After crying for her foster daughter's sake, Irene could only accept her husband's decision to marry Rhea to the general. Irene had even hoped that she could convince the Duke into changing his mind, but Gerold had only said,
"I am trying to do what is best for our family. Especially for Rhea, do you think with her strange appearance or rebellious behavior any man would ever take her as their wife? Don't you think am doing her a favor by marrying her to the well-known general. Don't you want her to get married?"
"I do, but not to a person like the devil general. She is also your daughter, you should at least..."
"My daughter?" Gerold interrupted with a mocking laugh, "Pah, she is only alive because of you, and if you don't keep out of this matter...I will send you out of my mansion as well!" He had warned her, and Irene held back any of her words of protest against her husband's decision.
If the Duke threw her out of the mansion, she would have no other place to go to, not even her parents house. Once a woman was married, she couldn't return to living with her parents anymore as that would only bring disgrace to her own family.
After crying, Irene decided to spend the little time she had with Rhea as there was nothing they could do now. She prepared warm water for Rhea, and soaked her tender pale feet in them. Irene admired her daughter's unblemished milky legs. Although everyone had considered her unusual overly pale skin and silver hair as a curse, Irene thought it was beautiful. And it only broke Irene's heart when she thought about how the young lady was so unfortunate, she wasn't allowed to decide her own future like the other daughters of the Duke.
Nor was she allowed to wear expensive attires like the rest, but a faded set of shabby clothes that looked like that of a beggar even though her father was the step brother of the Emperor.
"Mother, why are you staring at me like that? I am not going there to be killed by some devil general, you know my martial arts are on peak, I can easily bring down anybody. Even the devil general. So you should worry not." Rhea remarked nonchalantly as she munched on the red bean cake on her lap while her mother tended to her feet. "By the way, I really like this red bean cake, mother. I will miss having it once I'm gone." She said and sipped from the cup of honey water.
Rhea was no longer bothered by the fact that she would be sent away to the so called devil general in two days. At least it was better than living in a mansion full of people who want her dead.
"Silly girl, I guess I'm worrying too much for you then. I've forgotten my daughter's martial arts are on the peak even if she has no magic." She laughed softly, then added seriously, "But always be careful."
"Mother, i..."Rhea was about to say something when she was suddenly interrupted by the voice she disliked the most in this mansion.
"So I can see our second sister is preparing to leave for the generl's house. Interesting." Came Zoorah's mocking voice from the courtyard's entrance. She was wearing a long red dress with scattered flower patterns on it, on her head, was a pure gold hairpin inlaid with dazzling rubies.
The dress was obviously expensive and flashy, but her beauty was more eye catching to ones eyes, making the red dress look plain on her compared to her radiant countenance. Behind Zoorah was her younger sister, Delia who always seemed to follow her older sister around like a lost puppy.
Rhea noticed Delia holding a familiar bond of clothing, she didn't have to wonder to know what brought them here this evening. She could already feel a rising headache at the thought of these two dolls being in her courtyard.
Rhea's wild appearance couldn't be compared with the sisters, but she had her birth mother's tender and smooth skin, and pair of round almond black eyes. Her long silver hair which was particularly rare in the Villden household, where everyone had peach black hair made her stand out.
Her face was natural and extraordinarily clear, wherein her two sisters had used some magic spells to alter their appearances into looking like living dolls. Rhea's natural face could make people's heart soften at first glance not as catching as her sisters, but pretty. The more you look, the more you'd notice her beauty.
Rhea didn't know why these two sisters always seemed to have nothing else to do but pick on her. Since their father had decided she would be the one to marry the devil general, she had accepted, and also planned on leaving this mansion without making a fuss with any of her sisters.
However, in this mansion, where devils reside in, it was impossible for ones wish to ever come true.
"Rhea, why did you throw away the clothes I gave you a few days ago?" Zoorah questioned as she took the clothes, which was rolled in a shabby looking quilt from Delia and kicked it towards Rhea, it landed with force on Rhea's face, before falling on the ground.
"You...!" Irene wanted to speak, but Rhea held her hand to stay calm. Rhea actually wasn't angry, she only sighed in her mind, she had fought with her sisters for many years, but why was her sister's head still not functioning correctly... since she'd thrown away those old faded clothes Zoorah considerered a gift, wasn't it clear that she doesn't want them?
Zoorah bringing back the thrown clothes, only meant she was trying to pick a fight with her.
Rhea glanced up at the two sisters from where she sat, the pair stood like some baboons who'd just won a battle, they looked down at her immensely pleased with themselves for hitting her face with the bonded clothes.
"Rhea, because your wedding will be happening very soon, I will let you off for throwing away the clothes I gave you." She said with a pleased smile, "Congratulations, you will soon be the wife of a hideous monster." Zoorah remarked.
The sisters giggled as they stared down at Rhea while mocking her, "We will really miss you when you're gone. Make sure not to get under your husband's skin."
"We heard your husband kills to relive anger, ha ha ha! We hope you make it to the wedding day." Delia laughed.
Despite the sisters trying to get under Rhea's skin with their words, she simply just stared at them blankly as if she hadn't heard a word they spoke. She then yawned while stretching, "I hope you two are done, I need to take my beauty sleep before my wedding day. If you're not done, then I'll leave you first."
She stood up from the chair and took her mother's hand, "Let's go back inside, I am already sleepy mother." As she turned to leave, Zoorah coldly snorted,
"Stop! I'm not done yet!" Saying that, she suddenly threw something towards Rhea, it was a delicate memory ball, it streaked past Rhea and hit hard against the stone wall behind. In a split second, there was a crisp sound; it hard broken into several pieces, then rolled down to the ground with tinkling sounds, leaving no trace behind.
Rhea stared blankly as she approached the wall, her footsteps froze, she bent over and picked up the closest pieces of the broken memory ball, that held the memories of her birth mother.
Each person in the magic realm had a memory ball, and once dead, it would emerged from the body. When Rhea was a little girl and would constantly ask about what her mother was like from Irene, Irene had given her the memory ball of her mother to watch what she was like when she was still alive. But she hadn't gotten to see every single memories of it as a few days after Irene had given it to her, she'd somehow lost it.
But now...how did Zoorah find it?
"Back then, when we were little I noticed how worried you were when you thought you'd lost the memory ball." Zoorah remarked smugly, "But too bad you didn't lose it, I was the one who took it from you, but then I thought to give it back now that you'd be leaving, however you dared turn your back on me when I wasn't done talking." Zoorah's smile carried dislike and hate as she spoke,
"Good riddance you will soon be out of our family. For the past years, Just looking at your colorless face makes me sick to the core."
Rhea tightly held the broken pieces of the memory ball for awhile, before casually throwing it away, then dusted her palms, the corner of her lips pulled up in a side smirk,
"Zoorah, I've bothered you to the point of feeling sick for many years, yet only now you bring back my mother's memory ball which you literally stole years ago just to break it in front of me. What, did you want to make me feel bad by doing this?"
Rhea didn't wait for Zoorah to speak when her expression turned chilly, the atmosphere suddenly felt like winter despite being in the middle of summer. The aura radianting from Rhea was overwhelmingly bone chilling, her already pale face turned pure white like snow, she then said,
"A pity, even now I don't feel bad. But I applaud your efforts, you've finally made me angry." Rhea rolled up her sleeves while taking intimidating steps towards the two sisters, "Come on girls, let's have a nice chat. It's been long since we've done this."