Alluring Secret : Black Vow

Chapter 2 : Part 2 : Change

Chapter 2, Part 2 – Change

The roaring sound of the swelling flames. The pitch black of the dark night had suddenly been dyed in the red of the huge, spreading flames, and the surroundings echoed with deafening screams and shouts. Maids, butlers, and servants came running for their lives out of the majestically-built mansion.

"My lady ...."

The elderly butler that was standing in front tore off the hem of his scorched tailcoat, and wrapped it around the exposed scrape on her knee. It was not bleeding very much.

Since earlier, she hadn't been able to move; it was as if her body had turned to stone. Even if she wanted to move, she couldn't. That was because—

"Lady Miku ..... you mustn't."

Both of her arms were being pinned down by the servant holding her from behind. A young child had no hopes of resisting against the strength of an adult. How powerless, and pitiful. She could only catch as her loved ones were left behind to burn in the blazing flames.

"Father ...... Moth ..... er ......"

The tears wouldn't come. Or rather, they had long since dried up.

She was already tired of crying over "this moment" that would repeat over and over.

"That same dream again ...."

In response to being awakened by the scene from earlier, her consciousness was chilled as ice. The dream that she had seen countless times since her youth— For as long as she could remember, even as she grew older, the traumatic memory of the day she'd lost her parents was engraved into her heart.

She took the glass of water from her bedside table and drank it all in a single gulp. Her dried throat met with tasteless and odorless moisture. As she slowly regained her breath, the sound of her heartbeat also slowly calmed down. When she looked at the clock, she saw that it wasn't even daybreak yet. It was still too early to be called morning. She debated for a while about going back to sleep. However, every time she had this dream, try as she may, she was never able to fall back asleep.

The prestigious family of Alphine, the Cyrinpts. Their lineage dated back to the founding of Alphine four hundred years prior; a family with much history, known all over Alphine, as well as in neighboring countries. This was due to the fact that, dating back to the three that were well-known at the time of Alphine's founding, along with those that later fought in the long war in Velcant, every successive family head have since had their names recorded in history. Although the current family head­— Miku's mother, was the first female head since the House of Cyrinpt had been established, her personality and caliber as a lord was by no means inferior. And while she was Miku's "mother", in terms of kinship, she was actually her non-blood-related aunt. Miku's real mother and father had died in a fire when she was still three years old.

She had once lived with her parents and several servants in a mansion that was about ten kilometers away from the Cyrinpt Mansion she was currently residing in. It was not a very large mansion; a humble living closer to common people than a noble's. The day the fire had occured, the young head of the Cyrinpt Mansion, her uncle, had just come to visit. When the fire actually started, Miku had been saved by being brought outside by the butler who helped her get ready for bed. As for her parents and uncle, however, even when the flames died down and the mansions had collapsed, their bodies were nowhere to be found.

The burnt wreckage was severely damaged, and due to everything burning out overnight and turning to ash, not even their remains were left. With her real mother and her younger brother, Miku's uncle, dead, there was a momentary crisis that the legitimate bloodline of Cyrinpt would die out as well. However, there was still hope of survival with the wife of the previous head. The niece, Miku, was adopted by her to save the continuation of the Cyrinpt bloodline, and she herself would succeed as the family head.