
Voices of people screaming in anguish started ramping up louder and louder, deafening him from everything else as he covered his ears in pain, and then one singular voice silenced all others.
The voice of Amal crying between her parents' corpses.
The walls disappeared, and a lake of blood covered Nex to his knees as he walked up to the corpses, slowly making his way through all the blood.
And when he leaned forward to rescue Amal again, her dad's arm broke free and held onto his arm with inhuman strength. He looked up at Nex and said, "Why didn't you save us?" The voice was Dante's voice, and slowly the face began transforming to Dante's face as vines crept from his now wide-open mouth.
The same ones that the Binding Rot grew to connect its victims together, reaching Nex's arm and holding tightly onto it. Nex pleaded in despair.
"I... I am sorry! I am sorry! I am sorry I couldn't save you. I am sorry." He grabbed his own sword and cut off his own arm, freeing himself from the grasp of the Binding Rot.
And when he looked down at his arm, there was no blood, just severed. He looked at the ground to look for his hand, and he found it inside Leto's body.
Leto's body was cut open and missing his head as Nex's hand was sticking out of the hole in his stomach.
The blood around Nex disappeared, and tall grass grew in its stead. The sun's light blinded Nex for a second before he was covered with a casted shadow of a tall pole.
He looked up, following the shadow, only to see Actaeon's head atop Andras's banners.
He flinched back, stumbled on something, and landed on his back. He picked himself up with both hands. He looked down to see what he stumbled upon, only to see Tazan's giant figure burnt to a crisp.
The grass grew into trees and bushes as Nex found himself with Amal in his hands.
Amal's crying alerted something hiding behind the trees and bushes.
Growling grew out of some bushes while giant cat eyes revealed themselves from another.
"Shush, shush, Amal, please!" Nex pleaded, but Amal's cries grew louder and louder, echoing in the woods. Nex's heartbeats started knocking on his ribcage louder and louder each passing second.
The growling and eyes stepped closer and closer. The bushes and trees followed them and hid them, and as Nex's heartbeat reached inhuman speed, suddenly it all went quiet as a spear penetrated his heart.
Amal disappeared from his hands, then he heard a whisper from the back of his neck as cold steel touched his throat. "Your father sends his regards." And the cold steel knife slit Nex's throat.
He fell face down on the ground as he watched while Karl held Amal and walked away as she laughed and smiled.
Suddenly, a loud shout broke him free of his nightmares, accompanied by knocks on the door that almost broke it down. "YOUR MAJESTY! ARE YOU THERE, PRINCE SERVUS!"
Nex jumped up from his bed. He held his throat as sweat crept down every inch of his skin. With each breath, Nex grew calmer and calmer, and then he finally responded to the butler.
"Com—" His voice cracked with a cough, then he continued. "Come in."
The butler opened the door and noticed Nex's unusual state, but did not comment on it and bowed his head out of respect instead.
"These clothes belonged to the young master Sang when he was a kid. I hope they fit you, your majesty, and I shall prepare a shower for you."
Nex nodded.
The butler left to prepare the shower, leaving Nex to wonder by himself. "Is... is this what a dream is?" he muttered to himself as he fell back on the bed.
His hands were trembling, his right arm numb. Then he closed his eyes and awaited the butler's call to shower.
In the other corner of the estate, the Countess stood before her chamber door, her newly made white dress pristine and perfect. Her hand hovered over the handle, trembling. She waited, willing it to calm, refusing to let anyone see any crack in her composure when she entered the dining hall.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As screams of innocents and children echoed in her memories, her crimson eyes snapped open, dimming the noise, and she walked out.
She walked through the empty hallways, the sound of her footsteps echoing as the servants had already retired to their quarters.
With each passing room, the chatter from the servants' quarters went quiet as her footsteps went past their doors, and soon the entire estate was silent as she stood in front of the dining hall's doors.
Before she even reached for the door handles, the doors opened inward as the head maid Annie pulled them open for her.
"Welcome, Countess. Dinner is ready. The guest is taking a shower, the young master and young lady are each in their rooms changing their clothes after they just finished showering, and Lord Bronn—"
Annie greeted the Countess with her head bowed, counting out the whereabouts of the entire family.
"Enough. I shall wait for them here." The Countess instantly cut her off.
Annie looked up for a second, meeting the Countess's gaze with her indifferent eyes, then her gaze fell to the hard wooden floors as she responded obediently.
"As you wish, your grace."
The Countess dismissed the head maid as she walked past all the empty seats and sat at the head of the table where her seat belonged.
She sat and awaited in the empty hall as the radiant light of the sun started abandoning the room slowly. She stared at the empty seats and imagined for a second all her children gathered around the dinner table, the sounds of their laughter echoing throughout the halls as the servants smiled, her husband sitting next to her watching over the children as a smile grew on her face.
A past long forgotten now seemed unreachable, unfathomable, impossible to even imagine that those days would return in any way other than a happy memory.
Her gaze slowly followed the growing shadow from beneath her as she remembered why it was impossible for her family to be happy, impossible for them to be human anymore.
She closed her eyes, trying to collect herself from the agonies of the past and think about the present while ignoring the future. Before she opened her eyes, the hall's doors were opened by the head maid again, and she announced:
"Welcome, Master Bronn." The head maid bowed.
"Thank you, darling. You have worked hard." Bronn responded as he walked in slowly, watching the Countess's reaction to his every step.
The Countess's crimson eyes opened and remained indifferent despite her thoughts. She ignored Bronn's gaze and looked solely at the hall's doors, awaiting for them to close again.
Bronn slowly crept forward. With every empty seat he passed, he would hesitate whether to sit or keep moving closer to her, watching her every reaction without saying anything.
She remained indifferent. Bronn reached the seat closest to her, the one she used to sit in back when he was the family's head. He sat down without a reaction from her.
He looked around at the empty seats, smiled a bit, then looked back at her and asked with hesitation, "How... How was your day, dear?"
His sandy eyes reflected her crimson as tears started forming in his eyes.
"Do not... You have no right to address me anymore, Bronn of Sunrise." She calmly dismissed him without raising her voice, without moving an inch from her seat, without even looking at him.
He looked down in shame as the tears fell down his grey beard, and then he wiped them and awaited his children's arrival.
Soon, when the room became fully dark, the head maid Annie lit candles to illuminate the room. She paced from candle to candle while Bronn's gaze remained fixed on the ground, and the Countess flinched with every flame that sparked to life.
After a while, Sang, the youngest child, arrived, and just like before, Annie greeted him by opening the door before he even knocked. "Welcome, young master."
Annie bowed to the future heir of the house, and her gaze did not leave the ground out of respect.
"Thank you, head maid." Sang responded as he nervously met his mother's gaze.
He walked forward and greeted the former head and his father. "Greetings, father." He bowed before him and sat down in front of him and on the left of his mother.
Bronn looked up, smiled briefly, and without even trying to hide his tears from earlier, he coughed then responded, "Welcome, son."
Sang looked at his mother, then, as he noticed her indifference, he sat down and made himself unnoticeable while ignoring his father's gaze.
Sang's gaze was lost in thoughts of what happened earlier that day. The unusual outburst from his mother made him scared and angry, curious and yet too nervous to ask what she and Nex talked about that led to it.
From time to time, he stole glances at her, trying to read her, but was never able to.
And as he built up the courage to ask, he was interrupted by the head maid Annie opening the hall doors yet again.
"Welcome, young lady." Annie didn't fully bow her head but only slightly and briefly to show respect to a noble and nothing more.
The young lady Elizabeth responded, "Thank you, head maid." Elizabeth walked forward without hesitation, and without holding back her thoughts, she immediately yelled out from across the hall before she even reached her seat next to her father.
"What did you speak about with that kid, Mother? And why did you bring him to the barn? I was scared he was gonna catch the plague! That would have been such a cruel waste of time for Doctor Isane and brother Sang. After all, why go through so much trouble to save the young boy just to have him die in such a cruel and tormenting way?"
She walked forward, passing her father, before she went back and whispered in his ear, "I learned that word from the doctor. It means to afflict with great pain, suffering, or anguish. Do you like how I used it, Father?" She smiled.
Bronn whispered back at her playfully after hiding his tears, "Yes, my little angel, you did well to use it." Then he locked eyes with the Countess, and his smile disappeared as his gaze went back to the ground.
Sang watched everything unfold, expecting his mother to be angry, and tried to help his beloved older sister. "Elizabeth, why did it take so long for you to get ready? You made your mother wait."
He tried to change the subject, but the Countess did not let it slide.
"Countess. Address me formally, Sang." The Countess locked eyes with him. The courage he had spent so long building up disappeared completely with a single gaze from her crimson eyes.
"Yes, Countess." Sang responded.
Bronn did not react, as if that was natural. As for Elizabeth, she understood he tried to help her, so she felt bad and tried to return the favor.
"You know, Mother, I have been thinking." She crept closer to her mother.
Sang clenched his fist with anger and frustration as he heard the word "mother" come out from his sister's lips.
"Sang has done amazing this year. He also worked harder than anyone to heal the kid and at the barn, so I was thinking... What if he gets an award for it soon?"
Elizabeth continued as she hovered around her mother's chair playfully.
Bronn answered his daughter, "How lovely of my little angel to be so kind to her younger brother."
Sang's frustration disappeared, his fists loosened as he nervously awaited an answer from his mother.
Silence fell for a few moments before it was broken by the Countess's cold words.
"That... does not concern you, daughter. I will reward him not when he has done his job as the heir, but when he has earned it."
She looked at him as disappointment grew on his face. His gaze finally met hers defiantly at first, but then all of his defiance disappeared with one word from her.
With her inhuman voice, she asked, "Isn't that right, Sang?"
Sang was frustrated, but he knew he had to hide it. As his sister pitied him, he felt lesser, and as his mother used that voice, it was a warning to him not to expect anything motherly from her. And then, across from him, his father's gaze was locked solely on his daughter and wife.
He answered, "Yes... Countess."
Elizabeth's playfulness withered slowly as she walked back to her seat and sat down while stealing glances at Sang. His head was low, his expression somewhere between smiling and crying, his hands trembling as they held each other on the table.
And before Elizabeth could say anything else, the doors opened again. "Welcome, Prince Servus." Annie bowed while formally greeting Prince Nex.
"Thank you, maid." Nex responded before he walked forward, unsure where he should be seated. If he was to sit across from the Countess, he would be isolated. If he was to sit next to the young heir or the former head, he would be disrespected.
Without a word, the Countess sighed, then she stood up and offered her seat to Nex. "Your majesty, this seat is yours, and I shall sit next to him."
She said this as Sang watched angrily. "But Countess, how dare this guy sit at your seat? He is a nobody!" He stood up and slammed his hands on the table with inhuman strength that almost broke the table in half.
"Silence! How dare you question my authority in front of a guest, Sang?" She yelled out.
"I... I apologize, Countess." Sang sat down as he watched the young child take the head seat.
Elizabeth was almost in tears. She couldn't believe her mother would humiliate her brother this far in front of strangers, even if it's a prince.
And Bronn saved his reaction. He couldn't say or react out of fear and guilt.
The Countess sat down between Elizabeth and Bronn and ordered the head maid, "Annie, tell the servants to bring out the food."
"Understood, your grace." Annie responded as she once again opened the doors wide and rang a bell to notify the servants to bring out dinner.
Elizabeth could not hold back her confusion. "Wait, Mother, what about brother Andy? Why are we not waiting for him?" She asked.
"Your brother has returned to his duties early. He headed back with Isvand to the north." The Countess coldly replied.
"But... But I wanted to say goodbye. It's not fair. I haven't seen him in years and he leaves without saying anything." Elizabeth's eyes were holding back a waterfall of tears.
Sang watched Elizabeth's tears slowly slide down her cheeks and muttered, "How pathetic," seeing them as a sign of weakness he was never allowed to show.
Bronn's gaze finally left the ground as it was filled with its former fury. He looked up at Sang and yelled out, "What did you say, boy?!"
He stood up to his feet and then lifted and threw his oak wooden chair across the room at Sang, barely missing him.
"How dare you speak like that to your sister?!" He yelled out again, but to no response.
Sang suppressed himself as he watched the chair fly by him. He knew his father couldn't hurt him, no matter what his father did.
Elizabeth yelped out as she covered her mouth, not believing what she had just witnessed her father do.
Nex watched in utter silence. The strength of the old man surprised him, but it was nothing compared to what he had already witnessed from Sang and his mother.
And as Bronn kept yelling out words that disgraced and dishonored him in the presence of a guest, a single word from the Countess brought him to his knees.
"Sit... down, Bronn." She calmly stated without raising her voice.
Bronn was breathing heavily, his body too old for its former strength. He hadn't picked up a sword in decades, so now even throwing a chair tired him out.
He heard the Countess's words and calmly walked by, grabbed an empty chair, and seated himself as he locked eyes with Sang.
After a moment of silence, a small and shaky voice broke the quiet right before the doors opened again. "How could you?"
Elizabeth spoke out between her cries, "How could you do that, Father? Sang has tried his best to be perfect, and this is how you repay him?"
Bronn broke his gaze from Sang and turned to his daughter with a confused look.
"What are you talking about, angel?" he asked.
"You can't treat your son like that. He is your heir. Even if you can't physically hurt him, it isn't right for you to try to in the first place." She stood up and locked eyes with her father.
"But angel, he called you pathetic. How dare he, the youngest, disrespect you—" Bronn's words were cut short by Elizabeth.
"I AM PATHETIC! I cried because I haven't met Andy in years, and yet Sang hasn't hugged him once in the past decade. And not just Andy, but both of you as well. When was the last time you said a kind word to him? Before you stole the heir title from Andy and threw it on him?"
She asked with pain in her voice as Nex watched quietly, awaiting the Countess's reaction, watching.
Sang was moved by his sister's words. Those were words he had wished he could speak himself, but in his long life, he was taught that those words were words of weakness.
Sang's eyes watered, and as the Countess sat by watching Sang's reaction, she deemed it pointless.
"Enough, Elizabeth... Sit down." The Countess said with a tired expression.
"My angel, please calm down. Sang is the heir. He should be able to handle this much if he wishes to inherit the Sunrise—"
Before Bronn could finish his words, they were cut out by Sang's laughter as he shook uncontrollably while he hid away his tears by looking down.
"And when exactly... did I wish to inherit my brother's birthright, Father? Was it after Mother threw him out, or was it when you almost killed—"
Sang was unable to finish his words as the Countess's inhuman voice stopped him.
"Countess... I will not repeat myself. Address me by my title." The voice was painful to the ears of everyone present, but especially so to Nex and Bronn's human ears.
Nex covered his ears as he begged her in pain, "Please... Countess, stop!"
The Countess finished her words and expected the usual obedience, but Sang had had enough humiliation for one day.
"No, Mother. You gave birth to me the same as my siblings. You have no right to deny me calling you Mother. I shall address you however I like, and if you don't like that, then have Andy inherit this estate again."
He stood up and locked eyes with her. She was shocked. Sang was loyal and dutiful. He had never defied her this openly before.
"Come, brother, let's leave them to enjoy dinner with their guest." Elizabeth said as she wiped away her tears and walked around, holding Sang by his hand and dragging him away.
Just as the servants brought in the food, Sang and Elizabeth went out while crying. Elizabeth ordered the head maid, "Take our food to my room." Elizabeth stormed past the servants, who bowed their heads in obedience.
"Understood, young lady." Annie responded as she gave the signal to the servants to obey the order, then continued bringing in the food to Nex and the Countess.
"Wait, my angel!" Bronn ran out behind Elizabeth, crying out for her to calm down while ignoring Sang's blood tears that trailed behind them.
The Countess looked at them, then sighed as she covered her face in shame. Then she looked away from Nex and let out a small laugh, then soon followed a single tear, and soon after her words to Nex as the servants placed the food in front of them.
"What a horrible mother I must be for my children to despise me so much. What do you think, young prince? Do you think I should hug my heir and make him weak, or build him up to protect himself and the family? What would your mother have done, prince?"
She asked with pain in her voice masked with her usual calmness.
"I... I do not know, Countess... I never met my mother."
Nex answered without hesitation. He didn't miss his mother. After all, how could he miss a person he had never met?
"Well, I am sure she would be proud of you, prince. After all, you have already survived death twice at your young age."
She finally looked at him, and her calm demeanor had already completely hidden away her sadness.
Nex looked confused for a second. He had forgotten his own scar.
She pointed at his neck. "How did you survive that, young prince?"
Nex hesitated as memories of the knife slitting his throat came back to him. He changed the subject. "I... That is a long story, Countess. But Countess, why haven't you touched your food yet?"
He asked. She realized his intentions and went along with it.
"We don't eat. Well, not me and my children anyways. Even now, when she said to bring food to her room, that was just an act in front of you, to make us feel... normal." She answered.
"Well... we should have our talk now. I would prefer we talk about the future now rather than indulge in this formality any longer."
Nex answered back as he pushed away his plate without touching any of his food.
The Countess regained her composure. She stood tall and ordered, "Follow me to my chambers, prince."
Nex stood up and followed her shortly as Annie and the servants bowed and awaited for them to leave the room.
Then, slowly after, Annie looked at the table and sighed before she ordered the servants around one last time for today.
"Bring the food back to the kitchen and clean everything up, then head to sleep. We have more work tomorrow."