Assassin approached Diadra with the Shigan activated. He looked at the walls as if searching for something and after realizing there was nothing there, he whispered, "Too late..."
If everyone remembered the events of the Castle of Separation, they would keep in mind that Assassin can see and interact with souls. The servant just wanted to make sure that he could talk to Diadra's soul to discover the culprit of this obvious murder and not have to get into trouble again. To his bad luck, the woman's soul was no longer on the scene.
"Gray, call whoever it is."
Gray nodded at Reines' request and left the room. After that, Reines approached the bed covering her mouth with her hand.
"Who do you think could have done it?"
Toru closed his eyes and crossed his arms. It was normal for her to ask him this. He had solved the Separation Castle case alone, so somehow she hoped he could do something about it. Before answering, Assassin shook his head.
"I don't know. This time I have no suspects, evidence or clues to lead me to anything. She was cut into pieces with some sharp object. The cuts are clean, so it's a weapon or magic capable of cutting bones without difficulty. I wanted to see if the soul was still here, but I see it's gone. I think you should know this by now, but, Lady, I think-"
"Yes. I know. We'll be the prime suspects."
***
The voices of the magus echoed in the four walls. One after another, searching for a solution to this predicament. It has been only a few minutes since Reines discovered the tragedy, but in that small span of time many things had happened. The first thing was seeing two strange guys on the scene. One of them was someone hailing from the Faculty of Curses, Mick Grajile, to be more precise. The second guy was a magical clothing seamstress. His name is Islo Sebunan, who seems to lament more the fact that Diadra's clothes are torn to shreds rather than Diadra herself.
Maio is also here, almost on the verge of vomiting after seeing the torn body. Those who arrived together with Maio were Stella, Byron Valueleta and Aozaki Touko. They all understood the situation on the table.
Assassin stood close to Reines as did Gray. Touko suddenly figured out the situation, saying that something like Trimmau could very well enter the sealed room with magic and assassinate Diadra by using her shapeshifting to turn any part of her body into a sharp weapon. Certainly everything points to Reines being the prime suspect.
Byron asked why Reines was meeting Diadra. Helplessly, she explained what happened the night before and everyone in the place understood a little more of the situation.
"Room hermetically sealed from the inside. No way in except with the permission of the victim herself. Lady Reines found the body. She was the last person to speak to the Golden Princess. Not a very favorable situation for you, don't you think?", Assassin looked expressionless as always, but Gray was sure that at this moment the gears in this servant's mind were turning. If there wasn't a solution in this room, there might be one with others involved in the case.
"Yeah... This isn't the best situation. Anyway, what we have to do should be clear by now. For the honor of the El-Melloi family, I'll take it upon myself to find the culprit of this."
Touko laughed at Reines' proposal. Although being the prime suspect, there was no way the others could just let her wander around the towers just like that. Reines had to be watched closely and, for that, that old lady, Lord Valueleta, appeared. She offered to take care and watch over Reines while everything is moving forward.
Everyone seemed to be in agreement. There was nothing more to discuss. Staying arguing was not going to solve anything.
-???-
Sinking into the blood for posterity, closing her eyes so as not to see the misfortune. There were many things on her mind for this moment, but the confusion of the situation made her think she could do nothing. She continued to sink, feeling pain throughout her body, with tears that didn't belong to her streaming down her face.
"This is horrible", she said, her voice cracking. What she had just seen was horrible. "I don't understand, why show me this?"
Still without an answer, she curled into the blood and thought. Before she could even calm down, the scene changed.
It was a lonely afternoon sometime in 2010. It had been a little over a year since that night. Alek Gusev was walking the halls of the mansion, now almost seven years old, wearing a brown short-sleeved shirt with blue shorts. On his arms and legs he wore bandages that covered the signs of mistreatment he received every day. Although the bandages made him look like a sad, wounded child who had just escaped from the hospital, he had a gentle smile on his face.
It's been a long time since it all started... and since that night, everything only got worse.
Sometimes Alek often cries sitting at his desk while studying. Sometimes he can't calm the pain he has suffered and inevitably lets out some tears of sadness. He always cries where no one can hear him, where no one can reach him. He doesn't want to be seen that way. That's why he always keeps his gentle smile while he is in front of others. As long as he keeps doing the same, someday all things will change. Someday he will be able to smile for real.
Before he knew it he had reached that room where, two years ago, he saw his mother drinking and smoking. There was that dusty old piano.
Alek had never seen anyone use it. It was like an abandoned relic in the bowels of the mansion. He knew more or less how a piano should be played. If no one was going to use it, why not play some melody? It was sad to see this instrument abandoned with no one who could make it useful. So, without much thought, he climbed into the chair and opened the compartment to see the keys. Once he did, a large layer of dust rose up, which made him cough.
"How old is this, will it be in tune?"
There was no way of knowing, but he still put his fingers on the keys. He closed his eyes remembering some notes he found in the books and slowly lowered his fingers. The distinctive sound of the piano resonated accordingly. Thus he began to follow one note after another, forming a beautiful melody that not many could play the first time they used a piano. Alek was the exception. Talent flows through his veins. He is the best of the best and will grow up to become more than an ordinary man.
He did not know this as a child. This suffering was part of his story. There was no mistake about it. That 'writer' is the one who took it upon himself to create him with this life, with this personality, with these painful emotions.
While the notes resounded harmoniously, outside the world seemed to glow. And Sakura, who was only a spectator of this story, felt tears falling down her face. Although it seemed like only a few minutes had passed, this child's life was beginning to pass before this girl's eyes. Always with the most ridiculous excuses and sometimes for no reason at all, Biserka would beat Alek in ways that horrified Sakura.
The boy's screams.
The tears shed.
The blood staining the clothes.
And the pain of that stupid meaningless life.
"That's not fair...", she whispered. She knew no one would hear her. Not even Alek. Still, the melody echoing from the piano made it seem like this story wasn't something sad. That soft gentle smile Alek was wearing as he enjoyed playing the piano. The boy moved his head, his whole body to the sound of every note that resonated.
Although it was brief, at that moment Alek was feeling something that he would slowly forget. The feeling that he would lose and that would turn him into a monster.
'Just another memory', she thought, before the scene would change in front of her eyes.
Alek had turned eight years old, a birthday present? Of course, a spanking from his mother. There was nothing more for him than that. This time, Biserka beat Alek in front of the maids. It was as brutal as ever, so much so that Alek could barely move after being beaten like that.
Frederica could no longer bear to see how little Alek's smile was fading the more the days went by. How the hope in his eyes was being replaced by the gray shade of depression. She didn't want to stand by and do nothing. She raised that child together with her coworkers. To the maids, Alek was as important as if he were a son to them. However, even if they wanted to do something, they could not. Messing with the Gusev family is like diving headlong into a pit full of acid.
No one could do anything for him....
"I've thought of something", Alek said. The maids looked at him intently. It was one of those strange days when nothing happened, an occasion so strange it didn't seem real. "From now on... I want you to stop coming near me..."
The maids had the same reaction as Frederica. All in silence, just to obey their master's orders. No one had the right to refuse. This was the job of each one of them. After that, Alek walked away from the dining room, leaving the maids in silence.
What Alek really wanted to do was to drive everyone away. He felt that if he continued to be treated so kindly by those people, he would break down in front of them at some point. He didn't want that. To think about how everyone would change in order to make him happy. At least for him...
"That's not fair..."
He didn't realize he needed help. He was only thinking of the welfare of others. His mother's, his father's and the employees of this mansion. Even though he was being beaten in horrible ways. Even though his mind and soul were constantly being damaged, he was still thinking of others more than himself. For him there was no such thing as a happy place if others were not happy.
'If others are happy, I will be happy', was the thought that was to doom him forever. It didn't matter if he had to sacrifice himself... for him... "I just need to get used to this... If I get used to this life, I'll be able to make everyone smile by my side."
How much pain was he going to hold back until then? How many tears was he going to shed until that dream came true? How many times would he have to be beaten by that drunken woman to even get close to what he wanted most? None of that has an answer. It's all just a child's dream that's breaking. So that's all it would be until the end.
"When is this going to end", Sakura didn't want to watch anymore. This child was a fool. He was an idiot among idiots. Despite being very smart, he didn't realize that he was only hurting himself.
She could see him crying. She had to witness Alek's horrible treatment of that woman. That was no life. It was just a horrible hell painted with roses and bright dreams.
"It was always strange...", but among all that, there was something Sakura was also aware of. "How can Alek heal so fast?"
The wounds Biserka gives Alek always usually heal in two or three days. The lighter wounds don't usually leave scars, though the deeper ones leave scars that can never be erased. That was too strange. No ordinary person would heal that fast. In all this, there was something too strange. But does it matter? Here a child is suffering, and someone finally decided to do something.
Maybe it was because Frederica always healed Alek's wounds whenever she could, and somehow felt the boy's pain. To see how he hid all that sadness and cried alone in the dark. She was never going to tell him, but she saw him cry many times.
On one of those occasions, Frederica got tired of just watching. After finding Alek hiding among a fort made of books, crying and repeating the same questions over and over again.
Why do you hate me?
What did I do?
What should I do?
It hurts me so much... it hurts me too much. Why do you always hit me?
I ask you for forgiveness and you never forgive me....
Tell me something... tell me what I did wrong... please...
Frederica contacted the police. They arrived soon after to investigate, and when they spoke to Biserka, they left the mansion without a word.
From Alek's point of view, just the day after the police asked him some questions, Frederica was dismissed from the mansion and was never ever heard from again.
'I wonder if we all have some kind of destiny that we can't break...', for Sakura it was normal to think about that. If a person's destiny is suffering, what's the point of even continuing to live? If fate is the one who writes history, then no one has freedom. Everyone would be a slave to fate.
In that case, history was already decided. There was nothing anyone could do. And if this is a story of the past, what will Alek Gusev's present be like?
-An hour later-
It was an exhaustive search for clues throughout the room. Trimmau gathered the cut pieces of Diadra's corpse and put them together on the bed. The body had been severed at the extremities, mostly at the major joints. The wrists, knees, among others.
"You seem to be a very perceptive boy", Lord Valueleta asked as she watched Assassin at work.
The boy was watching the corpse intently. He was analyzing each cut as if it were the most important thing. After that, hearing the elegant old woman talking, Assassin returned his gaze to her.
"Who I was supposed to protect is now in a big predicament. Basically, it's my job. Although with this I can better understand the nature of magus, I don't feel any better knowing that even I'm in on it."
"I understand. Now that I remember, I heard this from my silly student. You're a servant, aren't you? I know you can kill us all and walk away like it's nothing, but you haven't."
Assassin closed his eyes and sighed.
Gray watched this from afar, right next to Reines. The questions the old woman was asking Assassin were straight to the point, no hesitation. The servant's answer surprised him.
"I hadn't thought about it. I should do it. I mean, kill them all and walk out like it's nothing. Huh, like the Clock Tower is going to let this pass as a small riot."
He was aware that his power doesn't save him from the consequences of the world. Gray admired that a bit and looked at Reines, who was also calmly analyzing everything. Getting desperate in this situation would only lead to trouble.
"There's something we should keep in mind", he changed the subject. Assassin looked at Reines. "We understand that this is murder, yes, but we are overlooking one thing. Why would anyone want to kill the Golden Princess and antagonize the Iselma family. What's more, Lord Valueleta is also in on all of this. I think such a hasty decision has only caused more trouble than good."
"Why done it?", like in detective novels. Gray nodded.
To be continued...