The rest of the night comes to me in flashes. A female knight pulling back my hair. Someone picking me up and putting me in the second carriage. The smell of rotting wood. The servants surrounding me not making a sound.

No.

Me being unable to hear the servants make a sound. I couldn’t respond to them, and I don’t know how long we sat together before the carriage began moving again. But this time, I didn’t even so much as doze off. Whenever I closed my eyes, I could feel the roots crawling across my body and wrapping around my neck. I could see the bloated face of Arlen.

Now, as I lay in an unfamiliar bed in a room I’ve never slept in before, I still can’t bear to close my eyes. I don’t remember the faces of the servants that came with me, or the knights that escorted me, I don’t know who greeted me when I arrived in Fellan. At the end of it all, it became like every other day in the Dawn estate.

Just four walls and my own empty stare.

I pressed my hands into the bruises coating my neck. I felt my mouth open in pain. I tried to scream, but I couldn’t get the sound to come out.

---------------------------------------------------------------

One day.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Two days.

---------------------------------------------------------------

One week.

---------------------------------------------------------------

I didn’t sleep for a week. At first, I would walk around in the dead of night, becoming a specter meant to haunt myself. After three days, when I blinked it became a gamble on if I would open my eyes again. The only rest was the physical shutdown of my body, two hours at a time. The first time it happened, I woke up to the scream of a maid when she saw my limp body on the floor. She had come to try and get me to eat.

I sent her away.

I hadn’t left this room since coming here.

I hadn’t made a sound.

But I still had my eyes, ears, arms, and legs. I could still feel the brisk spring air when I opened the window. I could see the ivy climbing up the walls of the estate when I hung my body over the windowsill. I could hear the birds beginning to stir as the suns began rising over the horizon.

On the dawn of the seventh day after arriving in Fellan, I felt hungry.

[Translucent]

As I felt the pull of mana in my stomach, I slipped out of the room I’d been refusing to leave and stepped out into a wide hallway decorated with deep blue pillars and paintings of snowy landscapes hung on the golden walls. The pillars were polished so that the deep blue sparkled as if it was a drop of the sea made solid, and the golden walls may not truly be made of gold but the contrast was striking nonetheless. Had I been able to see color when I looked around, I may have even taken a moment to admire it.

I picked a direction based on the muffled sounds of servants chatting. Heading towards them, I stuck to the walls. I wasn’t creeping or silencing my steps, because I wasn’t truly hiding. I simply didn’t want to be seen if I had the option. Around a corner in the hallway, I was overlooking the grand entryway. While I was on the east side, a grand staircase opened up ahead of me. Stepping down, I took in the dulled sight. Even without color, it was beautiful, enough so that this time I did take a moment.

From the glass dome ceiling to the statues of heroes that were sculpted directly onto the frames of the archways that led to other areas of the mansion. The entryway was breathtaking.

I listened for a moment, focusing on the ambient noise. Past my left were the muffled sounds of a knight’s armor clanking as they walked, I also heard the faint sound of female voices coming from the same direction. To my right, I heard something similar. It was metal hitting metal, but it wasn’t in the familiar way that I had recognized from the knights patrolling on our journey here. No, this was the sound of metal being hit with wood, or weight being dropped in a pot. It was the sound of the kitchen.

As I passed through the archway leading to the formal dining room, I saw three maids preparing the table and cleaning the room. Just like before, their voices were muffled, but this time when I approached I could hear each word.

“Do you think she’ll come out today?” One of the maids, with her hair pulled into a tight bun, was whispering to the short-haired maid that was placing several seats at the table.

“What will we do if she doesn’t?” The blonde maid huffed, “It’s been a week, she can’t go much longer like this.”

The third maid just waved her hand, as if to ward off the other two, “What business is it of ours? If she eats, she eats. If she doesn’t, eventually someone will make her.”

As I passed by them, I let [Translucent] fall away. As color filled my vision, the women seemed to come to life with color. The first maid turned out to have crimson hair, the short-haired maid was blonde, and the final, indifferent maid had long silver hair. It took them a moment to realize, but as my back faced them I began to pull out a seat that was on the side of the table -anywhere but the head.

I heard a gasp and the sound of one of their hands hitting the other.

“My lady! You came down!” the redhead rushed to me, pulling the seat back frantically.

The blonde maid came up and grabbed a pitcher from the table and poured the liquid into a glass. She gave me a sheepish smile before placing it in front of me, “Terribly sorry, my lady. We didn’t mean for you to overhear.”

The final maid pulled the other two back, her face was unchanged from when I walked in. She still had that same indifferent, if not slightly disdainful expression, as she spoke, “They were simply concerned, my lady. Will you be eating breakfast?”

I met the silver-haired maid’s eyes and gave a nod before picking up the glass from earlier.

To be honest, I appreciated that the silver-haired maid didn’t care if I ate. The other maids in this room, and in the whole of the mansion, showed me more care than any of the servants at the main house. Whether that was because they simply didn’t know my place in the family, or if they didn’t care, I couldn’t be sure. Much like I didn’t know any of them, they could be on edge waiting to see what kind of master I was. And at such a young age, they’d all shown extreme concern for me over the past week. But this silver-haired maid made it clear: whether I destroyed myself or not, she wasn’t concerned. She had indeed minded her own business when she stated it wasn’t a matter for her if I ate.

I hope you’ll serve me more often, Silver. I let a satisfied hmpf leave my mouth as I took a sip of manja, the green liquid the blonde maid had poured for me earlier. Much like orange juice, it had a refreshing taste -only rather than tart it held the crispness of a green apple straight out of the fridge.

After I nodded, the blonde and redhead widened their eyes and tried to hide their smiles as they rushed off to the other side of the room and slipped behind the door to the kitchen. Once they were gone, I fixed my eyes back on Silver. She wore the same medium purple accented maid outfits as the maids at the main estate. The color of the fading dawn, meant to be the night sky that supports the suns. As I looked at her, I opened my mouth to speak.

What is your name?

“Wh…” I took a sharp breath, at the hoarse sound that came out of me. If the maid was surprised, she didn’t show it. But maybe I wasn’t looking closely enough. I felt my face contort.

What is your name?

“Yo… You…” I cut myself off with a grimace. Putting a hand on my throat, I squeezed. I didn’t notice when the maid’s face changed, or that she’d repositioned herself with her hands clasped behind her back.

What is your name?

I opened my mouth to try again, but this time no sound came out. Steadying myself I took a slow, deep breath. Eunora is scared. Forget her. What would Maria do?

So I bit.

“Fuck.” I let the curse slip out in pain, as blood seeped from my lip, “Finally.”

My words were slow, but they were clear, and I held my hand out to the maid. She met my eyes, then looked from my bloodied lip to my hand, unmoving.

With a smile, I gestured again, “Handkerchief.”

This time the maid jolted forward, pulling a white piece of fabric from one of the pockets on her apron, “Of course.”

As she dabbed at my lip, I pulled the fabric from her hand and waved her back, after several minutes of alternating spots the bleeding slowed enough for me to begin speaking, “What is your name?”

Composing herself, I saw her back straighten as she returned to standing a few feet back from me, “Sylvia, my lady.”

Oh -that’s spot on actually.

“Inform the head maid you will be my personal maid starting tomorrow.” I turned back to the table and took another sip of manja.

“... Yes, my lady.” To her credit, Sylvia only took a moment to compose her response.

“Why are there five settings?”

“In the absence of Count and Countess Dawn, Fellan is left in the hands of a capable vassal or trusted subordinate. The head and adjacent seats are always set in the event a member of the Dawn shines on our table-” Tch. “- and the remaining three seats are set for the Baron and his two sons.”

As Sylvia finished speaking, the door to the kitchen opened to reveal a neatly dressed man pushing a cart filled with several covered dishes. As he approached, a grin spread on his face, “My lady! I’ve brought breakfast.”

He began unloading and uncovering the dishes in front of me -pancakes, a fruit tart, eggs, ham, a biscuit, a gravy bowl, and more. They all looked delicious.

Letting out a small sigh, I waited for the beaming man to finish up, “Very well. Your name?”

“I hope you enjoy, please let me know if there’s anything else you desire.” With a slight bow, he took a step back, “I am Gristle Thorpe, the first footman.”

“This is good for now, Gristle. Ah-” I looked over at Sylvia and then back to Gristle, “Let the housekeeper know I have appointed Sylvia as my personal maid. See to it that her pay and duties are adjusted.”

I let a smile quirk my face as I saw the look on Gristle’s face change. ‘Is she really a child?’ It was clear as day as his brows furrowed. Whatever the staff at the Fellan mansion were taught, it was exemplary. Even at this, Gristle simply nodded and excused himself.

I took one measured bite after another, ignoring the desire to scarf everything down in moments. I counted out the seconds in my mind as I was chewing, making sure not to take another bite for at least twenty seconds. I started with a bowl of fruit. I had yet to even see fruits like them since coming to in Maeve -since being born here? No. Was I born here? Did I arrive here? I frowned as I took another bite.

Feeling a headache coming on, I stopped that train of thought. It would do me no good to consider my split memories in front of others.

“Oh-” I felt a feral smile spread across my face, realizing what I had forgotten over the last week, “I suppose such a terrible event should have at least given me some boon.”

“Status.”

[Status Summary]

[Name: Eunora Dawn]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 8]

[Unallocated Stat Points: 0]

[Vitality: 59 Endurance: 30]

[Strength: 32 Dexterity: 60]

[Perception: 113 Magic: 56]

[Luck: 45 Divinity: 103]

[Class: Young Lady of Darkness Level: 13/20]

[Class Skills: ]

Translucent Lv. 2, Manipulation - Shadows Lv. 1, Conjuration - Shadows Lv. 1

[Skills: ]

Otherworldly Lv. 1, Mental Fortitude Lv. 5, Quick Calculation Lv. 1,

Tight Lips Lv. 1, Steal Nerves Lv. 1, Sophism Lv. 1, Stealth Lv. 2,

Blade of Triumph Lv. 2

I muttered as I stared at my new Divinity stat.

“What the hell?”