"My sword is one inch away from slicing your neck. My victory is one inch away, yet why can't I do it, Althea? What kind of spell have you cast on me to have me thinking about you all day?!"
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Byeol meets a tragic death at age nineteen...
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I don't know how long it took me to climb out of the carriage and hold my dress up as I rushed up the stairs of the ducal estate, the doors already opened and servants welcoming me, but I only stopped running when I got to Atlas's room.
Now standing outside the large detailed door and trying to catch my breath, I reach up to the handle, thinking better of it as I opt for knocking instead.
No sound. My worries skyrocket.
"Atlas!" I probably look insane. Suddenly an image of a very familiar twelve year old boy flashes in my mind - one where he's not moving, not breathing. He's lifeless, and I'm drowning, I'm drowning because I'm trying to speak yet no words escape my mouth. My lungs burn but I'm not submerged in water. Nobody is helping. Everybody is watching, and I can't move. I can't move - I can only watch his lifeless body and the pool of blood forming underneath it, and the man standing in front of him - of my little brother - holding a bloody sword and a deep hatred towards me. And I can't move I can't help I can't do anything I'm helpless despite my gift and suddenly I'm useless and-
"Lady Althea... Atlas is in the main room with a woman who... uhm..." The voice behind me trailed off, bringing a confused frown to my face.
Perhaps I really am going insane. I think to myself as I stare at the door, the words spoken by the man behind me sinking in, the image of the twelve year old boy who looked too much like my brother erased from my mind. Atleast that's what I tell myself, and it stings a bit less.
I turn around to see one of Atlas's assigned servants, in his professional attire with a handkerchief over his folded in front of his chest arm.
"Who what?" I manage to speak calmly despite my racing nerves.
"She claims to uh..."
"Spit it out!" Well that doesn't sound calm. If I didn't look crazy before, I surely do now.
"She claims to be his mother, my lady." He finally said, and the world stopped for a moment.
Atlas's mother.
Atlas's mother.
Of course! How could I be so stupid? My biological mother died giving birth to me - I mean, Althea - and almost five years later, Atlas was born, from a different woman. It is strange, though, that father never mentioned it to Althea. If he did, she would've written it down or...
Suddenly, my heart started to speed up - panicking - which I knew was strange, because I definetely was not that surprised or terrified. Could this be connected to the voices I was hearing inside my head during the first few days, the days before my father's death?
Are these Althea's feelings?
Honestly, I thought she had... disappeared by now. Like, her spirit lingered for a while inside her body after she practically ended her life, and then just vanished, ceasing the voices too.