Shameless

Close on the edge of a wooden table, Ophelia's hand placed on her old diary. Ophelia's brows furrowed as she constantly exhaled and inhaled her breath. Her steady handwriting danced on a page, saying:

[I shall not forget, to fulfill my revenge, I have to be careful not to break the contr—]

<knock, knock, knock>

Black ink splattered on the edge of the word when a sudden knock was heard outside the bedroom. Ophelia looked upon the door with a pen still in her hand.

"My lady, it's time!" Damien shouted behind Ophelia's bedroom door.

Ophelia inhaled a deep-long breath as she closed her diary. With a tiny step, she walked towards her drawer, putting the diary inside and locked it.

"My lady!" Damien shouted again.

Ophelia shook her head, "Just a minute!" she replied while putting on a white fur coat, covering her blue gown. Ophelia took a while admiring that gown in the mirror; she smiled.

After a while preparing outfits, Ophelia rushed to find her boots, which were nowhere to be seen. As the knock got louder, "Where the bloody hell is it?!" she swore as her eyes darted around the room.

"Where is— " when Ophelia was mumbling to herself, Damien appeared behind her. "Damien!!!" she exclaimed.

"It was not just a minute…" Damien responded.

"I was looking for my boots" Ophelia walked across the man as she crouched to see under her bed.

On the other hand, Damien walked calmly towards the table and took a pair of boots from underneath. Ophelia turned her back towards Damien as she sighed, closing her eyes while sitting on the edge of the bed.

Damien returned towards the lady as he kneeled. He smiled, responding to the woman's behavior while putting on the boot for Ophelia's each foot. Left. Right. "You are nervous for the coronation, aren't you?" Damien asked.

Yet, Ophelia stayed quiet. She did not deny, but she did not approve as well. Ophelia knew that everyone among the dukes would be against her. But she could not help but think how it would feel when she got back to the capital.

"All set, my lady" Damien said as he stood up, still facing the lady.

Ophelia was silent for a moment until finally a huge idea came into her mind, "Damien, I apparently thought of a perfect idea" she smiled.

- - - - -

[A FEW MOMENTS LATER]

"Is this your perfect idea, my lady?" Damien asked while wearing a long coat that covered his entire body.

The lady who wore a hunter outfit, with a bow behind her back, was in anticipation. Her eyes sparkled, and a sly smile occasionally played at the corner of her lips. "Yes, this is just the right way to see what they are planning upon this coronation"

Hearing that, Damien could only sigh as he assisted the lady stepping onto the carriage.

They were on their way, and snow started to fall outside of the carriage. Ophelia and Damien looked outside as they quietly traveled to the capital of Demesne.

Almost one hour later, finally, they arrived in front of the great capital gate. Ophelia ordered the carriage to stop as she walked out, followed by Damien.

"Thank you, we will walk from here" She said to the coachman as he bowed, signaling a yes.

Ophelia and Damien walked inside the capital, and ahead of them was a market sprawled across a vast square. Stalls and booths stretched as far as the eye could see, forming a colorful labyrinth in the middle of gray winter.

"Hoy! Grab your fresh vegetables now! It is rare in this cold winter!" a man in one of the booths shouted.

"Here, 2 silver coins, you assure me that if this thing didn't work, I can have my compensation?" a young lady was standing in front of an antique stall.

Money changed hands as buyers haggled with sellers to strike bargains. The jingling of the coins and clinking of metal weights were constant sounds in the air.

Damien's eyes wandered around the market, "How, in the middle of a cold winter, can this place survive?

"No doubt, people are poor. They need to earn money every single day" Ophelia pointed to one of the corner alleys, "Look at her, despite the cold winter, she still needed money, selling jewelry that no one wants to buy to feed her baby"

Damien carefully listened to Ophelia's words.

"Everyone needs gold in their hands; then, no wonder this place survived even though there is no guarantee that they themselves will survive" She continued as they walked by a weapon store.

Suddenly, a young man called, stopping them "Hey, miss! I see you are a warrior, carrying a bow behind your back" He continued as he walked towards Ophelia.

"No, I am just a deer hunter. But, thank you. I am flattered" Ophelia chuckled, winking towards Damien.

"Oh! So you are a hunter, well, I happened to have just the right thing for you" He said, taking out a bottle. Then, he continued "This is mavrk, made by a rare kind of flower extract. This thing will make your bow shiny".

"Oh, well, how much does it cost?" Ophelia answered.

"One gold coin, miss" He smiled.

Ophelia crossed her arms, with her brows furrowed "It's quite expensive, I might say" she replied.

"Oho, I have a deal for you; if you take this, I will give one bow case for you. How about it?" He offered.

"Intriguing. Should I take a look then?" Ophelia said.

"This way, miss" The man led them inside his store to have a look at the bow cases. "Please, take whichever you like," He said.

With zero interest, Damien whispered "We are here for your coronation, my lady. Not to spend a penny"

"You don't have to remind me, I have my own reason," Ophelia replied. "Good sir, how long have you been in this weaponry business?" Ophelia asked the man.

"Maybe almost 12 years? This store belonged to my father," He answered. "But, he died last year due to some illness called flu or something…" the man sighed.

"Low economic growth since the Abellones died made us suffer. I knew that they were not capable of leading this empire at all. They killed themselves and left the throne just like that!" He continued.

Ophelia did not seem surprised after hearing that.

The man, not knowing who she was, still talking "Well, of course, the dukes. They told us that the Abellones were no longer ruling this empire. Instead, they left us by their deaths, burning their own house. I mean, nobody knows , they are rich, it is only a speck of dust for them to build another one…But nobody was found"

"So, you blamed it on the Abellones?" Ophelia asked.

"Not only me, even the dukes told us that it was their fault…" The man replied.

Ophelia smiled bitterly. The dukes, of course, tried to spread rumors among people. "That greedy pi—" Ophelia mumbled, as the man cut.

"Today, the Abellone heiress came back to claim her throne. surely, so easy" He mocked.

Damien stepped closer to the man, in rage. But, Ophelia held him back. She smiled upon the man, "It will be great if we could finally hear the truth from the heiress herself" Ophelia said.

"Yes, I agree. It would be better than trusting gossip or rumors…" Damien added.

Ophelia stepped closer to the bow racks, "I think I would like to have this kind of bow case" She pointed to one of the old bows.

"Are you sure, miss?" The man asked the lady.

Ophelia nodded, smiling at the man while pulling out a bunch of gold from her pocket.

Seeing that, the man quickly prepared her order, happy to see such a rich person coming inside his store.

"The past formed the future…" Ophelia mumbled.

Damien glanced to see Ophelia's weak expression upon knowing how much people of Demesne hated her family. He did not say anything.

After a while, the man came out with a shiny bow case as he handed it then to the lady.

Ophelia gave a gold coin to the man, bowed, and left the store without saying anything.

Suddenly, the air felt so quiet, despite how crowded it was. Ophelia's sadness drawn between them.

Damien sighed but still, did not say anything.

After a few walks, they arrived at the capitol square. A big place where people gathered in the middle to hear one of the guards announcing Ophelia's arrival.

"Hee-ho!! Listen! The heiress of the Abellone Family will arrive soon among us! She announced, quoted, behold, this is my coronation day, please, be filled with joy!"

Ophelia did not say that.

"Boo! Arrogant!"

"Go back to death!"

People around screamed, mocked the lady. Not knowing her presence among them. Ophelia stood there expressionless, not responding to anything she already heard.

"My lady…" Damien checked upon her.

"The dukes are here" Ophelia said while pulling her bow from her back. "They are cozily sitting upon the big chairs, looking down on the people" Ophelia pulled out an arrow.

"Looking down on me. Liars…"

Ophelia snatched the arrow to the bow.

Damien smiled, looking at the lady. He lit up a fire on his finger, burning the arrow's eye.

"Those bastards…" Ophelia pulled the bow as she launched the arrow towards the dukes.

- - - - -

—to be continued