Silence

"You called for me, father," Isaac said knocking at the door of his father's study.

His father was standing in front of his desk and beckoned him to enter.

As Isaac reached near him, his father slapped him across the face.

Isaac clenched his teeth. It was nothing new. His father was a man of short temper. Be it a bad day or a minor mistake from Isaac, he had to deal with his father's violence every time.

'What is it this time?' Isaac thought as he looked down with a straight face.

"A request to annul your engagement with Lady Evelyn Grace arrived this morning!!" his father yelled. "Just what did you do at the Grace estate yesterday for such a letter to arrive today!!!"

Another slap landed on Isaac's cheek as he again clenched his teeth to endure the blow. His lip tore and blood began to flow out.

The maid standing near the table winced at the sight but left immediately after a glare from Isaac's father.

"You useless bastard!!! Don't you know how important your engagement to Evelyn Grace is for the family!!" his father yelled as another blow hit the same spot on his cheek. Tearing the insides of his cheek further. "Did I or did I not tell you to act properly?!? Who gave you the right to think that you could act as you wanted?!? Do you know what the reason for the annulment was written?! They said that Lady Evelyn no longer has any interest in you!!! Didn't I tell you to seduce that girl into a stupor for you!!! Have you been talking my words as mere chatter?!!"

As he yelled, he hit Isaac's face again and again.

But Isaac was much more shocked by what his father had told him.

'Evelyn had no longer any interest in him?'

His heart fell as he heard that.

He indeed had been acting rude towards her. But now that it had actually happened, he felt his chest sink.

Isaac's mother was an arrogant and beautiful foreign woman. She was from a wealthy and prestigious family in the Eastern empire of Lorath. She came to Alkezar for the treatment of her disease.

Isaac's mother was a very weak lady. As said, arrogance doesn't mean strength but the feign of it. Her name was Celeste which signified heavenly. An arrogant name for an arrogant woman.

His father was a baron's eighth son. Nothing on his name, he was the definition of a nobody.

Just as luck struck him, he caught the fancy of Celeste, the arrogant woman, and received a large amount of 'help' from her family to settle down in the capital.

He bought the title of a Count and became a merchant. With the backing of his wife, he acquired much more wealth and estate to his name.

But all this wealth and title meant nothing in front of his wife. An arrogant woman would be arrogant no matter what. Celeste loved him. But her love was dominant. Celeste would always look down on Count Hale. She never explicitly said it but her eyes always held a sense of superior pride.

This pride infuriated Count Hale. The deep sense of inferiority he felt towards his wife made him a vile man. He couldn't overpower her, so every being weaker than him was thoroughly crushed by him as if to establish his dominance.

Celeste was, but, always an impenetrable fortress for him.

But then, she conceived Isaac.

She was always weak but pregnancy made her break. They say being arrogant also needs energy. Celeste broke to the point she had no more energy to sustain her pride. She relied on Count Hale, a lot.

This was an exhilarating moment for Count Hale. The fortress was conquered.

The arrogant eyes of his wife that always looked down at him were now looking up at him pleadingly. A feeble woman, that was what she had become.

Count Hale was very pleased with this situation. He looked forward to seeing his child who had come like a fortune to him.

But the child that was born was the spitting image of his mother. Those same arrogant green eyes and heavenly blonde hair. The boy born was nothing like him.

It was as if another Celeste had stood in front of him as an impenetrable fortress.

But this boy was but just a child. Celeste passed away after five years. Isaac, who had lost his beloved mother, wasn't an arrogant child. A sweet humble child was what he was.

But his father never saw him like that. His features resembling his mother were the reason why his father's inferiority complex always acted up. To feel greater, Count Hale always humiliated and assaulted his only son.

But his continued abuse only made that sweet child into what he feared the most. Isaac was filled with more and more hatred towards his father every day. Isaac became, in the end, as Count Hale feared, an impenetrable fortress. No matter how much he abused and hit him, Isaac never broke. Unlike his mother, Isaac had become an even more arrogant person.

If it wasn't for Celeste leaving all her maternal and private assets to Isaac, Count Hale might even have thrown out the boy already.

But a child is still a child, no matter what. With continuous mistreatment, Isaac had a severe deficiency of affection.

That was when he met Evelyn.

Three years younger than him, with bright red hair, and a pleasing appearance.

'She would suit me as a fiancé,' these were the first thoughts ten-year-old Isaac had for this little girl when first saw Evelyn.

But Evelyn had little interest in anything other than books. As the Grace family was famous for, her blood contained this demeanor of indifference towards anything other than written paper.

In the beginning, Isaac didn't mind much. They both were in a political alliance. A quiet indifferent fiancé was better than a noisy or clingy one.

Their meetings were always filled with silence.

Isaac craved attention. Sincere and undivided attention of someone who would always take his side.

But being beside Evelyn was comfortable because if she didn't offer affection, she didn't hurt him either. It was peaceful being in the company of someone who didn't superimpose his mother's image on him.

Then Evelyn changed. Three years after the engagement, Evelyn started showing more interest in him. It was exciting at first. He treated her back with equal interest. Until he knew the reason why that interest had spawned.

Once visiting Evelyn, he overheard her talking to her mother.

"Young master Hale's bloodline on his father's side isn't that great," her mother said. "But his mother was from a foreign ducal family with great fortune."

"It doesn't matter to me, mama," Evelyn, who had a book in her hand, said. "As long as you keep your promise of letting me enter the royal library at my debunte, I don't care what you need Isaac for."

"Still, you should at least be more affectionate to that child," her mother continued. "He was unfortunate enough to have that vile man as his father. That sweet child deserves all the love he could get."

"I don't love him, mama, you know that well," Evelyn said, standing up. "I have kept an amicable relationship with him. The moment your use of him ends, I'll leave for the royal library. I have no interest in Isaac or his fortune. I should go now, it's time for Isaac to visit."

Her mother didn't pry further.

That day, Isaac returned without meeting Evelyn. He didn't meet her for another six months on the pretext of entering the academy. He couldn't hate Evelyn for what she was doing. How was he any different than her?

He decided to make her annul the engagement because he couldn't. Treating her badly didn't work. Ignoring her didn't work. Even verbally abusing didn't work either.

And yesterday, suddenly it all worked out. The Evelyn he saw yesterday was so different from the emotionless doll he had always seen that he was shocked. She cursed at him. She insulted him. It felt bad. Very bad. But he felt relieved too.

After losing her memories, Evelyn finally treated him honestly.

He apologized to his father. Left the study and returned to his room. On his bed was the prickly flower Evelyn had thrown at him yesterday.

"How funny," he chuckled as he held it up while laying on his back on the bed. "It's quite pretty for a farewell present."

If he said he wasn't sad, he would be lying. He missed the old Evelyn who was indifferent to him. Those comfortable silent days when he could watch her read.

Just two more years he had to endure before he became an adult. Then he would legally become the heir to his maternal family and leave for Lorath. And never return.

He put his finger on the prickly stem of the flower as his bloody lips trembled.

"It would be shameless of me if I asked to see you one more time, wouldn't it?"

And the silence he was so fond of, again retuned to his life. Just the person on the other end of the table had disappeared.