Present.
(Corleone villa).
Genevieve moved her focus back to the present when she gazed forward and realized had already arrived at the gate of the grand hall.
The grand hall wasn't typical, it is a hall reserved for the formal blessing of the dead by the priest before their bodies are laid to rest.
Every Corleone household had a grand hall established within it. This is to ensure that whenever a member of the Corleone house dies, the ceremonial rites would be carried out as customary. The ritual is done as a cleansing before they are buried and this ceremony is carried out in the grand hall because the hall is regarded as sacred.
Genevieve gazed at the large door of the grand temple.
The last time she had been at the temple was because of her mother's death but she was there yet again now due to the of her brother.
She noticed the two guards stationed at the entrance, and when they discerned her presence they quickly adopted a defensive stance reaching for their weapons.
"Freeze, who are you, and what is your business here?"One of them inquired.
Genevieve swiftly pulled off the hood covering her face. Her beautiful porcelain skin glittered in the darkness of the night, with her wavy blonde hair scattered slightly over her face the glint had been taken from her eye but that couldn't hide angelic visuals. Their eye widened in realization.
" We are sorry Miss, we weren't aware it was you" they uttered moving her eye away in guilt with Genevieve approaching them.
"Open the door, I want to see my brother" She ordered with her gaze fixed on the door.
They quickly rushed to open the entrance door at her command, their faces down in shame for not being able to identify their mistress.
Genevieve walked into the hall after which the door was closed behind her.
The interiors of the grand hall weren't ordinary, with one glance at it, it was very evident that it was an old one that had many stories to tell, just like the villa itself the grand hall was never restructured to fit into modern times because of its validity and essence. it was widely spacious with pillars like a normal temple.
It was dark so she couldn't make out most of the things she saw, the only light illuminating the room was from the lanterns station at each side of the casket placed on the altar.
Genevieve's eye moved to the casket laid on a catafalque. She slowly moved toward the casket.
She told herself that she wasn't going to cry, she was going to be strong the way her brother was but the closer she got to the casket the more her emotions got the best of her, Her eye began to pile up tears.
This time she didn't bother to open the casket because she knew her heart couldn't take it, she slumped to the ground, sitting beside the casket with her raised knees, she closed her eye briefly, and a tear trickled down her eye.
She truly had become all alone.
The more she wanted to be strong to protect the ones important to her the more life gave her reason to remain weak, she felt lifeless, she shouldn't be surprised but it stunned her once again how things could change over a brief period, a few hours ago she had been cheerful with the news of her brother's arrival and now she was already grieving his death.
She guessed it all explained the reason she had been feeling uneasy since early that morning.
" Do you remember when I told you I had something I wanted to protect.....I don't know if you realized it but it was you"Genevieve expressed in a whisper with tears rolling down her eye." Why did you leave Rome, you promised me you were coming back."
A sob escaped her lip as she wiped the tears from her face.
"I use to be naive Rome, I use to believe that we would always be together, like one happy family, .....how did we get to this? how did it all change in a blink of an eye"She sniffled slightly bringing her legs closed to herself?
" When I heard you were coming back, I made an effort to look good for a change...I became hopeful and wishful again, that it would all finally be okay but I should have known better, perhaps the father is right, I'm the cause of all our misfortunes, I don't deserve happiness but why were you the ones who had to be sacrificed when it should have been me".
Genevieve closed her eye and lay on the cold floor of the altar, as she whispered.
"It's dark brother, it's too dark without you".
She continued to lay silently in the darkness until there was a feeling, it was like something calling on to her.
She snapped her eye open and saw a light penetrating from the door of the back entrance to the hall, it was faint but she was sure it was there. she wondered where it was coming from, at first she thought it was a lantern but it had a different glow to it.
Genevieve walked out of the back entrance following the light. It lead her to the garden located at the center of the villa where suddenly it disappeared. she searched around for its presence but it felt like its existence had completely disappeared without a trace.
"You wouldn't find what you're looking for there."
Genevieve instinctively turned around in response to the voice she heard behind her, to say she was startled would be bluffing, for a brief moment, it was like she would jump out of her skin.
His voice was deep and low, she could tell it was a man's voice, for some reason she felt like she had heard his voice before but wasn't sure when.
Her gaze moved to his frame, he was muscular, but she couldn't identify his facial features because he stood in the shadows.
" My apologies if I startled you."He said whilst walking out of the shadows.
The first thing she noticed was his height, probably 1.84m, followed by his very long black hair which was styled in a half-up half-down with some of it left unpacked resting over a side on his face, she also noticed the gold earring in one of his ears. She had definitely seen him before but where?
It was when he had fully stepped out of the shadows that she could examine his face.
He had blue eyes with sharp facial features, a visible jawline, and a cheekbone, now she remembered where she had seen him, it was him the intruder who broke the knew of her brother's death.
He watched her silently as if studying her facial features, she didn't know why he was staring at her almost as if he had never seen another human in his life. She knew she is beautiful as people never missed the opportunity to compliment her but the way he stared at her she knew it involved something more than her beauty.
The look in his eye wasn't lustful or showed any form of desire, it felt more like curiosity, but what could he be curious about? she thought.
He probably noticed her discomfort and looked away.
"General Atlas of the Northern Empire". He introduced himself with a slight bow.
Although Genevieve couldn't feel any threat from him she felt a dangerous aura around him. He had shown some disrespect to her father previously plus she knew nothing about him.
Nonetheless, she shoved every thought away from her mind for the moment, she couldn't be distracted by a stranger in front of her.
" Genevieve Corleone young mistress of the Corleone house"Genevieve finally declared after a while.
"Hmm" He mused in response to her introduction, his eye finding its way back to her face.
At that moment she couldn't help but wonder what he was doing in the garden, perhaps he was taking a stroll but the time was questionable. She didn't know her father give outsiders the liberty to become so comfortable in his domain.
" I ask that the young Miss does not see me as a threat because I mean no harm to her, I see much of her brother in her, "He said as if reading her thoughts.
At his words, she became certain that he must have noticed her discomfort despite how hard she had tried to hide it. It was Corleone's duty to ensure that they never show their fears but he saw through her.
"I would like to offer my sincere condolences, I'm sorry for your loss."
" Thank you"Genevieve uttered her voice void of emotion as she was again reminded of the death of her brother.
"You should know that your brother was a fine soldier, one of the best, he fought for a noble cause, and for that, he would be remembered"He paused as if in a moment of thought." If there is anything I may be able to do to ameliorate the Young lady's pain then..."
Genevieve looked away from him with clenched fists, the last thing she wanted to hear, is how her brother had died an honorable death, how he had been dedicated to a cause with great resolution and steadfastness. That wasn't enough, it all wasn't enough to lessen the pain that was threatening to consume her, no, it couldn't compensate for the grief she was struggling with, there was nothing he could say or do that could change anything.
"My brother...I want to know the cause of his death" She inquired interrupting him.
Her eye was fixed on him and unwavering.
She saw how he was contemplating whether or not to give her details about her brother's death and this enraged her. They had taken her brother away from her and didn't see it fit to give her a valid explanation for his death.
" I cannot disclose much information on his death but I can only divulge to you the fact that he had died while saving a soldier"He paused as he added." An irresponsible soldier."
Genevieve noticed the flicker of emotions in his eye which he revealed only for a second. The emotions she saw in his eye were clear as day.
Guilt.
It was then that it dawned on her, he was the irresponsible soldier her brother had died protecting.