My Fair Lady

CHAPTER SIX

"Mother? Where are we going? Mother?" 

"You need to learn how to survive on your own from now on, Helene! Don't ask any questions!" Caroline said firmly, her expression terribly serious as she dragged Helene from their home. 

"What about Father?" Helene asked timidly, looking sadly back at their London home .

Caroline yelled this time, a note of finality in her voice. "Hurry!" She urged, and Helene could only see the flames that consumed their house from a distance. 

Likes me. He told me that he likes me.

Propped against a pile of pillows on her bed, Helene watched the view outside from her sole window, her expression pensive as she recalled Louis's words. She was neither naive enough to believe that the like Louis had spoken about was from love, nor was she foolish enough to assume that he could be happy with her. However, she was certain of two things: Louis was a decent man and somehow, she wanted to make his life more comfortable by being his side. 

She sighed, wanted to feel grateful since she gained quite a few things from the marriage, such as freedom, but she had no idea on how to be a 'proper' wife for someone and now she hoped that she actually had a notion of it since her knowledge of marriage was limited and not helpful. For as long as she could remember, her own father had been a handsome, charming, elegant stranger, who, when he visited them, was greeted with adoration from his wife until she decided to take their daughter away to raise by herself.

Honestly speaking, Helene had few recollections of her early childhood, so she had few ideas on the reason why her mother decided to raise her single-handedly and put her under the care of a dangerous man called 'Jack'. But in spite of everything, Helene knew that her mother had loved her. Yet, she still felt a very strong sense of foreboding when she attempted to recall the dark past as if she had forgotten something important.

As she went down her memory with more depth, Helene remembered with a pang of pain how her existence had caused her mother to lose her life, and how it made her father the way he was to resort to that. How life must have laughed at her.

In order to escape the pain, Helene shifted her mind back to her own marriage with sheer determination. He seemed to treat her kindly even when she spoke her mind or said something outrageous. Sometimes, she could help him to manage household affairs but how to go further on with him? She was quite certain that Louis would not be happy once he found out her past so in to make this marriage work, she needed to conceal it the best she could. After all, hiding was her speciality.

As Helene watched the flickering flame in front of her which was the only thing that lighted up her room and lowered her eyes. Now she ha a new challenge ahead of her. She required herself to be fit of being a wife of a noble. She already had quite a 'tarnished' reputation because of her birth despite of her being a full blue blood which contained half of royal lineage. She would put in effort  to make sure that her husband never had a reason to be ashamed of her.

My husband, Helene thought as she watched the entertainment of two pigeons chirping outside while perching on top of a nearby branch. That calm and refined man is going to be her husband next week...

The soft rustle of the wind moved lazily into her room, catching her attention as it swept sheets of paper onto the cold wooden floor. She got up hurriedly to pick them up. Among the piles of paper, an article stood out to her. 

'THE PHANTOM-a real person or just a myth? Scotland Yard under pressure as nobles questioned their reliability"

Helene pursed her lips, eyebrows furrowing as she threw the article out of the window, letting the calm wind to do the job for her. It is just a copycat killer. She convinced herself, but it was not enough to calm her inner turmoil. She carded her fingers through her long hair, her instinct, whom she had named 'Heloise' when she was younger, told her that it was not as simple as she thought.

In Bristol, Alphonse Liebert arrived at precisely 2 am in the morning. In the doorway of the drawing room, he stopped, scarcely able to believe the sight in front of him. There were three corpses lying on the floor, a man, a woman and a teenage boy. All of them were shot. There was only one survivor, the killer, a young boy barely twelve and who was still holding the hunting gun. He stared at his family in a daze state as Liebert frowned. 

"You called for me?" 

He was referring to the pretty woman who was looming over the young boy, whispering soothing words in the boy's ear. She was smiling gently, a smile that seemed so touching that sometimes Liebert wondered if she was even real since she was actually a monster who manipulated people on a whim to kill the people she wanted to be dead.

"Good morning, Alphonse. How has your trip been so far." With a warm smile, she levelled her golden brown eyes toward his, as if to welcome him. "The Carlsons were too curious about my past so they had to be eliminated. Quite an ending for them to be killed by their own child, how tragic."

Liebert chewed his lip, swallowing hard. She was just a young woman, but an aura of retained power and poison emanated from her which separated her from the rest. A very formidable woman with a brain that was stronger than men.

"There is already a huge stir in London, Hayes has been doing his job right. And as for Helene Emsworth, she is going to be married to some Louis Moriarty." 

Her lips parted in a slight surprise. "Is that so? That will makes things kind of difficult..." 

Liebert knew that she was just making a jest since nothing was difficult for her. "Are you planning to get her back to your side by killing Louis Moriarty?"

She pondered for a moment before smiling with a cold glint in her eyes. "Not now, it is still too early for us to meet, however..."

"She will come back to me by her own will after regaining her memories. After all, there is only me and her in this aimless world." She finished in a chilling tone, making Liebert's skin crawled.

"London bridge is broken down, broken down..."

"London bridge is broken down...my fair...lady." 

The moon hung low in the sky, casting a soft, silver glow over her face, revealing a face that was an exact copy of Helene Emsworth.

A/N: I have finally crawled out of my grave...with writer's block. Some of you might have realised that this is quite similar to Naoki Urasawa's 'Monster'. 

I love Johan:)