Fourth Ribbon, "The Marionette"
This house is cold. It had always been like that.
It was even worse today when the eldest sister didn't make it as a spring queen in here school or whatever.
I had to grit my teeth to any irritation and venting they wanted. No one knows. No one dared to know what happens behind this basement.
Even when their masks fell off outside, no one would dare say anything bad. I was a talentless unawakened child after all.
'Our blood had been wasted on you' and all of that blood-related talk.
That's why I should just run away. I can't deal with this any longer.
I raised my bruised body from the cold floor. There was a small window that shows the outside world. A safe place.
There was an area that I could use to run away.
The Living Forest.
It was both a blessing and a curse that our family's main house was located far from the Empire's center.
If I could pass through there… I'll be free.
I let a child's hopeful wish drag me outside into the empty corridors and away from this house.
It was night time. And suicidal to try to walk over to the Living Forest for this.
"Where are you going?" My second older sister caught me. No. I shouldn't make it obvious. If they knew, I'll never be free.
I was just a few steps away from the forest.
"Si-sister… I-I was just tra-trying to see the fo-fox that passed by…" My voice trembled. I wanted to cry.
Please believe that lie.
Please.
"Hoh? As fun as it could be to watch you walk over to the forest on your own… We wouldn't have a toy anymore so come back here." The eldest sister appeared out of nowhere.
I could only nod my head.
That night… I had to sleep on the basement's cold floor again.
"Don't give her food. I'm worried that she'll use that energy to run away from the family that loves her very much." The eldest sister's concerned and tear-filled voice said to a maid that passed through.
The-they knew… They realized what I was going to do…
No…
"Poor Rifa, do you hate us so?" My second sister asked with that blank face of hers. So emotionless. So cold.
I can't bear it any longer.
The desire to run away intensified but a new type of feeling blossomed too… I want to make them suffer.
What right do they have to disparage me?
Just because I couldn't awaken my abilities? I was nothing? Nonsense. It was nonsense. What a load of nonsense.
I couldn't help but tear up. "Ugh no… sniff sniff… I don't ha-hate sisters… so ple-please…"
I hate you! I hate you! I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you with all my heart! I hate and hate and always hate this!
I only wanted for them to love me, and see me as I was that's why I never tried to learn magic. It was never this bad before.
When I was younger than I am now, they often told me not to pressure myself and choose what my heart allows me to. But what is this?
I am only eight years old! I wanted to be different and I realized that battle magic wasn't the only thing I could do when I looked at our family doctor.
I just…
That night… they heard me cry, got annoyed, and beat me up again.
Just like always… The attendants would ignore my cries throughout the night and only come in the morning to wash me up.
It was a day of festivities.
There was a family reunion and I had to look like the youngest princess of this house. "Make sure to clamp her with make-up." Was all mother said before leaving me to be groomed by the maids.
After everything was over and I just had to wait to be escorted, I turn to the mirror.
There was a child, smaller than most children, not that she knew because she had any peers but looking at the other kids her age as they enter the banquet hall, I could see the difference.
"Oh pitiful child… you have fire and poison in your eyes." I stroked the child's winter hair, styled to a loose braid.
What do you want?
"I want to make them suffer." The child replied.
She smiled. So did I.
Pretty child, we will do what it takes. If it means shattering the process of awakening then so be it.
I moved away from the mirror and walked over to the bookshelf. There were many books about awakening and battle magic.
The first book at the lower left corner of the second bookshelf was the key.
"Basic History of Bloodline Magic" it read.
Hmmm. There were only half an hour before the party would start, and I doubt my sisters would come here to torment me before the event.
The book creaked as it was old when I opened it.
[Bloodline Magic is both a curse and a blessing.]
[One must nurture them properly. There can only be one way for this.]
[The Bloodline Blessing Magic: It is the purest form and original existence that can transcend one's abilities to its most beautiful spell.]
[The Bloodline Curse Magic: It is the tainted and evil form of the spell. It is a curse for the mage and will continue to be a curse for those they love. This magic and awakening will depend on the mage's special affinity and personality at the time of the awakening. There are few records of Bloodline Curse Magic.]
Curse magic…
"I see." I felt the tug at the sides of my lips. "I see… very well now. Fufufu!"
It didn't take long for me to get dragged into the banquet. And although quite awkward I managed to meet various cousins. Of course I was berated for not awakening.
"Huh? So what? She's pretty and she's smart too!" It was the first time someone stood up for me. My only light Vyurian.
She was kind and energetic. Vyurian had become a lighthouse in the stormy seas. A beacon of hope.
So why…
Why was she so scared of me now?
It had been half a month since I got close to Vyurian, but also a half a month of tying myself down from the disparages of my own family.
I had enough.
At night during 10pm when I know that no one would be guarding the basement door. I snuck out and ran to the woods.
"I'll come back and make you pay!" It wasn't just a childish tantrum. It was the truth and no matter how bloody it would be, I promise to make it so.
A spiky ball had hit my side. When I looked back, my sisters were there. Janiva and Mauval. I killed them that night.
"Clerifa?" Yuri who sat down next to my bed, checked up on me. I was on the hospital bed when I woke up. I couldn't remember what I was doing before passing out.
"I'm fine now, Yuri, don't worry too much. I don't remember what happened…" My words trail off once I saw the bookstore's caretaker, Uno Benial, outside the room waiting for her turn to talk.
"Heh." My voice turned hoarse as I mocking laughed at myself. I was juked.
"Rifa?"
"You know what, Yuri? You should go. It's late and it hadn't been a proper day yet since you've come back from the dungeon raid." My mouth remained as a smile but I was slowly feeling ticked off.
"No. I'll stay here!" It was smart of Vyurian to get me a private room even without orders. Tsk.
So annoying.
[Hair Magic: Needle]
I combed through my hair and held out a single strand of hair. "Vyurian… don't make this difficult for me." I moved closer and hugged her.
That single strand of hair elongated to a thin bristle and dug to a portion of her skin until it reaches her nerves or brain. [Brainwashing Magic: Vyurian F'yoras].
"Vyurian F'yoras, should be a good girl and rest well. You can continue to make me out as a weak and timid child to others though. Those. Are. Your. Orders. Don't cross the line." I whispered to her one by one.
I moved back to find her dazed and unfocused eyes. "Yes… Master."
"Good. So go. Don't tell anyone that the bookstore clerk, Uno Benial came to this room."
"Yes, Master…"
[Hair Magic: Retract]
"Are you okay, Yuri?" I made sure to look at myself in the mirror once and gave her a worry-filled expression. "You su-suddenly dozed out. I'm sure you're still tired!" was all I said before she chuckled and left the room without even turning to Uno as if she didn't exist.
Good.
"You're a mean bitch." Was my greeting to Uno, to which she giggled like a psychopath. Yellow bright eyes twinkled in humor.
She snapped her fingers and a noise interference mana was made throughout the whole room.
"Did you got zapped too much and thought you really were a weak and timid girl? Pfft! There's no way!"
Such an annoying woman. Tsk.
"You can handle that much mana anyway. I didn't even know that Circle Magic 6 spell like that could still be inverted back to me. Tsk. It was fun though! Heheheh!"
I ignored unnecessary comments and proceeded to the main topic. "She's much capable than we initially thought."
"Hmm that's true. She was strong when I first met her at the bookstore but she's truly different from the expectation and reality…"
Tabitha Obiel. A mouse that hid at the corner of society and was lost in the sea of insects, suddenly found itself to be a beautiful fox of mysterious magic prowess.
Ridiculous.
Even when the First searched for her origins, there wasn't a beginning to her existence. She just appeared out of thin air.
When Patricial Obiel was asked, she couldn't answer either.
It was the same for Erazubeth Kalil.
I could understand the tight lock to Tabitha's background who recently became a noble but not a commoner's.
There's really something there that needs to be dug thoroughly. "So how's Tabitha? I heard there was a dungeon and she almost drained her mana to purify the cursed guardian, so they knocked her out. Was that part even true?"
"I haven't personally investigated it yet but according to the other instructors, the cursed guardian never left her side even when she's still unconscious. Tabitha Obiel is fine too. She's recovering awfully slowly though. It's already been a day and when examined, she still had replenished only a quarter of her mana."
"Should I visit her secretly and kill her? Do we have orders from the First? If we can move the guardian away from her then it should be fine…" I suggested to Uno.
Instead of a serious answer, I got a mocking smile from her. "Heh! Didn't she become your friend, Fourth? Why are you so eager in killing her? This isn't like you…"
I grinned. "I want a new puppet… She's so loved by others that it makes my hair tingle at the thought of new connections through her as a doll."
Janiva and Mauval's popularity was still the same as ever, even though they were dead and a doll, only following my orders.
"Anyways I can't stay long! Demon contractors are having a meeting about losing a contractor for Varvatos. I was only sent to give you this." She slid an envelope to my bedside table. A letter. Judging from the mana it emits, then it's from that wicked second-hand woman of the First, Louvrata Maine Cromwell.
[I know you Lady Clerifa. So don't touch Tabitha Obiel. Why not invite her to our side as well? I feel like she'd accept such a heartfelt confession and invitation from her dear friend.]
Crazy bitch. I could feel her dark laughter all the way from here!
"What the fuck does she mean by this?" I crumpled the paper.
Uno shrugged. "Maybe she wants to host a tea party for the new princess?" She laughed. "Anyways that's that. I–"
In a split second she took the crumpled paper and burned the letter quickly then removing her noise interference barrier. "I just wanted to apologize for not being of help. I saw you get attacked but I couldn't do anything for you. Truthfully I can't control my mana well that's why I'm only a bookstore clerk…"
Uno Belial spouted out a sob story with a pitiful look. I wondered what it was for but it seems her contracted demon, Azmodian, signaled her.
Ugh.
With an awkward smile, I patted Uno's head. UGH! "It's o-okay! I know you were scared as well! Rifa wanted to help so it was an honorable damage!" I raised my fist like a child who's out to war.
The door opened without a knock at that moment. "Hoh? It's nice to see a noble treating a fellow staff of mine, with no particular talents, well."
Psyfier Voughn. With that difficult to write name, he was also a difficult person to deal with. His carefree and friendly aura as a teacher made him popular, but he's never in the most important moments.
If I weren't one of Ribbons, I may have already suspected him to be one. But unexpectedly because he was charming and clever, many of his befriended students would cover for him. Whether it was a guy or a girl. Tsk.
At one point, even the First wanted to recruit him but the messenger she sent was left in the Empire's plaza, dead, to just send a simple 'no' message.
"Ah! Good Evening Professor Voughn." According to Yuri's story, it seems as he wasn't part of the raid them either.
He was easily discernable so it would be weird not to hear any stories about him. He was also one of the very few 9th Circle Magicians that only had a total of five.
"Good Evening student Clerifa and Bookstore manager, Uno Benial. If it's not such a bother to the Miss. I need to ask questions about the events right before the dungeon. Why you passed out and the likes."
His pale smiling face paired with his soft-looking honey-colored hair gave some warmth but those sharp yellow eyes showed no mercy.
It seems he'll bury me questions from side to side.
-----------------
"Louvrata."
The usual indifferent voice sounding on edge than normal urged me to lower my head although I wasn't called, "Yes, Head?".
And just as usual, the black sheep of their lineage but left-hand of Master Jermaine was grinning wildly under her fan-covered face.
Even though I was mildly grateful that she helped me find a loophole to save myself from Master Jermaine's wrath from the last mission regarding Tabitha Obiel, I wasn't insane enough to protect her when she's blatantly being blasphemous.
"What are you grinning for?!" The place shook as Master yelled and even Lady Louvrata stopped grinning, her eyes was cold like the master's but there was still a hint of excitement there, before shrugging and walked over to the grandfather clock.
"No reason." Lady Louvrata flicked her wrist and the fan closed on its own.
"As a demon contractor, You should know details about that dungeon but you said nothing to me, Louv. Why is that girl still alive? Are you rebelling right now?"
I quietly stood near the entrance, only mildly breathing every few minutes for them to forget my existence.
Lady Louvrata sighed before finally giving out information. "Tabitha Obiel purified the guardian. It was an unexpected thing, it's not every century that we get to see holy magic. Even the other demons who kept watch on the dark corners of the dungeon left after being hit mildly by that radiant light."
"You're saying she's a Saintess?"
"It's possible. There's one in the Loyola Kingdom that claimed to be one so it's impossible our Empire was blessed with one too... is what I wanted to say if only..."
"If only what?" Master's face turned back to its serious look.
"If only holy magic was the only thing she could do then she's a Saintess. But according to our records she can use different kinds of mana which means her holy magic, that should be a bloodline magic, was used by someone who wasn't bound by the bloodline magic. It's the very first case we've seen something like this."
I could understand what Lady Louvrata was trying to say but it was merely impossible.
Even theoretically it wasn't possible.
Mana had an unspeakable law that those with bloodline magic could cultivate their own power into perfection but with the limitation of only using that and one special affinity.
A normal mage, blessed or not, but without a bloodline magic can use different varieties of mana but can't even replicate bloodline magic to its finest version.
Holy magic is a type of bloodline magic.
Which means that due to the explanation being said, Tabitha Obiel was a mage that can use bloodline magic and different varieties of mana.
"That being said, I can't tell if she's a saint or not. But it was undeniable that she purified the guardian. According to my contracted demon"
"Is your information even true?"
Lady Louvrata stroked the side of the clock with her free hand, her emotionless eyes showed a special tingle as she eyed it. "I can't really do that, can I? I have a crimson gem with the promise not to betray you. Can't you trust mana at least that much, Zayack?"
Master glared at her.
Cromwells are known as a cursed family. The way that curse works, however, wasn't revealed much to the public.
The Cromwells doesn't have mana at birth. That is their curse and it hit especially hard knowing that their lineage was originally one of the original founders of the Soledad Empire.
But having no mana at birth doesn't mean they can't get mana at all.
Far from normal, their mana absorption is weak and slow. Thus most of the earlier members ever since the curse had started died without even touching mana at all.
Aside from absorption, the greatest way of getting to use magic was contracting with a demon just like Lady Louvrata's, or being granted a second name.
Once a Cromwell is born they are given one birth name. A second first-name can then be granted, it work as being gifted from others or being soul-bounded to them. The person who gave the second name means that they are willing to give all of their mana and loyalty to that person.
They only get one chance.
The downside to this was that the Cromwell granted with a second name can use that mana only when the giver was dead.
As for Master Jermaine Zayack Cromwell, it was kept a secret to whom she specifically got her second name 'Zayack' but it wasn't hidden that her benefactor was killed by her in this very room. That was what I heard from the very few servants after entering to serve the Master.
"Cauis."
I snapped at attention and lowered my head towards Master. "Yes, Master?"
"Come here." With that command, I headed for Master.
When I reached her side, she took hold of my hand.
Another big secret and sign of a Cromwell, aside from their visibly growling red eyes and tired but alluring look, was when using their innate mana it is transparent or colorless.
With that said, her colorless mana surrounded me like air and I felt my face morphed differently. "Escort Louvrata out and I'm sending you out on another mission. Don't fail me this time."
After being briefed shortly about the mission of contacting a known Ribbons member, I was sent out with Lady Louvrata.
"It's so weird to see you so loyal to her after that." She blurted out just as we reached a few meters away from the door. She must be talking about when I was slapped before for failing a mission. It was a foreseeable event, though. "Really, Zayack's no fun."
"I'm not loyal to Master for the sake of having fun or not. Plus it was undeniable that I deserved a hard slap for failing a mission." I explained quietly.
She stared at me quietly, her cold eyes was piercing me than what I was used to.
Why is she staring that intensely?
Does she want something from me? Does she want me to point it out?
"What do you want..?"
The barely sixteen-year old but adult looking lady beamed at that, her red eyes shone sinister "Oh dear Cauis! You really know me haha!" That line again.
It took all of my lifetime experience and wisdom not to sigh or glare at her. "What do you need?"
"I need you to run an errand for me. Go to a tinker and have them make me a pocket watch."