It was ultimately my fault for letting this all happen. My tragedy was because of me, my wife's death could only be because I hadn't taken enough care, that I didn't think of if she was suffering.
I had only thought of how to make her happy, I didn't think of if she was suffering or not, and that ultimately led to her demise.
Within those 40 years, I had stepped down from my position, our son rose to the position of Duke for the House Of Helt, he matured so quickly. Taking on an abundance of work that I myself could not do at the age of 17.
I did not care for such trivial tasks anymore, my desires and goals were not for power, or influence. It was to serve her, the one who ascended before me, and the only angel within our world, Fausse Vanya.
Not one singular second was wasted, each millisecond was spent on us dancing through the coldest winters and the hottest summers. I wished for it to never end, I wished for us to dance in the moonlight's gaze for even that one extra second.
Even in the afterlife, we'd dance together, heart and soul, bound by eternity. There'd be none who could separate me from her, for my heart ached for each second she was away.
Dancing was my only response to the grievance of her death, and so I did not stop. Lione eventually grew older, his own loving wife, and his own loving daughter. He fortunately did not suffer the same fate as my wife and I thanked her for that.
I only knew that she had been watching high above, saving him from treacherous obstacles that could've stood in his way.
"And now I've met you, Lady Ophelia." She was a peculiar child, I wondered what I looked like to her. Did I look the same as I once did, or was I now merely a white wrinkly old man?
"Who are you talking to Lia?"
I looked behind me, it was Claudia.
"Hm? I was just talking to-" The butler disappeared from sight, where did he go?
"It's getting late, Priscilla didn't know where you went, luckily I remembered you said something about going out. Though I thought you were going to meet someone?" She questioned, scratching her head.
"Well there was, I don't know where he went though.."
We promptly went back inside, Priscilla made me follow her afterwards for dinner. While following her, the halls were dead quiet, and the paintings caught my eye once more. I hadn't looked at them in a while, and having nothing else to do besides think of the butler's story.
I had remembered his name, 'Rue Helt'. 'Helt'? Helt was the surname of both Claudia and Lione, my eyes widened.
"Hey, Priscilla, whose that old man in the painting?" I pointed to the large painting hung on the wall.
"Hm? Oh, you must be talking about the father of Lione, the previous Duke, Rue Helt. He unfortunately passed away 15 years ago." He had a stern and indifferent look over his face in the painting. Coupled with a sullen expression deep in his eyes, his hand placed onto Lione's shoulder, while Claudia sat on Lione's lap.
But, the so-called 'Fausse Vanya' wasn't there in the painting. Nor was any other women for that matter.
"Why aren't their wives in the painting?" I inquired, staring intently into the fine lines of each stroke that was placed onto the canvas.
"Fausse Vanya, his grace's father's wife passed away 55 years ago, Melissa Constantine, his grace's wife, passed away 2 years ago." She wiped off her tears with a handkerchief, "Now, we should get going, your meal will get cold Lady Ophelia." In a hurried pace, we moved onwards.
Rue's story now allowed me to know a bit of Lione's personality, demeanour and thoughts. Because of his wife's passing, he's most likely prone to keeping his daughter from any possible harm.
Keeping me here was the best idea, whatever I did, it could've been a liability for the kingdom. And he most likely thought that Claudia was someone who could calm me down easily. Which I didn't deny, someone of my age was reassuring, and someone I could relate with and rely on was nice too.
Many more days had flew by, the butler or rather, the apparition of the previous duke was no longer dancing in the fields of flowers.
"It looks like you've finally trained enough, kid." Sir Murren addressed, his arms crossed as he looked down on me. "We'll finally begin combat training, what is your preferred weapon?"
It was finally time? I was actually going to be seriously trained after months of basic exercises?
"I like-" In the midst of responding back, he interrupted me with a cough. "Actually screw that, I'll teach you the style of 3 weapons. So that you can combat any style in the future. You'll learn from only the best, I wouldn't want others sullying my name because I had a unskilled student." Taking a jab at me, was he dense?
"If I was unskilled, that'd be because you can't teach. 'Sir' Murren." I jeered, his face twitched and let out a snort. Eventually, he bursted in laughter, covering his eyes with his hand.
"You know what, you're not half bad. I'll teach you till you wish you'd given up." Smirking, his eyes sharpened and his eyes glistened looking at me.
"We'll start with the rapier. Something light, precise and quick. This'll mainly enhance your agility, speed, and precision." A wooden rapier materialised into his hand, and handing it to me, he took a step away from me.
"Now, from there do you think you can hit me?"
"If I took a step forward, yes." I affirmed.
"Then go for it." His arms behind his back, and an evil grin on his face. As I stepped forward, I stabbed, however he merely stepped to the side.
"Well you stepped away."
"And you stepped forward." His grin still glued to his face. "Do you know why you didn't hit me? And no, not obvious stuff like stepping to the side."
"I guess because I stepped forward?"
"Ehh, this training is supposed to train everything I mentioned, but the biggest thing that you'll need is reactive thinking and decision making. Which all three will help you on." He cleared his throat, "The reason why I stepped to the side was because your attack gave me several cues before you even moved forward."
A blackboard materialised into the air, floating with the use of his magic. From what he stated before, he had written and drawn on the board as he continued.
"First, the rotation of your body, to the slight alterations within your legs, these cues give information before you even attack."
"Yes, they give you power, and frankly, it is advised to do so to maximise your potency. However, because your not as fast as I am, nor are you fast at all, every little thing counts."
"Your body's rotation, movement, and the tensing of muscles. Everything must be precise to throw off your opponent."
"We'll stop here, tomorrow we'll be doing something different.. I've realised that you need to improve on something else entirely.." He stroked his chin, forcefully, the rapier within my hands and the blackboard absorbed into his ring on his pointer finger.