I remained in that miserable state for a long time.I had never felt such a degree of agony and burning in my life. They were ominous moments that I had not lived through and would never forget.I felt as if I were walking on the edge of death, despite the help of that person...Hours later, I felt him prick my left arm with a needle in the same spot.He gave me that bitter drink, the nature of which I did not know.After a quarter of an hour of torment from that injection, I began to regain feeling in my limbs, and my breathing became easier.But I was still in severe pain. My chest was literally burning, and all my limbs were slowly twitching, and... when I felt the burning subside, I closed my eyes and slept.I slept for an unknown duration, but I was sure it was very long. That was evident from the sleep crust settled between the corners of my eyes, not to mention the blood vessels branching out beside my black pupils.When I woke up, the light from above the basement door was hitting my face directly.I blinked several times and began to rub my eyes to adjust to the brightness of the light.I usually close it... but it seems I forgot it last time, as my memory held no meaning after that colossal event that had fallen upon me.I rose with great difficulty, my feet trembling, and the panting slightly cutting off my breath. I couldn't believe that standing up had already taken half my strength.The stinging sensation was still in my left elbow where that unknown person had injected me.I moved towards that small bathroom attached to the wall, which had a side of unpolished, cracked glass. Its purpose was to conceal whoever entered it, despite my doubt that it could hide me at all.I placed my hand on the water tap and turned it, causing a faint metallic screech. I put my head under the stream.The water was cold as usual, but this time I needed it because my body was extremely sweaty and still burning. I washed my face over and over... I got rid of some of the drowsiness, but I was still very tired.I sighed heavily and let out a long exhale from my mouth before closing the tap, which made that rusty squeal.I stepped back to sit on the edge of my worn-out, dilapidated bed.Hunger was currently more severe on my body than any other pain, but... I didn't understand why I hadn't passed out, because I was simply sure I hadn't eaten for a while.Had I really gotten used to hunger?Impossible. Hunger is the one thing you can never get used to. I told myself that many times to feel that I was still alive, because, unfortunately, hunger is not like all pain. It grows stronger over its owner and overwhelms him with the passage of time, instead of subsiding, healing, and mending.While the memory of that boy from yesterday suddenly surged in my mind, I remembered Sara's request from the previous day. I also put my hand in my pocket. The Martinez family seal was still with me.I rose with heavy steps while taking that book with the golden sword cover. It was the novel Sara had asked me to bring her. If my memory serves me right—and I wish I could lose it—its name was "The Sword of Dawn".I was walking in that gilded corridor while my feet were almost dying on the cold marble. I kept walking, step after step.Of course, some servants tried to stop me and turn me away, but I raised the family crest, which was still nestled between my fingers, so they could not prevent me from passing. One of them was embarrassed, another glanced at me and continued his steps, and the third, seeing the servants step aside and ignore me, followed suit.After climbing the long, wide staircase that took a slight turn to the right at its end, I entered the most magnificent wing of the palace.The corridor was silver-colored this time, but for a moment, I felt like a stranger in this place because it was beautiful in an incomprehensible way. Huge windows started from my ankle and reached the ceiling, and large curtains of pale yellow silk. I didn't need to focus on the paintings and statues, which I would not understand anything about.I looked to the right and paused slightly because the giant garden could be clearly seen in its entirety from this height. The garden looked... much larger than if I had looked at it from the ground, especially that fountain in the middle—truly magnificent.I didn't keep looking for long. I suppressed my eyes for my own sake, so as not to become attached to these things that I would never possess in my life.I didn't know where to find Sara's room. There were a number of doors, and I was confused about which one to knock on.And yes, of course, I never know the locations of my siblings' rooms. As I mentioned before, the basement is my only home, and besides it, I have only seen the corridor, the kitchen, and... the library the day before, as I told you previously. It is very clear to me and to you that it is impossible for me to enter it again. My entry into that terrifying library was an anomaly in my life, and I don't think it will be repeated.A servant passed in the corridor, so I followed him and tried to ask him about Sara's room, but he merely looked at me over his shoulder, and his eyes dropped to stare at the seal in my hand. He continued walking as if I weren't there.Even though I raised the family crest, he paid no attention to my words. Did he think it was fake? Or did he do this only because... he was ordered to? Essentially, even the servants despise me. Why should I expect respect just because I possess a physical seal?I raised my head and caught sight of Histori.H-He is the one...My mind plunged into the memories of that day in the forest when I followed him and felt fear and tension from those red eyes that glowed like embers.I tried to speak, and he was still advancing towards me calmly, with his hands in his pockets. His face was devoid of any expression, as usual—cold and serene—and his black hair fell slightly over his eyebrows.I tried to talk to him and said with a nervous smile, "M-My brother... G-Good morning. I'm just looking for..."But he simply walked past me. He didn't look at me as he passed.Thinking about it, Histori is the only one who hasn't raised a hand to strike me, unlike my siblings, who are extremely savage in the way they hurt me.I watched Histori for a while as he walked away with the same calm steps. Inside, I was a little sad, wishing I could talk to him for a bit...What interrupted my train of thought was that he muttered audible words without turning around or stopping his walk: "Yellow."What did he mean by the word "yellow"? I was sure those words were directed at me.I found myself walking in the corridor, and indeed, the doors that were only brown began to change slightly and take on other colors. When I saw a dark red door leaning towards brown, something inside me told me that this might be Histori's room. I paused briefly in front of that door, but I controlled my curiosity and continued on my way until I found a yellow door, which seemed to be Sara's room.I stood in front of the door for about a minute, wondering what to do. The book was trembling in my hands.I swallowed. I knocked on the door with great tension... a very faint knock, a single knock."Tock."Then two knocks in quick succession. The sound of my knuckle died inside that luxurious wood, and I didn't know if she heard it or not. It was as if I was trying to wake myself up.Until I heard her voice behind the door saying, "Come in."I found myself more confused, perhaps because I had never heard her speak so politely before. At least not to me.I had reached out and grasped her doorknob. I felt its coldness on my skin and was turning it slowly, but something was screaming inside me, saying, "Don't open the door." It was my inner voice—the voice of caution and fear, that instinct I was born with, which always makes me almost certain that something bad follows.My hand retreated from it, and I knocked again. I truly did not enter, nor did I even touch the doorknob again.I heard her footsteps heading towards me and heard those words that pierced the wood before she opened the door: "Don't you understand? I asked you to come in."But when she opened the door and her green eyes met mine, I saw signs of confusion on her face that I had never seen before. She swallowed, but she controlled herself in a second and said, returning to her usual cold facade, "What do you want? What are you doing here?"I presented the book to her, saying in my usual weak voice, "Yesterday... you asked me to bring you this novel."She snatched it violently from my hand, her face contorted in clear expressions of disdain, and she exhaled before slamming the door in my face: "Fine. If your task is complete, get out of here."I flinched slightly when the air from the door hit my face, but I sighed with relief afterward because she didn't scold me for my extreme delay, nor did she even ask me about it. I found this strange, honestly.I crossed the same corridor again to return to my grave, but when I saw Arthur on the way, he looked at me with a gaze exactly similar to Sara's before changing his tone and behavior, saying in an angry voice that shook the air in the hallway, "What are you doing here, you idiot!?"The blood froze in my veins, and before I could nervously raise my hand to explain, Arthur's fingers lunged at me. I felt his five fingers curl around the edges of my shirt as he violently grabbed me by the collar. He lifted me slightly until I was standing on the tips of my toes.I answered in a choked voice before he could strike me, "I... please wait—S-Sara... the book."Arthur looked at me with clear suspicion, his right eyebrow slightly raised, showing a toothless smile: "Do you want me to believe that my sister asked a piece of filth like you to bring her a book?"I added with extreme tension, my gaze weak, and his grip on me was strong, making it difficult to speak, "Please... you can ask her if you don't believe me."Arthur stared at me for a moment as if trying to read my thoughts. His grip on me loosened after what I said, and he released my shirt with a violent shove that sent me to the ground. He said, yawning, "It's your lucky day... because I'm a little tired and sleepy. Now, get out of my sight." He said it and took a few steps forward, walking away.Questions began to strike the strings of my mind. What was wrong with him? And what was wrong with Sara too? Under normal circumstances, he would have hit me and called me the worst names. Likewise, I expected Sara to slap me with the book for delaying her request."Third Person Perspective"Leon quickly withdrew from that place with agitated steps, as if he did not intend to meet the other two siblings. He hurried down the stairs, even thinking of jumping when only two steps remained, but he completely backed out of the idea because of the servants patrolling the area around the clock. This was because the ground floor was, of course, the main passage for everything in the palace, including the kitchen, the servants' quarters, and the central hospital on the left.Yes, the Martinez family is that kind of aristocratic family. That proud family that loves to have a family doctor or a family lawyer. No doubt you have heard of these things before. To put it more accurately: the more money you have, the more you love exclusive things.Leon thought about returning to the basement, but in the corridor, he found Yi Lian on her way to his basement door. His eyes widened in their sockets, and he swallowed. Without his usual hesitation, he turned completely in the opposite direction and exited the gate to walk alongside the back garden.There was some maintenance on the statues here and there because Leon's mother, Regina, had asked her husband to expand the garden. That's why this place was less beautiful than the front garden. The grass was pale, untidy, and uneven in length, and small, scattered shrubs were ready to be uprooted and planted later in a deliberate manner.Despite this, the place was never ugly. Leon was sure that this place would turn into a paradise within a week at most.He looked at the stone fountain. There was a headless statue of a woman. It seemed incomplete, and the signs of recent construction were still clear on it because the concrete was uneven. It was clear that she was wearing a long skirt and carrying a jug, which seemed to be the water outlet according to the designers' engineering.Leon sat under the fountain, with the woman's statue towering behind him. Leon began to think, "The difference between her and me is not that I am alive and she is dead, but that I break every day, and she is guaranteed her structure." It was a phrase from a child who did not know the magnitude or age of what he was saying.His memories went back to yesterday: the book, the spell, and that he didn't even know if it had succeeded or not.Author's Note 🖋️: The poor soul still believes the spell story and the silly book 🤦🏻📚 -•Arthur had reached his sister's chamber and entered without knocking. He found Sara sitting on the edge of her bed, biting her nails and thinking. That was her habit that Arthur knew well when she felt tense.When her green eyes met his brown eyes, they both spoke at the same time, "What's going on?"A slight silence fell between them, then Sara said in a voice trying to sound normal, "I didn't think he would survive either, but... how, Arthur?"Arthur took a few steps and sat beside his sister, thinking for a few moments before noticing something: "Do Karma and Yi Lian know?"Sara: "I don't think so... If Yi Lian had seen him, a disaster would have happened, as she was the one who poisoned him herself."Arthur scoffed, "Yes... she would probably go crazy. But what about Karma?"Both fell silent, and neither had anything to say except Sara, with a touch of annoyance and a little relief, "Maybe it's not as bad as it seems."On the other side, Yi Lian was in her spacious room, sitting on a chair in front of the mirror. Yi Lian smiled as she looked at her reflection in the mirror before turning her gaze to a woman wearing a maid's uniform, brushing her hair. Those silky black strands flowed through the comb's teeth and the fingers of the beautiful maid with blue eyes and silver hair.The maid did not respond quickly. She was analyzing the words of this child and looking closely at her, but before the maid's lip could tremble to reply to her mistress, Yi Lian interrupted her playfully:"Please? Don't say something boring like a child of eight wouldn't say something like that, would she? We are the offspring of the Martinez family. You wouldn't dare compare us to the children of the marginalized class... Am I not right?"The maid smiled and nodded calmly, "Yes, Madam."Yi Lian continued, not breaking eye contact with her reflection in the mirror, even though the maid was focused on her work: "And you too... the Martinez servants are not like the rest of the servants, and... oh, yes, by the way, do you know Leon?"The maid tilted her head slightly, and the speed of her brushing slowed for a few seconds: "You mean your brother, Mr. Leon? The one who stays in the basement?"Yi Lian scoffed, her lips parting as she stifled a laugh with one hand: "Ha? No, no, no, my dear. He is not my brother, and of course, not a 'Mister.' Blood means nothing to me, but..." Yi Lian continued, winking at her, "I won't lie to you, I love his presence. He is my best source of entertainment. Go check on him when you leave and come back to me afterward."The maid nodded respectfully and left. As she walked, she recalled the bad scenes of the persecution he suffered, the servants' looks at him, and everyone's disregard. She didn't fully understand the situation, but she chose to follow the majority.She saw Leon from the window, sitting alone by the fountain under that incomplete stone statue. The maid returned to Yi Lian's room and told her what she had seen.Yi Lian smiled and gestured with her hand for her to leave. As soon as she left, her face flipped 180° and she said, breaking the comb in her hands, "What!? Th-That's impossible, damn it!"Yi Lian's tension was interrupted by the door opening for Sara as she entered. Yi Lian said in a cold voice suppressed by anger, "Hey? Don't you have a door in your room? Knock next time."Sara replied in a normal tone of voice, closing the door behind her and moving further into the room, approaching her sister: "Angry? So, it seems you know?"Yi Lian closed her eyes and lowered her head in an annoyed sigh, scratching her head in frustration while her other hand was on her hip: "Huh? Is that why you didn't knock?"A slight, annoying silence fell, which Yi Lian immediately choked off by taking the initiative: "Didn't we poison him, by the one who created the heavens?"Sara said emotionally, pointing at her, "No, you were the one who did it!"Yi Lian replied, raising her hand in clear displeasure, "Shut up! Are you mocking me, you foolish child?! Wake up from your slumber, you cursed girl! Don't you know that the silent one about evil is also evil!"They were about to quarrel, then Yi Lian scoffed, pinching Sara's nose playfully, "Are we really going to fight over a nobody like him? We are truly stupid." She said it, throwing her full weight onto her bed, lying down and sighing. "Damn it. Is he immune to poison, or did some devil curse our luck this time?"Sara looked at her with some suspicion, "Honestly, I'm also... very confused."Yi Lian: "Most likely, someone saved him."Sara: "Impossible... No one cares about him, and especially no one knows about this except us... Even Mom doesn't know we almost killed him." She was thinking, putting her hand in...Yi Lian was talking to herself: "She's right... The servants don't interfere in what we do, and Mom and Dad are ignorant of what we did." Yi Lian smiled very cunningly and said, "Do you know, sister? Maybe there is a brother among us who cares about him a little."Sara raised her head, looking questioning: "Impossible... But who is it?... Let's say Arthur?"Yi Lian laughed, "Haha. If you had said it was me, it would have been more logical... Girl, Arthur doesn't just hate Leon; he hates the ground he walks on."Sara shook her head, "Yes, you're right. I was foolish to assume that. But Karma hates him too, and I don't think I'm any different, especially since you were the one who tried to poison him."Yi Lian looked suspiciously at Sara and got up, moving towards her. The details of her beautiful, childlike features were clouded with some darkness.Sara was terrified and backed away slightly. For the first time, her voice wavered: "H-Hey, what's w-wrong with you?" She said it as her back touched the wall.Yi Lian smiled as she reached out and grabbed Sara's chin. Her black pupil had contracted and turned slightly yellow, and shadows under it from the light of the white side lamp, which was merely a decorative piece."Do you think I'm stupid, sister? I regret to say that I am much smarter than you."Sara slapped her hand away and said with extreme tension and agitation, "Shut up! I didn't save him, but I won't lie to you, you went too far. This is wrong."Yi Lian laughed with a beautiful, sweet voice, as if she had heard something she was waiting for, and patted her sister's shoulder. "I know that, and I don't deny it, but you know me? Sometimes I lose my mind a little."Yi Lian backed away from Sara after giving her a warm hug, and Sara said, returning the hug before pulling back, "Does that mean you know who the culprit is?"Yi Lian said, looking at her over her shoulder, smiling cunningly. A side smile with teeth, as she said the following:Yes, of course.The culprit is a word that means a genius of six letters.
A person who loves us but doesn't share with us.
Superior among us but doesn't show off to us.
Beautiful like us, but with black hair and distinctive eyes that took their color from blood.
Sara said, as all these descriptions formed the person in her mind:
Histori