"So, what family are you from? I'm curious about those golden colors; I don't think I've ever heard of such a peculiar trait in any of the most well-known families." I asked her as I reached out with my hand to get a grasp of her hair.
She immediately took a step back to stop me from touching her; the expression on her face seemed puzzled, as if she was surprised to have even taken a step back.
"Family? I don't think you'd know; I'm not from a prominent family like all of you." She answered in a bitter voice while awkwardly looking away from us.
Ah, but the uncle said you're the daughter of a friend of his… How? Was the friend an employee? That would make sense… Yeah, probably.
"How old are you?" Leo suddenly asked.
I was surprised; I thought after her inquiry his mood might've shifted and turned sour, yet he remained as composed and curious as always. Something was catching his attention, and as much as I tried to scrutinize her body, I just couldn't see it.
I was so surprised I immediately forgot about all the kinds of questions I wanted to ask her.
"Ah, is she also going to…" Ilay wanted to ask something but stopped right before he could finish his sentence.
Oh come on, you can't do this to me; I'm dying of curiosity over here.
"Of course, that's natural; she's obviously going to inherit parts of the family business, as she is now part of our family." He responded immediately.
Oh, is that what he meant? Was he worried about her taking part of his inheritance? No, Ilay is not that kind of guy… But then if that wasn't it, why did the uncle give him that answer? Wait, what about Leo's question?
The room then fell in complete silence; no one was talking, no one was seemingly moving, and it was as if time had stopped. The only thing interrupting that silence was the occasional noble passing through to get to the shower room to clean himself.
"Ehm." I tried to break the silence, but I didn't have the courage to fully do so; all I did in the end was to loudly clear my throat.
"Well, my mother… you know… I have to go; see you tomorrow, Leo." I said before bolting towards the door and slamming it shut behind me.
That was probably a family drama I didn't need to get involved in.
I thought
But as I headed back to my home along with my mother, I was reminded that my situation wasn't all that different.
On the return trip, the maid tried some small talk, but I didn't feel like answering her or humoring her; I felt like a beast that had been trapped.
I didn't want to return to that house, where the mood is always heavy, the food is always tasteless no matter how good it looks, and it was decorated like the house of one of those extremely cliché historical dramas.
As the gates opened, we were greeted by a long line of servants waiting at the front door. The moment I entered that house, I was overwhelmed by the stench of demonic energy.
Ugh, don't tell me you've only hired demonic users as maids and butlers? And why is the smell so strong here? Not even Uncle's house smells this badly!
The house was clearly still in reconstruction; parts of the furniture were being moved away because they were badly damaged, and some of it had turned into charcoal.
My father came down from the second floor hand in hand with Lucia. She was happily smiling, wearing a brand new pink dress; it had a bunch of frilly lame stuff attached to it.
Her hair was shining like never before; she had them done wavy, unlike how she usually had them back in the fracture. Her skin was also extremely well polished; she had done the procedure to get her color back, and now her eyes had a strange, extremely light color that resembled that of a pearl.
Her happy expression and bouncy attitude quickly turned upside down as soon as our eyes met.
"What's he doing here?" She bluntly asked out loud.
The question felt like a stab in my gut.
I still didn't know why she turned so against me. What did I do to deserve this kind of treatment?
"None of your business." I answered her loudly as I walked inside the house.
"Oh, come on, kids…" My father tried to say something, but I simply kept walking past him and headed to the second floor.
I'm not in the mood to listen to this.
"Young master!" The maid quickly began following after me, and the closer her voice got, the faster I got. Then, as I realized she was inevitably going to catch up to me, I entered the nearest room and slammed the door closed.
"Young master!" The maid kept calling me out while banging at the door.
"I kept my word; I came back as promised, didn't I? So leave me alone!" I shouted back at her.
"You can't act this way; you're the heir of—"
"I don't care; just leave me alone for now." I yelled back.
Why did I even agree to come back here?
It was a horrid place; it stank, it had burnt furniture, and it felt suffocating.
I didn't hear the maid step away, so I put all my weight and held the door in place so that no matter how hard she would push, the door would stay shut.
"Young master…"
I didn't want to hear that voice, I didn't want to be pitied, and I didn't want her to look at me like a poor little thing. After all, I was essentially a king there! How can a king possibly be pitied?
"I returned as promised…" I repeated, my voice was trembling, and I felt it was moments away from cracking as my vision was slowly turning blurry.
I didn't want to lose my composure. I felt a moment away from shattering entirely. Just a few seconds in that house were enough to completely shatter my whole being, but I didn't want anyone else to see it, so I held my breath and refused to let out even a single sound. Even if I almost suffocated to death, I wouldn't give anyone the satisfaction of seeing me reduced to such a pathetic state.
And so I stood by that door, waiting and waiting, until the moment I heard the maid step away, and only began to breathe once I could no longer hear her step echo in the distance.
I slowly stumbled towards the bed, not truly minding the smell of the scorched furniture all around me, and simply lay with my face down pressed against a pillow to suffocate any sound. My hands slowly began to tingle as I felt a sudden pain slowly form inside my chest.
The room most likely belonged to one of the many people acting as our servants; it was poorly decorated, with no sign of photos or any sort of memento they brought from the surface. It was as minimalistic as it could've been, with just a wardrobe, a television to entertain them, and a bed to sleep on.
Once I had fully recovered myself, the maid knocked on the door.
The timing couldn't have been more impeccable.
Leave me alone.
I wanted to say it to her, but I didn't; instead, I cleaned my face of the tears, adjusted my clothes, cleared my throat, and headed outside.
I did my best to not look shaken and let the maid with cat ears silently guide me to my room. No word was said, no look was exchanged; she simply led the way, walking in front of me, leading to my room, and once she opened the door and let me in, she silently closed it behind my back without the need for me to open my mouth.
From the window of my room I could see how devastated the heavenly city was. Many buildings were falling apart, some were still melting down, and some others had massive holes, smaller holes, and claw marks all over them.
I didn't care for any of it; I simply stood in silence as I was staring in awe at how fast the city was rebuilding itself.