"I am starting to wonder if someone needs to get a bodyguard to keep you alive the next time honestly." Merissa spoke as she walked towards her with the first aid she has gotten from the group of teachers who had witnessed her walk towards them with a dead body. Luckily for her, no one could suspect that she had committed a murder since no piece of concrete evidences could say she had laid a single touch on the now dead Stephany.
"It's not my fault she had gotten herself killed by her own trap." Aefia coldly replied while looking straight without a single flick of expression at her face, her eyes stayed glued towards the group of students who were being questioned. "And in the meantime... You might want to consider packing up."
The naive girl's hands shook a little as she wiped away the blood stains from Aefia's face first. While thanks to her 'orphan' status, she managed to not get the attention the other members of the pink gang were getting. They were literally being bandaged up by the teachers while she was put to the far corner, away from the crowds. In any universe... I will always hate 'pick-me's.
"Your brother is worried about your condition. But he can't get to your place due to the heavy crowd and his friends barricading him." The girl replied while setting down the cloth and pulling out a band-aid to put at the side of her face for the time being.
"I don't care about his concern."
With the reply coming out in the most cold possible way, caused Merissa to get goosebumps as she replayed her friend's words into the deep cores of her mind.
"What is up with you Aefia?" She finally found the courage to speak as she clenched the blood-covered cloth and started wiping her neck next.
A toxic smile settled on her face as she sat cross-legged and placed her chin against her palm. "I am busy... Watching those pick-me group of girls try to get attention... Where I could have gotten them MIA if I wanted. Like just how I was about to chop Stephany's meat up and feed it to the dogs. At the end of the day... I do have a regret with all these situations."
"And what is it?"
"That I couldn't kill my enemy with my own hands." She spoke while seeming zoned out as her head tilted to the side, despite the pain at her throat almost killing her. "I hate them... I hate them cause I didn't get to kill them. My thirst for blood is definetly infinite at this point." Her eyes narrowed down as she caught the sight of one of the girls who seemed to be bragging about being the least hurt, where she was the one who was attacked by the most weakest bear out of them all.
Seeing her cold and sinister gaze, the girl turned silent and immediately looked away while slowly whispering something into the other members of the pink gangs' ears. Just when they started speaking again, Aefia stood up slowly as if to stretch her arms in the air. "Let's go... I have a feeling they are trying to grab the attention to us next... In a bad way of course." She added while folding the kit and heading towards their tent.
With a single glance at the crowd, she seemed to notice what her bloodied friend had just spoken about. Without hesitating another second, she got up and chased behind her. I can already see why she is one of the most strongest members of the Imperial family. And why all knowing nobles are joyous and fears her future rule...
Inside their tent, she caught sight of her bloodied fingers typing onto her blood-covered screen. "You were texting while you were bleeding. How do you do all that? And still survive at the end do the day?" Merissa asked while sitting beside her and putting things back inside her bag in a quick manner as Aefia had ordered her. "Because... My coming into this world was destined for my death... Which I am basically trying to escape from right now." She replied while looking up.
'Stephany's body is with the teachers now. You might want to inform the Count about his youngest daughter's death. He is the only parent and the father at the end of the day. Maybe even inform the two other of her sisters.'
Leaving the last message, she shut off her screen and used the cloth to clean her phone. "You are guilty about having her dead." The orange-haired girl asked while looking at her friend with the side of her eyes. "No, I am not guilty. I feel bad for the family honestly. That their sibling or daughter accidentally killed herself in the impact. I wonder how they would react..." She spoke while grabbing out an alcohol pad from the box and tearing it open to do a final clean of her screen.
For some reasons, the word 'daughter' impacted her mind roughly as a headache went through her mind, as her fingers scrubbed the same part of the screen back and forth again and again, in a frustruating and repetitive motion. Ms. Avry... The competition... The participants... Nada... Earth...
She gritted her teeth while pressing her fingers even harder. Words flowed into her mind one after the other, ones she was trying to forget for a while to enjoy her life for a bit... Mr. Elephant... The Guardian of Silence... Torture Cell... Dungeons... Mother... Father... Nikoan... Confidential... Leaflet... Brother...
Out of the depth of her mind, the name of her own biological brother popped into her mind.
Rage took over her mind as she slammed her phone to the ground while her mind blanked out for a while. But when she came back, her breathe felt too shallow and sweat settling against her forehead as she propped forward with her palm leveling her up from plummeting face-forward onto the surface of the tent.
"Stop! Just give me a break! That's all I need!"
Her eyes came watery as she looked down at herself on the reflection of her dark screen.
"Aefia? You... alright?" Merissa spoke with a concern while glancing at her friend, who seemed to be frustrated over her thoughts. She stayed glancing at the screen, with drops of water falling onto the surface. Is that what I have become?! This fragile?! I don't remember being this breakable before... What have I turned myself into?!
Shutting her eyes for a while and tilting her head all the way back, she replied with a smile at her friend. "Yeah I am alright." Using a sleeve to wipe her eyes, she glanced at the interior of the tent. "Anyways... Hurry up, we need to get going in a few moments." With that, her fingers returned to scrubbing the blood off her phone screen as Merissa finished packing and continued her role as a nurse.
I have never seen her this fragile before... Her internal monologue continued scanning through her mind as she placed the bandage onto her wound as a final cover and grabbed onto her bag. By the time she was outside, Aefia sat on the grass with her fingers hovering over her screen, watching funny cat videos, but her face didn't show signs of humor.
Maybe she has come to realize how she really needs a proper break from life.
***
"You seemed upset since last night." Lewis spoke while standing beside her, while they both stood between the crowd of people who were watching the funeral for Stephany. "I am starting to wonder if you are feeling regretful about this. Simply put, they did push you out of view despite seeing your injuries which were much serious then the scratches the rest of her friends had suffered."
"..." Aefia looked down at the ground in front of her while breathing out heavily. "And who are you to think that? Simply put, I was the one who told them I wanted to be out of this for a while." Her cold reply hung in the air as she pulled her top hat down on her face a little further.
"I didn't really care about my injuries... The only thing I fell concerned about is how her father or her siblings would react to this. Which... I am still having a hard time processing despite seeing them tearing up on their dead family member."
Her dark eyes looked up and into the scene of the eldest daughter crying over her sister's tombstone with her head bowed over it. Despite the rainy weather, she didn't care for an umbrella. To think, she was said to have broken down like this for the second time recounting after their mother's death.
"If I could have saved her, I would have been able to ease their burden." Her silence finally broke while she stepped back from the crowd and was headed towards the other graves behind them.
"Where are you going?" Lewis finally asked while staring at their sister's head as she removed the hat from her head. It was strange how she had allowed her handmaid to tie her hair in a lose side bun for a day like this, and how she was said to have been acting weird since the time Merissa had been trying to treat her wound.
"I feel like I need to visit someone before I come back to have a last glance at Stephany's grave."
She added while dissapearing into the row of other graves. "Alright then... Be quick." But as a brother, this was the most he could say for now. In the distance, he could see her orange-haired friend already leaving with her brother, so there was no point in asking her anymore.
Letting George know about this will be absolutely useless right now, because then he would say it's common for girls to grieve over a dead body. But the honest truth here would be that she wouldn't be upset over her enemy's death, if anything... The only time he had seen her seem upset was after her relative happened to die due to the Guardian of Silence. But that too only lasted a few minutes before she eventually settled in to start plotting a revenge over the Guardian who killed her relative.
But maybe I should try to talk about this to her? Or have Henry try to bring out what is wrong with her mind. He thought to himself while narrowing his eyes at the sickled Count watching from the distance. She was still merciful at the end of the day to allow him to see his dead daughter's grave. I wonder if she is trying to plan a new attack for the Count's family. I don't know, but I can just tell by this sudden shift in mood for her.
***
Her steps came to a stop in front of a very well-known grave to her now.
"It's been some time... Ms. Avry..."
She spoke while crouching down in front of the grave and her fingers brushing against the stone of the grave. "And a lot has happened ever since honestly." She spoke while pulling out a stray blood-stained edelweiss out of her inventory.
Placing it onto the surface, she pulled her hat back on her head, with the brim covering half her face. "Firstly... I haven't managed to get my hands onto the few tasks you had assigned me. But I wish to pursue them soon. I will try to get back along with Nada and the others as soon as possible, but I just have a single work left to do, I need to get rid of this Guardian of Silence who has gone silent for a long time now... And it's exhausting already."
She leaned onto the tombstone a little more, with her head settling against it. "But what is more exhausting is how I can't seem to get out of this cursed fate I am carrying out with me. I want to go back home... But I am stuck here until I have solved my problems. Maybe if you were still alive, I would have gotten you to solve my problems along with me. But looks like sometimes humans need to push their own boundaries to find answers to things they have brought on themselves."
Her voice dropped to a chilling, almost silent whisper as her eyes seemed to drag down on themselves due to her tiredness. "I honestly want to get rid of all this and enjoy a single day in my life before I lose the chance forever. Even if I go back home... I would be trapped or grounded for the rest of my life... Which would be a better option honestly..." She trailed off while her eyelids seemed to turn heavier.
"Hmmm... Sounds like a sad life indeed."
Suddenly, a feminine voice echoed from behind her as she raised her head immediately, causing all sleep to disintegrate at once. Her head turned to look at the familiar bottle blonde hair of her school bully. But only this time, the woman was a lot taller and more deadly then the other two. "Sometimes you need to withstand the harsh environments of life to become a stronger person." The woman continued.
She was the second daughter of the Count, and she seemed to have followed her here due to something about her expression that might have triggered a warning into her mind. "I know this is a little too late to say this... But I know that you have strong connections to the Imperial family. And I also know you are the same person the duchess is taking a huge advantage of... Which is why I am here to talk to you about, if you can afford the time."
"Well, I guess I have the time then. Not like comforting my dead bully's sister would be any worse." Aefia stood up while dusting her black knee-length coat. The woman frowned, but still smiled.
"I know my father had done some really bad things to this empire, and I know you are the one who is having to deal with it too. So I tried to investigate why the duchess was having you work so hard into his matter and to try and execute him. The truth is... She might be planning a much deeper psychological trap for you in the future, which you won't see coming." The girl continued with a serious face.
"You might... Want to start leaning your trust away from that family. They are the ones turning you into a psycho... And you know you can prove it by now."
The words echoed into Aefia's ears with a pitch that turned into a static shortly afterwards. Her eyes widened with shock and terror, but she could honestly prove that the family was indeed trying to turn her into a psycho.