Chapter 7 - Midnight Hunger

"Ha!"

Icarus was laughing in hysteria.

Who would have thought for Ophelia to admit it so bluntly?

'...a pawn? She wants to be the Marcias pawn?'

Now he was sure what to make out of her. She was a spectator. She had come to that decision to make herself useful without the slightest idea of who she was gambling herself with.

"....but you need to choose. Who would you give your life to?"

'...tell me....whose hands do you wanna get killed?'

He asked Ophelia grimly. He felt sick of this game he didn't want to be in. He is only twelve but his circumstances had required him to be vigilant and act mature. His eyebrows furrowed at Ophelia. It felt like he didn't want this for her and his mind had been battling for a while now. A battle between taking Ophelia's side or if he should just finish her along with everyone, he doubted his mind every now and then. It felt like he wasn't the same person anymore.

Ophelia's eyes didn't waver at all. She had waited for this moment. It was a path she had chosen for herself. She knew how the duchess saw her and thought of her. Icarus on the other hand, held the advantage for her.

But she wanted to be sure.

"....no one, I'll take my life myself.....I don't belong to the Marcias."

She had thought carefully. She didn't want to be a disposable character. Not now, when she herself hadn't known her true value. She had a story to uncover for herself. So until then, she wouldn't stake her life away for them.

With her answer, Icarus dismissed her. His eyes were clouded with confusion. Something was not right about that blue eyed girl. And her conviction to herself has shown him that she had thought this through.

'....as if she had awaken…she must be'

Icarus thought, but even he could not understand where he had concluded this. He must have forgotten something as well, he felt something was missing and didn't add up. And with that, his mind drifted off to the granny who had passed –Roselia Marcias.

'She seems to be behind all of this...'

But she indeed was like an angel; the only bright place in the mansion was being with her so Icarus had stayed with her until she died. Was it the same for Ophelia too?

Recollecting their moments together -Icarus was more than convince that with Roselia gone, the mansion had started to release an eerie aura. It felt as if dark magic had swallowed the estate. And that this had to do something about Ophelia, why was this?

Icarus felt weak and lost with his thoughts –swallowed in the darkness the young lord wept in hot tears. He had barely held himself up when Ophelia showed up in his room. Luckily, there weren't any sharp objects in sight of his room; he had also miraculously kept his sanity.

But in just a few moments as Ophelia had disappeared -his pupils shrunk as he started to lose his sanity. His breathing unstable and he bit his lips causing red drops to flow. And as the night went darker Icarus drifted off to his episode. He was not getting another sleep tonight.

The sound of muffling screams and sheets being torn had echoed from his door.

-

"Zachy! Are you cooking something it smells sooo good~"

The Duchess walked her way into the main hall, where everything was practically prepared for tomorrow's event. The servants were asleep now but Zachy, as the over looker, had to double check things in place.

"Madame, why are you awake at this hour? The kitchen servants have retired to their rooms…are you hungry?"

The butler answered in surprise.

"Really? Then what is this smell Zachy, I'm starving!"

The Duchess exasperatedly expressed her hunger at the poor butler. She couldn't help it, the aroma had awakened her keen senses and she wondered if she was just hallucinating things again.

"I-is that so? I will try to check the kitchen then, maybe someone is still up."

The butler hurriedly made his way out of the Duchess' sight. He didn't have enough energy to entertain the Duchess and her lunatic statements that could only exist in her mind. He left the Duchess and never came back to the main hall.

~(Step, step, step)

The Duchess' footsteps could be vividly heard at a certain distance as she wandered around the mansion looking for the enticing smell that had allured her. Her hands were gently placed on her belly as if it would calm her desires.

'Who cooks at this late hour? They dare hide from me?'

~(Step,step,step)

Her footsteps became louder as it led her to young Ophelia's chambers. With every step she took the aroma had become stronger as she headed straight to Ophelia's room. Empty silence and darkness accompanied her. There were only a few lights and were dim on the way to her room.

'Poor child, didn't she have dinner?'

The Duchess had pity Ophelia at the thought that she must be abandoned since her granny had passed. It was a good thing that she had offered to take her under her wing.

As she came nearing Ophelia's door, she halted on her tracks and forgot knocking. Why was this? Her blood gushed at the aroma that smelled strongly just behind the door. Her senses heightened, her pulse palpitating wildly at the smell that had seduced her in the middle of the night.

'Yummy…'

The Duchess thought. In a blink of an eye, she had slowly crept inside Ophelia's room. There, her eyes laid at her lying figure. Deeply asleep and unguarded –she looked so tiny curling and covered in her white sheets. But the Duchess had a different thought in her mind as she saw this.

"…hmm~" She slowly inhaled the aroma. It had come from Ophelia's room.

She had forgotten the pity she had felt for her. As she saw Ophelia, she had looked appetizing and her mouth salivated at the thought. Her stare burned at the lying figure as she moved in closer and lowered her posture at the side of Ophelia's bed. Her breath nearing Ophelia's adorable ears made her lick her lips maniacally.

'….just a little bit…'

She thought again, she couldn't stop the smile that itched to appear on her face devilishly as she craved to taste the little lady.

'Let me taste you~'

She let her tongue out just a little bit hoping that it would 'accidentally' brush Ophelia's ears. Her fingers trembled in eagerness of the prey before her. Hot sticky fluid dripped down on Ophelia's cheeks but she wasn't aware.

"O-phe-lia~"

The Duchess whispered in her ears.