The Chronicle of Aurelia Aurelius

Chapter 46 I'm Not Alone

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On the way home, Adel steered her horse towards near my horse. Adel said, "What had just happened, my lady?"

I answered, "What do you mean?"

"Are you really letting that man into your household like Cassius and Valerie?"

"Of course...I felt there was no harm about him..."

"However, my lady, will his grace and madam allow this?"

I looked at her, "That's why I told him to find me before my parents arrived."

"Even, if that happens, they must be so angry and furious about your choice, that you have invited three strangers into your household without their concern..."

"Are you really going to lecture me about this Adel, like Lady Octavi? Lecturing me about my ignorance and idiocy."

I saw Adel looking at Lady Octavi, who was behind me, steering the horse, and Adel said "I see, that's why you were being quiet back in the tavern, not trying to prevent her from inviting strangers, you have tried to lecture my lady about this, and realising it was your own mistake."

Lady Octavi remained silent, I said, "There is no one mistake, Adel, you are the same with her, you didn't tell me anything either and led my idiocy. I know that you two just followed the order, so I passed it..." Adel and Lady Octavi exchanged a knowing glance, understanding the weight of the situation.

~~~

As we arrived home, Adel immediately took care of me to change the dress to my casual attire. I tried to relax in the living room without any plans or anything to do on that day. Adel brought me a tea set with the tea and some snacks. As I sat in the living room, Adel stood across from me, pouring tea. After pouring the tea, Adel went off from the room.

Soon I realised that I had lived here for weeks in this house, and never paid attention more to this living room. Surely, I had been in there when met Milo, yet in that time, I didn't pay any attention in this room. I got up from my seat. I started to wander around the room. As I was walking around, I could see a lot of things like a lot of tapestries, a family's coat of arms, a pair of daggers and a pair of swords, and lastly, a giant portrait of my family with me and my parents. I was standing in the middle of my parents, and my mother was right beside me while sitting, while my father was standing behind us.

I took some steps towards the portrait and looked closer at it. Somehow, I felt different and eerie, as I kept looking at myself, who was still a kid like 6 years old. The portrait of me seemed to be staring back at me, almost as if it were alive. The most eerie thing was that my expression in the portrait seemed sad yet I was scared with that expression. I turned my gaze to my parents, their expressions were as mine in the portrait, full of sadness, yet somehow their sadness made me scared and shivered my entire body.

I couldn't shake the feeling that something was unsettling about the portrait. I was wondering what my family faced at that time. Unfortunately, I lost my entire memory that day, so I didn't remember anything behind this portrait or why I was sad about it.

Suddenly, I could hear someone's voice say, "Excuse me, my lady..." from behind me. I turned my body and saw Lady Octavi at the entrance of the room. As our eyes met, she said, "May I come in?"

I nodded and said, "You may come in..."

Lady Octavi entered the room gracefully, she was walking towards me, and as she approached, she said, "I see, my lady is still admiring the portrait..."

Admiring wasn't the word, I asked her, "This portrait, may you know anything behind it or the story of what happened when this portrait was painted?"

"Unfortunately, I am not the right person to say that because, at the time of this portrait, I was still in the academy..."