Past- Alden 2

"Did you hurt Helia?" Cardia asked quietly and it sent shivers up Lucien's spine. Alden looked at him with an amused expression.

"I only wished for her to be dead but I didn't kill her... trust me mother," tears rolled down his round cheeks and dropped down into the polished floor but Cardia's heart wasn't moved.

In the past she had caught him snooping in around Helia, trying to feed her worms and whatnot and she had only dismissed it as a child's curiosity and he had stopped after warnings but this was a whole different case.

Her only daughter now lay dead in her arms.

Alden softly patted her shoulder. He had left for only a day when he received a call from Arthur, informing him that the plan was carried out and Helia was now dead. Alden expected his sister to see through it but he already had another plan to frame Arthur but she was weak to her children.

And he had hit just where it hurt.

Arthur didn't look like someone who would be up for killing a child but to win Cardia over he was willing to anything. Alden had promised him that they would get to share her undivided attention once the two thorns that were her children were out of the way. Her marriage was one just for show anyway, her husband barely visited so he didn't even count.

He flew in after he received another call the following morning, from Cardia herself. She had an emotionless voice when she asked him to return and sensing her emotions, he responded accordingly.

Its been a day since Helia was found dead in her room, apparently choked by forcing down a paper that was too big for her throat to swallow, cutting off her air supply. Cardia had not let go of her body for even a second and Alden didn't even try to make her do anything. He wanted to wait and see what she would do next and right as he wished, she called on Lucien.

Now they were standing in her bedroom, Cardia standing by the wardrobe and Alden had his arms wrapped around her. Arthur stood by the door while Lucien stood right in front of her with his head down, tears pouring out of his eyes.

"Stop lying to me, Lucien," Cardia said each word if it pained her to voice her thoughts. "All I want is the truth and I promise to not be mad."

"I didn't-"

"I TOLD YOU TO STOP LYING TO ME!" She screamed and threw a vase at him which shattered against his body on impact. He stood there silently, blood gashing out from multiple wounds from his body. He blinked, not knowing what had just happened to him.

"Young master!" Arthur's eyes widened and Alden smiled, satisfied.

"But... mother, I didn't do it," fresh tears spilled from his eyes and his head spun. "I didn't hurt her," he murmured as he lost his senses and fell down to the floor, the blood forming a puddle around him.

Everyone in the room stood motionless. Cardia was too numb to speak, Arthur too afraid to ask if he should help Lucien while Alden touched Cardia's hair softly. "I'd told you..."

***

It had been years since Helia's death. After that incident, Alden had to go abroad for a while to take over his family business. He came to visit them every now and then and although Lucien still hated it, there was not much he could do to stop his visits. And he was the only person who believed that he didn't murder Helia.

After she died, it was as if there had been an invisible wall built between him and Cardia. She gave birth to another son not one year after she died and Lucien looked at them through his window, in the garden, drinking tea under the shade.

Louise had everything he didn't. He envied him more than he would like to admit. Cardia showered him with affection she had never shown him and he hated every second he saw them together. What made it worse was the fact that Louise thought of Lucien as the perfect big brother.

"I look better than you," Lucien told Louise one day when they were sitting in the library reading books.

"Of course you do, you're the best looking person I've ever seen," Louise smiled. Lucien stared at him with emotionless eyes. The boy who was supposed to be his brother he had no affection for and if anything, he hated him to death.

"You love me right, Louise?" Lucien asked and Louise nodded. "Do you love me so much that if I ask you to die right now you would?"

Louise went quiet. "I don't think I understand what you mean, brother."

"I hate you. I dislike you so much just looking at you makes me want to vomit. I want to rip those pretty eyes off of you and I want to hang you by the door. I fucking hate you. I hate how you have everything I want. I hate how you still think you love me. It's disgusting."

Lucien dropped the book he was reading on the floor and turned away to go to his room. Louise ran after him, not knowing what exactly happened that made his brother so mad at him. Right until a few minutes ago he had been the perfect nice brother he always was.

"Brother wait-" his words died in his throat as he realised what had just happened. His feet had slipped on the stairs.

Lucien stared at him from the top of the stairs, horrified. "Louise-" he reached out but Louise was already tumbling down the stairs, his head hitting every step and blood gushing out making the white marble turn red.

Cardia entered through the main door just then, stopping dead when Louise landed right in front of her feet. She looked down at him and then up at Lucien who was still standing on top of the stairs and a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Mother... he pushed me..." Louise's voice mumbled out as he lost consciousness.