House of Scarlet Fury

Into The Dukedom

My eyes opened sluggishly as I felt the warm sun rays on my face, my consciousness finding its way back into my body, I blinked away the nighttime slowly as I looked at the ceiling. A ceiling above me that was all wrong. Where there was supposed to be a bleak white popcorn ceiling with a bright light droning without concern for my eyes, there was instead an ornate painting, beautifully tragic depictions of love and glory.

Wait- where the hell am I? Man, my eyelids feel so heavy, have I been asleep for over a month or something?

As I fought to keep my consciousness from drifting away again a sudden prick jolted me awake, grabbing the hand that was withdrawing from my arm. I felt their body flinch backward as if I startled them; Shouldn't I be startled, I was just pricked with something?

My eyes adjusted quickly and looked at the face of a young girl, with brown hair and hazel eyes. Nothing out of the ordinary except for the hatred and fear that shone in her eyes before quickly looking away. The emotion made me forget about why I had been jolted awake and as I looked down I saw a needle in the hand that I gripped tightly. She glared at me before looking down at her feet.

What the hell is going on right now? As I thought that a screen popped up with three choices, three familiar choices:

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1. " How dare you touch me you ingrate?! "

2. * Stay Silent and release her *

3. " You, what did you just do to me? "

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Honestly, what were these choices? Can I not do anything outside of them? I thought before hesitatingly choosing three and almost instantly the words flew out of my mouth without my control.

"You, what did you just do to me?"

She looked up startled only to look back down, mumbling and trying to wriggle her arm out of my grasp. And as I looked down, I saw the product of this girl's work, a large number of small puncture wounds, all bruised or bruising, below my shoulder. A collection that could have only accumulated after months or years of this practice. I looked up at her, an anger that I suppressed for so long pounding to be let out. But before doing anything unnecessary I ripped the needle out of her hand and grabbed her face forcing her to look at me. I tested my voice again, apparently free from the forced choices.

"Either you better have an amazing explanation for all of this, or you will get out right this instant" I seethed at her baring my teeth slightly. She trembled and continued to try and avoid eye contact with me. After a few moments of silence, I let go of her chin and pushed her slightly towards the door. And glared at her until she stumbled out before my eyes shifted to the right slightly.

Standing upright next to the door was a full-length mirror, incredibly ornate looking. And as I looked up I stared at a reflection of someone else. The woman in the mirror was not me for I had very simple brown hair and eyes but looking back at me was vibrant crimson hair, a deep auburn with hints of pink that I'd never seen before, and piercing blue eyes that looked like they wanted to watch the whole world burn. I quickly realized that without a doubt, I was looking at Briseis Edryth, a woman as beautiful, but as dangerous as a rose. The villainess of Edryth's Daughter, and the one I resonated so closely with. And that right there had been the first encounter of her route during the game, a route that I was never able to clear, not once. And it dawned on me, that I never cleared her part of the game because she was always killed by one of the main characters. I shuddered as the rest of my memories flowed back to me seamlessly and I stared dumbfounded at the mirror before looking down at the needle in my hand. The pain I felt in my arm hurt enough to tell me this was real; my life was at risk at every turn, and I could do nothing but try and survive. And even with that thought and as my hands trembled slightly a light smile spread across my face.