~Ophilia ~✧*.
"Duchess Seraphine, her lady looks exactly like you," one of her personal maids said warmly, watching the little girl play.
"She’s very gentle and clever."
[I look at my mom, sitting elegantly in her chair.]
She chuckled softly. Her dark brown hair, long and curling, drifted gently in the breeze. Crystal blue eyes shimring. Skin so smooth and fair it seed to glow.
She took one quiet sip of her tea before stepping toward Ophilia, who was running freely through the garden.
"My, my... of course she does. I’m her mother, after all," she said, smiling warmly.
She laughed softly, then reached out her hands. Slowly, she lifted Ophlia onto her lap and walked toward her flower garden.
The garden was beautiful that day. The air slled like sothing warm and alive. Especially because Ophilia was there, with her mother, the person she loved most in the world.
Her mother introduced each flower one by one. But Ophilia noticed sothing. One flower hadn’t been ntioned. It looked different from all the others. Black mixed with red Blood....
She frowned slightly.
"Mom, that flower looks dead," she called out proudly, pointing toward the flower sitting right in the middle of the garden.
She waited, fully expecting her mother to praise her for noticing.
But the mont those words left her mouth.... her mother’s expression changed.
Completely.
Her eyes went wide. Her body went still, frozen, staring at the flower. Sweat began to form on her face.
All around them, the maids suddenly beca frantic, rushing for water, moving quickly as if sothing was about to happen.
Ophilia looked around in confusion, then back at her mother.
She wanted to ask. But....
Her mother’s lips moved. Whispering sothing Ophilia couldn’t understand.
"Mom," she whispered softly, still watching her.
She reached up slowly and wiped the sweat from her mother’s face.
Her mother startled, as if she had just co back to reality.
Her eyes were glistening, but she smiled warmly at Ophla anyway. Her hand gently stroked Ophla’s head.
"I’m sorry, baby," she said. Over and over again.
Ophilia had grown used to hearing those words. Her mother said. [I’m sorry]. often, even when Ophilia had done nothing wrong. She always knew sothing was making her mother sad. Sothing she couldn’t see.
"Mom, are you okay?" she asked, watching the expressions around her shift, faces going quiet and heavy, yet still smiling, as if everyone was hiding sothing from her.
Her mother wiped her own eyes and tucked Ophilia’s hair back gently. She smiled, the way she always did.
"Don’t worry. You will always be my baby," she said. Her eyes were clearly holding sothing back.
Ophilia nodded and smiled.
"Ophilia ,you are like a flower in my life. Every ti I look at you, you give my life colour and light," she said softly, her warm smile steady and calm. Her crystal blue eyes shone so brightly in that mont.
She leaned her forehead gently against Ophla’s.
"My baby. We will always try our best to support you. Even if the whole world turns away from us, we will always be with you," she said, laughing softly with happiness.
Both of them smiled.
From a distance, Duke Herold had been watching them, and feeling completely left out. He broke into a run toward them.
"Look who’s been excluded!!" he said, pouting dramatically.
They laughed.
"Dad, you’re so slow!!" Ophilia teased, watching her father look genuinely wounded.
"It’s okay, Dad, co here!!" she said brightly, waving both hands toward him.
"Mom, Dad... I love you so much," Ophilia said, even though she didn’t fully understand what her mother had ant just monts ago.
Her mother startled at those words. Then both of them wrapped their arms around her at the sa ti, warm, and full, and real. And kissed her on the forehead.
That was the last ti Ophilia felt truly warm.
Because after that, sothing happened.
___________
Her mother fell ill.
Healers ca from everywhere. But the sickness was strange and rare unlike anything anyone had seen. And slowly, Ophla found herself seeing her parents less and less.
"Excuse ... when will Mother co?" she said quietly, standing in front of her parents’ tightly closed door.
The maid’s expression shifted, uneasy, sad.
"I’m sorry, My lady. Not yet. Let’s go back," she said, guiding Ophilia away.
But deep down, Ophilia already knew. Sothing wasn’t right.
_____________
Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. And still .. the door stayed closed.
Then one day, the maid ca back.
"My lady ... your mother would like to see you," she said, her face tired and sad all at once.
The whole walk there, Ophilia studied every expression she passed. The Aethelgard estate felt darker than it used to. Heavier.
"What happened to my mother?" Ophilia asked, walking straight ahead, smiling as if nothing was wrong.
The maid said nothing. Only shook her head.
Ophilia smiled. But inside, she was deeply, quietly disappointed
When they finally arrived at her mother’s room ....just as her hand reached for the doorknob .....she heard sothing.
Sothing she probably wasn’t ant to hear.
"She saw it, didn’t she?" An familiar voice from inside. Rough. Irritated.
"That’s exactly why I told you not to have that child." The man’s voice rose slightly.
"Your life will be the price."
Soone was crying.
Ophilia went still.
What flower? What child?
She froze.
Then .... the doorknob turned from inside.
Ophla stepped back quickly. The door opened.
An old man stepped out. Brown hair. Eyes the sa shade of blue as her mother’s. He looked straight at her.... sharp and unblinking. He walked past her without a single word.
It’s granpa!...
She lowered her head to not look at his face
Then he stopped.
"The flower you saw in the garden ," he said, his voice low and serious.
"Was it black?"
Ophilia, without looking up, nodded slowly.
Hmph!!!
A short sound of disgust. Then he was gone.
Ophilia stood there alone, head down, not understanding what she had done to make that man so angry and disappointed.
_________________________
She stepped inside.
Her mother’s room was dark. Dim. Cold. She looked around, hardly believing it ... the room that had always been so bright was now covered in long heavy curtains that swallowed all the light.
On the bed, soone lay completely still.
Beside that person sat her father ....Duke Herold, head bowed, holding the woman’s fingers. Crying without stopping.
The maid spoke softly.
"Your Grace, she is here."
Duke Herold lifted his head. His eyes were red and swollen, as if he had been crying for days without rest. He stood slowly, wiped his face, and called to her in a voice that had gone hoarse.
"Oh..,co here," he said, smiling the way he always did.
Ophilia walked toward him, her eyes never leaving the woman lying on the bed.
"...Dad," she said quietly.
Her father closed his eyes and shook his head slowly.
"My darling. I’m so sorry. You’re too young to have to feel sothing like this," he said, pulling her into his arms.
"All of this was my mistake."
He paused. Then, holding the woman’s hand gently.
"Do you want to see your mom... for the last ti?"
"What are you talking about, Dad," Ophilia said, trembling. That sentence sohow shattered sothing inside her chest.
"Your mom... is right in front of your eyes," he said. His expression was helpless. Lost.
Ophilia thought he was joking. But, His eyes didn’t look like joking eyes.
Her smile disappeared.
She turned slowly.
She looked at the woman’s face.
Barely recognisable.
"...That’s Mom?" she whispered, her voice rough and small. Her whole body felt numb. She couldn’t move. No tears ca. Only empty, hollow eyes.
She not heard anything, all she can see is the woman infront of her, that she called it Mom...
’ff
______________________
Ti passed.
Before she knew it, her mother’s funeral was right in front of her.
Ophilia didn’t cry at all.
The sll of damp soil filled the air. Voices surrounded her, but they sounded so far away. Like she was no longer part of that world.
The world remained silent to her.
Until...
A drop. Sothing warm slid down her cheek.
She froze.
"...huh?"
Another one followed. And another.
"Why..."
Her hands trembled as she touched her own face.
"Why am I crying...?"
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