He tried to stay calm in front of the other aristocrats and do as he was told by attending today's party as his father said, but the moment when he saw the duke's heirs was the time when he lost it. Having mixed feelings about her appearing in front of him, he didn't know if he should be happy or sad, angry or relieved. He let go of Alan's shoulder, giving a big sigh out of disappointment and left without taking a response from him.
Watching him leave and disappear into the distance, Alan could breathe freely again, having only scary thoughts in his mind and looking at the others with fear in his eyes. 'What was that just now, he looked like a totally different person! I never imagined that one day I would face such a cynical side of him, saying things like she is his and demanding me to not talk and even look in her direction. But how can I do that when I am so excited to meet her…he is joking, right? He doesn't even know her, he probably just saw Raelian today and decided that she is his, creating a relationship with a duke's daughter is going to give him absolute support from Xerox Phelter. If this is the prince's reason then he is crazy and a delusional person! And I will not stand idly by and watch behind the scenes how he achieves his goal.'
The guests didn't notice anything, they were still dancing, talking and enjoying each other in the hall. How many emotions fill only a limited place, surprise, envy, happiness and fear. As Raphael said I made a run from it, but still if that black energy is inside the mansion there will not be much room to escape the confrontation. Even if now my hand stopped trembling and I am walking through the second floor, I still wanted to stay there to see what it would be like, even though I did not want the young duke to hold my hand.
When I was walking alone through the hallway I laughed to myself and thought: "Wait, a second! Raphael was scared…him, who is a blood-hungry monster is scared by something." I laughed so hard that tears rolled down my face. If it wasn't for the things he said about "my will being crushed by a malice energy" I would have stayed there. I really would! The curiosity of knowing that creature who made Raphael yell at me so I could run, was really taking over me, but on the other side, "what if that energy really crushed with mine and my life was over in an instant?".
'How exciting! This sensation, I can feel it in every cell of my body and this is not fear. I-is something else, it is pure excitement of knowing something more powerful than me exists. I am happy and thrilled at the same time, to know that I am not the only one to bear the weight of being different. But even though I am hyped up, for now, I am going to follow your wish Raphael, so we can be sure later on if that thing is as bad as you said.'
Raphael on the other hand sounded disappointed in me, sighing at my words, and probably thought that I was going crazy and taking things very lightly for the situation we were in.
[*Sigh* You sure are something else child, I don't know what to do with you. I don't get it, how can you be so stupid? That is something you shouldn't mess with, and instead of being cautious and staying as far away as you can from that, you say you are excited? Don't joke with me! This is not the time to be happy about its existence, you should put your safety first, you can literally die.]
'More importantly, is it still following us? I didn't feel it before and my hand isn't shaking anymore so I am not sure if it's close or far away.'
[…I can't be sure myself. I don't feel anything unusual so I think the energy has disappeared, for now. But still, be careful!]
I ignored his concerns, and he went along with it. I knew that if I did a mistake I would put not only my safety on the line but also Raphael's. He didn't persist on tell me to be careful after that and just left, I could sense his presence was no longer there so I thought that he had had enough of me. So, after I had talked with him and had nothing to do, I thought that maybe I can go and see how Mireya was doing.
Because things were a little hectic in the main hall where all the aristocrats were gathered, and the meeting with the heir of house Akriste took me a long time to handle, I didn't know if Mireya was doing good on her own, and I was worried about her meeting Nasya. Since she is the original heroin, things like that would happen to her too, but I doubt that the hero would be here to save her like the other times.
And as I thought, while passing down the hallway, I heard people taking in one of the rooms and I got curious so I headed there, looking through the slightly open door. Inside the room, I saw Mireya and two other girls that I couldn't recognize at first, but while thinking without a result, I just gave up and went with the name "minor characters", people who kindly approach the heroin but that are envious of her and attempt to make her feel bad and insecure about herself until the hero or the second male lead shows up. I didn't go any further and waited to analyze the situation before I jumped to conclusions and listening what they were talking about. Those two were talking casually and seemed quite friendly, but looking at Mireya I noticed that she was uncomfortable and tried her best to not show it, hesitating on her answer and refusing to make eye contact with them.
Then one of the girls said: "Aren't you the eldest daughter? You should mind your manners, because to be able to make your debut into high society with the duke Phelter as your father is an honor. But you must have some talent, right? For his grace to appoint you as his heir, so show us! Why are you hesitating?"
She was persistent and that made the other girl excited too. She probably didn't like Mireyas attitude and took that personally, meaning as if she was being rude to them by keeping her distance and ignoring their conversation. Still, Mireya didn't change her tone and either make known to them that she was confident about herself. She backed off and tried to convince them that she didn't have any talent and that wasn't the reason for making her his heir.
"I told you I don't have any talent, I am just an ordinary person nothing more!"
'And here I thought that their reaction when we showed up in front of them was dry, they apparently have the ability to discern which one to attack first. Even though I have not heard anyone talk about the fact that I am a rapha, this doesn't mean that they will give up their way of finding out more about our origin and throwing dirt at the first that shows weakness. And Mireya fell prey this way.'
The two girls were giggling at each other and then looked at her, they were fast to analyze Mireya, she was too pure and simple-minded to think that someone has hidden intentions when they approach her like this. I could feel that the tension in that room was growing bigger and bigger by the time, until they didn't look like people to me anymore. Just two shadows were left behind, growing and opening their eyes wide while laughing with a disoriented voice at Mireya as she was shrinking to the size of a mouse, trembling in fear in a corner with tears in her eyes.
I am sad that I can't be always with her, and she is going to be attacked by those kinds of people daily after meeting prince Jonathan. And this leaves me no other choice but to stay beside her all the time! Without thinking about the strange illusion that I saw, I wanted to go inside and clear things out, when my hand started to tremble again! It stopped and then I stared blankly into the hand that was playing tricks on me. But not long after it started again, this time it was more fierce than before, my whole body was shaking and I couldn't stand on my feet. I felt dizzy, my vision was blurry and I was about to puke, when the door just opened and slammed right into my face.
I was so focused with my hand uncontrollably shaking that I didn't care about my nose bleeding or the pain in my face, still I saw Mireya running fast down the hallway while the other two noticed me on the ground.
'Great! Now not only do I have to deal with my hand acting up, but also with them.'
I didn't know what to think anymore, I swallowed so hard I almost gagged but I couldn't possibly let myself look bad in front of them. Dizzy from my whole body shaking and then from the door slammed into my face I got up, and cleaned the blood on my nose with my right hand. My body was acting strange, right after I thought that things couldn't get any worst, it had to get even worst. After moving it, my right hand just gave up and I couldn't control it anymore.
One of the girls looked at me and asked: "You are the second daughter, right? A-Are you all right?" Shocked and frozen in place I looked at the one who talked, but I regret doing so. I saw how the eye of one of them was twitching in disgust, and the other was trying so hard to hold her laugh.
Right after that I felt a warm touch on my shoulder, confused but still shocked I didn't turn around and left myself to get owned by that feeling. That grow closer and closer until a voice whispered in my ear saying: "Don't you want to kill them?" I gasped in horror, but the voice continued "Why are you letting them treat you like this? You are a rapha after all, show them what you can do!"
I was terrified! I thought that Raphael was playing with me, but that didn't explain the warm feeling on my shoulder or the voice in my ear. So I slowly turned my head from where the voice was coming from, and my body which wasn't corporating made me feel like I was a malfunctioning robot ready to explode. Trying to distinguish who was the person that was saying such words in front of those two, I wanted to scream but nothing came out. No one was there, but I still could hear the whisper clearly, as if someone was right there this whole time, next to my ear. "Do it, show them your power! Show them what they deserve after making fun of Mireya and you! It's easy, just raise your hand and place it straight… join the fingers together, so that they do not tremble anymore… walk a few steps further and with all the force you have, pierce through that slime body!"
'What should I do, what should I do, what should I do?' I started to panic and couldn't breathe properly. My body and mind have taken completely different directions. The mind tells me to leave, because the intensity and force that is being wielded on me is increasing and is making me tremble at the thought that what Raphael was talking about is closer than the first time it happened. And my body is moving even though it has not stopped shaking, and is doing step by step everything that has been said to it.
Those girls didn't notice any change in me and continued talking to each other, rather than being scared or confused they looked disguised as if I had a disease. That made me lose my cool and all of my sense, and did what I was told. Everything went blank after that and my hand didn't shake anymore, but I could feel my hand was warm and pain as if something sharp was piercing into it, and after a while, I regained control of my body. Breathing freely and relieved that now everything was ok and I couldn't hear that voice anymore, I tried opening and closing my eyes a few times so I could see again, but I wasn't prepared for what I had done.