YEAR 1698
By now, within the Duchy, it was very uncommon to see a little girl who used to be named Elizabeth, now Elira, scrambling around like a girl should have been doing at 5 years old. No, but there was one place you could almost always find the girl.
Past the hall of shadows, up the twisted staircase, skimming by the paintings of previous dukes, there was a small, drafty space at the far end of the second floor. The window was barred, the bed frame thin and iron. The only decoration was a cracked mirror.
A thin little girl stood on the bed, trying to climb onto the windowsill to witness a boy and his father. They were training, practicing swordsmanship.
[I need to eat if I want to go see Father...]
The girl climbed off the bed, going over to an untouched plate of an ugly grayish-brown stew.
She sat down on the cold wooden floor, picking up the steel spoon and dipping it into the stew.
She swirled it around a couple of times, watching what she thought was a vegetable or piece of meat dunk up and down.
[Ew... What is this? It's ok, Elira... just eat it...]
Elira shoved a spoonful of whatever was in front of her into her mouth, gagging almost immediately, but managing to push it down.
[You're almost done, Elira...]
She took another spoonful.
[Almost done...]
She was not almost done. After several more spoonfuls of the questionable stew and lots of gagging and regurgitating, Elira managed to finally finish it.
[I'm going to throw up... but Father won't like that... I can't.]
Elira now had a gleam on her face as she knocked on the door. No Response. She knocked once more. No Response.
Truth be told, Elira could not reach the door handle. The servants knew this. Otherwise, a lock would have been placed on the door. Elira has always needed to knock on the door to be let out.
She quickly ran to the windowsill, seeing her brother now on the floor, panting.
[No! They're going to finish soon! I need to get out now!]
Elira, with every ounce of strength in her body, managed to climb onto her bed and jump off, grabbing the door handle as he hung in the air.
She carefully managed to twist the door and push off the wall, swinging the door open as she smacked into the wall with the door.
She dropped down from the door, running out into the hallway, checking to make sure there weren't any servants. She stumbled down the stairs, trying to open the door to the yard.
[I can't reach it! I can't! No! Please! I wanna see Father!]
As Elira jumped up to try and grab the handle, the door swung open, knocking her back several inches as her nose began to bleed.
[O-ow... It's okay... this doesn't hurt as much as Mara's beatings...]
However, as Elira looked up, she could only be paralyzed in fearful excitement.
"Father... I... I ate my food! I was a good gi-"
Smack!
Elira pressed her hand against her cheek. It burned harder than any beating she had ever received before. Tears welled up in her eyes.
"Fa-" She tried to start once more.
Smack!
"Shut up. Wretched Child. MARA! TAKE THIS DEMON OUT OF MY SIGHT!"
[Ow... Ow... Why does this hurt so much... I can't breathe... Something is stuck in my throat... I don't want Mara to take me... I'm sorry for being a bad girl...]
A seemingly old lady in her forties, hair streaked with gray and tied tightly into a severe bun, approached Elira.
"I'm so sorry, Duke! I don't know how she got out!"
"Install a lock on the door. Or else the next time she escapes, there won't be any escape for you either."
The weathered skin on Mara's hands roughly picked up Elira, holding her only by a single arm as she took her to the basement. Mara bore deep lines around her mouth and eyes from years of scowling. Her eyes were small, sharp, dark, and constantly assessing. Her lips were contorted into grotesque folds.
"No! Please! I don't want to go into the dark room! Please! Please, Miss Mara!"
"How dare you speak after murdering the Duchess, Demon. If you don't shut up right this instant, I will kill you like I should have done the moment the Duchess died."
The little girl in her arms quieted down instantly, and only the stifling of her sniffles could be heard.
[I don't want to die...]