Burning Embers of Desire

prologue

Love is such a powerful emotion that it may take over your thinking, causing you to act in ways you would never consider doing even if doing so will cause you agony. Although there is suffering, there is also bliss, which is manifested in smiles and sincere feelings that cause the heart to beat in various patterns.

Alcina Dimitrescu, frustrated with her current work, made the decision to slice the canvas that had once been on the easel, ripping and shredding it into minuscule bits with her sharp and long claws.

"As usual, a piece of crap." She spoke quietly with clenched teeth. Irritated by the fact that she had wasted so much time and paint, and had ended up ruining the canvas.

Alcina leaned back against the chair she was sitting in, resting her elbow on the arm, and squeezed her eyes shut to calm herself down with her fingers stroking her temple. She knew very well that if she wasn't careful with her emotions, she would almost certainly destroy the entire art room in a matter of seconds.

"So foolish!" She yelled indignantly at herself. "Paint something about love? What sort of a idea is that? What I did wasn't even about love!" She sighed and gave herself permission to reclaim her peace.

She heard a knock at the door, but she was too preoccupied on soothing herself to even flinch to see who it was.

"My lady— oh my goodness." A woman's voice had rang into her ear, or should she just say her head maid— Paula, who has been employed here for six years and has formally earned a portion of her trust. "Your drink is here, my lady. I should tidy this up."

Alcina opened her eyes to see the blonde, tanned girl set the Sanguis Virginis bottle and her elaborately decorated glass on the table before hurriedly leaving to clean the canvas she had just ruined.

"My lady, this is so lovely. Why must you deface it?" Paula has asked her as she put the pieces of the shredded painting together, to view the entire painting, which features a woman with white hair and purple eyes smelling a white rose.

"I don't like it, and that's also really highly unrealistic." How hilarious, as if Alcina herself isn't unrealistic at all. "Besides it's not fitting into the theme for this month."

"I think it's lovely, my lady, and it could pass for a fantasy portrait that you may offer for sale at Lady Cassandra's next auction." Paula had recommended.

To explain briefly, Cassandra is a well-known painter in the village for her creations but she uses a moniker to not be known, and every year she chooses a theme for her paintings that she will sell, with half of the proceeds going to charity. Alcina is very proud of her daughter and she supports her fulltime that the countess herself creates paintings which are also featured at the sale and is always sold in a very high price.

"It isn't worth being sold." Alcina had said while drinking from her glass. "Besides it's already ruined away, might as well throw it."

Paula simply nodded and grabbed the canvas as she stood up. "Where did you get the inspiration to depict a woman like her in a painting?"

Alcina glances at Paula, who shrugs her shoulders as she has no idea why she painted a woman with such unnatural characteristics. "I dont know either. To tell the truth, the painting may have been a fairly arbitrary concept." How else would she known? Alcina just paints whatever that comes into her mind. "Enough with that, what's the latest on the three maidens who intended to sell my jewelry on the market?"

"They're already in the dungeon, and after one of them confessed, your daughters decided to fire her rather than convert her into wine."

"What about the remaining two?"

"They continue to fib and deny what they done, my lady."

Alcina nods, then stands. "I'll wait a few more days, and if they refuse to admit anything, I'll have no choice."

"I'll tell your daughters," Paula dropped her head and responded. "Oh and, my lady. Mother Miranda called earlier, and a new batch of maidens will arrive on Tuesday of the following week. She instructed me to tell you that this is the last batch she'll be sending to you, and she chose them by herself because they are known to be very trusted by their previous employers and are also very skilled workers. If you decide to eliminate them again, she'll ignore you for an eternity and not tell you the latest gossips she knows."

Alcina rolled her eyes and made a low huffing sound. There it was again, her mother's threat not to speak to her and to tell her the juiciest gossip she would ever hear. It is not her fault that she attempted to get rid of her maidens; rather, it is theirs, as she was fair and kind to them, yet they still found a way to stab her in the back.

"Alright," Alcina just stated before leaving her head maid behind. A fresh group of maidens that have been formally selected by Miranda and also are expertly skilled? "I shall find out next week whether if this is ever true."