╚╩╩╩╝ Hamil ╚╩╩╩╝

Home life had become normal. Everyone had a routine and followed through with it without much deviation. Pert would be in his office for a good portion of the day, receiving guests for nearly the entire time. Licilia would assist him in between these meetings, bringing him food and water and occasionally assisting with the meetings together with him. Jaime would spend a good deal of time in the morning painting the same painting as usual, then she would go out with Astrid and meet with some friends. I wasn’t too sure who these friends were, but she was genuinely excited every time, so they must be good to her. Veria’s schedule was similar to Jaime’s, though she occasionally stayed home to work with her parents.

I, however, had a very chaotic schedule. Every day was filled with something new, whether it was a place, a person or an experience. All of this was due to my agreement with Lord Renae. Any time that Charlotte left home for any kind of social interaction, I was there by her side. I was happy to be able to spend so much time with my friend, but it was embarrassing sometimes, though I doubt it showed. She would often go out with other young ladies, and these outings were the source of no small amount of teasing from supposed peers.

Their words were usually very harsh, but they were nothing compared to the verbal abuse I suffered from my father and his crew. All my experience with such harsh words had given me the ability to keep a neutral appearance through most anything.

Today was the day that Lord Renae had implied that I should visit, so I was preparing to go and visit their estate.

After making sure that I was prepared, I left my room and nearly collided with Veria. It was early in the morning, so I was quite surprised to see her since she was normally still asleep at this time.

“Oh, sorry!” The girl cried out, stumbling to the side.

In her arms was Bark. The wooden dog hung happily in the air. I had tried to teach Veria how to properly carry an animal before, but either she hadn’t listened, or Bark was more restless in her arms.

“It’s alright, I shouldn’t have burst out of my room like that.” I apologized. “You’re usually not up this early. Did something happen?”

“Yeah. Bark got into my room and wouldn’t let me sleep. I assumed that he wanted to be let outside.” She explained. She then tipped her head to the side and looked down at the dog. “Does he even need to pee… wait, can he pee?”

The both of us shrugged and she turned and continued down the hall, giggling.

I didn’t know about a wooden dogs anatomy, but I guessed that Bark had wanted to go out and see Astrid and Damian. The dog had grown a strange attachment to Damian, despite the man’s complaints. It was always funny to see them wrestle on the ground. If you didn’t know that Damian didn’t like dogs, then you could assume that they were playing.

Taking my usual route through the mansion, I stopped when I didn’t see Jaime sitting in her usual corner, painting. She was here, every morning at this time, so why wasn’t she now?

Looking around, my eye caught something through the window. Lying on a grassy slope not far from the house was Jaime. She didn’t have her usual painting stuff with her, so she must be watching something.

Shaking off the uneasy feeling, I continued on my route through the house to Pert’s office, but my knocks echoed through an empty room. Confused, I searched the mansion for a short time, finding Pert and Licilia sitting in the entry foyer, drinking what looked like hot chocolate.

“Good morning, Hamil. How did you sleep?” Licilia asked. She had bags under her weak eyes.

She was swamped with guilt, no doubt because of the situation with the injured girl. She had already compromised her morals by letting me in the room, but Jaime coming in had been like a sucker punch that she had yet to recover from.

“I slept well.” I responded, trying to appear cheerful and unaffected.

The guilt inside of her wavered for a moment, but stayed strong.

“Is there something you need?” Pert asked.

“Lord Renae invited me to their estate today.”

“Then I will have a carriage prepared to take you.” He replied.

“Actually, I wanted to ask if I could walk there?” I asked.

In the past couple of years, I’d been neglecting my physical abilities and have become weaker than I had thought. And if I want to help Charlotte stay out of trouble, then I need to be ready.

“Are you sure? Do you know the way there?” He asked, worried.

“Yes, I’ve made note of the directions.” I explained.

I could tell that Licilia wanted to object, but Pert agreed to my request before she could. I felt bad going around her like this, but I had to. I’ll make it up to her, somehow.

Waving goodbye to the two of them, I left through the front door just in time to see Bark leap from Veria’s arms.

Around this time every morning, half of the family guard would be out training. Having been made captains of the family guard, Astrid and Damian participated in these training sessions, though they took turns. This session just happened to have Damian as its leader.

Bark bolted forward the moment his tiny feet touched the ground.

I darted out of the door in time to catch the whole scene and watched as Damian, who looked to have been fully aware of his nemesis’ presence, dipped and dodged as the little dog leapt through the air towards his face. Bark, however, wasn’t going to give up any time soon. Twisting his little body, Bark landed on top of one guards head and leapt once again, this time hitting his intended target.

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Crying out as a wooden dog tackled his head, Damian dropped onto the ground and pulled the dog from his head and glared at it, like he was challenging Bark to continue. In response, Bark dragged his sap covered tongue across the man’s face. Flinching, Damian dropped the dog, groaning loudly.

Frowning, Veria, who had already come to his side, handed Damian her handkerchief.

Wiping as much of the sticky sap from his face as he could, Damian looked down at Bark who seemed to be very happy with himself and narrowed his eyes. “I’ll win one of these days.” He promised.

It was probably visible from the slight grin on his face, but I felt clear as day what Damian felt about Bark. He definitely didn’t like having to clean himself off every time the dog decided to play, but there was a sense of competition between the two, absurd as it may seem. They were like rivals, though I doubt that Damian would ever mention it.

Standing back up, Damian announced that he was going to go clean himself and told the guards to work especially hard while he was gone, pointing specifically to the guard who Bark had used to attack. The group acknowledged his order and, true to their word, they continued to work hard even after he had left.

Bark had turned to follow the man, but the dog had spotted me and ran in my direction instead. The dog had leapt into my arms, but, unlike with Damian, he did not lick my face. Instead, he crawled up onto my shoulder and stuck there, hanging down my back.

Veria, watching Bark run, turned and waved at me before turning back and watching the guards with a strange fascination. Curious, but not enough to investigate, I left.

On my way out, I spotted Jaime as she lay on the grass. Worried about this sudden change in her schedule, I crept close enough to feel what she was feeling. However, I felt nothing. She was void of any emotion whatsoever.

Thinking that she had died, I panicked and was about to charge in to try to help when she sighed and sat up. It was then that I could feel that she was incredibly bored.

Feeling the weight that had fallen on me so suddenly disappear was refreshing. I guess it’s normal for someone to be bored of a routine they’ve gone through for so long.

Immensely relieved, I turned and left the estate.

In a carriage, the time it took to get to the Renae estate was about ten minutes. At the pace I walked, it took me just over half an hour.

The estate in question was on the eastern edge of the city, near the city exit that would lead you to Calsit, the city nearest the wars front. The manor was nearly impossible to miss on the horizon, since it was built atop a hill and surrounded by short, single level houses.

Approaching the main gate, the guards standing on either side of it all seemed to nod as they saw me and opened the way for me to enter.

Curiously, as I passed through the gate, I made eye contact with one of the guards who gave me a silent thumbs up as if to say “good luck.”

Finally at my destination, I knocked on the manors large front doors. Mere moments later, the door swung open smoothly as a servant came into view. Seeing me, this servant nodded his head slightly and moved to let me inside.

“The lord is waiting for you in his office.” The servant announced before taking the familiar path that Charlotte had taken me on before. Arriving at the door to the marquis’ office, the servant opened the door and allowed me inside.

Before, Lord Renae had been sitting behind his desk. Today, the man was standing near the center of the room, staring at a painting hanging on the wall.

“I’m glad to see you here so early.” The man spoke in a cold tone. “Leave us. And ensure that nobody bothers us.” He commanded the servant, who quickly closed the door which locked with a click shortly after.

“I thought you wanted me here to see Charlotte?” I asked.

“You are, but that will come later.” He explained, running a hand roughly through his hair. “Business comes first.”

The marquis stepped over to one of the many sconces lining the long room and pulled up on it. The wall hanging jerked up and the wall attached to it swung out into a dark passageway. This door was cleverly hidden as any seam was hidden behind the many bookshelves in the room.

A cold sweat ran down my back as I followed the man into the passage, though not because of this scenario. I’ve been in places like this before. I lived in one for most of my life. No, what made me so nervous was the rage building inside of the marquis. I had no clue as to what could make such a stoic man so angry, but I was sure that it was nothing I’ve done.

Walking through the passage, lit by aged light crystals, we descended down below the estate to a dungeon of sorts.

The dungeon was mostly empty, all except for one section of the wall where a shape hid in the darkness.

Stepping close to the dark mass, Lord Renae grabbed a long, metal rod from nearby and started banging on the bars of an empty cell.

“Wake up.” The marquis spoke in a cold, deadly voice.

Heaving, whoever was hiding slid forward and into the light, the chains around his wrists coming taut.

To say that I recognized this person would be to say that one could recognize the burnt remains of a loved one. This man was covered in welts, bruises, gashes and blood. It took a moment, but I recognized him as my father’s adviser. He was the smartest of the group, though that wasn’t saying much, and regularly helped my father when he went out into public.

“I see that you recognize him.” The marquis spoke, the rage inside of him boiling over.

“Yes, he worked for my father.” I confirmed.

“Hamil, please.” The man spoke in a lisp.

Seeing him pleading for my help made me furious. Aside from my father, this man was the main source of all the suffering I had to go through.

“I can see how you feel about him.” The marquis observed, the anger and rage inside of him calming down, quickly being replaced by curiosity. “Why don’t you do the honors?”

“What?” I asked, stunned.

“This man is a criminal. He worked in my home under the guise of a guard and tried to harm my family. I was going to torture him until he gave me the information I desired, but seeing that you two recognize each other. I believe that I can figure it out myself now.” Lord Renae explained. “And seeing how I’ve gotten all the fun I could out of him, I think it’s best for you to… finish the job.”

A part of me hesitated. Did I want to take this man’s life? However, that doubt was immediately crushed by the memory of all the horrible things that he has done, not just to me, but to so many others. He was worse than scum, he deserved to be treated this way, and he deserved to die by my hands.

Stepping toward him, I watched as he attempted to drag himself away; away to somewhere out of my reach, but there was no such place here.

In less than a second, I found myself straddling his chest, both hands wrapped around his neck, as I dug my thumbs into his throat.

“Do you remember when you did this to me!” I shouted at him. “When you and my father would take turns beating me near to death!” I squeezed even harder, finding catharsis in watching him struggle to breath.

Then I felt a pain in my chest as the image of my mother overlayed this man’s face. All that they had done to me, they had done to my mother. She suffered even more than I ever could. How would she react if she saw me now?

Releasing my grip on his throat, I stumbled backward and fell on my butt.

I can’t become my father.

Just then, the man spoke, sitting up as best he could. “Still so weak.” He mocked. “We should have beaten you mo-”

He couldn’t finish his sentence as I had summoned my wings and used them to cut his head off at the neck.

I won’t become my father. But that doesn’t mean that you should live.

Emotionally exhausted, I stood up and turned to see that Lord Renae had a slight smirk on his face.