Wondering through the dark corridors of this unknown place, the heat of my sick body made me nauseous. The marble walls brightened by the faint lights of the candles were melting before my view. So sickening, the crimson stain on my left side grew, turning the white cloth I was wearing into a soaking mess. Hurting like if a heartened blade was piercing me through, I couldn't think straight. The excruciating pain made my whole body tremble, as if the next thing I would see was truly God. Please. Someone.
End my pain.
I didn't know where I was.
I didn't know who I was.
Waking up, inside of a cold room, with empty walls, only the bed I was lying in was present. No living soul around me could relieve me from my misery. I couldn't wait for the redemption to come to myself. An unknown force in my body told me, that I can't let myself die. I need to go.
Just when I thought that this empty space, that I've traveled in deep wailing, would be the place of my demise, with the surroundings getting darker, something moved before my view.
At the end of the corridor, an unknown silhouette emerged. Unraveling himself slowly before my eyes, a tall man, with his silk, turquoise pajamas tightening around his muscles. Shining in the lights of the candles was his dark brown hair, falling like cascades onto his forehead. The petrified glare of the man made me only feel worse, as his eyes looking upon me showed me that I have stumbled upon a hostile person. The fire in his eyes, is this the devil? Is this hell... I'm in right now? How pitiful.
Exhaling loudly, as if an illness also gathered around his person, the man shouted in aggravation.
"You dare to... Haunt me now? Cease! You sinister ghost!" — With his entire body shaking in despair, the yells echoed through the corridor.
Was it too late? Have I truly died, and became a ghost? So why is it so painful, why is there a weight on my chest, pinning me down to earth?
My side stung from the pain, with the blood dripping on the marble floors of the place.
"Help... me..."
Before the whole world succumbed, I didn't feel my falling body hit the floor with an impact. There was only his face paralyzed in fear, coming closer, to catch me.
...
"Miss Salvia! Is there a problem with anything?" — An curious tone came to my ears.
The head maid Eleanora has stopped behind me, with me not even noticing her coming into the room.
"No ma'am. Everything is well"
She only sighed loudly, proceeding to go to other rooms and probably yell at the other maids in the castle. The work in here was exhausting and hard, it wasn't easy keeping it up all of the time. I tried to do my best, being as fast and efficient as I could, to finish my chores early. Her temper was high, but the weird thing was, she never shouted at me. She never fastened me to do things quicker or better, the woman only pierced me with her indefinite stare every time we met. Everyone in here did.
But they never told me what to do. They never told me how I arrived here. My questions are always met with escaping stares and indefinite answers. So I just figured out, I must be a servant of some sort that got into an unpleasant to speak of accident. But all of this...
Is just too strange.
After I finish what I think belongs as my duty, there is nothing else to do other than walking on the vast grounds of the duchy. No one every talks to me, even if I don't have any memories, it feels lonely not having anyone to create new ones with.
Surrounding gardens and forests were stretching themselves all the way to the city, making the duke one of the richest people in the kingdom. Finding myself wandering through them, where nobody else found the courage to do it, the nature of this place was the only thing that could make me calm and grateful.
The duchy was a busy place, the duke was rich enough to hire at least two hundred servants. They say it's more than the king has himself. I wonder why does our master have so many of us, and the money that he possesses, where does he get it from? Being only an admiral in the battlefield, possessing no mines or other businesses, it truly wondered me. But this question wouldn't be answered either.
The duke was rarely home, and when the occasion came, me gathering my courage to ask him about my past, this man would always avoid me with a mixed expression. Yet every time I'm far away, in reach of the sight, I find his glare amusing. So deep, the amber color of his eyes are always contrasting with the surroundings. I can feel his stare on me, so strange and mysterious. Why does he avoid me too?
I was glaring at the field behind the palace's ground, it started blooming with yellow and purple flowers. Their lively colors were enhanced by the rays of the setting sun. All of these mesmerizing sights were the work of one man, the only gardener, Dalius. The only person I would find around outside, working on the flowers and bushes, I wondered how does it feel to be taking care of such a large alive canvas all by himself.
"You're the only one who wanders and admires my work. All of them just watch from the windows, but you're the one who touches, listens and smells." — Smiling at me, his words were full of joy.
But his eyes, I could see them covered in a dark shadow. As everyones glares when they stumble upon me, they become cloudy and murky. Why is it?
Would Dalius be angry if I picked up a couple of these flowers for my room?
Walking into the knee high grass, I bowed down to choose the biggest ones of the hoard. The yellow ones, their stems were too short. The violet ones seemed fine to be put in a vase I found.
But soon, my hand stumbled upon something else than the soft stems of the plants. I didn't notice when a dark shadow covered me, with the leather shoes trampling the flowers before my hands.
Turning my head up, a tall silhouette of a person stood. The silver ornaments in his clothes shined in the sun, while everything else looked like the skin of a demon.
This man's gaze followed me everywhere, I could feel their black presence engraving a message on my skin. His thick, crossed eyebrows had only one meaning. I realized, every time our eyes met, his expression would change. This man despised me, despite me not ever interacting with him once.
"M-Master?" — I glared at him with a gaze full of questioning, as this man appeared before me out of nowhere.
He only flinched at hearing me call his like this.
"Who told you you can pick up flowers from my garden as you want?" — He asked me with a low tone in his voice.
"I... Just thought they were so beautiful... And wanted to get them... For you."
I lied, looking straight into his frightening eyes. If I didn't try to flatter him, who knows what could have come out of this. Servants must be devoted to his master, if not getting something his for him, how else could I resolve this embarrassing situation?
But, this sounded so foolish... Why have I done this?
With my shaking hands, I was holding a bouquet of tall, purple flowers. But before I could give it to them, a sudden feeling of sickness surrounded my whole body.
Dropping the flowers on the grass, my hands became itchy and swollen. The world became heated as the pain growing inside of my head started pulsing in a rhythm.
These are...
"Aconite...?"
A sudden vision of the purple sky, the same color as these flowers, came to my mind. With the wind whistling through my hair, a lone man was lying before my knees. They were all wet from the tears and the blood that have dropped.
Right now, I was staring scarcely at the duke, with every second feeling only worse. Why... Why didn't I realize? Why didn't I remember that...
These flowers are poisonous.
"You dared to give me a bouquet made of lethal flowers?" — His voice asked me in a raised up tone.
But I was confused myself.
"I... didn't know... Didn't remember..." — Tears have started to fall of my face.
"Who... Have planted such flowers just right next to my mansion?!"
My eyes slowly filled with crystal tears, they fell down on the abandoned bouquet. Watching me tremble from dizziness, his eyes started to fill with an unknown yet emotion. Before I could react in any way, he grabbed me forcefully by my arm, and started dragging me out of this poisonous field.
As the last rays of the Sun hid behind the palace, I was dragged forcefully by my master through the corridors of his abode. Only the candle lighting servant saw us both together, with his face expression a sign of astonishment. I didn't have the strength to get out of his violent grip, nor the courage to speak for myself. Does he think I tried to... Poison him? But... I almost did poison... Myself...
Pushing me into a red armchair inside of a room I have never been in, he proceeded to open the cabinet by the wall, and search for something eagerly.
The room was grand, with a crystal chandelier throwing a prism like lights on the surroundings. Red walls were matching with the pattern of the furniture, the floor covered with a large and soft carpet. Beautiful paintings were hanged on left and right, with mesmerizing landscapes showing me the world behind the palace. Yet all of these riches only made my head hurt more.
"Take this." — The man, without asking me for approval, shoved up a pill upon my mouth, forcing me to swallow it. Without any liquid to help it go though my throat, I grimaced in pain as I felt it pierce through me.
Still staring at me with a questioning gaze full of awe, my master was standing before me, with his brown hair falling onto his forehead. It was so long, that it almost got into his eyes. The purses lips of his seemed to be sealed, holding in a painful mystery. The paleness of his skin, his cheekbones sticking out of his face, making it very dimensional in the lights of the candles in his room. Firm body was blocking all of the sight before me, with a crossed expression to make me feel worse. Why is it that a lowly peasant like me is alone with the master in his office?
Why is he always following me with his gaze like that, full of mystery and confusion? My eyes full of tears went up to his, sending them a questioning stare.
Out of nowhere, I felt a crushing grip around my neck. Strong, slim fingered of the man tightened around my soft skin, making me unable to catch a deep breath.
Why is it, that despite knowing nothing about my past, having no memories and no dreams, I still want to live on?
"Mast-ter I... I didn't w-want to poison y-you..." — I managed to spit out these words, trying to loosen the grip with my yet itchy fingers.
Why is he trying to choke me, when he gave me a medication just a minute ago?
What if it wasn't a medication at all...?
His face was inches away from me. The empty, black eyes of his seemed to be searching for something inside of my stare. Warm breath of his desperate man tingled my face, as his long eyelashes blinked fastly. His lunatic expression broke in seconds, changing into a one filled with pain.
Starting to sigh, he asked me with a nervous tone:
"How could one not know that these were poisonous? Do you really... Not remember such things?!"
I...
"...N-No... Please... Let me... G-go..." — I tried to speak from under the force of his hands.
A single tear of mine has fallen down my cheek, reaching his shaking hands. I truly didn't remember anything from before two weeks.
"..."
His hands finally released me, causing my body to ache eagerly for the air. Gasping loudly, the nausea from the poisonous flowers mixed with the lack of air. My stomach rumbled loudly as I felt that throwing up would end all of my pains. But strangely, there was nothing I could get rid of in my body.
"So pathetic. Don't force it on yourself."
I realized that vomiting in my master's room wouldn't be too much of an honorable thing to do. Sending him a stare full of misery and pain, I tried to stand up to leave his room at once, and get some rest. I didn't want to embarrass myself anymore. But just as I got up, the whole ground before me seemed to have crumbled. Loosing balance from the sudden blackout, I expected to hit nothing more than a cold floor of marble.
But what met with my body, was not the harsh floor, but a warm body of a man. Landing on his chest, his wide arms automatically locked around me. I fell into a trap that closed, leaving no space for the escape. My legs felt like if they were made of cotton, the whole world spinning, my head seemed to explode any minute.
"Master... I'm so sorry... I feel so sick..."
So embarrassing. All of this is so humiliating... What if he kicks me out of this place, into the unknown world I have no idea of? It isn't so bad here... I have food and a roof above my head... Who would have kept a mysterious person like me in their house anyways?
The world before my eyes got dark, just as I lost my mind in the soft body of this man.
•••
Lying on the grand bed in the middle of the vast room, was a peculiar woman. Her porcelain white face was almost like the one of a doll, looking so fragile and beautiful. In the moonlight coming through the open door of the balcony, her long, beige hair was shining like the waves on a calm lake. Long, pale eyelashes, a buttony nose and small, pursed lips. They all made her look like a fairytale elf, embodiment of beauty and grace. But her face was different from her body, as if it they didn't belong to the same person. Pale skin covered in countless scars, met with the harsh reality of an agitated past.
And just beside her, sitting on the edge of his own bed, was a man. Looking in the shadow like the servant of the devil, he would never think of himself so lowly like that. His dark, brown hair, almost black, hanging loosely on his forehead with thin strands. From under long eyelashes, a pair of two, obsidian eyes were glaring down on the face of the woman. His stare was full of confusion mixed with hesitation. Touching her cheek, he got scared to death, when suddenly another man emerged from the balcony.
"...It's you." — The dark-haired man sighed, seeing the other one.
"I didn't want to wake up your servants and anyone see me anyways." — The other one spoke nonchalantly, going deeper into the room.
But he immediately stopped, after his eyes landed on the one lying in a deep slumber on the bed. His eyes glistened in the dark, filled with shock and confusion.
"What... In the world."
He turned his eyes up, on the one that was sitting besides her. When their stares met, the visitor could feel chills going down his spine. The black eyes of the man were sparking with madness.
"You... How..."
"They say I sold myself to the devil. But he wouldn't be so generous." — The dark-haired man moved his hand to the cascades of the woman's hair, and brushed it with his slim fingers. A sapphire gem shined between the bright strands.
"If such things come to me like that, it means only one thing. They want me to become a devil myself."
Their gazes met once again. The visitor didn't need to ask for the meaning behind his words. It seemed so obvious, like a board of the chess game, the next probable moves arose in his head. Trying to match the most probable outcome, the question for the victory was pointless, with this woman lying besides him.