The Visitors (6)

Tain aroused from his slumber with a dreadful expression scrawled over his face. Cold sweat drips down his figure as he vividly recalls his past—down to the very last minor details.

His breathing erratic as he tried to suppress those traumatic moments that had scarred him for nearly his entire lifetime.

Tain took a few quick breaths in an attempt to compose himself. However, that was quickly deemed to be futile as he instead began to see the hallucinations of his dead parents berating him for being useless—for being unable to prevent their deaths.

A few droplets of tears dribbled down his cheeks as Tain closed both of his ears with his hands—wishing that this was nothing more than a mere nightmare that he would be awoken from anytime soon.

His body trembled as the voices of his hallucinations became louder and more prominent than before.

"Hey…are you alright?" a childlike voice asked.

The voice unintentionally halted his hallucinations from progressing. Tain hurriedly darted his eyes everywhere, and soon was met with the sight of a young girl.

The girl was cute, extremely so. She had ginger hair, a pair of hazel eyes that gave off a mystical, yet somewhat soothing feeling, and a fair complexion.

The moment their eyes met—Tain had a plethora of questions that dwelled in his mind. Who was she? Where is he? What's the girl's identity? Questions such as that occupied his brain.

Even so…the question he yearned for an answer the most was something completely different from his previous questions. A question that only those close to him would know.

'Where is Elena?'

His heart thumped rapidly, his breathing becoming unstable once as all Tain could think of were questions regarding Elena's safety, and whether she was alive or not.

Tain looked at the young girl straight in the eyes, and opened his mouth—prepared to bombard her with the questions that occupied him.

However, just before he could do such things—the both of them heard the sound of the door being open.

Instantaneously, Tain gazed towards the door to see who had just entered. From the distance, he saw four adults stepping inside; three women and a single man.

He was bewildered to say the least upon noticing more strangers entering the room. Tain didn't know whether to feel safe… or horrified with his current situation.

Nevertheless, that all soon changed as one of the women quickly caught his attention. Her long, orange hair that cascaded down her back, her beautiful face freed from any blemishes, and a slender, yet well-proportioned figure to boot… Tain felt mixed emotions washed over him.

While he was undoubtedly relieved to see that Elena seemed to be in a great condition—he also felt anxious at the same time. Her dominant arm was gone, and so was his brother. Tain felt an odd sense of responsibility for the damages Elena had sustained before, as well as the death of his brother.

His anxiety grew as his body stiffened up. He wanted to say something. No, to be more precise—he needed to say something. But he couldn't. His mouth was wide open, yet not a single word, nor a sound could escape his throat.

'Why!?'

Tain didn't want to admit it…but he roughly knew the reason why he became like this. He was afraid. Afraid to confront her about her wounds, and what had happened before he went unconscious. Afraid at the possibility of dredging back the traumas he longed of forgetting.

As time slowly passed by, Tain was still unable to speak, while Elena was already getting ever so close to him. Her expression was neither that of anger, nor relief. It was her trademark blank expression Tain was very familiar with—which only amplified his worries.

Soon enough, Elena was standing in front of Tain. Tain could feel his heartbeat rising—nervous and unprepared for what would transpire. Suddenly, she stretched her arm towards him—albeit unintentionally scaring him in the process. Instinctively, Tain flinched and closed his eyes as he braced himself for the worse that might come.

'I'm going to get hit…!' he thought to himself.

But no matter how long he waited—the pain of

being slapped never registered. Hesitantly, Tain slowly opened his eyes and instead found Elena hugging him.

He was perplexed by Elena's action. Considering how useless he deemed himself during dire situations...Tain had anticipated to have pain inflicted upon him, rather than kindness and love.

"E-Elena?" Tain muttered at last—the confusing scenario causing him to momentarily forget his anxiety.

"It's not your fault." Elena mumbled quietly.

The words that escaped from Elena's lips shook Tain to the core. It was a simple, yet effective sentence that made Tain unable to suppress his emotions. At last, Tain sobbed like a child for the first time in a while. His head burrowed in her shoulders as the fabric of Elena's clothes soak up the tears Tain released.

"B-but y-your arm…a-and brother…!" Tain attempted to argue.

Although it's rare for Tain to unintentionally make a mistake during the days back at Duke Gide Aried Polarias's estate—once or twice, an incident may occur due to Tain's action.

And, when such things do happen—Tain would feel immense remorse regardless of how minor the incident is. This self-deprecating nature of his was very well-known amongst the servants—including the duchess, Elena and Dilet.

If a minor accident is enough to make Tain despise himself…Elena could only imagine the surface of how much guilt Tain felt at the moment. Even so, Elena could only hope to try and reassure him that none of the tragedies was his fault.

Elena continued to console Tain—whispering into his ears that it wasn't his fault, and caressing his head gently. No matter how many times Tain insisted he was the one to blame—Elena would say the exact opposite.

…

"Alice…! Alice!" Andre called out to his daughter in a quiet tone—beckoning her to come to his side.

Hastily, she made her way to her father—while trying to produce as little as to no sound possible as she didn't want to ruin the atmosphere between the adult woman, and the young boy.

Once she was beside her beloved father, her eyes—along with her parents, as well as Lily, all turned at Tain and Elena. They pondered what kind of life those two had led. They wanted to ask, but at the same time—they didn't want to intrude on the foreigners' privacy. Simultaneously, they all nodded their heads—swearing to themselves to not question the strangers' past.

…