The Lady's Right-Hand Man

CHAPTER 3 "NIGHTMARE WITH EYES WIDE OPEN"

"I am tired. Bring tea on my office."

It was ten in the evening when Shiori arrived at the manor. Without even changing her clothes, the lady went straight to her office not to overwork herself but to overthink. That man she encountered a while ago she believed he was not just no one. That man has something to do with her nightmares and possibly something to do with her missing memories from the tragedy.

"Here's your tea, my lady."

"Thank you, Eric. You can leave."

The butler lightly bowed to show some respect before he left the room.

All alone sipping her tea, Shiori watched the night sky from the huge glass window behind her. She noticed how beautifully the full moon rose in the clear and starry night sky. It was been a while since she watched the beauty of the night sky and it was nostalgic.

She turned her head as a familiar hymn softly played around the silent room. It was the song "Ave Maria" playing from her father's old cassette player. The lady sauntered across the room but before she reached the place where the cassette was, her eyes caught a silhouette of a tall man standing beside the small table. Lights went off all over the office made Shiori's sight harder to recognize the man.

"Who are you?"

"Ave Maria... Maiden mild... Oh, listen to the maiden's prayer..."

"You keep on asking me the same question, my lady."

By that moment she already knew who she was talking to.

"Sevirous..." She muttered.

"For thou can't hear amid the wild... This thou, this thou can't save amid, despair..."

"That is right, my lady. I am Sevirous. The one you owed your life."

Shiori shook her head and stepped back in disbelief. Anxiety crippled from her chest made her hands shaky and her knees weak. She could not remember a thing but this man's words pierced her soul like an arrow fired from a bow.

"W-Who really are you?" She asked stuttered on her own words.

"We slumber safely 'til tomorrow... Though we by man outcast reviled..."

"I clearly see how you caged yourself to that small room inside you. It's not that you lost a memory, it's just that you are afraid to know what happened that night at the Athena Cruise ship." He sauntered towards Shiori. "You are afraid to remember every single scene from that tragedy." Sevirous stood behind the lady and placed a hand on her shoulder.

But Shiori turned around avoiding the uncanny man's touch. "Don't dare to lay a finger on me."

"Oh Maiden, see a maiden's sorrow... Oh Mother, hear a suppliant child..."

"Don't you remember you held my hand first?"

"... Ave Maria"

"N-NO! NO YOU ARE LYING TO ME!" Shiori yelled but Sevirous did not care to move an inch but watched the lady whine instead. "YOU DON'T KNOW ME AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT CRUISE SHIP!" She gripped on her skirt to stop her hands from shaking.

"I wasn't there, yes. But you called me desperately asking for help, asking to be saved so I helped you out."

"S-STOP... STOP IT!"