Chapter - 19

The night had started well enough.

Once ready and dressed, Jenny had left the manor to meet the viscount’s son. For a few hours, she’d enjoyed walking among the people, watching the various performances, and nibbling from the food on offer from the many street vendors set up specifically for the festival.

When the appointed time arrived, she had waited for her possible future husband near the center square.

He arrived in a carriage. A fancy one which bore his family’s crest.

After one look at the man jumping out of the vehicle, Jenny dared to hope this wouldn’t be the torture she imagined it would be.

Ferdinand looked older than he said he was in his letters. Not a young man just past his twenties, but a man in his early thirties. But that was the only fault Jenny could find in him.

He walked to her; and wearing a boyish, confident charm he took her hand, bowed, and kissed her knuckles.

Despite herself, Jenny blushed. Who does that?

Her blushing should have been the first sign something was wrong. Jenny knew herself better than that. There was no space in her head for attraction to anyone other than her Gizelda. She’d never even felt anything toward anyone else; neither men nor women could garner her interest.

But lulled by hope, tricked by gentle gestures and sweet words, Jenny didn’t pay attention to that twisting feeling in her gut telling her there was something horribly wrong.

The night continued like it was a dream. Jenny laughed, danced. For the first time in forever, she wasn’t worried about not being Gizelda’s equal. She just was, and she just enjoyed the festival.

Not even when Ferdinand suggested they retreat to the manor did Jenny find it strange. Not even when he said he knew the young master and Gregory had offered him a place to sleep.

It was late, deep into the night.

She talked with Edgar, convinced him to let a stranger inside the manor. Another thing that made no sense at all. But Jenny never questioned.

Once inside, Jenny did something she never thought she would. She gave Ferdinand an inviting smile, a tilt of the head. Her heart sped when he pushed her against the wall. Only Gizelda had been this forceful before.

Then, instead of kissing her like she expected, the man gripped her throat. Fingers digging into her skin.

At that same moment, the veil that had been over her mind the whole evening fell, and she really saw Ferdinand for the first time.

He looked nothing like the viscount’s son she’d been expecting. His eyes and smile throughout the night hadn’t been charming, but an ugly sneer that made Jenny’s stomach turn.

Now, pinned to the foyer’s wall, short of breath and dizzy from being slapped, Jenny fought against the tendrils clawing their way into her skull. The insidious whispers told her to obey, to serve, to worship the disgusting pig in front of her.

One of Ferdinand’s hands still gripped her throat, cutting off air. With the other, he rebuffed her feeble attempts to push him away.

Jenny had worn Gizelda’s gift today; she wanted to make a good impression. The clothes were a pain to wear and to endure. She regretted it now; Even if she were to push the man away, there was no chance of fleeing in the dress.

Ferdinand’s muttering increased, and the whispers in her head grew stronger.

Jenny didn’t know how much more she could resist. Even the memories of her time with Gizelda weren’t helping anymore. The poisonous murmurs in her mind took too much focus to keep at bay.

Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw a girl walk into the foyer.

The child’s gait was strange, like she wasn’t used to walking. She scrunched her nose as if fighting off a foul stench. Her white hair and red eyes seemed to glow in the dim light of the room. The girl wore one of the female servants’ white shirts. It was too big for her petite frame. Bare feet slapped against the wooden floor, and her lips were thin and severe.

A strange expression to see in a child.

Was she the child of one of the other servants?

Jenny had seen no girl with white hair and red eyes among the other servants’ kids. Though it wouldn’t be a surprise if she’d just missed the girl; she wasn’t on the best terms with most of the other servants and had no interest in their affairs.

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Jenny and the girl locked eyes, and she found the girl’s to be familiar, even if she didn’t remember where from.

The girl’s gaze turned to Ferdinand. Her eyes widened, mouth open in surprise. Her face morphed into a snarl. There was a growl, high pitched and not a sound a person should make. Then the girl ran towards them. Not on two feet like a normal person, but on all fours like a beast.

Ferdinand looked back, maybe alerted by the high-pitched snarl. The girl was at his side, teeth clamping on the bastard’s waist.

Ferdinand turned around and backhanded the girl away from him; which caused the whispers in her mind to relent.

The girl’s body flopped to the side like a puppet with its strings cut. The feral girl crashed against one of the decorative porcelain vases, and the decoration fell and broke to pieces.

After that, things moved almost too fast to keep track of.

Ferdinand whirled and punched Jenny in the face; she fell down, creating an even greater ruckus.

He left Jenny on the ground, reeling from the pain, and walked to the girl. She was a mess.

Blood spilled from the girl’s mouth, one of her arms bent in the wrong way. Her eyes were vacant, but she was still awake.

Ferdinand muttered something in that strange language of his.

The entrance door to the manor flew open; there, bathed in the moonlight, was Edgar, dressed in his leather armor, sword held in one hand, a lantern in the other. The manor guard’s eyes scanned the scene, stopping for a moment on the body of the child. He took one step inside the foyer, sword ready.

“Stop right there, or I’ll kill you.”

Things devolved into a chaotic mess after that. Edgar barged in, sword ready, but Ferdinand was faster.

Ferdinand stepped on the girl’s neck, pinning her to the ground. He pressed harder when Edgar didn’t stop.

Edgar halted his approach, glowering at the intruder.

“Coward,” he spat.

Ferdinand didn’t answer. His hand moved fast, fingers blurring. His voice rose to a crescendo. The air became heavy and malignant. The light of the moon vanished, leaving them all in complete darkness. Then there was a whistling sound and Edgar screamed.

The sound crawled into Jenny’s ears and into her mind. It reminded Jenny of the time her father forced her to kill one of the farm’s pigs. She had done a horrible job. She was supposed to kill it with one hammer blow to the head. It took seven. The pig screamed throughout.

Edgar’s screams were so much worse.

When the darkness faded, Edgar lay crumpled and rotting, maggots spilling from his skin, eyes, mouth, and nose.

The repugnant man turned back to Jenny. She tried to crawl away, her head still spinning.

Ferdinand was on her in an instant. He grabbed her by the hair and dragged Jenny away from the foyer and toward the communal room.

“Fucking hell. I’m out of mana.”

He tossed Jenny in the middle of the room, kicked her when she tried to crawl away.

“This mess is bound to attract attention,” he muttered.

His hand went to his back and returned with a wicked-looking dagger. He cut his finger, then drew something on Jenny’s forehead. Once he was done, he looked at Jenny’s face once more, then looked away.

“I fucking hate doing this.”

He slid the dagger into Jenny’s stomach. Not a stab, or a fast attack. He took his time, moving the blade inch by inch, sometimes twisting it.

Jenny screamed. Her belly was pure agony. The more she tried to get away, the worse the pain became.

Something squirmed inside her, then fled through the wound the man created. The pain stopped, her senses muted. She couldn’t feel anything; not pain, fear, or despair. Only a faint sense of amusement.

After surviving the exodus and prosecution throughout her homeland and escaping in one of the legendary sky-ships to another flying-island, her death wasn’t because of the sins of her parents, but because she wanted to become a noble. Because she fell in love with her Gizelda.

Ferdinand got up. He left the dagger in Jenny’s stomach.

Without looking back, he strode inside the manor, his gait hurried.

Jenny’s mind wandered, darkness encroaching on the edges of her vision. She didn’t really mind dying. She should have died eleven years ago. Her only regret was not seeing Gizelda again. Would Gizelda cry when the news reached her?

Jenny hoped not; she didn’t want to make the person she loved sad.

There was a sound nearby. Jenny couldn’t move, but soon after, she saw the source. She couldn’t believe her blurry vision. Maybe she was hallucinating.

The feral girl stood at Jenny’s side, covered in blood, arm still bent the wrong way. She’d taken the girl for dead.

The white-haired girl grabbed her broken arm and pulled it back into place, her face contorting in agony. Rivers of tears spilling from her eyes.

Then she spoke. Her words were eerie, and heavy. It reminded Jenny of Ferdinand’s muttering, but it didn’t make her want to puke.

The air reverberated, and nothing happened. The girl shook her head, then looked about, muttering.

Jenny chuckled at the hallucination. The girl reminded her of Biscuit. Who would look after her pet? The cute thing didn’t deserve to die, he was too cute for that.

Jenny chuckled again.

In the end, instead of thinking of the woman she loved, she thought of Biscuit, the cute rabbit she wasn’t supposed to keep.

The girl walked around Jenny, fingers tracing something on the ground. Jenny couldn’t and didn’t care. The end had come. Darkness replaced her surroundings, and cold consumed her soul.

The hallucination brought by death didn’t relent. An old, almost crumbling piece of parchment appeared in the darkness, demanding her attention.

Biscuit offers you a contract.

Biscuit promises you power, knowledge, and a chance to live.

You promise your soul in return.

Accept / Refuse

Jenny read the words. In the darkness of her mind, she laughed. Madness had finally arrived. She was bonkers and past the point of salvation if her pet rabbit was now offering a chance to live.