Chapter 7 - Plight of the Blind Girl

  Felicia pushed the button at the very top of the panel, taking another breath as the doors closed behind her. She had put on a beautiful green dress, knowing it was her grandmother’s favorite color.

  Many months had passed since she last took the trip to the top floors. But now that only her grandmother lived there, she found visiting much less pleasant.

  I miss grandpa… The entire mansion turned colder when he died.

  She had hoped her father would join them during the meeting, but it seemed less likely now. Such meetings would typically take place in his office, on the floors below the residential ones.

  That was where Elizabeth was headed with little Edward in her hands, ready for war.

  However stoic Felicia had tried to appear when they talked, the event had made her feel so defenseless. Someone had entered her personal floor without leaving any apparent trace, except the obvious.

  Was it a cruel prank? A warning? An intentional attempt at harming her?

  Sleeping will be hard again…

  The elevator slowed to a stop, and the doors opened with a familiar pling. She stepped out, expecting someone to welcome her.

  “Welcome, young lady Felicia,” the old butler said from the doorway. “Your grandmother is expecting you in the living room. Shall I escort you over?”

  “Yes, please,” Felicia replied, holding her arm out. “I’m not visiting as often as I should, so the space is a bit unfamiliar to me.”

  “It would be my pleasure.” He turned and put his elbow in her hand, professional as always. “I’m sure she would like to see you more often, if you could find the time.”

  Felicia walked with him through the first doorway, trying to put on a polite smile. “I will try to find some time in my busy schedule, then.”

  She had never quite known what to think of Thomas, the head butler. He did his job to perfection, and that was all.

  Another doorway, and this time the scent of roses followed the opening, clear as day. A fireplace roared somewhere in the room, and the flame radiated heat onto her skin.

  Felicia let go of the butler’s arm, then smiled and bowed. “Felicia greets you, grandmother.”

  “Oh, you could sense me?”

  The voice came from across the room, near the fireplace.

  "Although my eyes stopped working, my other senses have only turned sharper." Felicia kept her tone respectful, even as her pulse quickened. "Your lovely perfume is hard to ignore."

  “Hum, I thought perhaps you had learned some new tricks on the mountain yesterday. Please sit, the chair is right in front of you.”

  “Oh, I didn’t get that far, I’m afraid,” Felicia replied as she found the chair ahead of her. She ran her hand over the seat before turning to sit down—an old habit by now, formed by one too many sharp objects placed in her chairs in the past. “You’ve spoken with Father, I understand?”

  “Oh, yes, he had quite a lot to say about that stranger. What was your impression of him?”

  The question was deceptively casual. Felicia could hear the sharp interest beneath her grandmother's conversational tone, the way she stressed certain words.

  “Hmm…” Felicia had to think for a while, not quite sure what to think of Daniel. He was taken aback by her first question, as most people would be. Then he lied about where he was from and why he was there.

  After that, he ignored her polite dismissal and started pushing her to reveal her secret, luring her with the promise of sight. And she had buckled, blinded by her eagerness.

  But even then, she felt he was a kind person. His voice was perfectly genuine when he thanked her for trusting him.

  “He seemed like the kind of person who would go far to satiate his curiosity, but not to the point of being cruel. Powerful, evasive, knowledgeable about certain topics while ignorant of others. Mysterious, above all.”

  One thing that really stood out to her was the promise that he could make her the greatest mage alive. She hadn’t sensed any deception in his words.

  Being delusional isn’t uncommon, but he seemed perfectly sane… and powerful.

  “I see… Well, your father said he was strong, at the very least. But I have never heard of such a thing as magic sight.”

  Felicia could feel herself deflating slightly, like a punctured balloon. The hope that had been growing in her chest since yesterday began to wither. However, this was merely the easiest way to achieve her goal. There were other options.

  “Could you ask our family spirit, then?”

  “Harrox is only to be called when the family faces danger, my dear. Besides, I doubt this magic sight even exists in the first place.”

  “...Alright. I must have been tricked.”

  The lie tasted bitter on her tongue. She didn't believe for a second that she had been deceived.

  So Daniel is my only hope, after all.

  Getting to the Novanny Academy of Magic would be near impossible, especially for her. A blind girl who never learned magic, with no real connections and no way to prove her worth.

  “I’m glad you see reason, my dear,” her grandmother replied, though the relief didn’t reach her voice. “Now, this was only one of the reasons I wanted to see you.”

  The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees, despite the roaring fire. Felicia's hands clenched in her lap, hidden beneath the folds of her dress.

  “I’m happy to help with whatever you need, grandmother.”

  Felicia’s facade of being an obedient and dutiful granddaughter lied once again, as it had a hundred times before. It was strange how lying was the proper way to present oneself in noble families.

  Some may start believing in their own lies, if given enough time. Maybe I’m too young.

  “I am pleased to hear it,” her grandmother said, rising from her chair with surprisingly light movements for her age. After a short hesitation, she started pacing back and forth by the fireplace. “The Caldimores have been friends of our family for many generations, as you perhaps know.”

  The Caldimores? That ice family?

  “...I thought they were more like our rivals, honestly. Our magic counters theirs quite well.”

  “Yes, that has been the case for a few generations now, mostly due to a personal rivalry my father had with their head. But in the past, we were good friends. And I have decided to reignite that friendship.”

  No. No, no, no.

  Felicia started feeling uneasy. A young lady like her had little to offer when it came to strengthening relations with another family, except for one thing.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “That sounds like a lovely idea,” she lied, again. “But I’m not sure how I can be of any help.”

  Please don’t say it…

  The pacing stopped. Grandmother's voice, when it came, was bright and cheerful, as if she were discussing the weather.

  “Marriage, of course.”

  There it was. The word she dreaded, hitting her like a bolt of lightning, stealing the air from her lungs. Like her mother, she was to be married off for ‘family relations.’

  “I’m sorry, grandmother, but I am only thirteen years old. Isn’t it too early to—”

  “Nonsense, engagements can happen at any time. The marriage won’t happen for another three years at least. But they did want you to come live with them in the meantime.”

  “No!”

  The word erupted from her before she could stop it. Felicia stood from her chair in a surge of rage, moving without conscious thought. This was too much, even for her.

  “I won’t be married off to some unknown family just so you don’t have to see me anymore! This is my home! This is my city! And the only family I have left!”

  “Calm yourself, Felicia. This has already been decided between me and that old goat of theirs.”

  Of course it has. I'm not a person to be consulted, just a piece on a game board.

  “Does father know of this?!”

  He has to know. He's the head of this house. He wouldn't let this happen.

  "I wanted to tell you first."

  Which means no. Which means you're going behind his back.

  “He’s the leader of this house! And he’s my father! You don’t get to decide—”

  The room was drowned in mana, dense like the black ocean. Felicia’s voice gave out, just like all other sounds in the room. Her lungs refused to move. Her throat closed. Even her heartbeat seemed to hesitate in that black ocean of mana.

  It was completely silent except for a light breathing—not her own. Her grandmother's breath, steady and controlled, the only sound in a world that had suddenly forgotten how to make noise.

  “As long as your father lacks the strength to protect this family, I do get to decide. You would do well to remember that.”

  The mana dissipated as soon as she stopped speaking, letting Felicia breathe again. That was so far beyond what Daniel had shown her, completely incomparable even.

  "This is not just for our sake, but also for your own," her grandmother continued, in a softer tone this time. As if the casual display of power had never happened. "I've heard about how your siblings are treating you."

  “...And yet I’m the one who has to leave? They do as they please, and nothing happens to them?”

  Her voice was more like a whimper than anything else. She had lost the will to fight.

  They burn me, cut my things, humiliate me in front of guests, and their punishment is... nothing.

  Rage, sorrow, and helplessness combined, making it impossible to hold back any longer. The tears were already unstoppable, trickling down her face.

  “It has been decided. You will see in time that this is the best solution.”

  Felicia walked away with her face in her hands, unable to stay there anymore. The room that had once been filled with warmth now felt unbearable, squeezing the breath from her lungs.

  I have to get out. I have to—

  Thomas opened the door for her in silence, still as emotionless as ever.

  She crashed into the next doorframe, but the pain barely registered. Only the ping from the elevator forced her to stop.

  The doors opened with heavy steps, and a light gasp sounded as he saw her. “Felicia! What’s wrong?”

  His voice was full of genuine concern, the kind she heard so rarely in this house that it always caught her off guard. For a moment, she almost believed he might actually help.

  “This family, Dad! This family is wrong!”

  She kept walking to the elevator, but Franz’s large arms caught her in a hug before she could escape. His embrace was warm and solid, smelling of ink and office paper.

  “I heard what they did. I promise I’ll find the one responsible, and I’ll let them all know that they’re not allowed to bully you anymore.”

  He thinks this is about the knife. He doesn't know about the marriage.

  Was he really so powerless? The grand patriarch of the Harrowbloom family? The title he wore so proudly, was it really so hollow?

  By the time he learned everything, it would be too late to object.

  “I’ll be shipped off to some other family before then, so don’t bother!”

  “What?!”

  His grip loosened in shock, and she escaped into the elevator, keeping her back turned to him while pushing the button to her room repeatedly. The brass button was cold under her fingertip as she jabbed it, over and over, as if pressing it harder would make the elevator move faster.

  “Felicia, what do you mean?”

  The shock and pain in his voice were real. Whatever else was true about her father, he did care about her in his own way. Which somehow made this worse—he cared, but not enough to actually protect her from the family politics that had always controlled their lives.

  I should tell him gently. Explain what grandmother said, let him process it.

  Instead, bitterness and hurt won out.

  "...Congratulate me on my engagement, Dad."

  There. Let those words cut as deeply as they cut me.

  His breath caught, a sharp intake of air like he'd been punched in the stomach. She heard him take a step forward, probably reaching for her, but then the doors slid closed between them.

  “What the hell, Mother?!”

  Franz stormed into the warm room, finding the old archmage standing by the fireplace, looking into the flames.

  “This is for the best, Franz. She’s not compatible with us.”

  "So what?!" The words exploded from him, louder than intended. "This is her home! Don't send her away because the other children bully her!"

  His mother finally turned from the fireplace, lit by the dancing fire. Her eyes cut into him, making him feel like a child again, called before the family matriarch to explain some disappointment.

  “Listen to yourself. Are we supposed to punish all the children because they’re doing what every family like ours does? Did you not fight your brothers?”

  "This isn’t fighting, this is bullying the weak! That’s not what noble families do!” Despite the fear in his heart, Franz managed to keep his voice strong. “Earlier tonight, someone went into her room and stabbed her teddy bear, Mother!”

  The old lady sighed. “All the more reason to send her away.”

  “But this isn’t the way! How can we punish her for the actions of her siblings?!”

  “If she suffers any permanent injury, we might get the Grifantes family on our neck. They’re not someone we can afford to offend—not after your last wife died in that accident.”

  Franz took a step back. She was right, in a way, though he hated to admit it. The Grifantes family was second only to the royal family, and even that was in question.

  If only that airship hadn’t… Sylvia…

  He sat on one of the chairs, still warm from where Felicia had been sitting just minutes before. The image of her face as the elevator closed between them clenched at his heart. So hurt, so helpless.

  “But… She’s just a child.”

  “She is old enough to live away from home. And in time, she might be happy. Especially if you let Elizabeth join her.”

  “...It feels wrong.”

  “You are still her father, Franz. What is right is often clouded by emotion.”

  Yes, the same old lesson. One he had listened to far too many times. Love is weakness waiting to be exploited. Too many people relied on their family for it to have a vulnerable leader.

  It’s because I’m weak. If I had been an archmage by now, this wouldn’t need to happen…

  “But marriage, at her age? She’s the youngest—only Norton is engaged before her.”

  “Take some time, Franz. It’s not like she will be sent away tomorrow. You should go speak to her once she’s had some time to calm down.”

  “Yes… Yes, I will.”

  Felicia sank to the floor, praying that the elevator didn’t stop on the way down. The tears refused to stop.

  Why? Why am I so alone?!

  It was unbearable. The few people who still cared for her barely had time to see her, and now she was going to lose them as well. Sent to some other noble family as a bargaining chip.

  She couldn’t wait to get to her bed, to shuffle under the covers and hide from the world. To pretend, for a few hours at least, that none of this was happening. Luckily, the elevator stopped with another pling, and the doors opened to welcome her home.

  After taking a brief moment to gather what remained of her composure, she stood up from the elevator floor and walked the familiar steps to her front door. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as she unlocked it and walked through.

  Safe.

  She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, finally allowing her shoulders to sag. The tears came harder now, without the need to maintain appearances or worry about who might see her weakness.

  Alone at last, she thought. Alone forever.

  “Hello there.”

  What?

  She froze in shock, her blood turning to ice in her veins. Someone was inside her home. A man.

  The knife was a warning after all. And they had come to finish the job.

  …Fine.

  She lacked the strength to even fight it. What was the point? If she survived, she'd still be blind, still be unwanted, still be destined for marriage to a stranger. At least this way it would be over quickly.

  “J-Just… get it over with. Kill me.”

  "What? This again?"

  Again?

  Only then did she place the voice, and the tears returned.

  Tears of hope.

  “...Daniel?”