Lovesick

Lovesick 5

Elias clicked his tongue at the sight of his sister.

Selene departed from the earlier fiasco at the inner pavillion, away from the screams and moans of those being punished. And is now sharing a table with his brother Elias. Whom she believed has been staring at her disapprovingly.

"Penny for your thoughts my dear brother?"

"Nothing much, I was just wondering how my sister manages her every day life if a single task cost her an eternity of preparation." Elias propped his elbows above the dining table to stare at the woman beside him in feign interest.

Of course he was not interested in her answer. Elias knew long ago that his sister Selene, was a perfectionist.

Even now as they're speaking, she has not yet stopped arranging the vase of lilies in front of her. The sight of her fumbling the stems, the leaves and even the beautiful  flower itself were not spared in an attempt to make it proportionally symmetrical.

Elias does not know if he should laugh or cry at the sight of her.

"How she wished that was the case," Her hand stilled for a second, placing a serene smile on her lips. "She will not have to suffer in this lifetime then."  Although the smile on her face displayed a beautiful picture. Her eyes however are hollow.

It created a huge contrast that even the new clueless servants on the side couldn't help but ponder.

What happened to their mistress?

Elias wanted to beat himself for speaking like that. It was stupid of him to let his mouth run loose. He can only clench his fist and shut his mouth.

How he momentarily forgot that she had changed, they've changed.

"I've heard Valentine entered your room for the first time yesterday."  He decided to disregard her statements and changed the subject. He's quite curious about his punishment anyway. His sister never tolerated Valentine's tiny mistakes, much more this mistake that he committed.

"He did" Selene replied at his inquiring words. "A rather unfortunate event for him."

"And what might be the punishment? I presume something that includes plenty of his blood?"

Selena shook her head then spoke, "I'm afraid not Elias, I don't have the time to tend to this matter. "I need to leave tomorrow."

"What for?" Elias asked calmly. His downturned blue eyes doesn't look imposing, unlike his eldest brother Jun's eyes that are naturally narrowed.

"The usual," They both stood up from the dining table and headed to the inner garden to converse without the servants. "And the preparation needed for Valentine's coming-of-age." Now that Selene mentioned it, Elias then remembered that Valentine will formally inherit the Arslan Dukedom as the duke when he turned 18. During his coming-of-age ceremony.

"It's in three months right?" He smiled widely, showing a toothy grin. Which made him appear even more younger than he looks. "I remembered the first time he got here, that was four years ago I think? He's 14 years old and fresh from boarding school. He was an untamed bull. The mad fuck even injured and killed one fifth of our men back then. He's clearly someone from a military lineage"

Selene's eyes flash with memories. She can still hear his words as if it was yesterday, even remember their conversation when he finally succumb to her persuasion. 'You don't have to endure this, let me help you. I'll give you salvation. I'll be your anchor. You can still be forgiven Valentine. You just need to accept my help and I'll do the rest.....' The sight of the teen just a year younger than me trembling and seemingly scared beyond words, had brought an explicable joy inside me at that time.

'I know you're feeling so confused and scared. I know....I know it all....you feel in pain. That will continue if you don't let me in. Just say the word and I'll make it all go away.' He didn't evade my gaze at that point, his teary eyes were reflecting my face. But still no word came out of his mouth.

'If you still don't accept me...I'll leave you now. But the voices will visit you again tonight. They will hurt you again.' At that statement, I had seen an even more terrified reaction roused from him. 'I know you're scared right now, who wouldn't be? Just say the word little lamb and I'll make the voices go away.' She caressed the attractive mole underneath his eyes, whispering gently.

'S-Selene' He looks like he's going to cry, which made me want to push him deeper into despair. He's shaking his head stiffly. As if pleading with me to not make him do the thing I'm making him do. But I was just as cold back then as I am today. I tormented him again and again.

'Say it and you'll never hear the voices again.'

'I.....I'm' Trembling in front of me, the previously unbreakable Valentine continued to shake his head in anxiousness. But I coaxed him insistently. Wanting him to yield.

'Don't make me say it Selene....please' I just shook my head at him and breathed deeply. I slowly backed away and straightened up. I had gave up and was planning to isolate him more. He's still holding to his last thread of identity.

The intention to leave him must have been seen on my face at that time after being rejected since he desperately called out to me and stuttered.

'I am....I'm....n-nothing.....' And hearing that from him with a broken and thoroughly defeated expression, the teardrops finally falling out from his eyes, made me display a genuine smile for the first time I was with him. I had known at that moment that Valentine finally became our sacrificial lamb.

Her eyes cleared out as she heard her brother continuing his words. "It's hard to imagine that he's the same Valentine now. It's good though that you managed to keep him under your thumb. It seems that brother Jun has made the right decision back then."

When Jun brought the sedated Valentine back into their house, Elias frankly thought that Selene will not be handle the fact that the perpetrator's son who murdered their entire family is still alive. He thought that she will distance herself even more and forever seal herself inside her shell. 

But that didn't happen.

"Eldest Brother had made the best decision in his life when he entrusted him to me."