Twisted (2)

"Your Gr-, ah, no, mother, I am so sorry. Please…please don't…"

The lady, whose expression remained hidden since earlier, raised her head. Pleas and desperate words came out of her mouth, but her expression was chilly.

In fact, she even smiled.

- Is this what you want? Sure. Your wish is my command.

"Pl…please…"

- You enjoyed it before, aren't you? Then I'll satisfy you, you pieces of shit.

Every loud plea was accompanied by a whisper much smaller in volume. The two intertwined perfectly. Susan felt like the small cold voice was magnified inside her head. She was terrified. How could someone, a kid at that, could do such a thing?

But that wasn't the end. The lady did not stop. She stood up and pulled the disheveled hair and bangs behind her ear.

Her eyes searched the room before stopping at the device's broken pieces at Linda's feet. She took small steps over there leisurely and bent down as if to choose a piece.

"Mo... Mother, please…"

- Ah, this one looks good enough.

"I…I'm sorry…"

- Now, let's have a heart-to-heart conversation like you've always wanted, eh?

The young lady created an effect as if her pleadings died down in desperation, before turning her attention towards Duchess Elicia, who was frozen at her seat. She could no longer smile. It was hard for Susan to decipher exactly what Elicia's emotions were as she was standing next to her. However, she was sure Eli's expression was not that much different from the maids'.

Lady Adelaide, who stood before them, felt unfamiliar, yet familiar at the same time. With a sarcastic smile on her face, she caressed the piece of glass lightly on her exposed arm.

- Pfft, what did you say, old hag? "I could crush him if I wanted"? How? Pfftttt, you're such a comedian. Wait, maybe you yourself are a joke?

- Are you sure your brain isn't that of a shrimp's? Wow, like you could even knock on him, let alone crush.

Thin scratches appeared on the sharp glass fragment's trail. Blood slowly leaked out. After doing the same with her other arm, Adelaide showed her two arms covered by blood to the duchess confidently.

- Look, what do you think? Beautiful, isn't it?

She then threw the glass down violently. It shattered into even smaller pieces. Susan could see some glass dust on the lady's dress, as well as the mini fragments that bounced up around her feet before finally falling down.

'She's mad. No, she's…twisted. This isn't what a sane person would do.'

It would be scary enough for a grown adult to do what the six-year-old was doing, let alone a little kid who used to be as mellow as a rabbit.

"Ah, mother, don't, please…"

The hopeless tone came back, but the source of said tone before them did not even have her expression changed. Her hand reached the back hem of her long dress, and…

Rip.

The back part of the dress was ripped in one go. To be specific, Adelaide only tore the lower back part of her dress. She did not pull it out completely and dragged the almost completely-ripped cloth on the ground.

- You have a seeeeerious inferior complex, mother. Well, I guess that's understandable with your broken attitude of a noble wannabe.

What the lady said shook Susan. She knew Duchess Elicia had an inferior complex, but she never had the guts to tell her.

'Based on Eli's personality, she may explode….'

As expected, Elicia was shaking in fury when Susan glanced over her. However, for some reason, all of them weren't able to move freely yet.

- I'm a real deal from birth, so I could be a little inferior at spewing curses, unlike you. How admirable...

Rip.

Another sound of fabric-tearing resounded within the big closet room. Susan realized with a shock that a small part of Elicia's dress was ripped, too.

It was illogical, but Susan felt horrified when the young lady's gaze rested on her. There were no emotions except disgust, as if she were looking at an insignificant and arrogant ant.

With a mocking smile, Adelaide turned her back and walked towards where she used to kneel. While they all stood still like mannequins, the little girl was the only person who was able to roam around freely.

Silence ruled over the room again. Their young lady did not speak, nor did the maids were able to say anything. As Susan was facing Adelaide's back, she could sense hesitancy from the little kid.

"It'll hurt." was what she heard. It was a small mumble filled with annoyance.

After a long breath, Adelaide pressed the front part of her legs into the mess of glasses she made earlier. A scream escaped her mouth.

"AHHHHH, HIC- I'M SORRY, I'M SO SORRY, PLEASE…."

Susan was startled to the point that her body actually reacted. She felt as if her brain could finally take command of her own body.

However, she did not have time to rejoice. It was because she noticed something even more terrifying than the lady's insane behaviors.

Lady Adelaide had glanced at the grandfather clock multiple times since earlier. It was like she was calculating the time.

Susan looked at the clock hurriedly. It was nearly a quarter to eight.

'Young master Alfred will only be home by eight. I already checked, even sir Samuel said so… she was dragging out time until eight? The wounds were made to be visible as evidence?'

Clearly, they had almost twenty minutes left to clean the room. They wouldn't be able to clean it perfectly, but twenty minutes were sufficient.

'Lady Adelaide must have miscalculated. She thought she could drag out the time, but she did not know about the duration of whatever body-freezing device she was using.'

'Is this the young master's scheme… or her own?'

Even though it was likely to fail, what she did could be used as a warning towards them. They could hastily explain and create stories for her exposed wounds and attire this time as the after-effects of kidnapping, but the theory itself sounded shallow.

They could cover it once, but what if the same thing happened in the future again, when the duchess and her exact same people were around? The Duke needed to maintain his image, and the duchy's reputation reflected his capability.

Duke Charles could try to cover for them, but the bigger the tree, the more wind it encounters. One must know that there are political spies in every powerful household. Any piece of information could be used to take advantage of them.

Susan was not someone who cared about politics and the likes. What she cared about was Elicia. Though unlikely, what if the duke decided to push all responsibilities on her?

Affection could make people turn a blind eye. Susan was worried for Elicia, but she forgot one thing: even if that actually happens, it was all Elicia's fault and wrongdoings to begin with. Duchess Elicia was never an innocent victim.

As the old saying goes - 'you reap what you sowed.'

'We have to act. I can't let Eli endure all the blames.'

"Eli…" Susan quickly tugged Elicia, who immediately regained her composure from shock and yelled.

"Catch her! Don't you dare let anything else happen to her."

"Linda, quickly clean the glass. Everyone, stop the young lady." Susan quickly gave out instructions.

"Miss Susan, the young lady's struggling."

"Stop her. Be careful, don't let any wounds appear."

Susan took a quick breath and looked down at Elicia, who was shaking slightly. She consoled her friend with a small voice. Though the situation was unexpected, she felt quite relieved. Susan was confident she could convince the duchess from initiating any future physical abuse.

"Everything will be okay, Eli. However, please see this as a lesson. Don't do the same thing ever again."

"Yes, yes, I'll -"

However, before the duchess could finish her words,

BANG.

"…w…what?"

The door was kicked open with a loud bang. Unexpected heat and hot wind hit them directly in the face. The maids stopped whatever they were doing and closed their eyes by instinct.

Susan also closed her eyes briefly. When she finally opened her eyes after a few blinks, all she could think of was how bad the consequences going to be.

'This is the worst. Absolute worse.'

Alfred Winford was seen hugging his small sister in one hand. His other hand was holding a shotgun, its barrel aimed at her and Elicia's direction. A trail of flames in the shape of footsteps could be seen dancing behind his path.

Susan thought he would be furious, like any normal person would react. She thought he would pounce on them and exterminate at least a few of the maids without explanations before regaining his reasons.

That was why confusion consumed her.

'Why are we standing on a stalemate like this?'

However, she got the answer after looking into his eyes.

'I forgot. Young master Alfred isn't your ordinary person.'

He loved his sister, like any other brothers in the Empire. He had emotions, like any intelligent being. He was calm and hard-working, like any other noble heirs. But there was one thing that made him a tad bit different.

Alfred Winford had one characteristic that even he himself could not categorize. He could not decide whether it was a strength or weakness, a blessing or a curse.

He was extremely rational.

Susan knew the young master was furious just by looking in his eyes. He looked at them with extreme hatred; there was even faint killing intent.

However, unlike the nature of his elemental power, Alfred's eyes were cold and calculating.

His deep voice was the only thing that sounded clear.

"Give me one reason not to exterminate you at this very moment."

Susan's heart skipped a beat. She was in this circle for years, yet she had never imagined the thirteen-year-old to do something like that.

Her gaze naturally went towards Adelaide, who was sheltered in her elder brother's arm, unconsciously. As if knowing she was looking, the young girl gave Susan an innocent-looking smile. A smile only her, and possibly the duchess, could see.

'She's not mad. She's twisted, but she's extremely sane.'

Susan hated to admit it, but they really were siblings.