The ringleader puffed gust of a smoke as he grabbed the cigar in between his two fingers and took it out of his lips. “My lady, you have my most sincere condolences. It was an honest mistake on our end. My boys got a little tipsy one day and opened the door to his cell, where they had their way with your son throughout the entire night. He didn’t survive the ordeal. I promise that punished the four offenders sternly.” Explore more adventures at freewebnovel
Iris’ little heart contorted upon hearing what the man just said. She slumped down onto her knees and began whispering; “no… Damian… not come back?”
When she saw her mother similarly fall to her knees and began wailing like a banshee the young girl understood that something terrible happened.
“You vile scum! You just admitted to killing a child of noble blood! Do you know the consequences of your actions?!” Gilbert shrieked from the top of his lungs.”
The man spat on the ground before taking another huff of his cigar. His earlier accommodating demeanor vanished just like the smoke he exhaled from his lungs. He was clearly pretending to be courteous. In reality, he couldn’t care less about the young child, and I was pretty sure the men weren’t punished for doing what they did to him either. “Is this superiority complex of yours the reason why you thought it was acceptable to take a loan from an honest and respectable man like myself and not pay it back? Because you’re a noble and I’m a commoner? You’re entirely misguided. I can do whatever the fuck I want because I’m stronger than you. My organization is mightier than your household. The age of feudalism is swiftly coming to an end and is being actively replaced by anarchy in real time as we speak.”
“Wha- what nonsense are you spouting?! And even if you’re right, for now, you’re nothing but a petty outlaw. The duke will come after you once he learns of this!”
“The duke? Hahaha! He has better things to worry about, like fighting back against the hammer-fetishist midgets and their best buddies, the leaf-gobblers.”
“… I refuse to accept this!”
“I frankly don’t care what a relic of the past like you think. Hand over what I’m owed or see everything you once cherished be destroyed in mere seconds.”
“Damn it all…!” Gilbert cursed dejectedly. “Do you have my son’s body?”
The mafia boss nodded and from his ring, a small, mutilated corpse materialized. Both Iris and Vernice’s wailing reached a new high upon seeing that wretched sight.
Loss.
Amidst the extreme sorrow I was feeling due to my emotional connection with Iris, I couldn’t help but remember back to the Soul Records’ words about me.
[He’d never suffered loss or crippling defeat.]
Is this… what you wanted me to experience, o’ greatest power in the universe? Do I truly need to feel such a devastating loss to grow as a person? I’m sure you have your reasons, but this is just… too cruel. I feel like I want to lie down and cease existing.
… freēwēbηovel.c૦m
Iris seemed to agree with my feelings, as she did exactly just that. She went to bed and refused to do anything for the next few weeks.
Vernice was similarly depressed, the mother-daughter pair spent every waking moment in each other’s company and even slept together, though they rarely spoke to each other. Whenever Iris was in the company of her mother in the past, they would laugh and have an amazing time in general, but things were vastly different now.
Depression.
That was what all three of us were dealing with.
The once-always-smiling Vernice grew older by the day as her bright eyes lost their shine. She was a good woman but sadly not a strong one. In times like this, she should’ve stashed her own sorrow away and helped her baby overcome her own demons first, but the mother was too weak mentally to do so. Grief consumed her entire being.
“My lady… I brought you two a meal.” Sarah, the headmaid said after knocking on the door.
“Just leave it there…” Vernice replied in a fragile, dejected murmur.
“… Understood.”
The pair had moved to the guest room. Iris didn’t want to stay in her room because she shared the same space with Damian, so being there was a constant reminder of her beloved brother who she lost.
Vernice in the meantime refused to even lay her eyes on her husband let alone speak to him, so the master bedroom was also out of the question.
In the meantime, according to Sarah’s reports, Gilbert had become an alcoholic. He’d personally traveled to the duke for a meeting, and when he revealed what happened, he was brushed off with a ‘we’ll look into this’ answer. It was clear that nothing major would come of their investigations, thus he was consumed in not only his grief but extreme guilt.
It was his mistake that caused Damian to go to the Goddess’ side the early and horrendous way he did, and they all knew and blamed him for it.
It took nearly two months for the mother-daughter pair to voluntarily leave their room, but things never reverted back to how they were before the tragedy. Iris, the once cheery, adorable baby girl became a gloomy child. She never smiled. She was never happy.
Over the next few months, things deteriorated rapidly. Gilbert had to repay the loans he took from the other barons as well as what he owed to the count. They basically ransacked the household for valuables, and Gilbert was even forced to let go of the servants. The only ones who remained were Sarah and a few of the older folks.
I assumed that since they spent their entire lives here they had nowhere better to go, or perhaps they were just loyal to a fault. Older people tended to hate change with a burning passion, after all. Anyhow, I was pretty sure that they were not paid an ounce of money, since the Ravenclaw family had none to give. They were likely reimbursed for their services by only food and housing.
How bleak.
Up until Iris became two years old I was suffering from existential boredom that almost consumed my mental health, but ever since Damian’s death, I found myself dearly missing those simpler times. As the adult primordial Quinlan Noir, I honestly couldn’t care less even if I saw a thousand corpses like Damian’s, but this time things were different.
Every single moment of my time in this simulation was melded together with Iris’ feelings, thoughts, and wishes. Furthermore, I spent two years watching Damian grow from a little baby to an incredibly brave child. He deserved so much better than what he got. My own feelings of grief for his loss as well as hatred toward Gilbert were further bolstered by Iris’ rampant emotions, creating a depressive spiral that hit me incredibly strongly. She was too young to want revenge on his father, as she barely even understood what death was, but such feelings were growing. Slowly, day by day.
“Damn the count! He is demanding even more taxes… We need to upgrade our county’s armed forces to combat the hostile advances by the Alliance of Elvardia he says… Bah! He is pocketing the coins, I’m sure of it.” Gilbert whined at the dinner table. For the first time since the incident, the remaining members of the Ravenclaw family gathered to share a meal together. Vernice no longer refused to speak with him, but tensions were obviously sky-high at the table.