crown [C. TARTAGLIA]

01

you awoke to the metallic smell of blood that night, silence had deafened you in the dark room so much to the point where it actually hurted your ear.

"mother?" you called out, taking slow and careful steps as you exit your room.

no one answered making your sweat drop. "father?" once again, no one replied to you.

as you got closer and closer to the room they reside in, the smell only got stronger. you scrunch your nose in disgust at the horrid smell.

your heart started pounding rapidly in your chest, your hand getting cold by the second. you gulp then held onto the door knob of their said room.

"i'm... i'm coming inside, okay?"

slowly, you turned the knob to open the huge mahogany door in front of you. its creaks made you wince, the light from out the hallway seeping its way inside your parent's room.

"pardon me..." you peeked your head inside and saw two figures laying down on the bed.

even though you knew it was your parents who were on the bed, the smell still bothered you. slowly you inched your way towards them, not bothering to turn on the lights incase they were still asleep.

"mother? father? something smells weird. i do not know where it's coming from." they weren't snoring like they usually did, nor did they groan from your trespass.

your eyes gazed at the lower parts of their chest where there, you had just seen a shiny object. "what..."

you leaned towards it, eyes widening when you realized what the object was. "this is..."

"madam? we were informed that something happened, shall we head in to see what it is?" a servant knocked on your parent's door.

you couldn't move from your spot and just stood near their bed, startled at what you were witnessing.

"madam? we're heading in, alright?" the door opens widely, providing the light from outside to enter the pitch black room.

the maid gasps at the sight of you in front of your parent's bed, staring at the knife that had been impaled at your father's chest.

"oh god!" she drops the tray she was holding, the sound echoing throughout the area. "y-young lady! w-what are you...?

"i... i didn't... they just..." you stutter, taking a few steps back as you felt something at the pit of your stomach.

"hey, what's going–" a trusted butler of yours called leonid stepped in when he saw that a maid screamed out of nowhere in the middle of the night.

he looks at your shaking figure near the bed where he had seen blood dripping from the sheets. that moment had he only smelled the gut wrenching odor.

"young lady!" the old man sprints towards you, dragging you away from the scene. "you must leave this instance."

you didn't reply, you were still shaken up that you couldn't utter a word. leonid clicks his tongue and carries you away, exiting the room.

"let everyone know that the young lady has been kidnapped." he told the maid.

"w-what? but–"

"this is the master's final wish, do as you are told."

°

years later...

"hello there beautiful lady! we have fresh lotus heads all the way from liyue for only a hundred mora. care to buy some?"