The maid's quarters lay deeper in the estate, away from the polished marble of the main halls. The path leading there was narrow and lined with dimly lit chandeliers, their light flickering as if burdened by unseen hands, the servants were kept away from the real estate itself, as if they were something that would dirty the building.
[This must be because of Adrian]
Tian followed behind them, not close enough to hear their conversation, but close enough to see them.
Reina walked beside Hoshimi, her heels clicking against the floor in deliberate, slow rhythm. She didn't speak at first, just let the silence pool, testing if he would break it. When he didn't, she finally let smoke curl past her lips.
"Hoshimi, tell me something", she said, voice low, intimate in a way that felt more dangerous than her earlier teasing. "Do you believe in the primordials"?
"The primordial witches? Why're you asking me this now"?
"Don't question me, just answer the question".
Hoshimi did not look at her, his violet eyes fixed on the distant shadows at the far end of the hallway. He dismissively waved his hand.
"They're these supposed godlike figures that we're supposed to pin every single thing on, every bad thing, every good thing. It's all because of them, you really think I believe in something as stupid as that"?
"You know? History tends to get diluted more and more as years pass on", Reina smiled faintly, though her gold eyes never softened. "People long ago tended to exaggerate a lot of things, beings like gods must've been overexaggerated to the heavens".
"Even then, it doesn't make logical sense for such a being of higher power to be here". Hoshimi commented, "If they were here then we wouldn't exist, we would be nothing but maggots under their feet".
"Even if they don't exist, people need them, they want a meaning to their lives, that their very existence is somehow special and they have a role in this universe". She threw up a large marble, catching it immediately as it left her hand.
"Atheism is growing larger for a reason, more and more people are straying away from believing in the primordials, the mind is a survival machine. It's not important to believe in a higher power, nothing changes without them". He shook his head. "Why're you even arguing with me in the first place"? Hoshimi narrowed his eyes. "You don't believe in them anyways, are you really just arguing to argue with me"?
"It really doesn't matter if I don't believe it or not", Reina shrugged her shoulders. "What I'm trying to tell you is that you're being unopen to new ideas, anything could happen". She gestured towards her head. "So keep that cranium open, don't make any of your beliefs concrete, be open to new ideas".
"So you're saying that all of the evidence I found is useless"?
"Of course not", Reina threw the marble in her hand towards him. "What I'm saying is that, there are flaws in the way you think even if you don't pick up on it, no one is perfect, and that includes in what they believe, the primordials may exist or they may not, the patriarch might not even be dead, yip yap and what not. You understand right"?
"Even if these gods really do exist then".... He paused for a moment. "We're not the same as we were a century ago, even without mana we have the means to blow up the world a hundred times over, the primordials won't stand a chance".
"If they're good, then the humans will use them to further their exploration of technology and magic, if they turn out to be evil then". Reina crept closer, her smell sweet but bitter, such as burned cloves. "Then we slaughter them. Strip away their titles, burn their myths, and remind them they were mortal flesh all along." She smiled. "It's in our nature to do such heinous acts".
They arrived at the maid's door. One lantern creaked softly inside, shadows dancing on the thin wooden walls.
He opened the door.
Her maid sat on the edge of her bed, hands clasped together in her lap. Her eyes flashed up at them as they entered, wide and trembling.
Reina smiled brightly at him as she stayed in the corner, waving her hand like a mother seeing their child going to school for the first time.
Hoshimi rubbed his temples and sighed audibly.
[I wonder what Reina's scheming this time, is she really trying to tell me something else? Or is it really just small talk?]
"Hey", Hoshimi walked up to the maid and smiled softly.
[She seems afraid. I guess I have no real need to push her, she'll probably just tell me what I want to know, but just in case I'll come off as a friendly person]
"I won't do anything to you I promise, what's your name"?
"It's Janet".
"Well Janet", Hoshimi took a chair and sat right in front of her, staring at her with a warm smile on his face. "I just have some questions regarding the recent murder of the patriarch".
"Didn't master Adrian kill the patriarch? I saw him come out of his office. Or are you telling me that I lied"!?
He placed a single hand on her shoulder. "Of course not, I just want to hear in detail about that day, after all it was only you who saw it happen".
The wooden chair groaned as Hoshimi leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. His violet eyes fixed on Janet's quivering ones. She continued to wring her fingers, her knuckles turning white with every twist. "Come on Janet, it will help you clear your case, I'm just trying to help you".
Janet swallowed hard. "I was just cleaning the basement and the wall started to open, like those sci-fi movies. That's when I saw him, with blood on his hands, running straight out of the office".
Hoshimi held his chin.
[Would someone like her be even allowed to watch movies? Or am I really overthinking this too much? I heard that Adrian would only physically abuse them not restrict them from doing anything]
Hoshimi's pleasant smile did not falter, though a hint of curiosity twinkled in his violet eyes. "That's a very polite way of describing it. Do you get to see a lot of those, Janet?"
"Um, master Adrian would usually restrict us from watching them, but master Elias would usually show us the movies". Janet's eyes darted nervously to one side, and then back to Hoshimi, her hands bunching harder in her lap, "But most of the time, we would usually be too busy to-to watch:.
Hoshimi nodded slowly, maintaining his soft tone. "Ah, I understand. And you said the wall swung open, like in the films. Like a secret passage?" He leaned in, speaking in a calming murmur. "Would you tell me Janet? What did you witness? How much blood was on Master Adrian's hands? Was he perhaps frantic? Or calm?"
Janet swallowed, her breath hitching. "Yes, a secret passage. T-the wall just opened up. It was… a lot of blood, it was pooling down. All over his hands. And he was running. Very fast. He looked… very upset". Her voice trembled as she recalled the scene, her eyes wide with what appeared to be genuine fear. "He didn't look at me, just ran past."
"So tell me, did anyone tell you to go clean the basement specifically"?
"It must've been because of master Elias's foresight, he asked of me to clean the basement".
[Now I'm definitely sure that its him, I really should interrogate Adrian to get more details on the matter but the only question now is how I can get Elias to confess]
Reina, still leaning against the wall in the corner, blew out a wispy strand of smoke, a fragile, unnoticeable smile flickering on her lips. She didn't speak, her gold eyes fixed on Hoshimi, observing everything he did. [I'm surprised that he knows nothing about the butler yet]
A large grin spread across her face.
[I can't wait to see the reaction on his face when he notices]
3 hours passed
"Miss Audrey, your father asked me to give this to you when he passed".
Tian walked up to Audrey, handing her a small black box, reminiscent of the one during the dinner.
"Why me"?
Audrey glared, eyes wide at the black box in her own hand, its icy surface smooth to trembling fingers.
[Sorry to interrupt you, Domino. If you even still remember that name. The moment you receive this message, I would be considered murdered. I'm not here to give you a gift. I am here to tell you something about yourself. You are not even aware that you are wandering, you are lost in your own existence]
"Domino…" Audrey drew the word, a strange echo expanding within her mind. Her fingers rubbed her scalp, as if trying to unearth an implanted memory. "Where. Where have I heard this name before?" Her eyes, now a shiny black, darted frantically about, trying to find an answer that eluded her.
[You've been trapped in that body, I know you are watching through her eyes, you have been walking in circles for eternity the moment you were brought back. Tracking the cries of children in some unseen room, always seeming so near. I apologize for not finding a way to bring you back. My daughter, if you can hear me, I knew I wasn't the best parent, I wasn't really there for you.I am sorry that that day, the day you were shut out and left to die, there was no one there to scoop you up into their arms, the way you scooped others up into yours. I'm sorry but this was the only way of bringing you back.]
"Huh"?
Her breath caught, a raw gasp tearing from her throat. Tears rolled, hot and thick, down her face, her face flushed, but her countenance was not one of simple sorrow. It was a horrific compound of knowledge and abject terror. The black box dropped from her hands, thudding to the floor. "Lost in my own life… walking in circles…" Her hands flew to her head, fingers closing hard in her hair. "What is this? What am I?"
Hoshimi's purple eyes pulsed ever so slightly, his hands rested on his hips, his face still blank.
"How are you peasants taking this long to figure this out"?
A thin slit of a smile appeared across Neila's face, as she threw a leather book to the ground, sliding towards Audrey's feet as the impact flipped the book open, a middle schooler with long black hair filled the pages, with a sticky note saying 'Domino, my beautiful daughter'.
"You are a successful experiment, from that message I can conclude that his daughter died in some type of incident and he forced a reincarnation inside you to bring his daughter back".
Hoshimi glanced at her.
"You kept the book"? He asked, "You never seemed like the type of person to care for something like this in the first place".
"Of course I kept the book". She sighed, "I really thought I could get the patriarch arrested or something for being a sex offender, that would've been really interesting but what a shame that he died".
"Can you really not find anything else that's more entertaining than seeing other people in trouble"? He asked her, staring down at her short stature.
Audrey's heart nearly pounded out of her own chest as she collapsed to the floor with her hands covering her face.
"You know"? Neila had her hands in her pockets, "I keep a fine line between the people I call peasants and humans I treat as normal".
"How is that supposed to help me in any way"?
"Didn't you ask for the reason I treat people that way? Or did I just mishear"?
"Whatever". Hoshimi bent down, holding Audrey in his arms as he caressed her head, "Are you okay, Audrey"?
"I-I don't even know why? I don't know why I'm even crying"! Her fingers dug into his shoulders, her teary eyes started rapidly shifting between green and blue, her cheeks puffed up a bright crimson. "I don't- I don't"....
Audrey's words broke into jagged gasps, her voice raw and trembling. "I don't know who I am anymore, why the hell am I remembering things that I never even experienced!?"
Her nails dug deeper into Hoshimi's shoulders, not hurtful enough to draw blood, but deep enough for her desperation to be clear. Her pupils dilated abnormally, the black started to take away more and more of the green color in her eyes.
Hoshimi held her gently, his tone was flat but strangely gentle.
"Don't say that. Whoever Domino was, she's not here, you're still you".
"You're a liar, Hoshimi". She gripped onto his shirt. "The only thing that was keeping me sane is my own existence, and they say that I don't even exist!? I'm a catalyst for his daughter's soul! My life isn't even mine"!
Neila crouched a few feet away, sneering with arms crossed loosely over her knees.
"Oh come on, don't start crying, you're going to get it on me. It's not like you're the first human in history with daddy issues and an identity crisis. Boo hoo, the dead girl has been stuffed inside you". She poked out her head mockingly. "Come on princess, there's nothing you can do by just crying".
Hoshimi shot her a glare. "You're not helping".
"You know, I wasn't trying to". Neila picked up a toothpick and started picking at her teeth, "I'm not even trying to rile her up, she should be glad that she even managed to receive any kind of affection from people, I was born a problem child you know"?
Hoshimi grabbed her face and stared into her eyes. "Come on, don't listen to her".
Audrey looked up at him through watery lashes, trembling. "S-she's right, crying won't help anything, I'll just have to find some way to get the girl out of my body before she takes over".
The air around her hummed. A low vibration, like wires pulled too tight, hummed in the room. Glasses on the table next to her trembled. The flame of the lantern sucked unevenly to one side, fighting the vibration.