-Chapter 53.5-
Penelope.
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Part three.
Penelope re-entered what was her old home, for the first time in a long time. Having been welcomed in, she began her account of all her struggles to her mentor over a cup of tea. He was absolutely outraged, as well as compassionate. He suggested Penelope take this matter to the police, but she told him about how deep that rabbit hole goes.
They decided to settle on a solution in the morning, and Penelope went to bed in her old room, as she always used to.
The middle of the night set on rapidly, and Penelope was awoken by the sound of something being knocked over downstairs. Finding it odd, her bare feet quietly pattered as she made her way down the steps in her sleeping gown.
Then, she froze as she heard multiple, heavy thumps on the floor.
“Where is the girl, old man!?” she heard a threatening voice demand.
“No girl came! There is no girl!” she heard the frail, old hoarse voice of her mentor respond.
“Alright. You’re of no use to me then. If she’s here, I’ll figure it out for myself.” Penelope heard the sound of a blade go ‘shinggggg’, unsheathing from its holder, and before she could think, she found herself jumping down.
“I am here!” she shouted, raising her hands. “The one you’re looking for. I am here.” She stepped into the candle light, observing the embroidered symbols on the opposite knight uniforms.
“No, Penelope. No! You shouldn’t have come!”
Penelope met her mentor’s eyes for a moment, the man akin to her grandfather, and then turned back to her pursuers. “You’ve found what you’re here for. Let’s go,” she said, stepping forward.
“Alright, grab her.”
Penelope flinched as the pair of rough hands gripped her by the shoulders and began to harshly drag her out.
I’m sorry, grandfather, she thought as she closed her eyes with a sniffle, stepping out the front door. I put you in danger. Who knew they would track me down so thoroughly, and so soon? How did they even know that I’d be here? I was too careless. Penelope sighed. Back I go. But at least, they should spare grandfather now.
As Penelope took a single step out onto the cold cobblestone, she heard the sound of metal humming, and the old man’s voice.
“RAHHHHHHHH-!” followed by a ragdoll like thump.
Penelope spun around, her eyes wide. “No! No, how could you!?” she began to scream, feeling tears come to her eyes, breaking free of her captor’s grasp and barging back into the house. Entering, she only found the remains of her grandfather, lying face down in a pool of blood.
“Grandfather… no… why did you kill him!? Why!? I surrendered myself to you!” she screeched at the knight holding the blade, who turned to her with callous eyes.
“Why not?” he answered and Penelope snapped.
Screaming at the top of her lungs, before she could lunge forward, the second knight quickly grabbed her and tugged her away. Penelope resisted with all her might, but could not rebel against the overpowering strength, as she was pulled and dumped into the nearby carriage, all the while screaming and scratching at the locked doors.
“You bastard! You bastard, you bastardddddd! I’ll have your head!” she screamed at the knight from within, and he only watched with a smirk as she was carted away in the carriage.
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During the ride, Penelope’s waves of anger quickly subsided into grief and anguish. It was her fault that grandfather, the only person who had been kind to her in this world, was now dead.
Upon returning to the manor, she knew in her mind what was coming but her heart did not care. She could feel herself going numb.
What was the point of this life, of this existence, if only to suffer so much?
As she was dragged out of the carriage and back to the front door of her husband’s manor, Penelope could only feel one thing.
Ah… I can’t do this anymore.
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Her husband greeted her with a calm smile at the doorway, as he dismissed the other knights and locked it with his key behind them. Then, he turned to Penelope, whose back was arched with her head hanging low.
“Oh, Penelope, Penelope. How could you attempt such a thing? You break my heart,” he chuckled, gripping her by the chin and lifting her up to face him. “It seems you’re in need of punishment.”
Penelope looked up into his unwavering eyes and lowly spoke, with her broken voice. “One of your knights killed him… my grandfather… he didn’t have to. He just executed him on the spot. Entirely unnecessarily.”
“Oh… your herbalist mentor?” her husband tilted his head and Penelope’s eyes widened.
“You… knew of him?” she asked with a shaky voice, and saw his smile turn malicious.
“I ought to have that knight promoted.”
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Penelope’s fists clenched at her husband’s joking manner, as he dragged her down the corridor, and she could only comply.
“What must I do to make you not escape from me?” he asked himself rhetorically in a hum. Penelope did not answer, as he brought her to a room in the basement, and opened the door to reveal all manners of horrifying contraptions.
Penelope’s eyes widened at the amount of straps, sharp objects, and strange mechanisms.
“Y-you… what more do you want to do to me? I already gave you my body.”
“This is what more I want to do to you,” he smiled deviously, taking out a sharp rod and running his tongue down the metallic sheen with a grin.
And that night, Penelope experienced a horror.
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-Three months later-
Penelope had entirely shut down. She spoke little. She ate little. She thought little.
She was rapidly becoming a husk of her former self.
She had succumbed to her fate. For the rest of her foreseeable life, she’ll be at this man’s mercy. She was his source of entertainment, his plaything, and his doll.
And she brought all of this onto herself by allowing them to hold such a grand wedding, in the public eye. Now, people just thought they were normal husband and wife.
And she was ready to play this role to her death. But then, one day, a small piece of her past self resurfaced. A fragment. A spec, by some miracle. The last remaining piece of her soul.
Penelope had little things to do in the manor. She was forbidden from going outside, and also had no duties as the lady of the house. All she was, was a bird trapped in a cage.
She had tried to take on painting once. But her husband, who deceptively appeared supportive of it at first, trashed all of her paintings one night to mock her. She also tried to take on gardening, but he poisoned all the plants she preciously raised after deceptively granting her permission to.
It seemed her husband was dead set on driving home the message that she is powerless. It discouraged her so much that she gave up entirely on finding new hobbies.
But, at least there were books and newspapers to read. He can destroy the books all he wants, they had an extensive library.
Penelope found a shocking headline on one of the newspapers. The Aerianne Archduchy destroyed. A brutal massacre, on the exact same day the Royal Palace was attacked by an unknown assailant.
The King and Prince, as well as the entire Royal Guard were severely injured.
Penelope bit her lip, placing the newspaper away. And then she heard a squabble outside her door.
Curious, Penelope descended the stairs from the study, to the front door where the noise emanated from. And as she drew closer, she became shocked at the owner of the voice, frighteningly familiar.
“Where’s my sister? Get out of my way.”
Penelope glanced past the knight blocking the door and spotted him. His eyes also darted up and met her’s, and she saw his face brighten.
“Penelope! Sister!” He began to push past, and Penelope felt fear grip her.
No… no… Brother, you were alive all this time? she thought, and nervously swallowed.
Aelius barged into the entryway, and he began to step forward with wide arms. “Sister…! My dear sister, I’ve come to see you.”
Penelope glanced past her brother, and saw the look of disapproval on the knight’s face. No! If they find out there’s another surviving member of our household… they’ll take action. I can’t have the death of a relative on my hands again!
It felt like her entire being was being torn into two. One side that wanted to run into his arms, cry and confess, and for him to console her. The other was frozen in fear and repulsion.
And then, the other side took over.
Penelope wasn’t sure what she was doing as she pulled back, stumbling backwards. “S-stay away…” her shaky voice started in a whisper. “Don’t come over here…” Her breathing was heavy. Her mind was hazy. But after she saw the stunned expression on her brother’s face, her mind cleared up.
She suddenly knew what to do, in that moment.
“Why would you come here!? Leave! I don’t want to see you! I don’t want to see you ever again!” Penelope’s eyes darted to the knight, who was wearing an amused smirk. “Get out of Farrien! Go far away! Get away from me!” she continued, shouting at him angrily, and she saw her brother’s face twist into sorrow. Yes. Good, good.
“P-Penelope… please… give me a chance to make it up to you. I can explain everything about the last few years-” her brother began to plead with her, a sincerity and genuineness she hadn’t seen since her mentor’s death.
“I don’t care!” Penelope screamed. “It’s too late. You came back too late.” She felt tears begin to sting at her eyes. “Get out already, before I make the knights give you a beating!” Penelope pushed him out the door, with a hysterical scream. “Don’t ever come back!”
For a long moment, Penelope remained with her back against the shut door, breathing heavily. And then she felt her numbed emotions begin to unfreeze, and return to her.
“Huhuhu…” she began to sob to herself, leaning down and crying. I’m sorry, Aelius. I’m so sorry. I really wish we could’ve been happily reunited.
Penelope spent hours crying there, her thoughts whirling. Everything had been taken away from her. Every single member of her family, including her brother, her last remaining living relative.
All of it had been stolen from her by her husband.
She lives in defiled flesh. She possesses no will of her own. Her future ambition was all but stripped. What awaited her was the life of a bird in a bird cage.
Penelope began to sniffle. But there was one final act of defience she could carry out, she realised as she began to push herself to her feet.
One final act of rebellion.
At least there was another member of her family alive. She refuses to allow her husband the satisfaction of doing this to her. And there was also a way to ensure that Aelius would never return here.
That was to erase his reason for coming here. If Penelope was his reason for coming here, then she will simply erase herself.
Penelope shed no tears, as she returned to her bedroom, fetched a stool and began to tie a noose together. She had done all her crying already. Now, as she stood on the stool, in her final moments, both her thoughts and her conscience were clear.
Penelope took a deep breath.
This is her final act of rebellion. May Aelius live on well.
She took a step forward off the edge of the stool, feeling the rope tug around her neck and the air knocked out of her lungs. “Gah…” she gasped, a natural response, and saw her vision begin to go hazy, as she dizzily dangled.
Goodbye, world. I go out on my own terms.
No tears. No emotion. No expression. With only a focused, calm gaze, Penelope hung in the balance. And then, her eyes gradually rolled into the back of her head as her entire body convulsed.
And little Penelope was no more.