Chapter 11 - 2 years time

Morning came at full speed. It was now time for Ophelia to get ready. Two years have completely passed in a blink of an eye. Today is the least expected day for Ophelia -something off her chart was about to happen.

It's February first, her 12th birthday have come to a flash. She had also grown into a beauty with her wavy chocolate locks and daring blue eyes. But the first thing that came to Ophelia's mind was that not any longer now and Icarus' time will also come to pass.

For the past two years, Ophelia had been obediently nestling under the Duchess wing and observed her. She would meet her every Wednesdays in her quarters, and from time to time the Duchess would mention a thing or two about herself and her son. Ophelia had noticed her passive manners despite their first encounter, the Duchess had grown quiet and seemed to be out of her usual menacing attitude. She was weird in her own way and tends to be out of herself especially when Ophelia is around –like she had been taken over by something, just like the way it is for Icarus.

As Ophelia further broaden her knowledge in the dark arts. She had come to conclude that the household was cursed, she had related it with Roselia's opal ring that seemed to have contained light magic in it. Was it a barrier or a lucky charm to keep the darkness at bay? She wasn't quite sure but something had triggered for these events to happen. Ophelia had felt the murderous presence from her dream when she had been swallowed by the darkness, and ever since then it only grew stronger.

"Try this on next...."

Katerina Marcias. The only Duchess of the fearful Marcias Dukedom -is remarkably known for her good looks. But beneath her masked exterior, she is unfortunately an imbecile with a few screws loose.

Ophelia was now wearing a silky white dress, the Duchess had been dressing up her daughter-in-name for hours. She had entertained herself this way, as she found Ophelia to be a pretty doll and sometimes…"scrumptious". The Duchess couldn't help herself from meeting with Ophelia, as she had grown for two years, her sent had only grew stronger and had awakened the Duchess to a weird behavior.

Ophelia, suffocated with the Duchess' unreadable behavior. She wanted nothing but a peaceful day to plan things out with Icarus. Right, she and her brother had grew closer for the past two years. But they never regarded each other as siblings since the night at the banquet, something had been set from that moment on.

Icarus on the other hand, still kept up with his cold demeanor as if trying to push Ophelia away. He wasn't getting any better with his curse, though he did felt calmer but whenever the darkness would overtake his drive –he was another Icarus, aggressive and frantic with everything. And as the day for his 'death' neared, he felt even more worse and less in control.

-

That afternoon, Ophelia had been requested by Icarus in secret.

He had sent a letter to her last night through her door –saying he had some matters to discuss in his next visit to the Eastern Empire.

'...is he planning to take me there with him?'

Ophelia wondered what the Eastern Empire had to do with her. Without much wasting any time, she went to finish off her chitchat with the Duchess that seemed never to shut up.

In the garden where they had an unlikely encounter with the masked man two years ago, Icarus sat at the very spot where he and Ophelia had that short sweet moment under the moonlight.

Icarus had been preparing and waiting for hours, and Ophelia who had been playing dress-up, finally made her appearance.

'Did I take too much time?'

- She had been forced to wear a white silky-dress, since their mannequin time with the Duchess. Her brown wavy hair –almost straight were loose and a big ruby pendant, like the Duchess' eyes hanged on her neck. It made Ophelia look pure and innocent. In fact, Icarus could not stop looking at her from the moment she walked in front of him.

"So this is what took your time...did she have her way with you again?"

The 14 year old boy stated, he was in a princely dark suit. And he looked rather lavishing compared to Ophelia.

"Every single damn time, I'm her doll now"

Ophelia exhaustingly replied and moved closer to Icarus.

"So..." Ophelia started, her tone had turned low as if to start a serious conversation.

"-today, let me treat you..." Icarus abruptly interrupted Ophelia.

Icarus held out his left hand to her and Ophelia accepted it reluctantly. As she held hand with him-

~(swish)

Icarus right arm appeared in front of Ophelia, revealing a small bouquet of blue irises.

"…my lord...is this....what is this for?"

Ophelia had struggled for words at the moment. She didn't expect this but when it happened it had made her feel so embarrassed.

"What? You don't like it? I knew I should have went with roses but your eyes had been troubling me, so I-"

"No! I love it.....but you knew?" Ophelia delightfully accepted the blue irises.

Icarus turned silently at this and turned around. His ears had turned a light shade of pink. Ophelia had noticed this strange reaction from Icarus but did not bother to comment.

'Did she really forget it all? I had her birthday marked at my calendar for years now...there's no way I would have missed it...' Icarus thought silently.

~

The two went outside the garden to where the lake was. Ophelia had been here once at night when she met that stranger. She had forgotten about him ever since.

Icarus had prepared a small picnic for them, it was a perfect spot to spend time with Ophelia and discuss some things with her in the future, but first-

"Happy Birthday Ophelia..."

Icarus smiled at her perfectly that Ophelia couldn't help feeling giddy and nervous. It was her first time with someone to celebrate her birthday. No one, even in her past life new of this day, but she couldn't recall when she had told Icarus. She had come to accept that things with Icarus from her memories were somehow not aligned. Perhaps this was because of the curse?

'Damn you...why you gotta be so perfect... '

Ophelia blushingly thought, she had no idea Icarus would do something like this. He had showed her a sweet side of him and it had somewhat left Ophelia a romantic expression. But no, she wasn't just going to trust him just then. After all, he was still under a chaotic state with his curse. Ophelia couldn't tell when he would suddenly turn bipolar (in his dark state) and act cold towards her.

-

'..Isn't she cute when she blushes? If only she could smile like this all the time.... What would it be like to make her my pet? She could suffice all my longing....I could just...take her....'

Icarus on the other hand had mentally battled himself. He knew he couldn't stay long being alone with Ophelia. Just make her happy and leave -that was it. It had been his agreement to his self and tried to win over his dark side.

Any moment longer would make him wild and lose his mind. For a while now, the curse had seemed to worsen and somehow his symptoms had been getting hard to control.

'That dark crown prince, the next time he visits, I'll make it his last'

-

The two had the best time at the lake, with small talks and flavorful meal as their companion. Nothing as peaceful as this was ever felt within the Marcias estate since Roselia passed away.

'I wish it could stay this peaceful...'

Ophelia smiled, looking down at her reflection by the lake.

"Ah, I almost forgot, I prepared a boat for us…" Icarus handsomely added as he gulped down his last bite of sandwich, licking his sensual lips with his feverish tongue. Ophelia couldn't help but glance at this, but she decided to focus on the tiny boat that Icarus mentioned.

'Whoa…it must be from the Eastern Palace, how could it be made of pure gold? And how could it stay floated?'

"Magic…The Eastern Empire still uses magic but only a Palace mage can perform it." He looks at Ophelia and escorts her to where the tiny boat had been anchored.

'Nothing could ever be more perfect than this day.'

And like from a fairy tale, the boat smoothly floated on the lake without getting wet. Ophelia couldn't help but be childish and cute for her age. She peered down at the bottom and could see tiny fishes that were reflected by the sun. She smiled brightly, the sun beamed with her as well, and as she stole a glance toward Icarus, he was paddling the boat gently with a sway of his hands as the boat was magically operated. They were closed to the middle of the lake now, almost at the deepest part when-

(Splash,splash)

(Wahhh!)

Ophelia was shoved down the lake and a hand kept her head from coming back up, her hands were too far to reach the boat.

"...who?!...bro..brother!"