Prologue Part 23
Later that afternoon, Matteo finally arrived home and headed straight for the bath. His hair and clothes were now messy from all the food that was thrown on him that day at school. Once the bath was ready, he just sat in it and cried quietly. Unfortunately, his sobs weren't quiet enough to stop Sylvia from overhearing. She knocked on the door softly from the outside.
"Matteo? Are you okay?" No response came from Matteo, only coughs and sniffles. "I'm coming in, okay?" She slowly opened the door and found him sitting in the bath, a dirty, sobbing mess. She kneeled beside him and gently took his hand, "Did it happen again today?" Matteo nodded in response. "You really should tell the teachers, Matteo. If you tell them, then those bullies will leave you alone." She suggested.
"Uh-uh!" Matteo shook his head violently and cried, "They said that… if I tell the teachers… then they will do it even worse than before." Sylvia was running out of options to help him. "W-well… Did you tell your father about this?"
"No," he replied. "Well, maybe you could try telling him, I'm sure he will help you. Do you want to try after your bath?" Matteo hesitated but agreed to her suggestion. "Okay". Sylvia sighed internally, proud of herself for finally being able to help him. "Great. Now let's wash your hair, shall we?"
After his bath, Matteo and Sylvia walked over to Thomas' office where he sat with a pile of paperwork on his desk. They knocked on the door and he let them in. "Come in"
When he saw the two of them enter, a look of slight surprise appeared on his face. "What is it?" Sylvia was the first to speak. "Good afternoon, Lord Dumont," she said with a bow. "Apologies for disturbing you, but we felt it was best to inform you of a problem that Lord Matteo is currently dealing with."
"Okay" Thomas said with a blank look. Sylvia urged Matteo to speak. He walked closer to Thomas' desk, then while twiddling his fingers, said, "Um… I'm being… bullied. At school the kids bully me. They throw things at me and say a lot of mean things to me. Sometimes they also hit me and pull my hair." A smirk formed itself on Thomas' face.
"I see. So you're being bullied at school, hey?" Matteo nodded yes. Thomas chuckled at him this time, losing control of himself with each passing second. "W… why are you laughing?" Matteo asked innocently. Thomas got himself under control then replied, "Well, of course you are being bullied. I mean, just look at you. You are even smaller than the majority of kids your own age, not to mention you are very weak as well. Everybody at that school is twice your size, and you're outclassing them in almost every academic metric, who wouldn't bully you?" He went right back to laughing
Matteo dropped his head in defeat then walked out the room. Thomas continued chuckling at his desk, and Sylvia remained where she stood in his office, contemplating over whether she should stand up for Matteo and confront Thomas, or if she should just hold herself back and do nothing like always. Now, logically, it would've made sense for Sylvia to do the latter. But instead, she chose…
"You're despicable".
Thomas seized his laughter almost immediately. "Excuse me?" His face reverted back to its cold, intimidating demeanor, but Sylvia didn't care. "Your child is coming to you, telling you that they're being bullied, asking you for help and you… you laugh at him? What kind of father are you?!"
Thomas remained quiet, staring a hole through Sylvia's soul. But she stood her ground, "Ever since Lady Isabella's passing, all you've done is abuse him and treat him like he's some tool you can use to make yourself look better, and I'm sick of it!" She carried on, "You were a horrible husband and an even worse father!"
Thomas had had enough. He used the power of one of his Spirit Seeds to launch a ball of fire straight at her face, burning it completely. Sylvia let out a terrible scream which brought Matteo and a handful of the other servants bursting into the room. Thomas then used another one of his seeds to control the air around them and lift Sylvia off the ground, with most of the pressure being placed on her neck.
"And just what kind of illness did you catch to make you say something like that? You seem to have forgotten your place in this house, so let me remind you…" He pulled her closer with the seed, bringing her just above his desk, right in front of his face. "You are my slave. Which means that I own you. Which also means that should I feel like it, I can do whatever I want with you… even kill you." He tightened the pressure on her neck. Sylvia spat her mouthful of blood right at his face and forced the words out from her throat,
"I don't care! Do whatever you want! As long as you know that you're a horrible, disgusting, and pathetic excuse for a human being!"
Thomas stared her down for a second, then casually flung her out of the room right into a wall, shattering a few of her bones. "Sylvia!" Matteo cried as he rushed to her side. "Sylvia… Why?! Why did you do that?! Are you okay?!" Sylvia groaned painfully, then coughed up some more blood. The rest of the servants just stood there in shock and terror.
Finally, she turned whatever parts of her could still move towards Matteo and said to him with a painful, tearful, and forced smile, "Matteo, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for staying quiet for so long… and for letting you suffer as much as you did. I know what I did today won't change much… but I'm just so tired of doing nothing. I don't know what's going to happen from here… but if this is the last time we see each other… I just want you to know… that I love you Matteo. And my time being your caretaker will always be one of the best times of my entire life… Ah!"
She groaned again from the pain. She turned to Charlotte next, who was only a few words away from crying. "I'm sorry Charlotte. I didn't listen to you. But please know that I have no regrets. If something happens to me… please take care of Matteo for me."
That set the tears off for her. Thomas got up from his desk and ordered the other servants around them to clean up the mess in his office, which they followed without sparing a single second. Then, he turned his attention to Sylvia and said, "You. Go pack your things and come with me. I'm giving you two minutes. Do not make me come and get you myself."
Sylvia tried to drag herself up but the pain was too much for her to bear. She had to be helped up by all the servants, who also packed her things for her. After that, she was carried over to Thomas at the front door, who just ordered him to follow behind her.
Matteo tried to protest with all his might. He tried grabbing on to Sylvia but was pushed away by the other servants who carried her.
"No, Sylvia! Please… don't leave me too. I need you."
His face was wet and snotty. Sylvia turned to him and gave him one last smile, before she was placed in the carriage with Thomas and transported away from the house.
Matteo stood at the front door frozen, once again stuck in the position he had been over four years ago. Sylvia was the one who helped him then, and for the four years after that… but she was gone now. So… Now what? Matteo's mind was completely frozen as well, he didn't want to think about anything. Thinking was far too painful at that moment. Far more painful than anything The Heart of Seneva could ever do to him.
But he was brought out of his daze by the sounds of loud screaming and crying coming from right next to him. They came from Charlotte, who crumbled to the floor sobbing terribly, slamming her open palm to the ground with all her might. She had to be dragged up by all the other servants, but she fought back against anyone who dared to touch her.
Matteo walked up to her and tugged at her uniform, "Um… Charlotte…" but she gave him a hard back-handed slap to the face that sat him flat on his bum.
"Don't touch me! This is all your fault! All of it… all of it is your fault! If only she hadn't tried to play mother to you this wouldn't have happened! And I warned her! I warned her, oh I warned her! Now look, look what happened! She had one year left! Just one more year then we could've been free together… we could've been free. Why?"
Matteo stammered, "Charlotte…"
"No!" She screamed. "Don't talk to me! Don't say my name! Don't even look at me! I have one year left before I can finally be free. Just one more year, then I won't be a slave anymore. And I am not going to let you ruin it! I won't make the same mistake Sylvia did! Everyone who gets involved with you always has something bad happen to them. First it was Lady Isabella, now it's Sylvia! Well no more! I don't know where you came from or how you ended up here all those years ago, but I refuse to be the next victim of whatever curses you carry around with you. So just leave me alone you… you… you rat!"
Sylvia stormed out of there, leaving everyone stunned at what she had just said. Matteo was once again frozen. There was no way he could process what she had just said and no expression that could possibly convey everything he was feeling in that moment. The other servants left along with Charlotte, leaving him there to face some very painful emotions all by himself.
***
Even after Thomas' return later that day, Sylvia never returned to the Dumont mansion. Almost everyone was able to adapt to life without Sylvia apart from Matteo and Charlotte. Matteo did not receive a new caretaker as Thomas deemed him old enough to care of himself from then on. Charlotte and the rest of the servants kept their distance from Matteo, barely ever interacting with him unless absolutely necessary.
Matteo moved into Sylvia's old room, now a plain white room with one small mattress in the middle of it. The first night was absolute torture for Matteo, who still hadn't processed what had happened earlier. But sitting alone now in the dark white room forced him to confront everything he was trying to run away from, and he had a long and ugly cry session.
The days after that were not better at all. He returned to school and training, but without Sylvia, or anybody really, everything felt a hundred times worse for him. Not even gazing at the stars could cheer him up this time. As life moved on without him, being as ruthless as it was before all of this, Matteo came to the realization that he would also have to move forward from it eventually.
There was nothing he could do, but move forward somehow.