Erica

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Walter was not in the mood to deal with his brother or rather he was not in the mood to deal with any of his family members.

He knew why Sorin had come to see him. His brother wanted him to apologise to the Count for his disrespectful behaviour.

"Not now." Walter tried to get rid of him and started moving around the room searching for anything that could help him find answers. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful.

"Listen brother, I know-"

"Not now. Can you not see that I am busy with something." Walter snapped cutting him off mid-sentence. He was not happy.

Sorin let out a sigh. Walter's attitude was not helping. Trying to think of what to do about this situation he found his eyes wondering around the room.

Walter had begun to move. He seemed curious of the room as well, this was evident as he began to snoop around.

"What is this room?" Sorin could not help but voice his thoughts.

Walter ignored him and continued. He had yet to come across anything worth noting until he reached the old oakwood cupboard.

Inside hung a few of Sibyl's old dresses and coats. It took him a while to realise that they once even belonged to Sibyl as every time he had seen her in one of them, the dress would be just about hidden with all the ridiculous amount of accessories and jewellery that she always insisted on wearing.

Why were her old dresses here?

Walter had a feeling that he knew what this meant, and he knew the answer. He really wished that he was wrong.

"Those of Sibyls..." Sorin muttered out stating the obvious. Walter just sighed; his brother was honestly so slow.

Walter continued to look around but there was not much more. Most of the items he came across were definitely once Sibyls. Most of the items except for the stack of books on the table. Strangely familiar books from the Alvore library.

Walter reached for one, grasping its hard cover gently in one hand and flipping through the pages with the other. They were full of magnificent words telling the beautiful story hidden within.

There was not a chance that Sibyl would ever read a book of such magnitude and finesse. Walter knew his childish sister to well, Sibyl loved books that were simple with a lot of illustrations.

When he placed the book back down on the desk and reached for the second one, he disturbed a loose page causing it to fall to the ground. There was writing on it.

Sorin caught sight of this seconds before Walter did and picked it up.

It was a handwritten note with beautiful penmanship. He did not recognise the handwriting and before he could even attempt to read it, Walter snatched it out his hands with a rude glare.

Walter's eyes raced through the words widening as he neared the end.

"What does it say?" Sorin worriedly asked after observing his brother's facial expressions.

Walter gave him the page and sat down on the bed running a hand through his hair in what looked like frustrated shock. He let out a hard sigh and slammed his fists down next to him.

Damn it. Damn it all!

That single page confirmed what he knew the moment he stepped foot into the room.

This was Erica's room.

It revealed that she had lived in this room secluded from the family for six whole years believing that this was all part of her punishment for hurting Sibyl all those years ago.

Walter thought back to Sibyl's thirteenth birthday. The last time he officially saw his youngest sister, Erica.

That was the day when Sibyl claimed that Erica had hurt her. Walter remembered it clearly from how Sibyl was sitting the floor to the tears in her eyes.

Walter was seventeen and still residing on the estate. He unknowingly at the time still held a petty sort of dislike towards Erica, it had diminished quite largely since she had lost her voice, but it was still very much there. This would not have been the case had he gotten to know her, but people are complicated creatures, first and long-lasting impressions mean everything and for those to change takes time spent to properly understand the other person.

Walter and Erica rarely interacted to begin with, so nothing was done to offer the chance to allow them to understand each other better. As far as Erica knew, her brother hated her and as far as Walter knew, Erica was not a very nice person. That was after all how he had perceived her ever since he was a child, and nothing had been done to change this.

Given the scene that he and Sorin walked in on that day, it was painted to show Sibyl as the victim and Erica as the villain. If Walter did not carry this bad impression of her surely, he would have properly analysed the situation before taking sides.

Walter was aware that neither his brother nor especially his mother liked the girl. He had underestimated his mother's obvious hatred. She was looking for any excuse to push Erica away from them and had succeeded by never ending the punishment.

If the contents of what was written in that note were true, then it proved how badly all of them treated Erica that day. The Countess and Sibyl especially.

Walter was ridden with guilt and rage. An odd mix of emotions. He felt like the worst person on earth, but in his defence, there were others in this family who wronged his tragically deceased sister more.

Walter was beyond livid. He fully resented his family. All of them.

How could they do this to her?!

Erica was just a child. She did not understand anything when they all slowly forgot about her. What made it worse was that she blamed herself, her wording made that clear. She saw her punishment as justified, she failed to see the neglect.

If she had not passed, he would have found her and dropped down to his knees and cried like a dog. He would not beg for forgiveness, but for her to hurt him back. For her to punish him for failing as a brother, for being so disgusting. He needed to pay, but so did everyone else who hurt had done harm to her.

The devastating truth was that his sister was no longer around. She could no longer get her revenge, but that did not matter for Walter vowed that he would get it for her. He would punish those who needed to be on her behalf. He would avenge his sister even if it meant turning on his own family.

A sinister smile began to form on his lips as he let this idea consume him.

Sorin too was experiencing negative emotions upon reading the letter. His main emotions revolved around guilt and regret. He felt like an absolute failure of an older brother. He felt deeply remorseful and greatly disappointed with himself.

Sorin did not know as much as Walter did, but still believed he could fix things. He would strengthen the investigation on the search for Erica even if he had to handle it himself. He would find her and do everything he could to make it up to her. She deserved a major apology even if he never receives her forgiveness in return.

Sorin glanced over at Walter and nearly flinched when he met his younger brother's terrifying expression.

Walter could not be bothered with Sorin at the moment, Sorin had not done much to Erica. There were other members of the family that had done more, but that did not mean that Sorin was off the hook, his time would come.

Walter stood up intending to make his way out the room. He had important stuff to do.

"Walter, wait!" Sorin called after him but was unsurprisingly ignored.

"Walter," he ran after him still holding the note, "Erica is alive."