Sounds of Silence: A Tale of a Girl Who Couldn't Hear

In The House of General Li'e

In a dormant chamber of the House of Li, a young man was surrounded by flaming candles. An engraving of an unusual emblem was carved and inked with white chalk on the wooden floor. A quiet breeze was swimming around the air outside. 

The young man slowly began to slur out a sutra of mumbling words. It seemed to make the flames more vibrant as they grew big and shrank small. The air seemed to hum as the flames illuminated the emblem. The white chalk seemed to glow.

"Young Master! The Madam Li seeks for you!" said the young voice of Bai Ye, a young maid. She let out a gasp but didn't run off. 

Everything settled down the minute she had entered. She sank into a bow.

"I am so sorry for disturbing you! I didn't know! This lowly servant deserves to die!" Bai Ye said repeatedly, begging for forgiveness while cursing at herself. The emotionless young man paid no attention to the maid and quickly dressed in his royal blue silk robes. 

The slight sweep of the wind tipped over the candles, putting out the flames and spilling candle oil. 

"Go clean that up and I might forgive you," he said in his stone-cold voice. He held this tone when he felt annoyed and she understood immediately. She was about to rush off to find the rags but he stopped her.

"No, you are to clean that up with your hands and your hands alone. I like to see them scalding burned when I come back," he said as he left her on the floor. 

...

Bai Ye's screams could be heard as she picked up the hot candles. She had brought in a basin of water to cool her scalding hands but it just left her hands hot and puffy with burning scars. Oh, why did he had to be so cold? 

...

As he walked through, every servant quickly ducked their heads and placed themselves against the wall. No one was to mess with him for he could end your life if he were in a particular bad mood. Which was all the time. 

Ice-cold demeanor, stone-cold voice, known to the world as the God of War, he was the epitome and lived up to his reputation. However, his past was not.

Rushing flames swept up his village. Echoing screams bouncing through the air. A galloping horse carrying a man and a woman, holding a young toddler who had fallen asleep. The horse was traveling with other horses carrying other people. The voices of relentlessness, asking and forcing upon leaving the child in the slums. 

When he woke up, the smell of smoke lingered in the air. The hunger and starvation swirling in him. The desire to survive adamant on leaving him. The need for a mother's love so strong and desired for. 

Alone and wearing nothing. He is alone. 

'God, why is that always coming back to me? It's in the past,' he thought. He hated thinking back to his past, a painful and hurtful past that continued to haunt him. Nothing was able to rid him of his nightmares.

He entered a room of glisten and glamor. Everything had been modified to a more classy and gorgeous style, silks and jewels. However, it did not distract him from what is was called for.

An elegant woman wearing colored silks and a stud of jewelry sat in a chair, awaiting for General Li'e. She wore a smile but soon was diminished at the sight of her son, with his eyes narrowed in coldness.

"Please, don't wear such looks. It doesn't suit you," she began.

"What is it that you asked my presence for?" 

"Must you be so formal in front of your mother?"

General Li'e narrowed more of his eyes at the sound of the word mother. 

"I have good news for you, dear son. You are grown and still single so I have arranged an engagement for you since birth."

"I am not in any need for a wife," he said coldly, the temperature falling into below freezing. It did not diminish Madam Li however.

"Still trying to use intimidation on me? Won't work. As for your wife, she is the daughter of Prime Minister Lin of the Lin Manor. A beauty named Lin. Xiao Yu," Madam Lin emphasized the last three words of Lin Xiao Yu's name. 

"Lis-!"

Madam Lin raised up a hand.

"Don't talk! You may be unwilling to marry to a girl who has many rumors surrounding her but you will make her your wife no matter what! You cannot break off an engagement and I will certainly not let the Lin family break it off either! The benefits of this marriage for both houses are extremely good and I won't let this opportunity go to waste! Any objections you have, go tell them to Bai Ye! You may go, I don't want to see you anymore," snapped Madam Lin as she shooed off Li'e. 

General Li'e knew better than to argue back to his mother. He merely gave her a cold look and left, leaving the atmosphere extremely tense and cold. 

That night, he hoped that he could accomplish what he had planned. 

...

Soooooo.....was that good enough?