A big mistake

Watching the bride covered in red hot flames, the guests erupted into screams. Everything happened within a span of mere seconds, no one knew how the fire had started in the first place. It was like someone had cast a spell on the bride.

In one moment, everyone was laughing with joy and the next moment, their hearts were filled with terror. No one expected the occurrence of a tragedy of that kind.

There's nothing left, not even a body to look for. All that's left was ash which was swept away by the wind.

Lilian was dumbstruck as she stared at the burning body collapse to the ground and twitch vigorously before it went limp.

Her mind went blank.

'How did Amelia get caught on fire?' Lilian was confused.

The very next second, she felt an enormous pain in her head with her ears ringing. She then felt her world swirl as darkness clouded her eyes.

...

Katlyn had been observing Lilian the whole time, afraid she would do something to harm herself. She knew Lilian couldn't bring herself to watch the wedding and noticed her walk away as soon as the ceremony started.

'Is Miss Lilian trying to attempt something unwise?' Katlyn was frightened and her legs trembled but didn't waste a second more and ran in the direction Lilian left.

It didn't take her long time before she found Lilian unconscious. She noticed something even more baffling. Lilian's golden hair and blonde skin was faintly glowing as if fireflies were dancing under her skin. It seemed unreal and incredible.

'The supernatural stuff Lady Layla said about Lilian was real' Katlyn thought as she tried to remember the words Lilian's mother had said to her.

Thinking back to a decade ago, Katlyn recalled her early days in Barlow family. She was just twelve years old when she had just started to work for the Barlow family. One day Lady Layla, Lilian's mother summoned her to ask her a small favour. The favour was to burn a piece of paper given to her along with a strand of Lilian's hair on her twentieth birthday.

She also said some unbelievable stuff, claiming something weird to happen with Lilian on that day.

Katlyn thought it was all a senseless talk but what she saw now seemed to have proved her wrong.

Just in case, she had kept that very same paper on her since morning. She just needed to pluck a strand of hair from Lilian's head now.

She didn't have a source of fire with her to burn the paper and hair strand immediately. So, she decided to keep them safe on her and thought of burning them later. Moreover, She only had a few hours left before the day changes and she had to be quick with her actions.

For now, she had to hide Lilian in a safe place. She couldn't let anyone notice the weird things happening with Lilian.

She covered Lilian with a black cloak and brought her to the underground prison, by the time she was back to normal. Though there was a faint glow, no one could see it unless they paid close attention.

Katlyn sighed in relief.

However, she felt someone approach her from behind. Before she could face the person, she sensed a sharp pain on her neck with her surroundings turning dark and her body went weak before her body dropped to the ground.

...

Lilian slowly opened her eyes with her feather like lashes fluttering. She noticed her surroundings were dark with the little light from the moon and soon recalled how she fainted after watching Amelia burning.

She tried to stand but failed. She then looked at herself to notice that her arms and legs were tied up. She also noticed that she was not in the Barlow manor anymore but in a thick forest. In addition, Katlyn Morgan was lying unconscious on the ground beside her.

She looked around to see two other people whom she quickly recognised as Vincent Levine and Margaret Barlow.

"Mother, Why am I here like this? And what happened to Katlyn..." Lilian asked as she stared at Margaret Barlow. She was so confused and couldn't make out what was happening.

"Oh... Why are you here again? Of course it's for you to die" Margaret Barlow hissed as she walked closer to Lilian. She couldn't wait to kill this rat.

"What?!" Lilian cried. "Mother, Why would you do this to me?" She was used to Margaret's beating and scolding. But, what she said now was at a new level.

"Why? You are asking me, why?" A loud slap landed on Lilian face. "If not for you, my daughter wouldn't have died. You ruthless bastard" Margaret Barlow screamed as she raised her hand to slap again.

"Tell me. Why did you kill my daughter? What did she ever do to you?" Margaret asked with tears flowing like rivers. Her daughter Amelia would be having her wedding night by now if not for this heartless woman's deed.

"Mother, What are you talking? Why would I kill my sister?" Lilian was even more confused. Why would she kill Amelia? She only knew Amelia was caught on fire before she lost her consciousness.

"Don't act innocent, Lilian. I know you always hated my daughter. You must have hired someone to cast a spell on my daughter. You can't tolerate to see my daughter live a happy life" Margaret Barlow screamed with her finger pointed at Lilian. Her eyes were bloodshot and were burning with fury. She then grabbed Lilian's hair and dragged her towards Vincent Levine.

Lilian was dumbfounded. How could she hire someone when Margaret always made sure she couldn't leave the house, no matter what? She was literally a caged parrot.

She then raised her head to look at the man she admired. However, all she could see was disgust and hatred in his eyes.

'Were those negative emotions directed towards her?' Lilian felt hot tears flow down her cheeks.

"Lilian, I know you like me. I like you too. But with my status, I can't lower myself to marry an illegitimate bastard. Someone like you fit only to be my toy" Vincent Levine said in a voice. Yes, he liked Lilian but that was the like he had towards a doll that smiles and dances on his order. Nothing more.

Lilian understood her standing in her family. She knew she didn't have fine qualities to deserve someone like Vincent Levine, a charming young man from an aristocratic family. But, was it her fault for being a mistress's daughter?

Vincent's words were true, yet so sharp. They cut through her heart. All she could feel was pain. It was so painful, only death seemed to stop the pain. She lowered her head as more tears came out of her eyes.

"But, Lilian. You did a big mistake. You shouldn't have touched Amelia" Vincent Levine said as he lifted Lilian's chin to make her look at him.

Lilian stared at Vincent's cold face. She could clearly feel the dangerous air emitting from him. However, she didn't kill Amelia. She indeed wished her to die but she didn't attempt to kill her physically. Or that was all she remembered.

These people were simply accusing her.

"Vincent. Mother. I did nothing to Amelia. You have to believe me" Lilian could only beg in tears.

"Shut up. My daughter wouldn't have died today had I killed you back then along with that mistress mother of yours" Margaret screamed.