Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Three days later, with weary eyes, Evin finally came into his room and fell onto his bed, groaning from his exhaustion. He had just come from his father's burial. Thankfully, the funeral lunch only had two dozen people and only five attended the burial itself.

Evin wasn't expected to say much during both events considering what happened, but he still had to say things. Praises for the deceased, so he'd be able to go on peacefully to the afterlife. Evin spoke of things with such insincerity, he even began to feel ashamed at the end of it all. He hated it all.

Even more than that, Evin hated every attendant that came to the funeral lunch. It was painfully obvious that half of them came for the food, and half came to create connections with Evin. They would praise Evin's maturity in handling everything by himself, but would talk to him as if he was a child who was blind, deaf, and mentally challenged, however that was possible. One 1st grade woman even outright invited Evin to be adopted to her family, and had the gall to act like she was doing him a huge favor. Evin didn't even know the woman.

Evin took in a deep breath, and after holding it for ten seconds, let it all out.

'Well, at least I'm done with everything now…'

Evin kept his house and his old possessions and managed to do a thorough cleaning of it all. But he did sell everything worth money his father owned and burnt the rest.

He was, for the time being, considered an orphan, but since he had a stable source of income (technically), he didn't need to be adopted. Leanne asked if he wanted her to search for her mother, but Evin didn't want to bother the woman that left him and his father and asked Leanne forget about the matter as well.

He half-regretted this decision, but his feeling of being wronged by his mother outweighed his curiosity towards her, so the decision still stood. Perhaps Leanne would still go searching for her despite his protests, and Evin planned to not blame her for her actions. But what's going to happen after the meeting… Evin didn't want to think about it.

As he was thinking about the day's events, a knock came from the door.

Cursing under his breath, Evin walked up to the door. He saw Bella on the other side of the door, holding two bottles of wine.

"Sorry for the sudden intrusion. Is it okay if I come in?"

"Sure," Evin replied and held the door open.

Bella ducked under his arms and put down the two wine bottles on the table. Reaching for the cupboard next to it, she brought out two wooden cups. She encased one bottle in ice before opening the other and pouring it into the cups. Evin found himself smiling at the sight. He picked up one cup and took a sip from it.

"You've been quite busy these few days," Bella commented.

"Yes. Yes I was," Evin said with an exaggerated sigh. "I'm starting to understand why I wasn't able to take hold of you after the Countess passed away a month ago… Almost two months now, I suppose."

"Ah, that… Yeah," she sighed.

"What were you doing then, anyway?"

"Hmm… We were debating on who was going to be her successor. Decatur did not possess the support of the nobles and Gehenne was not available at the time. So the Viscount families wanted to take control before the kingdom or the Duchess sent someone of their own to rule over us."

"And what does that have to do with you?"

"Since mages are more easily accepted to rule over lands, me and Phel were potential candidates. We were definitely not going to be picked considering that other Viscount families had much older and accomplished mages, but we were candidates regardless."

Evin nodded and after a sip, commented, "Sounds like something you'd hate."

"I know, right?" Bella chuckled. "You don't know how close I was to letting a spell loose in one of those meetings…"

"Definitely sounds like something you'd do," Evin said smilingly.

"I have impeccable control over myself, thank you very much," Bella hmphed. "But honestly, they should've picked me in the end, all things considered. Anything would be better than that prick Decatur."

"I thought you hated to be a noble. Becoming countess sounds like a lot of trouble for you."

"Not really."

Bella's words were a big revelation to Evin.

'Was I wrong? But no, everyone among the noble society says the same thing about her. Some even say that she goes around declaring her hatred for it.'

"But enough about me," Bella suddenly said. "How was the funeral?"

"Terrible."

"I'm sorry," she said, sounding terribly guilty.

"Not in the way you're imagining," Evin corrected. "It's hard to talk about."

"Hard?"

"Not hard… Awkward? Embarrassing?"

"Now I have to really know about it."

Evin smiled wryly. "It's nothing so interesting. I wasn't sad or anything during my father's funeral. Just spent and annoyed. During these past three days, I was just hoping that everything would be finished so I can go to my room and be done with it all… But that's not really something you think about during your father's funeral, right?"

Bella's face changed subtly. Evin noticed the same hesitation she'd show whenever the atmosphere between the two of them shifted. He regretted saying these words. They were having fun talking, but Evin had to go and ruin it for the both of them. But then he noticed another emotion on Bella's face. A distinct look of determination.

"You know?" she began, her voice sounding strained. "I'm really jealous of you."

"…" Evin did not know how to respond.

"Not because you were born into a commoner's house, not because of your talent in magic, not because of those unexplainable advantages you possess… but because you've killed your own father."

"What?"

"I've told you before, right? That the reason I want to become strong is so I can take revenge on someone. I didn't tell you who it was then, but I'll tell you today. It's my father. I want to kill my father."

Even if Evin's head was swarming with questions, he did not voice them out.

"Do you remember who I wanted to take revenge for?" Bella asked.

"Your mother, her friend, and you," Evin replied.

Bella took in a breath and sighed it out.

"My mother's friend… she was the previous wife of my father. My mother and her friend were 1st grades as far as I know, and somehow, her friend managed to catch the attention of my father, then heir of the Borna house. Supposedly, their parents were against their marriage and wanted them to break up, but through my father's insistence and my mother's friend's – let's just call her Ina – through Ina's display of sincerity and vastness of her heart, they finally managed to get married."

"But my mother was a jealous person. She always wanted what everyone else had, but she was especially fixated on Ina. Whatever Ina had, she had to have as well. The same dresses, the same friends, the same interests, the same words as well. I heard she even committed thievery once to get what she needed. Ina herself didn't seem to mind it as much, and it's been like that since their childhood, I've heard. So when Ina got married to a Viscount, mother had to get something similar."

"But no Viscount would ever marry someone so pathetic like my mother. So, she decided to be employed as a maidservant in my father's household. And, when Ina became pregnant with my eldest sister, mother managed to seduce my father, becoming one of his few mistresses. Don't look so surprised. Despite her disposition, she was definitely a beautiful woman."

"Sigh. Despite it all, Ina was still tolerant of her. After all, she could tolerate father's other mistresses, so why couldn't she tolerate my mother? Personally, I think those two were both wrong in the head. Anyway, five years passed like this, with mother still following Ina's trails like a shadow... Ina had another daughter, but none of the other mistresses bore a child. A magical device that prevented pregnancies or something."

"But then, Ina died. Actually, she first went missing. But was later found inside the mansion's dungeons, beaten to death. They couldn't find the culprit, but my father wasn't so insistent on finding who did it. Then... he officially married my mother. Soon enough, I was born."