Rules and Traditions.

She wasn't sure how long she had been locked in the basement but one thing was for sure.

The sun had already set.

It was slightly dark where sat in the basement, but the darkness was already something she was used to. She sat with her knees raised, bringing them close to her and encircling her hands around them.

The Corleone house had many rules they lived by, they were in a way regarded as traditions, and they were upheld as ought most precedence. One of these rules is associated with the burial of the deceased member of the Corleone household.

When a member of the Corleone house dies, they are blessed by the priest in the temple in the capital city of Ephraim and after that, they are laid to rest in the grave along with their predecessors, each family had a special burial place preserved solely for the dead, which had existed from the ancient time.

These burial grounds were called Necropoleis.

Placing them with their predecessors is tradition, which is a way of honoring the deceased after death but some people are not laid to rest immediately after their bodies are blessed by the priest. When a member of the Corleone house commits a crime and has been judged guilty by the council, they are given an everlasting punishment or rather scare. Their bodies are burned to ashes before they are buried so the shame, guilt, and scare would follow them to the afterlife, and such individuals would forever be regarded as honourless.

That was the reason she didn't want Rome's body cremated.

From the understanding, she got from the discussion her father and Sir Alexander had, her brother didn't commit a crime that he should be dishonored, She was sure it wasn't the opinion of the council but was a decision her father made on his own, but why? Why would her father want to stripe her brother of his honor? no matter how hard she tried to wrap her head around it, she could never see the reason behind her father's decision. So it wasn't precisely the thought of having her brother's body cremated that bothered her, as she knew many traditions supported it but it was what came after.

People didn't care if a person is innocent or not, all they wanted was a good story, something to gossip about. Questions would arise about her brother's body being cremated when he was regarded as an honorary soldier. They would go around speculating, making assumptions that were not true, that was how shallow the society was.

It broke her heart to know that there was nothing she could do about it, she wanted him to be remembered as good.

He only had her, but there was nothing she could do.

She suddenly heard footsteps and noticed a slit of light. Someone was coming she thought.

With the light came voices.

"My lady"

"Miss."

Her brows knitted on recognizing the owners of the voice.

It was her assistant Victoria and personal maid Kimberly.

What were they doing here? she wondered. Certainly, it couldn't be because her father had a change of heart. She stood from the ground, deciding whatever their reason was, it would be better if she asked than continue to guess.

"My lady" Victoria called out while approaching her with a lantern in her hand. "The lady is right over here Kimberly." Victoria gazed behind her whilst calling out to Kimberly.

"My l- lady" Kimberly uttered with her voice breaking softly. At that moment Genevieve was sure she was going to cry, Genevieve wanted to roll her eye at the sight, why was the girl always emotional?

Noticing how emotional Kimberly was, Victoria decided to cut in."We knew you would be..."

Victoria couldn't complete her sentence as Genevieve interrupted her

"Why did you come here," She asked coldly.

"My lady...." Victoria began but paused for a moment before she continued."We thought you might be hungry so we brought you something to eat."

Genevieve returned her gaze to Kimberly, now noticing the tray of food in her hand.

"On whose orders? " She asked, her eye moving from Kimberly and back to Victoria.

They became bereft of words. They had only been worried about their mistress as she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday and when they heard the guards at the entrance of the basement had left for dinner, they thought it was an opportunity to sneak into the kitchen and get some food for their mistress.

Genevieve turned her back to them and walked some meters away, she only stopped in her strides when she knew she was a good distance away from them, she fixed her gaze on the small window, starting at the full moon.

"The both of you shouldn't be here, leave" She chided coldly, though with a calm voice.

Their eye softened at the sight of their mistress, if anyone didn't better they would think their mistress was being unreasonably harsh and ungrateful, but they could tell she was grateful, perhaps she had many reasons for pushing them away, but no matter how much she did, they could never turn their backs on her because their loyalty belonged only to their mistress and no one else.

Kimberly attempted to speak but Victoria quickly cut her off by placing a hand on her shoulders.

"We would be leaving now my lady" Victoria relayed with her gaze fixed on her mistress's back.

"Take the food with you," Genevieve ordered.

They turned around and left the place.

""""""""""""""

A crackling sound could be heard in the silent room, the flames from the fire radiating into the room as it blazed away furiously.

A figure stood silently, some meters away from the furnace, his hands were folded with bluish-grey eyes mirroring the fiery image of the flames.

"Is it now a habit of yours to prowl around." Came his cold expressionless voice."Micheal"

"I won't say it's a habit, you can say it's me polishing my concealing skills" conveyed a new fellow as he step into view from behind the walls.

He paused for a moment, with his eye scanning the room, before finally landing on the figure standing close to the furnace."But of course, nothing gets past your senses, so I don't think that counts."

The main source of light was from the furnace, and it lit the room, giving it a slightly yellow glow with the flames giving off a warm embrace. He noticed some opened books resting on the table in the sitting room.

"Mind if I disrupt your peace a little?" Asked the fellow standing by the entrance. He waited for some time and when he didn't get a reply he gave up and he moved from the position where he stood leaning by the side of the room.

"I'll take that as a No."