Emily frantically inspected the water's surface but her search bore no fruit. Ren's body was nowhere to be seen. She took a step back, finally realising the meaning of what she had just done, tears streamed down her cheeks as her emotions went into turmoil. Soon even standing became difficult and she collapsed onto the floor and started wailing loudly.
Emily had made her choice and couldn't take it back, despite her actions, she still cared for Ren deeply but the situation had left her with no alternatives. She knew first-hand what their father was capable of, by killing him now she had spared Ren from the suffering and fear that came along with slowly being hunted down.
This took a lot of resolve on her part, Emily would have to live with the guilt for the rest of her life, never knowing if she had done the right thing. This was an extremely heavy burden for a fifteen-year-old to carry.
Emily's cries echoed throughout the forest, causing the people searching for Ren nearby to rush to her side. Two of the mansions staff, a man and a woman appeared in front of her, from the blood stains on the ground as well as Emily's mental state, they quickly inferred what happened. The woman squatted down and placed her hand on Emily's shoulder, speaking to her with warmth and concern.
"Please don't blame yourself lady Emily, the young master's fate isn't something that you could change, your actions were born out of love for your brother and no one can fault you on that."
These comforting words only caused Emily to cry even louder, the woman took Emily's hand and helped her to stand up. The man who had remained silent all this time decided to speak up.
"Lady Emily, I know it's hard, but we must quickly return to the mansion and report back to the lord, he views this matter with the utmost importance."
The mans words caused Emily to stop crying, she felt the grief that was overwhelming her slowly transform into rage. Everything was the fault of that man, if it weren't for him Ren would still be alive. Her eyes glowed Red as they slowly turned colder.
She had given her father many chances to fix his act but this was the last straw, currently she was still far too weak, her only chance at avenging Ren was to slowly bide her time until she became strong enough to take her revenge.
Within a short span of time Emily's entire world had been turned upside down. Just a few hours earlier, Emily was in her room sleeping peacefully. The loud metallic chimes of a bells woke her up with a start. Once she came to her senses, she immediately recognised the sound. That particular bell was only rung during emergencies, curious about what was happening, Emily put on a jacket and rushed downstairs to the assembly point in the courtyard.
She was among the last to arrive, gathered in front of her was the entirety of the mansions staff, they were standing quietly in front of small podium where her father was stood. Once William saw that everyone was present, he began to speak.
"As you all know today was an important day for my son, no this entire household. I held great expectations for Ren but unfortunately, he has betrayed them. It was divined that Ren will only bring calamity to the kingdom, endangering the lives of many of the citizens in the process."
Olivia was stunned, even though she had just woken up, any tiredness that had remained instantly vanished but her father didn't wait for her to recover from her shock.
"As a family that protects the kingdom from the shadows, we cannot let any threat to the kingdom, no matter how small to exist, we must eliminate evil at the roots. Our justice is impartial, and we cannot allow personal bonds to cloud our judgement."
"Our own head butler, Carlo has allowed himself to be corrupted by his emotions, in doing so he has allowed my son to escape, his transgressions will be punished severely so I hope you will learn from his mistakes, emotions play no part in our Jobs."
"I want everyone here to search the surrounding area thoroughly, leave no stone unturned. If you find him, I want you to capture him and bring him to me. That is all."
He didn't speak loudly, yet his voice could be clearly heard, even among the people at the back. His words caused a small commotion but soon the staff dispersed, heading into the forest in search of Ren. Emily was left alone with her father, to shocked to react. On the podium, William glanced down and saw that his daughter was still around.
"Emily, come here, I need to talk with you privately."
William called out to her and Emily snapped out of her confusion, numerous thoughts flew around in her head but first she wanted to hear what her father had to say, she earnestly hoped that she could change his mind about Ren.
"Emily, listen to my words very carefully… I want you to be the one that kills Ren. At the end of the day, he is still my son and I want to do right by him. You siblings have a very close relationship and I'm sure Ren will be more at ease if you are the one that takes his life."
Emily couldn't believe the what came out of Williams mouth, even putting aside the fact that he wanted her to kill her own brother, was Ren's death really the only way to resolve this. She desperately tried to convince him otherwise.
"Why do we have to kill Ren, the future isn't something that's set in stone, just because it was divined that Ren will harm the kingdom doesn't mean it will come to be, he's your own son for crying out loud, can't you give him the benefit of the doubt."
Williams gaze turned frigid, sending chills down Olivia's spine. Her words just now had clearly upset him. He rebutted her coldly, he didn't raise his voice, but his words were powerful and filled with resolve
"That's enough, do you really think this was an easy decision for me to make, despite what you may think of me, I do care for both you and Ren but as Linheart's we carry the burdens of the citizens on our shoulders, your mother entrusted me with the safety of the kingdom, and I vowed to uphold her dying wishes. I won't allow anything to tarnish that vow, not even my son."
Williams speech just now made Olivia freeze up. Her mother's death was a significant turning point for their family, William only ended up with his warped sense of justice due to losing her. This was why she had been so tolerant of his behaviour up until now… but surely this was going too far. Emily started to get heated and replied angrily.
"Don't assume what our mother wanted was this, even though she cared about the kingdom, she loved Ren more."
William fell silent, he reached into his pockets and took out a beautifully crafted dagger and pushed it into Emily's chest.
"My decision in this matter is final if you don't kill him… I will. If you truly care about Ren, I want you to carefully think about what is best for him. That is all there is to say on the matter, you're dismissed."
After saying this he turned around and left without looking back. The dagger felt unnaturally heavy in Emily's hands, she could still hear Williams parting words echo in her head even though he had long since left.
Emily had no idea what she was meant to do, she could only seek out Ren, hoping she would gain insight after talking to him. Unfortunately for her, things turned out the way William had planned and she had made her choice.
Back at the mansion, Emily found herself defiantly staring into the eyes of the person she hated most. William was seated opposite her, with a glass of expensive red wine in his hand, the tension in the room was as thick as blood. Ignoring his daughter's blatant hatred, William spoke first.
"Is it taken care of."
His casual attitude filled Emily with disgust, she couldn't believe the nerve of the man in front of her. She replied coldly, her voice was filled with venom.
"If you are referring to your son, then yes… he is dead."
William easily noticed the unfiltered rage Emily was directing towards him, with Ren dead Emily was now his successor and to raise her into someone capable of taking over the family profession, he needed her to be obedient.
"I can sense your hatred towards me but your anger is misplaced. I gave you a choice, you were the one that chose to kill Ren, that burden is yours to carry, We Linheart's take responsibility for our actions"
He spoke slowly, his words caused Emily's rage to erupt, never had she felt as much hatred toward someone as she did now, her face flushed red as she started to shout angrily.
"Choice, what kind of choice was that, you left me no other alternatives. You took advantage of my love for Ren and left me no other choice then to kill him."
William's face remained expressionless, instead of replying he brought the wine glass to his mouth, taking in the delicate fragrances, he slowly placed the glass to his lips taking the dark red liquid into his mouth, after taking a sip of wine he placed the glass down and looked his daughter dead in the eye.
"You say you acted out of Ren but ask yourself if that was all there was to it. You know I've watched you two grow up and witnessed your interactions first-hand. I know how behind all that love and affection, you were hiding a deep-seated jealousy towards Ren, I don't blame you, Ren far exceeded you in both talent and intellect, as time went on that gap only widened and so did your Envy."
"Was love the only thing going through your mind when you killed Ren, or did you feel slightly relieved knowing that with Ren out of the picture I would have no choice to raise you as my heir. Either way congratulations, you are now the one who will succeed the family, I will spare no effort in grooming you."
Emily fell silent, all the anger she had built up collapsed, as much as she hated to admit it she was jealous of all the attention Ren received. William's words just now had resonated with her, she couldn't shake the sneaking suspicion that when she pushed that dagger into Ren's stomach an odd sense of relief washed over her.
Emily began to doubt herself, was all the rage she felt towards her father just an act to avoid feeling guilt, did she really have Ren's best interests in mind when she killed him.
Emily couldn't make sense of her emotions, not willing to have a mental breakdown in front of her father, she stood up from her seat and walked towards the door before leaving the room she turned around one last time to look at her father.
"Fuck you"
After saying that she left the dining room to head upstairs, leaving William alone. William payed her words no mind, he was more focused on reflecting about how he handled the situation, it's not like he wasn't hurt, even though he was prepared for it, news of Ren's death was a large blow to him mentally. It was just that he had other priorities and couldn't let his emotions come in the way of the bigger picture.
He wondered if he had taken it too far with Emily, yes he had quelled her rage to a certain extent, but if she got depressed and started blaming herself for Ren's death, it would be just as problematic.
William relaxed, causing a sharp pain flare up in his chest that he had been supressing during his talks with Olivia, his body began to convulse as he started coughing violently. A small amount of blackish blood leaked out of his mouth, which he immediately wiped clean with a handkerchief he kept in his breast pocket.
It seemed that the mornings events had caused him too much stress. Once William felt he had recovered, he got up from his seat, taking the half-empty wineglass with him. After looking around the room and making sure he was alone, William walked up to a bookshelf in the corner of the room and gripped the side of the shelf firmly with his free hand. He dragged the bookshelf off to the side revealing a hidden door.
This was the entrance to his study, among all the mansion staff, only Carlo knew about this but since he was taken care of, it was now Williams secret alone. He opened the door exposing a stone staircase that he wasted no time in walking down, the stairs led to a small dark room. As William entered the lanterns mounted on the walls started to shine, illuminating the rest of the room.
The room was quite simply decorated, there was a wooden desk placed in the corner which was one of the first thing's you saw when you entered the room, the desk was littered with various documents that William had been working on right until he was informed of Ren's escape.
Williams gaze was focused on the shelves that lined the wall opposite him, most of them were stacked with expensive books of various colours but the shelf he was staring contained two white crystals.
The crystals were placed in their own glass boxes and were labelled with the names Olivia and Ren, the crystal labelled Olivia shone brightly with a dazzling white radiance. The crystal next to it that was labelled Ren was flickering with a dim light that seemed to be on the verge of going out for good… but it was flickering nonetheless.
When William saw this, the wineglass in his hand shattered violently, littering the stone floor with hundreds of shards of glass and splattering the ground with red.
"Olivia, you were far too sloppy."