The Duke's eyes were worried as he bent down and tackled Ophelia into her warm blankets. She needed rest, and even though the mansion wasn't the safest place for her to be, the duke had allowed her to stay a little bit longer. Ophelia felt the drowsiness of her eyes and slowly went back to sleep, her mind still wondered at the dark mage and the possibility of it being her.
And slowly, the Duke spared Ophelia with a last glance before leaving the room and casting a safe barrier for her.
It wasn't when an hour had past and Ophelia felt the need to wake up soon. Her senses heightened abnormally and her pulse quickened as if she had been chased down in her dream. But this was no dream, she was sweating under her sheets, and this uncomfortable feeling woke her up to her nightmare.
"D-duke...what is happening?"
Ophelia's heart beat loudly, her skin hair had stood up to its ends and she felt dizzy and scared. All that she saw was an utter state of darkness, but she could feel the bed and the sheets, and even something that was quiet heavy seemed to lay on top of her legs. It rather seemed alive, could it be the Duke had fallen asleep?
"~Opheliaa, my dear....let me set you free please." The Duchess hummed, like a ghost, she laid on top of Ophelia, Her dark hair scattered over Ophelia's blanket and her red eyes glimmered with thirst. The duchess had turned delirious, it was a side effect of the dark bead that had stayed too long within her. She couldn't leave without it anymore, and her desires had lapsed her humanity as Ophelia once again, smelled appetizing. She raised Ophelia's chin with her long fingers.
Ophelia unable to stare back at her veiny red eyes. She kept her eyes closed, not knowing what to do next. The duchess laid still on top of Ophelia, She felt hungry for her blood. For the Duchess, it had been a while since she have smelled this scent again. She had totally forgotten it when the dark bead dispersed out of her. The bead had still lingered in the mansion, unable to find its next host, and had left a piece of it inside the duchess, or rather the duchess had taken a piece of it within her. She couldn't be herself without it anymore, she had gotten too used to it to the point of dependency.
"~I waited ten years for you…" The duchess cowered on top of her. She had taken care of the Duke who laid still on the floor with blood gushing out.
'…ten years? This doesn't make any sense'
Ophelia thought, still stuck in this unsightly position.
"Before I devour you, let me introduce myself again to you...my name is Katerina Marcias la Callista..." She grinned at Ophelia maniacally.
Touching Ophelia's face, she licked the cold sweat on her cheeks and spoke-
"~Here, I'll show you something amazing..." With her words Ophelia was forced to open her eyes and the duchess poke her forehead gently as she showed her an illusion for the truth.
"I married Vincent la Franciose-the infamous dark mage of the Royal Family who got dethroned because of me." She spoke nonchalantly.
"Ah, right…I didn't marry him, I took him haha~"
Ophelia blinked at events happening before her. Images of the younger Duke, no the crown prince rather, at his late youth appeared before her like moving pictures, a memory. And there were two women, the duchess hid behind Vincent's back as if to protect her from the woman in front. She looked rather the spitting image of Roselia, but she couldn't be her since Roselia was way older and had grey hair instead of blonde.
"Vincent was a kind man and I loved him...if only he hadn't married her! Roselia Marcias Francios, I despise her."
As the story began to unfold, the name "Marcias" had come from the two lovers of Vincent. The first crown prince of their empire had been tempted by Katerina. The crown prince who was the beholder of the dark bead had transferred it to Katerina's body unknowingly, and she made the perfect host for its darkness to grow in power.
But when the crown prince had been sane again, it was too late to set things right. Katerina, overloaded with her dark power had lost her sanity. Vincent was engaged to Roselia, a Western loyalty, and their marriage had to be done despite the deed. As they have known, Vincent was the dark bead beholder and Roselia had the light bead within her, thus reuniting the two was a necessary move to balance each other.
Later on, they found out that Katerina had the bead transferred within her. Because of this, the Crown prince got exiled as punishment but was in charge to keep the two beads contained. The empire had to build an amazing barrier (-the Mansion) for Katerina to be locked up in one place with Roselia, so that she wouldn't spread more disaster. But it took them so much time, Katerina, was able to escape the Mansion and became pregnant through an Eastern prince and made Icarus.
In her mind, Icarus would make the next perfect beholder of the dark bead. Roselia was also forced to live in the same household with Katerina, because of this she was forced to send her son, Damen, to the Western Temple to keep him from harm. As Katerina was pure evil, the bead was in its finest state inside her. Roselia tried to balance out the power in order to keep it at bay, but the light bead had been overpowered. Roselia had been too weak due to her labor that darkness overwhelmed her.
This sudden crisis, drove Roselia to cast a spell before she held her last breath. Her sudden death turned the mansion in chaos. In order to keep the balance, Roselia poured all of her light magic in the opal ring she wore, this made her barely alive as a normal human, her conscious state trapped inside the ring, but her physical state had been affected greatly to look old as if she was in the verge of death.
At this, Roselia was unable to fulfill her role. To help keep the balance, they had to get help from an outsider. And not just any outsider, but one who came from the ancient Sun princess decent. She would be strong enough to surpass the current dark force. As they tracked the last decent, they finally found her but she was too young.
Ophelia.